Tuner Information Center...gospel?

jim rivers is yust one guy in a small room w/a very good, but not cutting edge rig. which is pretty-much made clear on the shootouts site. while i do agree with some of jim's findings, i don't agree 100% w/all of them. (same goes w/the ricochets, which is a nice counterpoint to the shootouts.) but, yust like anything else in audio, the shootouts are only a starting point, not the "gospel", as you put it. use your own ears.

also, realize that jim's absolute fave tuna is a modded kenwood kt-7500. buy one for ~$100, pay someone $200-$300 to mod it if ya cannot diy, & be in tuna heaven. (i owned one of these, modded to the hilt by bill ammons - one of the best tuna techs, & they *are* outstanding, but not *my* fave.)

another point, regarding the shootouts, & how close in sound the better tunas really are, is to consider what jim says about the pioneer f-91, which ranks mid-pack in his group:

"...In a large room, in a big sound system, I might choose this Pioneer over the L-02T...."

but, regarding the md108, based upon my own limited experience w/md tunas, & what other folks w/more experience than myself have said about them, i *do* believe when jim says the mitsubishi da-f20 (which i own), is better than the md108. ;~) the md108 uses a car-stereo chip; for $6k they coulda really made a helluva tuna imo, instead of yust a wery good one. and, no, i am not one of those who gets upset when my personal gear is slighted - the da-f20 i own is *not* the main tuna in my rig. mebbe if i mod it... ;~)

doug s.

Although I hate to have to do so, I agree with Whatjd. I too noticed this overwhelming "vintage" bias to the point where you are ridiculed if you do not share that opinion. I am not saying that many of the older tuners did not have superior parts and build quality as they surely did with the greater emphasis on FM in those days. However, like Whatjd, I too had an MD-108 that I also have since sold, that easily outperfomed a few of the "vintage" tuners suggested by that group that I bought and that were modified (Sansui, Mac and HK Citiation to name a few).

I sold the MD-108 when I thought I was going to be moving to a state where there were no good FM stations. Then, my wife and I decided to stay put so I recently bought a modified Rotel RT-990BX tuner as what I thought would be a stop gap measure until I bought another MD tuner. The Rotel had Black Gates installed in the audio section and power supply, had upgraded silver wire, better diodes and an IEC connector installed to allow aftermarket PCs.

Thinking the Rotel would just get me by until I could find another MD-108, I hooked it up and was BLOWN AWAY! Hooked to the same mediocre MD ST-2 whip antenna that my MD-108 was (I have a 11" Yagi and rotator that I hadn't installed yet when I decided to sell the MD-108), the Rotel had even better sensitivity and gave me 90% of the sound of the MD-108 for a tenth of the price!

So, I went on to the subject forum asking whether anyone there thought the flagship Rotel RHT-10 "Michi" tuner (my Rotel was the step below the RHT-10), either stock or if similarly modifed would significantly improve on the RT-990BX since I had the chance to pick one up.

Needless to say that I was completely ignored. One guy e-mailed me off-line with a little help but that was it. And trust me, this isn't a forum where people are shy about giving their opinions!!!

76doublebass, i remember your postings, as i am also a joseph chow customer. i went back & searched the archives, & didn't find anything offensive about responses to your postings. in fact, i noticed i replied to one of your questions myself! :>) of course it could be that you were not the only one that took offense - the moderators may have gone back & deleted a post or two. they do that sometimes, if things get outta hand. don't be scared off by one or two folk that may get a wild hair up their a** once in a while. it happens everywhere. as i said, the moderators go in & remove the ugly stuff. some sites i know about have the posts screened *beforehand*. you wouldn't want that, now would ya? ;~)

doug s.

fmpnd, you were not completely ignored - in fact, i replied to you, referring you to more info about the rht-10 on the fmtunerinfo.com site. you will also recall i teased you about the fact that you thought your modded 990bx wasn't as good as your md108! :>)

part of the reason (the main one, imo), that you didn't get a better response, is the fact that the rht-10 is a *wery* rare tuna; (only ~500 ever made), most folk have never heard one. i certainly haven't. i had a chance to buy one a while back, i should have jumped; but it was a bit over my budget. (is the one you have a line on awailable for a good price?) :>)

i would hazard a guess that a stock rht10 would be comparable to your modded 990bx, but, per the info on the site i referred you to, it can be modded to be even better (perhaps the best, according to the info on the fmtunerinfo.com site?)

doug s.