2. analog
  3. 1109098208

am/fm tube tuners

I am in the market to add an AM/FM tube tuner to my system. I listen to jazz and female vocalists mostly. I want this just for the "sound" that is hard to get since all my other stuff is solid state, and pleasant background music. I would like to spend around $1000 for the tuner. What tuners are out there that people have loved over the years? Thanks for your responces.
bryanhod

Showing 4 responses by c123666

c123666
871 posts
 
McIntosh MR65 with multiplex feature. I think that is the only McIntosh tube tuber with AM/FM; all others are FM only. Expect to have to put money into anything that old you buy as almost certainly passive parts (tubes, capacitors, etc) will require replacement as this is a 40 year old item.

I would strongly urge you to pass on the tubes and look for a mint Accuphase T100 AM/FM tuner and then have it upgraded by Don Scott. You will then have one of the best tuners on the planet for about a grand. These tuners typically sell for 550/625 used and are very, very good.

Most of the information you require is at this website:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

The Accuphase tuners are discussed here:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/reviewsA-N.html#accuphase

There is a seperate page for tubed tuners. Fisher and Scott offered some nice tuners; you can find the Fisher and Scott fan pages with all the info. When looking for Scott and you cannot find anything try "HH Scott" in the search as that was the actual name of the company.

Good luck.
c123666
871 posts
 
And, if you do get a tube tuner make sure the tubes are good and that you can source replacements easy and they do not cost too much money. I've been warned that many of the tubes in old tuners might be hard to find and expensive.
c123666
871 posts
 
A McIntosh MR74 is also an excellent tuner that goes for around 500 and will probably appreciate as it is close in performance to the much more sought after units (mr78, mr71)
c123666
871 posts
 
After a good station to listen to the next most important thing is not the tuner but having a good external FM antenna. If you have one of those almost any tuner in good repair will sound good.

I use an Onkyo T9 quartz locked tuner from around 1980. I paid 100 for it with a warranty from a local shop called The Sound Well. It works great; holds weak signals and sounds very good. I simply cannot justify the additional expense of a much more expensive tuner; most would be about 500 for a McTuner MR74. I'll send this tuner off for mods at some point.

I also listen to quite a bit of AM radio (Raiders, Talk Radio) at home so the AM feature is useful.
More to discover