FM Tuners


I LIVE JUST OUTSIDE A METROPOLITAN AREA WITH ROLLING HILLS APPROXIMATELY 200FT TALL. I LIVE IN THE VALLEY AREA. WHAT MODEL OR BRAND OF TUNER WOULD YOU USE? I AM USING MARTIN LOGAN PRODIGY SPEAKERS, MARK LEVINSON 360 AMP AND AUDIO RESEARCH SP1 PREAMP WITH CALIFORNIA AUDIO MKII ICON CD PLAYER. THE CABLES ARE VERY GOOD ALSO. THE TUNER DOES NOT HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE, JUST AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.
electrostaticman

Showing 6 responses by sean

good website and thanks for posting it Mendenhalx. While i did not agree with all of their comments based on first hand experience, i think it will give a lot of people food for thought. Sean
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Using all capitals is extremely annoying. It also makes it harder to read and follow along. I know that you've been asked NOT do this in the past and we are asking again. Please refrain from using all capital letters when posting.

The most sensitive tuner that i have ever used is a NAD 4125. It can pick up a weak station that is appr 40 miles away at full quieting using a 6' piece of coax with NOTHING connected to it. It is simply a piece of shielded coax that is screwed in at one end and hanging horizontally behind the tuner. Quite honestly, this is performance that i have a hard time believing. As a point of reference, i have tried a Magnum Dynalab FT-101, Musical Fidelity E-50, Quad FM-4, Citation 23, Yamaha TX-950, Pioneer TX-9500, etc... using an indoor wire dipole ( the big wire "T" that comes with a tuner ) and NOT gotten the station in as cleanly.

This is not a fancy tuner, only has five presets, no remote, etc... and is quite old. It makes use of Schotz tuning circuitry from what i can recall. I think that Proton also made tuners with similar circuitry. Both should be dirt cheap. So cheap that i'd be embarrassed to admit what i paid for it and where i purchased it from.

Set one of these up ( or something similar ) with a reasonable antenna and you'll probably be in business. Sean
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I would say that the sound quality of the specific NAD that i mentioned was "mid pack". In other words, it wasn't phenomenal and wasn't the worst. Then again, i have never even bothered to hook it up to even a wire dipole since that "piece of coax" seemed to be doing the job. I'm sure that applying a stronger input signal would further increase the signal to noise ratio, improve imaging, increase dynamic range, etc...

Needless to say, i'm not using this as my primary source of FM reception. Even if i was, i don't think that i would be drastically disappointed with its' overall performance or sonics. Most FM is limited by the "compressed and EQ'd" broadcast quality and not the tuner. I don't doubt that other tuners could easily outperform this one under ideal circumstances though. Like anything else, a more specialized and expensive product SHOULD easily outperform a "cut corner" mass produced piece of gear.

I simply mentioned this specific model because of the excellent sensitivity and capture ratio that it seems to offer. I know that many folks visiting this site are "out in the boonies". Besides that, who wants to pay megabucks for a tuner when SOOOO much of what is broadcast is junk to start off with ??? You should be able to find this or an equivalent product for pennies on the dollar. As such, it will probably do a bang up job for those looking to add yet another source of "free" musical entertainment to their systems.

Quite honestly, i found this tuner in a pawn shop for $29. It was in excellent shape and appeared to be fully functional, so i snagged it just out of curiosity. It may be the best $29 ( in terms of audio ) that i ever spent. Sean
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Good point Sugar. The system is only as strong as its' weakest link.

As to Celtic66's comment about selectivity, that becomes more critical in highly congested areas with a LOT of nearby signals or when you live in an area where multiple stations are broadcasting / over-lapping on the same channel.

Increased selectivity gives the tuner more ability to reject strong signals that are not on that specific frequency or to "lock" onto the signal that is strongest if two are coming in on the same frequency. The tuner can literally "select" the best / strongest signal coming into it and reject the others.

While i'm not attempting to belittle the importance of good selectivity, the original posters description seems as if they are experiencing problems with getting ANY type of signal to receive due to their distance from the stations, being down in a valley and the extremely hilly terrain. While multipath might be a problem due to all of the signal bounce from the tall buildings in "metropolis" and the nearby rolling hills, i think that they would experience more of a problem in terms of trying to receive / lock onto the incoming signals rather than having problems with rejecting / having to select amongst them due to an overabundance or problems with front end overload.

As such, i would stick with a highly sensitive tuner and try to get some type of antenna up as high as possible. If you they had to make a long run of coax to mount the antenna at a remote location ( even WAY up in a tree, etc...), i would recommend the use of quad shield RG-6 to minimize loss. This cable can be purchased at Radio Shack and is not hard to work with in terms of routing, flexibility or making connections. Sean
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I think that once you reach a specific level with a tuner, the remainder of how well it works is up to the antenna system and the quality of the broadcast. From a personal standpoint, i would NOT bury myself financially into ANYTHING unless i was ABSOLUTELY and POSITIVELY sure first hand that it would give me what i was looking for.

Try shooting for the less expensive model and put the difference into a good outdoor antenna. You'll be better off doing this than buying a more expensive tuner and trying to make do with a lesser antenna. I bet that the "cheaper" tuner and "good" antenna will be more than enough to keep you happy.... Sean
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For the record, i'm assuming that "Dunno" was Bob as his post was above mine.

I have used a Magnum 101 and found that two of my other tuners sounded better and operated with less problems. Those are MY results in MY systems at MY location. Much of what you experience with a tuner will be location and broadcast dependent. Then again, i live less than 20 miles from most of the major broadcasters in my area, so other aspects of these specific tuners might not come into play. My experience has been that tuners with the best sound quality typically do not have the best "ears" i.e. they lack "sensitivity" to weak or distant stations. That is why i stressed the importance of a good outdoor antenna if you are ANY type of distance from the transmitters.

I have another tuner on the way as we speak. It too is supposed to sound EXCELLENT but is lacking in the "long distance receive" category. Luckily, i am not in that boat at this point in time. Should i choose to relocate further away from Chicago, i may be forced to change all of my "tuner criteria".... Sean
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