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Best tuner ever made?

Do I detect a note of irony in abbydog's comment?

Maybe it's just slight paranoia ...

Anyway, I am patriotic, for sure; but that's not the main thing.

Consider this: based on the statistical analyses of hi-fi products' performances published by manufacturers and magazines, we are undoubtedly able to buy higher-quality and lower-cost items across the board than was ever possible in the 1970's and 1980's ....

BUT THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE IN FACT.

As that man said, 'Lies, damn lies, and statistics'.

I have no prejudice against measuring things. Making measurable comparisons can be both scientific and enlightening.

But when 'performance' is the issue statistical measurements are not a substitute for my experience and judgements. So when some US-based Hi-Fi Tuner Assessment setup tries telling me with great authority that a Naim Nat-01 might be the 17th best or 30the 'Best Tuner Ever', I can tell with certainty this is B******T!

Skyebridge
 
Abbydog:

Please try to understand the point I am patiently making: the US-based outfit DOES NOT THINK - it merely produces numbers and words, which tend to mislead many honest folk.

Skyebridge
 
which tend to mislead many honest folk.
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I've already said you own the very bestest greatest tuner on the planet and its British and its made for unique British FM which is different to FM everwhere else and the BBC helped and it only needs a 50-odd element Ron Smith to work and your subjective opinion is right and others are misleading and no measurements were ever needed to demonstrate this obvious fact....
 
Nick_G said:
I'm guessing the MFM must be an old tuner if it goes up to 104.1. I saw a very nice-looking Dual tuner on eBay Germany recently that is supposed to be excellent but it also only tuned up to 104 MHz. This surprised me as I thought Europe had used 105-108 for much longer than here.
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Depends what you mean by old.. The Meridian MFM is from around 1984.

Remember that until the early 1980s, FM in the UK only went up to 98MHz, the band was extended in the early 80s and then fully extended to what we have now in the late 80s.

So the MFM only going up to 104 meant that it still had a range in the UK that was far more than available. The MFM I bought that went up to 108 came from a guy in Spain.

Each country is different (or was different).

From http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/trans_hist2.html

Until the early 1980s, the FM broadcast band in the UK extended only from 88.1 to 97.6 MHz, providing room for only three national networks and some local radio. Consequently, Radio 1 was only on FM for 23 hours a week, displacing Radio 2 and there was not enough space for both BBC and Independent local radio to broadcast on FM in all towns and cities. Furthermore, Radio 4 was not available on FM in most of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where the BBC's regional stations had taken over its frequencies, and education programmes displaced the regular Radio 4 and regional programmes for around 20 hours a week. Radio Wales was not on FM at all.

To resolve these problems, it was decided to extend the FM band in the UK to 87.6 to 107.9 MHz. This was done in stages, with the first chunk of spectrum from 102.4 to 104.5 (and later 104.9) allocated to BBC and commercial local radio. This spectrum was brought into use in 1983 with new commercial stations and the BBC expanding some of its city stations into county stations, with name changes where appropriate. During 1986 and the first half of 1987, more than half of the local radio transmitters changed frequency as both the upper and lower local radio sub-bands were divided into separate BBC and commercial halves. This re-plan enabled most of the older commercial stations to increase their transmitter powers. Prior to this, the whole FM band in Ireland (the North and the Republic) was replanned to extend the UK's sub-bands to the Republic, enabling both countries to operate more transmitters. Before the changes, there was only space for two national networks (below 97.6) in the Republic
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I suppose it was because it was from a British manufacturer and made for the UK market. It still seems a bit odd that this tuner was released at around the time the frequency expansion had started. It seems even more odd that a German manufacturer, Dual, should also make a tuner that stops at 104 MHz. Surely the whole band has been in use in Germany for longer than here?

I do remember hearing the police transmissions between around 98-102 MHz. They were a PITA during tropospheric lifts when continental stations came in.

Someone mentioned Macintosh tuners being the best DXers. Possibly true until the Sony XDR-F1HD and it's ilk appeared in 2008/9. Shame about the audio quality though.

Regards,
Nick
 
In most of Europe the VHF band used to be limited to 104MHz because the 104-108MHz range was (AFAIK) reserved for emergency services.

All of my European tuners from the '70s are limited to 104MHz, although some, like the Dual CT-1641, can be modified relatively easily to cover up to 108MHz.
 
Seem to remember the ft5500 mkii being rated as the most sensitive, and best signal to noise that angus mckenzie had ever tested in 1983 or so...gaasfet frontend!!
Sounds great as well.
 
Mignun said:
In most of Europe the VHF band used to be limited to 104MHz because the 104-108MHz range was (AFAIK) reserved for emergency services.

All of my European tuners from the '70s are limited to 104MHz, although some, like the Dual CT-1641, can be modified relatively easily to cover up to 108MHz.
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Interesting. When did the first European tuners with coverage up to 108 MHz appear? Certainly the Japanese brands were producing full-range tuners in the 70s (like my Yamaha T-2).
 
Top end japanese designs every time, with the very odd exception such as the Onix.
Best I've experienced was from a 70s Accuphase monster which I stupidly sold.

The little brit tuners are fine here in the uk if you stick to BBC stations, but no way are they sonically better than the best vintage japanese designs.

Where I do kind of agree with Skyebridge is on the filter spec.
In the uk, for general use on the few good *good stations we have left it's pointless getting hung-up on the number of FM tuning gangs. Five-Seven gangs as seen in the top spec tuners is primarily of benefit to DX use. It doesn't actually make a tuner sound better unless the reception conditions are poor.

Lots of really sweet sounding three gang tuners out there and those are fine for the odd listen to Auntie.




* Good relating to the audio and technical quality. I'm not commenting on the quality of the station content which can be excellent even from a duff, technically poor pirate station. Many of these stations have internet streams and those are often much better than the 'broadcast from a DIY rig in a bedroom' FM feed.
 
Has anyone on here ever heard an ION Systems FMT1 or FMT 2?
Despite being an ION amp fan I never got to hear the tuners.

Mull
 
Mullardman said:
Has anyone on here ever heard an ION Systems FMT1 or FMT 2?
Despite being an ION amp fan I never got to hear the tuners.

Mull
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Yes, I still have an ION FMT1. One of the few ION pieces left of my collection - the others are a late Obelisk 3X + X-Pak. It's a cute little thing and performs well, although I haven't used in a few years. ION were the UK distributors for Magnum Dynalab and I believe MD had some input into the ION tuners. I've never come across an FMT2 although the FMT1 sales bumph makes mention of it - effectively seems to be a modified FMT1 with an offboard X-Pak power supply. I wonder how many were ever made before ION's demise.

p.s. RIP Richard Hay.
 
Top end japanese designs every time
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I don't disagree with this but please don't disregard some of the very good European tuners. I'm trying to get my hands on a nice Klein + Hummel FM2002 at the moment. Heard one briefly and it was excellent. The Burmesters are expensive although extremely good while I like the Revox 760 and 261. The latter is a little under the radar here but can be exceptional and does not carry the premium of the 760, or the bloody Nextel. Some of the Restek, Wienschoff and Wega stuff that crops up on ebay.de also looks interesting.
 
I used to own an ion fmt2 and it was very good ,nicely made with decent components.

I also owned a trio kt917, big beast of thing .

Nat 01 is in a different league to both of them.
 
abbydog said:
I don't disagree with this but please don't disregard some of the very good European tuners. I'm trying to get my hands on a nice Klein + Hummel FM2002 at the moment. Heard one briefly and it was excellent. The Burmesters are expensive although extremely good while I like the Revox 760 and 261. The latter is a little under the radar here but can be exceptional and does not carry the premium of the 760, or the bloody Nextel. Some of the Restek, Wienschoff and Wega stuff that crops up on ebay.de also looks interesting.
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Have you seen this FM2002 on ebay Germany?:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321015490661?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Seller only states within Germany but it might be worth asking him if he'll ship overseas.

Regards,
Nick
 
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Thanks Nick. I try to stick to the BINs from dealers in Germany but that looks very nice.

Had £80 on your Yam by the way. Nice it went to a good home.

Would have liked to compare with my CT7000 - they're said to be on a par by some.
 
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