TUNERS..anyone?

I can't add much to what has already been said, but I will concur with the message that recommends spending time on the Vintage Tuner Web site. (Great site!) Also check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/

The best bang for your buck, and probably best bang period, will be in a vintage tuner from back when R&D was going into tuners.

I have owned one of the modern "super" tuners and now have a Yamaha T-2 from circa '78. The Yammie is better!

David, I would suggest you join this Yahoo group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/, as well as spend time on the afore mentioned Vintage Tuner site. This Yahoo group is dedicated to FM tuner users and there is a lot of experience there.

The vintage Mac's have a wonderful reputation and there are people that can steer you to which are better than others. From what little I have read, the Sansui may have the advantage at pulling in stations, but depending on the model, some Mac's will have an advantage in sound.

I own a Sansui, though I am not using it, and I can attest to it's ability to pull in stations.

Also, those that are really into FM listening fall into two groups, some like to find a happy medium, DX'ers and audiophiles. Audiophiles want the best sound possible from their tuners while DX'ers want to pull in as many stations as they can and from as far as they can.

This link, http://www.amfmdx.net/fmdx/tuners.html, ranks some tuners in "Top of the line", "Excellent", "Very good" and "Solid performers" in regards to DXing. The TU-717 falls under Very good, two Mac's are listed under Solid performers. Keep in mind, this is DX rating, not audiophile.

I will step out and slightly disagree with Bob in that those he listed are not the best value for your buck, unless you are wanting to purchase a new unit, and even then I question if there aren't some "hidden" gems much cheaper.

I will say again that your best bang for your buck is a vintage tuner. Being that these tuners are used, obviously, they can be purchased at cheaper prices than new ones, for the most part, clearly there are exceptions.

In the 70's and early 80's some incredible tuners were being made. In comparison for example, the Fanfare, which I owned, has a four gang front end and the T-2 I replaced it with is a 7 gang front end; not that this is the end all to tuners design.

Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoyed the Fanfare for the year I owned it and you can find my comments on Audiogon to confirm this, but I never compared it to anything either.

There have been several on here to praise the T-2 along with me, I must point out that there are many other vintage tuners I feel would make people very happy as well, I just happen to have chosen the T-2. I also have a Sansui TU-717 and this also is a wonderful performer, probably the best of the three I have owned at pulling in stations.

As for using good interconnects and power cords, I have no arguement with that, vintage tuners genrally have fixed power cords though. BUT, if the tuner isn't good out of the box w/o "tweaks", how much better is one that is???

With some research, IMO, you can get a vintage tuner cheaper than some of the newer tuners mentioned and stand a good chance of having a better product. Consider this, the T-2 listed for $750 way back in 1978.

Hi Phil! In response, I know you really liked the bass in the Fanfare, but I don't think it has an advantage over the T-2 in bass.

Correct me if wrong, but wasn't it Stereophile that compared the Fanfare FT-1, Rotel RHT-10 and one of the MD's years back? If I remember correctly, they liked all sonically, each having slight differences, as all tuners do, but they thought they were on par with one another; yet they gave the nod to the Fanfare for it's remote and presets.

Even though the signal we receive today, for the most part, is far from what could be, I enjoy using my tuner a lot and it is my most used source.

David -- Congrats on your "new" tuner and thanks for the follow up. You didn't say what you paid, but as long as FM continues on, you have a tuner that will probably always have value. Enjoy!!

What a great purchase.