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Tuner Information Center...gospel?

I am sure many of you know this site. It seems way too many people are taking the shootout opinions as gospel.

Obvious Kennwood bias. Units that are nothing special being rated as something special....ie: Technics ST-9038 and Sansui TU-717(ok, but flat, thin, old sounding).

For what it's worth I have owned most of what this site has in the top 30, and none are better than the Magnum MD-108 (with the exception of the Accuphase 109v).

Most of the top rated older tuners sound like that...old transistors, old(and not very good) capacitors,aluminum internal wiring, Zinc RCA jacks...etc...guys and gals these do not make for high end sound.....if so, go buy some old Sansui or Kenwood amps...you wouldn't because they are outdated sonically. Then the newer Kenwoods that are rated highly...all have cheap op-amp based audio cicuits....again, these are not audiophile parts.

If you have watched the price of older tuners...and these Kenwoods...the site has had much impact on the re-sale prices of these tuners....people are putting way too much faith in one person opinions (which is what the shootouts are).

The Mitsu 20 and the Sansui 919 are very,very good...esp. if aligned and newer caps, wire and RCAs are installed. But better than the top Magnum........nope.

Also, tuners like the top two Linn, the top Naim, and others, are not among those listened to.

All this said, I do like the site, and there is much useful information and I do like the fact that this site may have made people more interested in tuners. If you have a great FM station in your area, or a few of them, then having a good tuner is a great investment. There is useful info on the site, but the shootouts are just one person's opinion.....so do some of your own listening and don't take anyone's opinion (including mine) as anything more than that.
whatjd
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Everything in listening is done with the reviewers personality, listening bias and associated equipment, all thrown into the mix.

The guy that owns that site is a friend. I see him and we and listen together every week. A lot of what he likes, I like. That being said, our systems are VERY different.

I don't know how much testing is done at other locations but none is done on my system. I have a cheap tuner :^).:

link is to image of his main listening system: (Not visible are JM Lab Daline 3.1).

http://members.aol.com/ppguru/den.jpg

For what it's worth, Jim is very honest. Whatever opinions and conclusions he publishes are what he believes (no payola or ads taken).
whatjd OP
1,139 posts
 
Hi Albert,

Understand what you are saying, and as you can see in my post I am not questioning the man's honesty. Just feel that people are taking the shootout as being the last word on tuners.

Also, I trust my own ears. Most of the tuners that I have had were "tested" on a system based on Maggie 20 and a CJ ART.

I know the Magnum is expensive, and we would all like for there to be some magic that makes a used 200 dollar tuner better...it just isn't so.

Some of the tuners he has above the Magnum, if modified and aligned, can be very pleasant.

Perhaps he had a bad MD-108. I am not trying to over-hype the 108...I sold mine,...but it was/is better than the many others I have had.....and as I said, a modified 919 or Mitsu 20 will come fairly close for less money.
beemer
444 posts
 
Well, I've had a number of tuners that have been reviewed there and agree for the most part with their conclusions.
There are some I have that I'd like to see their thoughts about, as I consider them to be quite good however mostly unknown....one being the a/d/s T2.

Recently I came across a minty used T-109V Accuphase and I can say that it has the magic here, even with a short-money Magnum Dynalab FM-2 omniderectional whip antenna I use.

Best,

Paul :-)
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Whatjd,

I understand where your coming from (your system is more like mine than Jim's)

In the end all of us must decide on which pieces of equipment makes our system "whole." What and where you test with determines that.

Look at Jim's system and at yours, easy to see why the two of you came to different conclusions :^).

Me, I have a cheap tuner. Not because I cannot hear the difference or don't want to spend the money. It's much simpler than that, we have no decent radio programming here :-).
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