General Asylum: REVIEW: Antenna Performance Specialties Attic InTenna Tuner by Tuckers

Model:	Attic InTenna
Category:	Tuner
Suggested Retail Price:	$189.95
Description:	An indoor antenna designed for Attics etc.
Manufacturer URL:	Antenna Performance Specialties
Model Picture:	View

Review by Tuckers ( M ) on November 04, 2006 at 16:58:35
IP Address: 24.5.143.166

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I have had many indoor antennas in my home, including Fanfare Whip antenna, various Magnum Dynalab antennas, BIC boxes etc. What I have been using for the last few years is the Magnum Dynalab ST-2.
I have an Antenna Performance modified Kenwood KT-8300 tuner, which has bested all of the supertuners I have had in my system for tuning in stations in my environment. I have had several Magnum tuners, a Sansui TU-X1, a Quad FM4, a Fanfare tuner, a vintage Fisher 200C, a Marantz 10B. I prefer the sound of the KT-8300 to those others as well.
The Magnum Dynalab ST-2 did the best at tuning in my favorite station here in the city of San Francisco, KQED at 88.5 FM. But it didn't pull in other stations very clearly. Getting this station in clearly is a trick that most tuners and antenna could not do. I live within 10 miles to the broadcasting tower of KQED, but there is a mountain between it and me, and also in direct line of site of me is Sutro Tower (a big TV broadcasting tower about 2 miles away). Sutro Tower has a very strong signal that plays heck with tuning in what you actually want. Multipath and interference are severe in my location.
The Attic Intenna is UGLY! Look at the picture in the link above. It's a big four foot tall cardboard cylinder painted flat black. It is meant to be placed in an attic where you won't see it. I figured I could paint it the same color as the wall behind my rack and it would kind of hide behind it. I haven't painted it yet, but it does look like this will work fairly well for me.
I was amazed when I hooked it up. I am bringing in 3 times the stations on the tuner, and at least 5 new stations are coming in crystal clear. This is a major improvement for the difficult area that I live in. KQED is not coming in any better, but it was pretty perfect before, so I wasn't expecting anything different. The fact that this antenna does not mess up reception of this station is excellent. I now get KPFA 94.1 in very well in stereo, before I could capture it only in poor quality mono. This is great, because they have live music in their studios a couple of times a week, and the sound can be astoundingly good. The antenna is omnidirectional, and not that picky in placement. It pulls in much stronger signals that the ST-2, appearing to have a lot of gain, but the specs say the gain is 0db across the board. If you want to cut the signal, you can turn the tube upside down, or put it on the side. While I may listen to one or two stations regularly, if I want to listen to more, I may move the antenna out from behind the rack and play with placement to DX other stations for the day.
I am mightily impressed with the antenna, as I was when I received the modified Kenwood KT-8300 tuner back from Antenna Performance 3 years ago. These guys really get FM.

Product Weakness: It's really ugly. It's kinda big for an antenna. Of course it's meant for an attic or other invisible area. It could go behind curtains or in a closet too. It's not made to survive outside.
Product Strengths: Best indoor tuner I have ever used. Flexible in placement, you can turn it upside down to lower the gain or put it on its side. It has a lot more gain than any other indoor solution I have used. I think the price is a good value, in light of what it does.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Shindo Sinhonia
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Shindo Catherine
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	VRS Revelation Music Player, Well Tempered Reference w/ Airy3
Speakers:	Horning Akiabades
Cables/Interconnects:	My own silver interconnects, Auditorium 23 speaker cables, TG audio power cable, Nirvana Power Cables, etc.
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Classical, Jazz, Vocal, Folk, Blues
Room Size (LxWxH):	35 x 24 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	Custom built room
Time Period/Length of Audition:	One Month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Sound Applicaitons, my own power filtration, Quantum's Symphony Pro
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	It's really ugly. It's kinda big for an antenna. Of course it's meant for an attic or other invisible area. It could go behind curtains or in a closet too. It's not made to survive outside.
Product Strengths:	Best indoor tuner I have ever used. Flexible in placement, you can turn it upside down to lower the gain or put it on its side. It has a lot more gain than any other indoor solution I have used. I think the price is a good value, in light of what it does.