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Tuners

BJP

BJP

pfm Member
Never had a tuner in my main rig (well only for trying out) , bought a Denon TU-180 DAB last week (off pfm). Chuffed to bits with it , just a joy to use . So being in the game we play I fished out my Sony to test against it (photo :)) :



Doh ! the Sony not only tuned in to more (a lot) stations but sounded better , I then tried it (Sony) connected to my OPPO 205 DAC (which is a very impressive ) via digital coaxial , there was a definite deterioration .
So buying the Denon has got me loving radio but it is the Sony in my main rig , to stay.
For signal source I'm connected to my huge Freeview TV aerial .

PS I don't have a remote for the Sony , anybody ? RM-S337
 
you have a very clean looking Sony tuner there. I am a bit surprised you never had it in your main system. A bit suprised it sounded better than you external dac - maybe the dac was more truthful of the dab sound? Though Sony's bespoke dacs are not bad ( eg as found in their minidisc decks ) and the one on my Sony SDB900 dab/fm tuner is fine also
 
Internet radio would surely be better than DAB but a proper aerial would probably improve the DAB - vertical polarisation? I stick to FM but only listen to Radio 3 & Classic FM but possibly not to your taste. Best DAB tuner I have ever heard is Arcam T32 but were expensive & difficult to find now.
 
mercalia said:
you have a very clean looking Sony tuner there
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Thanks , apart from a couple of marks on the top its in excellent condition , it is a beautiful piece of kit and looks very fine in my new rack , there is now room for it and I'm enjoying the radio experience.

cjyosemite said:
a proper aerial would probably improve the DAB
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The Sony doesn't display signal quality but the Denon did and when I hooked it up to my outside Freeview aerial the BER (not sure what that means) reading on all the main stations was 0.0000 which I believe is the best you can get. btw the aerial is a huge thing .
 
A Freeview aerial is big? Wonder why. I assume you're not mistaking it with an FM aerial, which is generally larger than a TV one, depending on the number of elements. Does this mean you simply plug the TV aerial lead into the tuners, as surely there wouldn't be two download leads to one antenna.

Don't know if your Sony is FM as well; if so, try it, though it will need an external aerial, even if that's a piece of wire in a strong signal area.

Bit puzzled here.
 
Mike Reed said:
Bit puzzled here.
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Ha ! Sorry I'm a real radio rookie , the Sony is also FM and the reception is exceptional .
The aerial is like this , it must be nearly 4 feet long with the two back fins a foot each.

freeview_televes.jpg


The lead goes to a metal 6 way splitter in the loft , two leads come into my Hi-Fi room one to the TV and the other to a BT YouView box which I don't need so have used it for the tuner , the DAB connection is an F type I use a F type/Coax converter so just unplug and move to the FM connection if needed.
 
Gosh, I'm a bit out of touch with aerials, but that looks to be a multi-purpose antenna, 4 feet long isn't exceptional, however, for directional elements (my Ron Smith Galaxie 23 was well over 11 feet long). Anyway, you obviously have adequate signal. Is FM (Radio 3 is the best channel for s.q.) better on your Sony than DAB? It should be by all accounts.
 
BJP said:
Ha ! Sorry I'm a real radio rookie , the Sony is also FM and the reception is exceptional .
The aerial is like this , it must be nearly 4 feet long with the two back fins a foot each.

freeview_televes.jpg


The lead goes to a metal 6 way splitter in the loft , two leads come into my Hi-Fi room one to the TV and the other to a BT YouView box which I don't need so have used it for the tuner , the DAB connection is an F type I use a F type/Coax converter so just unplug and move to the FM connection if needed.
Click to expand...

No scale on the photo, but from photo it looks like a fairly 'blingy' UHF TV antenna, not one for either FM or DAB. It also has the wrong polarisation for DAB. So the chances are you'd get more DAB signal from an antenna designed for DAB. For reference

UHF about 600 MHz
DAB about 200 MHz
VHF about 100 MHz

and the size of the antenna scales with wavelength. i.e. a DAB antenna will be about half the size of a VHF antenna with the same gain.
 
well polaristion should be vertical for dab but in my case I get best signal in London with my indoor aerial using it horozontal - my Sony tuner does have a signal quality device
 
BJP said:
On FM there is a display for SIGNAL 60db (Radio 3) is this strength/quality reading ?
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A value in dB will be 'relative' to some reference level. The handbook may be able to tell you what that level is, if you have one.

*IF* they mean relative to one microvolt into a 75 Ohm input then it means you're getting a mV which should be enough for reasonable results.
 
dB in RF is usually with respect to 1mW, however that's 1kW of power so it probably is wrt to 1uV received.
 
Tuners can be a slippery slope if the bug bites. The McIntosh tuners were the best that I have heard with a Tandberg tuner in close second. Then came the Magnum Dynalab stuff.
 
BJP said:
Thanks I'll contact Sony and see if that one will do , then consider the price :eek:
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well even that one is discontinued probably the last one or 2. Not a nice price at all.
shame you dont live in London as I could have popped around for you to try mine
 
Snoflo said:
slippery slope if the bug bites. The McIntosh tuners were the best that I have heard with a Tandberg tuner in close second. Then came the Magnum Dynalab stuff.
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There are a few considered to be top tuners. I remember a Marantz valved one (5B?) was in this list, but the Naim 01 which I have was/is certainly up there with the best, with the proviso that it was rather inefficient, but thereby probably hangs the reason for its superb performance in s.q. terms.
 
McIntosh MR67 is best I've ever heard and I can agree with Tandberg also. The tuner section of my TR-2055 receiver is spectacularly good!
I'll get in first on Leak Troughlines to say I think they are awful and easily beaten by a modern budget tuner but the Leak Stereofetic is actually pretty damn good.
 
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