I believe some years ago The Absolute Sound(?) asked the question as to whether the best tuner (Blaupunkt?) was an automobile unit. On the one hand a moving vehicle would probably need better tuning ability, on the other hand the necessary miniaturization might necessitate compromise.
What are the Best FM tuners?
This is an often asked question. This is my current list of favorites:
A. Good out of the box, judging sound quality only, not in order of preference because each has merits:
1. Very rare Accuphase T-103
2. 1 out of 10 Tandberg TPT 3001As
3. Onkyo T-909
4. Bogen TP-100
5. Akai AT-S7
6. JVC FX-1100B
7. NEC T-710
8. Onix Audio BWD-1
9. Kenwood KT-990D
10.Crown FM-2
11.Marantz ST-17
12.Sim Audio "Moon"
B. Modified tuners, both RF and audio performance, in order of preference:
1. Kenwood KT-727
2. Kenwood KT-3200D
3. NEC T-6E
4. SAE 8000
5. Accuphase T-101
6. Sony ST-S550ES
7. Onkyo T-4500
8. Tandberg TPT-3011A
9. McIntosh MR-74
10.Luxman T-110
11.Onkyo T-909
12.MD-102, early version
Sure, there are others -- and you may have your own opinions -- but these have proven to be excellent choices over the past 20 years.
A. Good out of the box, judging sound quality only, not in order of preference because each has merits:
1. Very rare Accuphase T-103
2. 1 out of 10 Tandberg TPT 3001As
3. Onkyo T-909
4. Bogen TP-100
5. Akai AT-S7
6. JVC FX-1100B
7. NEC T-710
8. Onix Audio BWD-1
9. Kenwood KT-990D
10.Crown FM-2
11.Marantz ST-17
12.Sim Audio "Moon"
B. Modified tuners, both RF and audio performance, in order of preference:
1. Kenwood KT-727
2. Kenwood KT-3200D
3. NEC T-6E
4. SAE 8000
5. Accuphase T-101
6. Sony ST-S550ES
7. Onkyo T-4500
8. Tandberg TPT-3011A
9. McIntosh MR-74
10.Luxman T-110
11.Onkyo T-909
12.MD-102, early version
Sure, there are others -- and you may have your own opinions -- but these have proven to be excellent choices over the past 20 years.
75 responses Add your response
| Post removed |
I, must say you should give the nakamichi st 7 a listen , with the sholtz circuitry, it is really quiet and really pulls in weak stations, of course you must have a good antenna, and most of us don't hook up to outside antennas, I use a non powered inside antenna , which is really good .I think it was called the sound trap , |
This question may have been relevant to hifi in the 1980's but is it in 2017? I had a decent Yamaha tuner with a pretty good antennae in the attic but never used it so I sold the tuner and have not missed it. With all the source options that are available today with better quality and music choices, is this a hifi option? |
Your opinions are interesting, but there is a site that had many knowledgeable FM guys test and listen to all the ones they could get their hands on, and it was a lot. All of you are prejudiced by what you have owned and heard, but your experience is too limited. This site also offers upgrade advice, and occasionally contradictory opinion, such as the low ranking of the Kenwood KT815, which one tech raved about. I have owned most of the best Kenwood tuners, and others tested for the site, and must agree with both reviewers of this tuner: For example: The thing has no bass. It sucks on rock, but it sounds really good on classical music. Slight mods give it bass. I really believe this $430 tuner in 1979 was designed to make the $1000 KT917 sound like it was worth more than double the price. I have owned both, and first had the entry level $300 KT615. When I read that the electronic (HORRORS!), and inexpensive B&K TS10 sounded a bit better than the 917, I had to find out for myself. I now own one. I tried out several tuners from the site's shootout rankings, and they are spot on. FYI, I had to use my best preamp amps, and speakers to hear any difference at all between the B&K and 917. The B&K is a pain in the rear to use, so I kept the 815 to search for stations to put in the B&K's memory. The reason you never heard of the B&K is that it was scarfed up by Fanfare, which added a remote. See fmtunerinfo.com and go to the Shootout page. |
Interesting to see the Crown FM-2 on the list, which I've had for oh around 35 years. And agree by the way! Don't ordinarily see Crown components here but it's been able to cleanly pull and lock in stations others can't - with consistency. Back in the day it seemed Crown wanted to bridge that gap from Pro to consumer and this one was more the latter. |
| Post removed |
This is the best tuner money can buy right now: https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/tuners/MR89 |
I have not listened to an FM tuner at home and floor preparation Brisbane in my audio system for several years now. These days I stream a lot of local and internet radio stations in my primary audio system via Roon and/or my Lumin X1. The last two tuners I had, back in 2014 and earlier, were the Day-Sequerra M4r HD tuner and the classic analog Sansui TU-X1. Except for residual noise, the old classic Sansui was better sounding on the best-sounding local station, WFMT, classical radio in Chicago. Even on the Day-Sequerra, however, the analog signal of WFMT sounded better than the HD signal except for residual noise and multipath-induced problems. Remember, HD radio is basically the same as a 300 kbps MP-3 or AAC digital stream from an internet radio station. Now such streams can sound good (Spotify is about that quality), but they are not full Redbook CD quality For what it's worth, when I cruise around in my 2020 Mazda CX-5 Signature with factory Bose sound system (don't laugh--it's by far the best sounding car system I've owned), when multipath interference is not a factor (maybe about half the time in my near-suburban Chicago area) the sound of WFMT's analog signal is clearly superior to its HD radio sound or the station's 256 kbps AAC stream playing via USB-connected CarPlay from my iPhone 11 Pro Max. The imaging and staging is better, more three dimensional, there is more audible detail, and it just has that great "analog" sound, despite the Bose system's DSP processing |