good-sounding half-width tuner recommendations, please

[coltrane]

looking for one for a friend as above in the vein of cyrus, onix, ion/nytech, but with a budget of max. 100 GBP. please advise sound-wise in the first place (after the size)

 

[madmike]

Is'nt the Sugden tuner a narrow one ?

 

[coltrane]

I don't know that one - the actual width should be 20-25cm, as of the above tuners'

 

[JemHayward]

Possibly the best tuner I ever had was a tiny Toshiba Aurex (? T-10L) from their 1980s mini system. It eventually died and I replaced it with the digital version which was nowhere near as good, then I renovated my Leak Troughline, which parcelforce then destroyed, but I think the little Aurex was still the best one I had. A friend of mine still has his, and it still sounds superb. Not sure you'd find one nowadays, or how much they'd fetch.

 

[TheDecameron]

Meridian 204 or 504 if you can take the width.

 

[ian r]

'how much they'd fetch'

Last time I saw one it was Quite a lot £300ish in a mostly working complete mini system with the jewel like minature reel to reel

On their own Id expect it to be £70-150 as they are so perfectly small and hi tech

 

[Robert]

The Onix has a well deserved reputation but will likely bust the budget, if you can find one since that are very rare.

Cyrus FM7 is good and more widely available. The older Cyrus Tuner built to march the Cyrus 2 is also excellent but the backlit display uses tiny wire ended bulbs and they often blow. Pain to fix but doable and you might find such a thing super cheap.

 

[Paja]

Cyrus FM7 is good and more widely available.

I liked this very much (reception and SQ. very good) - had one recently.
Usually sells for more than 100GBP on eBay, but can be bought for 100 if patient (in fact, I paid mine well under 100 incl. post, VG condition).

Just to mention - some functions are not supported without remote (I used Cyrus 7 integrated remote).

 

[mudlark]

I have a sugden R21 (or51 can never remember)

 

[kozolov]

Old Naim NAT01 or Ion Systems FMT1.

 

[rhgbristol]

Watch the older Nat 01s - not only will they be nowhere near your budget, the pre 1989 ones used a vacuum fluorescent display, which fades in brightness with age and is unserviceable by even Naim themselves.

Many also drift off tune after about an hour or so of use.

Avoid!

 

[Robn]

Another vote for Meridian 204, usually in budget, narrow and sounds good.

 

[coltrane]

thanks for the plenty of suggestions, lads. it seems the one that fits the budget best would either be the Cyrus 7 or the Meridian 204 - will report back when done

 

[rhgbristol]

If you had been looking for a 'half height' tuner - you could have done well with an A&R Cambridge T21 - superb sound, easy to fix, great design and can be had now for well less than £100!

 

[Batty]

I had a 1986 cyrus tuner for years, great tuner.