Finding a Great Sounding FM Tuner

I listen to about 3 hours of FM each weekday. I have 3 tuners in the house.

- Magnum Dynalab MD108T

- Sansui TU9900 

- Accuphase T-101

The MD sounds the best but the 2 vintage units are not far behind. The Accuphase was customized by a tuner genius in Santa Monica. If I had gotten that first I would not have gotten the much more expensive (and new) MD 108T.

I also use the MD-ST2 and MD-ST3 indoor antennas along with the MD Signal Sleuth. The antennas are essential, and the Sleuth does improve the signal. I am very close to the Pacific Ocean with mountains to the east of me.

I have compared the MP3 versions of the FM station streams, and it is much worse in quality to the over the air FM signal I get. I have been listening to radio of about 50 years and the sound I am getting today is the best I ever heard. A function of the station (KCRW) and my gear.

I also heard the HD Radio stream of my fav station with the great little Sony XDR-F1HD (modded). The over the air HD radio was WORSE than the online MP3 stream, which was worse than the over the air FM signal. The Sony XDR-F1HD had the very best FM reception of all my tuners. With a very good RCA interconnect it was almost as good as the Sansui (comparing only FM not HD)i. I gave away the Sony.

Livestream of a good college radio station like my beloved WHRB in Cambridge, MA, home of the “Orgy”, is only bested by good terrestrial broadcast reception on a good tuner.  I live less than 5 miles from Harvard’s transmitter so I have compared using a Yamaha T2, nearly SOTA FM tuner. My rooftop aerial got damaged and now I let the Bluesound Node do it. In my experience few tuners beat out the top Kenwood (KT-8005), Pioneer (TX-9100 or 9500), Sansui (TU-919) or Yamaha (CT7000).  The T2 beat the livestream but I can’t access the antenna any more, so I sold the tuner last year. Of course Sequerra, 10B, MR78 owners can claim bragging rights, but their day is mostly done.

@dynacohum I to have a line of site to HRB along with ERS, CRB, JIB all of which are non-commercial and or listener supported and play any kind of music you might be into with exceptional sound quality.

I’m currently receiving with a Magnum Dynalab MD90 which I bought new a few years back from Audio Advisor. The sound on most days is almost as good as any of the physical media I listen to, quiet, tuneful with great imaging I might add and I pull it all in with the aforementioned Radio Shack amplified antenna I’ve had for thirty something years. I’ve had HH Scott, McIntosh and a Pro-Ject Tuner Box S in here all with great results. I think were still quite lucky to have great FM available to us in the Boston area.

I love crustycoot's collection of gear! You need to post more pictures of his and your systems! 

The "best" sounding tuner I've used (owned as a gift) was a mono Sherwood 3000  (maybe the original or the II/III - been a long time).

My favorite "radio" was a Harmon Kardon Model 21 (SS mono).

Owned  Advent 300, Dynaco tuner and Quad FM3.

DeKay

I just went on the 'other' site to check tuner prices these days- outrageous!

FM analogue broadcasts are still alive in the UK.  Alive and well might be an issue, because some are a digital to analogue conversion of a lo-fi digital stream.  BBC Radio 3 is still superb, however, and makes having a proper set up with a roof mounted aerial worth while.

I have a 1960 Leak Troughline 3, still regarded as one of the best and still fairly affordable tuners today.  In back to back listening between BBC Radio 3 on FM, and BBC Radio 3 steamed via Tune-In Radio on a Linn Akurate DSM, there is absolutely no question that the Leak Troughline is a richer, smoother, more spacious and more musical experience.

Guy.