Tuners

Gregadd

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
10,516
1,774
1,850
Metro DC
Yamaha CT-7000. Public Radio is the only good signal. WETA. Classical music. An occasional live performance is excellent. There is an excellent youth program. usually live.
 

kach22i

WBF Founding Member
Apr 21, 2010
1,591
210
1,635
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.kachadoorian.com
I'm curious about HD Digital Radio, don't listen to Internet radio much at all (Randi Rhodes in the early Bush years).

I use my FM tuner almost every morning for my remote speakers in the kitchen. It cost me a whole $5.00 last year and sounds great on the main system.



FM 107 in Ann Arbor has great Sunday morning program, plus live in studio guest performances at other times. Some of the public radio stations do the same.
 

Jay_S

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
309
5
16
San Francisco - East Bay
I own several, tube and solid state, but use none. At my house, the signal from San Francisco stations is spotty due to the hills. I do listen to radio stations over the internet, and I have a subscription to the Rhapsody music streaming service. Rhapsody is not audiophile quality but I really enjoy it.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Well, I still enjoy listening to the radio. However, I don't have a great FM tuner. I just recently bought a Kenwood 815 tuner in mint condition with the original box. Too bad it doesn't sound that great. Rather thin sounding with no real bottom end. The best sounding tuner I ever had in house was a Marantz 20B. I wish I would have bought it. The best tuner I ever owned was a Macintosh MR-77. One of these days I may break down and buy a 10B.

Mark
 

Kal Rubinson

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2010
2,360
697
1,700
NYC
www.stereophile.com
I have a Pioneer F-91 which sounds damn good but there is nothing, imho, to listen to any more on FM in NYC. In CT, I do not get any decent FM reception, anyway, so the classic Kenwood I have up there has not been powered up in years. Sigh.
 

Ron Party

WBF Founding Member
Apr 30, 2010
2,457
13
0
Oakland, CA
I have one of these:



I turn it on maybe once or twice a year. No time for radio; too many new CDs to listen to and not enough time to listen to them. For example, I've had the Beatles remastered box set sitting on my desk for almost 3 months - haven't played one disc from that set.
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
My Nikko Gamma 5 is in storage.

Hey Kal--isn't that a sad state in a city as big as New York. Gone are the days of WQXR who had its studio equipment designed by Dick Sequerra!
 

Kal Rubinson

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2010
2,360
697
1,700
NYC
www.stereophile.com
My Nikko Gamma 5 is in storage.

Hey Kal--isn't that a sad state in a city as big as New York. Gone are the days of WQXR who had its studio equipment designed by Dick Sequerra!
Yes but what bothers me more is that their playlist has been diluted down to a classical TOP-40 with a pandering to celebrity. Also, the announcers are mindless and ignorant. Feh.

I was raised on WQXR and I thank them for my life-long love of classical music but the station is now unlistenable.....and that has little to do with the equipment or engineering.
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
Yes but what bothers me more is that their playlist has been diluted down to a classical TOP-40 with a pandering to celebrity. Also, the announcers are mindless and ignorant. Feh.

I was raised on WQXR and I thank them for my life-long love of classical music but the station is now unlistenable.....and that has little to do with the equipment or engineering.

I remember when Mario Mazza started that "top 40" schtik what 15 or so years ago. Didn't like it then and don't like it any better now. But it was all about trying to attract a new audience and guess what, more advertisers :)
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I remember the day when I used an FM tuner in my system but with the advent of stereo radio or internet radio does anyone still use a tuner or are they a thing of the past?
Funny story... We move into our new vacation house and I can't find my media center PC with all my music on it. So I turn on the FM radio in the AVR that we use in the living room there. My wife comes in and says "that is nice music. Is it a CD?" I say, no it is radio. She gives me a puzzled look and asks, "do we pay for that?" I say, "no, it is FM radio." She still looks puzzled. I then explain that it is the same thing she listens to in her car so it is free.

I think it must have been 10 to 20 years since we turned on radio in our house and hence her reaction. I must say, it was strange for me to to listen to FM radio "for free."

I do remember chasing the best tuner in the days past, getting dedicated units and such as posted above.
 

Kal Rubinson

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2010
2,360
697
1,700
NYC
www.stereophile.com
I remember when Mario Mazza started that "top 40" schtik what 15 or so years ago. Didn't like it then and don't like it any better now. But it was all about trying to attract a new audience and guess what, more advertisers :)

Here's the thing: They no longer have/need advertisers but they are pandering to the lowest common denominator. They feature ga-ga interviews with celebrity guests where the questions are no more insightful or interesting than the common post-game questions like "How did it feel to win (or lose)?" They play, repetitively, mediocre "feature" recordings and sloppy transcriptions. They even have announcers who can pronounce Chopin as Chop - In (with a hard "ch").

I often feel guilty not contributing to their fund drives in recognition of what the station has meant to me in the past but I feel that any contribution now would only encourage them to continue what they are doing.

Thankfully, there is the internet (and my collection of discs).
 

naturephoto1

Member
May 24, 2010
820
7
16
Breinigsville, PA
www.nelridge.com
Rich

what racks are you using

Hi Steve,

I am using the Adona Signature racks. Paul is great to work with and they have a large offering. The newer fancier racks are just fancier in appearance, but the older Signature racks have the same audio performance as the more expensive fancier offerings. Personally, I like the look of the more spartan design. Each of the platforms (shelves) have their own Isolation (though I additionally use footers under the equipment. Paul has designed special platfrom shelves of a granite/MDF sandwich. The granite is 5/8" thick with special adhesive. By using the right thickness of granite with the "right" MDF material and thickness along with the special adhesive the granite and the MDF failings for audio performance are nullified. So, no ringing from the granite and no loss of resolution from the MDF. Ultimately you end up with a platform that has basically a neutral signature with a huge soundstage and powerful bass.

Rich
 

soundofvoid

WBF Founding Member
Apr 22, 2010
173
11
365
Athens/Greece
Ahhh...Pioneer F-91!"Reference digital synthesizer tuner" The one with the wooden sides and the piano black ("Urushi")fascia.
I had then (early '90's) the whole Urushi line.What a fantastic quality items-all of them!
Now i am left with two tuners :a Denon TU-S10 (made in England!) and a Sony ST-S777ES (with dab).
Nice to look at, but now scarily used since time is money and cd's and lp's and sacd's, even md's consume my time...
The good thing is that we still have some people with taste sitting at the decks (especially on late night shows when the multi-corporate fist
loosens it's grip...)
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
6,774
1,198
580
Boston, MA
Still use a Magnum Dynalab Etude on almost a daily basis. I listen especially on Sat. nights as they broadcast the BSO live from Symphony Hall, and record some performances on the R2R.
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
Still use a Magnum Dynalab Etude on almost a daily basis. I listen especially on Sat. nights as they broadcast the BSO live from Symphony Hall, and record some performances on the R2R.

You dog!
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
6,774
1,198
580
Boston, MA
Actually, since the famous WGBH took over the local typical classical-hits (imagine "the Mozart block at 9 o'clock" crap) station about a year ago the quality has gone way way up - this past weekend they had all kinds of excellent Classic records reissues, like Beethoven's violin conc with Heifetz, Brahm's conc (also with Heifetz I believe), even Reference Recordings. The BSO live isn't all about the performance, not the sound.

BTW, Mahler's Second is on this coming October and my wife and I are going... the fun part is when we come home and listen to our system... hahahaha; can you say night and day :)
 

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