FM Radio, anyone?
I was a kid in the 70s. I remember listening to Detroit Tiger baseball on WJR AM 760 on summer evenings - the voice was Ernie Harwell. And I remember listening to music on our local FM stations, and FM sounded so much better than AM (well, of course it did!).
I remember the glow of the dial on higher end FM tuners, or on receivers. We had a Pioneer that was nice. But a neighbor had a beautiful Marantz with the heavy horizontal tuning dial. Today I own a Model 19 and a 2215b.
So, today I also own a McIntosh MR87 and I plan to showcase it in a whole house audio rack, with a rooftop antenna for the best possible reception. I also have a Magnum Dynalab MD-108 and I’m not sure where to put it, but it sure is pretty!
Yeah, I know, the SQ is crap compared to just about anything else these days. And radio stations just aren’t as good as they used to be, or as I choose to remember them (the exception being WXRT in Chicago). But I cannot let go! Anyone else?
I love my Fisher FM 90 tuner. Sounds better than HK Citation, and any other transistorized tuner I've tried (probably a half dozen, starting with a Citation.) My brother in law was so impressed he had me find hime a second one...which he uses. The only solid state contender I've found in the transister world is the Carver 11 Tuner. And by a small margin I still prefer the Fisher.
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Marantz 10b (mine is a rack mount chassis stuffed into reproduction wood case), Marantz 7 and 8b into Cornwall IV’s, magnum dynalab whip antenna. Living halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, I should really have a roof mounted antenna (suggestions appreciated). Most of my listening during the day while puttering around the house is the 10b tuned to CBC radio playing classical until 3:00pm. The combo just works. Wish I had more stations available that I enjoyed as much (roof mounted antenna?) Their Saturday evening jazz program is very good and I love sitting in the dark watching the glow from these relics that are nearly just as old as I, though they’ve aged much better.
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WUSF… home of The Underground Railroad At least while I lived in St. Pete from ‘65-‘75. I LOVED that station. Attended several of their riverfront festivals too. They were the only station around playing things like Procol Harum, long-play tunes from Brownsville Station, Bowie, others, worth staying up LATE to listen to on weekends. Oh, and the LOOOONG versions of “The True Story of The SS Titanic” and Alice’s Restaurant.
I have a Technics ST-9038/SH-9038 combo I did some updates/repair on (better output amplifier - OPA2134 - recapped audio signal path and power supplies, fixed push buttons) and still enjoy listening to late night/weekend FM (Hot Jazz Saturday Night, The Big Broadcast), or did, up until we moved away from DC in May. Gotta find out if there’s a station in Nashville or Huntsville (I’m between the two) broadcasting those shows (did NPR finally go fully commercial?), until then, there’s still streaming and I love me some RadioBOB aus Stadt Hessen. |
Thanks for the antenna recommendations @yyzsantabarbara @big_greg. |
