advertisement


VHF/FM radio ...

Dear Jim,

Thanks for your linked essay. From the outside, it is easy to wonder what the thinking at the BBC is about lossless streaming, but clearly there is more to it than I had imagined.

I suspect that VHF FM is going to be the best we shall get for a long time, and so let's hope that that they don't stop VHF before something as good comes along.

Best wishes from George

Must admit that the thought that came to my mind was, "I wonder what you'd make of the 320k aac stream processed into mono. :)
 
Mono uses less FM channel bandwidth than the stereo L-R multiplex, so it is less affected by narrow IF filters and therefore by adjacent channels

It's a bit more complicated than that if the transmission is in stereo. The reason being that the L-R stuff still causes the modulation to swing over a large range with its added HF components. So if the IF filtering it too narrow it will distort, and some of that may affect the L+R when the tuner 'averages over' the L-R.

Despite that, the effect is, indeed, likely to be less distortion than for stereo.
 
I'm new to the world of FM tuners, but my recent purchase of a Rotel RT-850AL is giving so much pleasure. It's working surprisingly well using an indoor dipole antenna. This will mainly be used for Radio 3 live and recorded concerts. I've no previous experience of FM tuners and didn't want to spend the earth. Bearing that in mind a good friend (of this parish) pointed me toward the Rotel and I'm pleased he did. It seems incredible that for £12.50 (plus post) off the bay I was able to pick up a mint specimen in good working order. I rather like the look of the Quad FM4 and Meridian 504, but I suppose we're then getting into roof aerial territory.

NAT3 would be a good next step, but mine did need a Galaxy 17 to work properly. I did have it in the loft without too much losss of signal.
 
NAT3 would be a good next step, but mine did need a Galaxy 17 to work properly. I did have it in the loft without too much losss of signal.

Sensitivity doesn't lower the further up the ladder you climb. As my 01 and the previous 101 are/were very insensitive, I can't imaging any Naim tuner coming close to sensitive. The Japanese were pretty good at this, though. A Troughline I borrowed for a time was almost as insensitive as the Naim, so maybe it's a British trait !
 
I suspect the Japanese designed FM tuners more for Japan and the USA than for the UK. That tends to mean a wide variation in signal levels and the number of stations crammed onto the band. People in the USA might want to DX an FM station a long way from the, packed in beside local stations. Whereas for many decades the same set of national BBC FM stations were arranged to give people a better access to them over a fair bit of the UK.
 
State of the art in tuners remains up market Japanese ones from around '75 - 85...

Such as? A Marantz (8B?) valved tuner was very highly rated, but that was sixties. I had, among others, Pioneer, Stereofetic (Leak) and Revox, but they were early seventies and were never mooted as 'top' tuners. Generally, top tuners include Naim, Yamaha (?) and Magnum, all subsequently
 
Such as? A Marantz (8B?) valved tuner was very highly rated, but that was sixties. I had, among others, Pioneer, Stereofetic (Leak) and Revox, but they were early seventies and were never mooted as 'top' tuners. Generally, top tuners include Naim, Yamaha (?) and Magnum, all subsequently

Such as the most expensive models from Trio (Kenwood), Pioneer, Sansui and Yamaha. Revox are up there as well. Naim are not in the same league.
Leak Stereofetic is good and even better are the 2000 series tuners (avoid the amps they are truly awful) but certainly not in super tuner league. The Troughline was good in its day but crap by modern standards.
 
I’ve never really seen Naim as a serious tuner contender. They’re certainly competent but nothing special IMO. And unfathomably overpriced I think.The others that Arkless mentions are certainly up there. My father in law had a beautiful Yamaha year’s ago. He loved it. Often regrets selling it.He now owns a modern Magnum Dynalab.
 
I’ve owned a few tuners :) including three different Revox, a noisy Magnum Dynalab 108, the poor Naim 01 and 02 (and ridiculous Ron Smith twig - but then some like structural damage) and Leak Troughline thing, a Marantz 10b, various top Sony, Sansui, Pioneer and Yamaha etc etc (there’s a full list on here somewhere). The ones I kept are a McIntosh MR78, (cost £800 and gets most use), a very splendid Marantz 2130 (£30), a Yamaha CT7000 (£300) which shows how hi-fidelity components should be built, and a Sony ST-5950SD (£50) for sentimental reasons. The rest are gone and with thousands and thousands of internet radio stations from around the globe in up to and including flac quality, won’t be coming back. Tuners were fun, a good insight into house sounds and a real education in hi-fi bullshit (especially UK hi-fi bullshit) but it’s over. Shame about BBC radio. :(
 
Naim are not in the same league.

I’ve never really seen Naim as a serious tuner contender.

In the early eighties, the 01 (and its lesser sibling, the 101) was considered among the top few tuners in reviews and magazine appraisals at the time. It is insensitive, but with a decent signal, has a fine, balanced and very natural presentation. It didn't win accolades in its time because it was Naim; it did so on merit. I've no idea about the more recent tuner derivatives, though the 02 is supposed to be good; its predecessor was.
 
I’ve owned a few tuners :) including three different Revox, a noisy Magnum Dynalab 108, the poor Naim 01 and 02 (and ridiculous Ron Smith twig - but then some like structural damage) and Leak Troughline thing, a Marantz 10b, various top Sony, Sansui, Pioneer and Yamaha etc etc (there’s a full list on here somewhere). The ones I kept are a McIntosh MR78, (cost £800 and gets most use), a very splendid Marantz 2130 (£30), a Yamaha CT7000 (£300) which shows how hi-fidelity components should be built, and a Sony ST-5950SD (£50) for sentimental reasons. The rest are gone and with thousands and thousands of internet radio stations from around the globe in up to and including flac quality, won’t be coming back. Tuners were fun, a good insight into house sounds and a real education in hi-fi bullshit (especially UK hi-fi bullshit) but it’s over. Shame about BBC radio. :(

I had a McIntosh MR78 in for service many years ago and it was very impressive! great build and great sound.
 
.aac and Flac don’t light up in a cool way.

29072949875_0df504ff63_b.jpg


Just sayin’.
 
In the early eighties, the 01 (and its lesser sibling, the 101) was considered among the top few tuners in reviews and magazine appraisals at the time. It is insensitive, but with a decent signal, has a fine, balanced and very natural presentation. It didn't win accolades in its time because it was Naim; it did so on merit. I've no idea about the more recent tuner derivatives, though the 02 is supposed to be good; its predecessor was.

Others were also considered
 
Indeed:

IMG_1779 by Rob Holt, on Flickr
I’ve still got my SX750 from when I was a student ( inc the Castle Tynes I bought at the same time to go with it). My tuner collection is now whittled down to-
MD108
MD102
Troughline III/ TdeP valve decoder.

There’s real magic in the sound of the MDs coming through Harbeth speakers and a good amp. You could argue why not just use internet radio but why bother with vinyl either? Both are enthusiast pursuits and will endure I feel.

Both my four element yagis are a bit battered by wind and time, so need to get that sorted. Problem is they’re hard to find now- the last two were from Maplin.
Any tips on suppliers most welcome.
 
.aac and Flac don’t light up in a cool way.

29072949875_0df504ff63_b.jpg


Just sayin’.

I've long felt that audio playing/recording programs/apps on computers need good-looking PPMs. So have tended to add them for some of my DIY stuff. But for a 'net radio', yes it would be nice if that had a display that mimiced one of the nicer types of old FM tuner and gave you a tuning control that 'tuned' the display from station to station.

Could even use 'FM' for 320k aac/flac and 'AM' for modest mp3 stations. Or something similar in the form of a 'signal strength' waggle-meter. :)
 


advertisement


Back
Top