McIntosh transistor tuners....any good ones?

I own one of the MR 7xxx series. It is easy to use, has a number of convenient presets as well as several other tuning methods, gets AM, and sounds great. On live FM broadcasts, it recreates depth and ambience. It's real strength is in those stations which broadcast MUZaK(tm) in their carriers - no birdy. Many of the tube tuners you mentioned and others are weak there, plus they are fussy to maintain, IMHO. I also own other tuners such as the ones you mentioned.

I don't think that McIntosh would sell anything that was not good - all their personnel have that rare pride in their company (obviously, otherwise they would have died off long ago or would be like Marantz is today).

I personally have only listened to the MR80 and 7082 and they both equally had remarkable soundstaging and sound quality. Reception is so antenna-dependant that there is no point in commenting on it. I will be getting a SS Mcintosh tuner when I can afford it but right now I have an older Sony ES that is suprisingly good, but not quite Mcintosh (not in price either...). I have been watching MR78s sell on ebay like crazy for upwards of $1800! I would like to hear one to see what they are all about.

All in all, I think McIntosh is the best and that most people just prefer tubes over SS. I found a friend's older Yamaha tuner (don't remember the model but was claimed to be good) to not have the sound refinement that even my Sony 550ES has. Good luck. Arthur

The MD108 tuner review in Stereophile back in 1997 mentions some of the great all time tuners, a couple of mac's were
on that list, strangley absent were the Sequerra tuners.
If someone sill has that review I'd love to see the
list of all time faves.

The 78 is not a tube tuner but has been decided to be the one Mac that all others should be judged by and cost more now than when new in most cases - then digital made the scene and no one wanted to believe they were necessarily better because it was just as easy to play a CD than to listen to the radio for the mass consumer. Before it took time and energy to play LP's so the radio still got a lot of attention and air time. There are a lot of good tuners out there but even I still feel and maybe want to even really believe that some of those old tuners including the ones found on those massive receivers of the 70's just bring it in better than some of the models made today - sales of tuners are not exactly skyrocketing so I am sure most companies are not putting much R&D into them. I like my Mcintosh 77 and my Harmon Kardon 730 receiver tuners but they do not get the air time they used to.