hi all tuna freaks!
a few misc comments. 50us deemphasis is the euro standard. 75us is north american. a euro tuna used in america will sound too bright; a usa-spec tuna will sound a bit dull in europe. if your tuna doesn't have a switch to adjust, it's usually a simple two cap replacement, (one for each channel), you need a service manual to figure out which needs replacing.
now regarding tuna themselves; the best sounding i have heard are modded sansui tu-x1, modded harman kardon citation 18, and refurb'd sherwood s3000v, along w/stock never-touched mono sherwood s3000lll and stock never-touched mono stromberg-carlson sr445a. these mono tunas were used w/studio-12 mpx decoders (adjusted to 75us deemphasis for use in america.) the sherwoods have good sensitivity, not as good as the better more modern s/s tunas, tho. the s-c's sensitivity is positively abysmal.
to give you an idea of how i think these sound, i also owned a modded accuphase t109; the above were better, tho the t109 was certainly no slouch! also, a modded refurb'd sansui tu9900 was awful close, perhaps yust a hair less low bass slam. (if you don't have a pair of subs similar to my vmps largers, -3db@17hz, you might not notice.
) and also right up there is my modded refurb's sony st-a6b, modded kenwood l07t-ll, and, believe it or not, my modded refurb'd heathkit aj1600.
now, i have owned about 100 tunas over the past 15 years, and many are extremely close to the ones i mentioned above; they would likely get even closer if i had them modded: accuphase t100/t101, audiolab 8000t, philips ah673/6731, rotel rht10, aiwa at9700u, revox b760, revox b261, mitsubishi da-f20. (actually, i had a modded da-f20, and it did get closer, but not as close as a modded tu9900 - stock, the nod goes to the mitsu; modded, the tables are turned.)
then, there's the older analog kenwoods. while i have never heard a kt600 or kt917, the kt9900 i owned was near the bottom of all the tunas i have heard - tonally accurate, but no soundstaging and not wery dynamic. but, these things really respond well to mods - a modded kt7550 i owned was top tier sonically, if a bit behind the rest due to less-than-stellar ultimate quieting.
then, there's the ones that are damn close, easily capable of satisfying any normal person w/killer sound, w/o a tuna addiction.
prices are all over the map; high price doesn't guarantee great sonics, low price doesn't necessarily equate to poor performance. near and dear to my heart is my first real tuna - the onix bwd-1 w/soap power supply. the dealer i got it from insisted the nat-01 he also had f/s was a tiny bit better, but i couldn't hear any improvement in his shop. (this guy was a tuna freak, w/real antennae on his building.) others in this category include meridian 204, technics st8600, technics st9030, yamaha t2, tandberg 3001a (extremely overpriced and unreliable, imo), sony st-s730es, pioneer f91, hitachi ft8000, jvc fx1100bk, nad4300, nikko gamma 1, creek cas3140, fisher fm90x (mono w/decoder), eico hft90 (mono w/decoder), paco st45 (mono w/decoder), sansui fm8 (mono w/decoder), pilot 580/590 (mono w/decoder), rotel rt2100, sumo charlie, sumo aurora, roksan caspian, modded refurb'd mac mr65b, restek d1, refurb'd modded scott 310d (mono w/decoder), scott 312d, sherwood s3300, leak troughline 2 (mono w/decoder), realistic fm hi-fidelity tuner (mono w/decoder), harman kardon citation 15 (would mods vault it up higher, like the similarly sounding hk 18?), marants st-17, marantz 20, and prolly a few others i am forgetting.
now, a word about some tunas that have been mentioned here. re: the mac tubers, while my modded to the gills and beautifully refurb'd mr65b was really nice, a stock sherwood tuber is noticeably superior in about every sonic category - soundstaging, detail, extension, tone. the s/s macs are positively abysmal sounding, imo - i owned a mint mr74 - supposedly the best of the s/s mac when it comes to sonics, and a refurb'd aligned mr77, which is supposedly the 2nd best sounding s/s mac, and they both fell short of the kenwood kt9900, adcom gft1a, and md ft101 i had; and these are at the bottom of all the tunas i have listened to, imo. (w/exception of a tandberg 3011a - something had to wrong w/it, it sounded so bad.) in this same group, i'd include the klh 18, and the sony st80f; i'd pick the klh and the sony over the macs, if reception weren't an issue.... ymmv
and a word about the sony xdr-f1hd. it has the best reception of any tuna i have used. but, its sonics are irritating for serious listening, imo. fine for background. i have not tried a radio-x tuners iteration; i understand this makes things better, if still not up to the best non-hd iterations. but, i have tried using an outboard tube buffer stage between it and my (tubed) preamp - this helps things immensely, and makes serious listening possible, tho again not up to the best normal tunas.
now, i would love to hear the meridian 604, the accuphase t1000, and t1100, and the belcanto fm1, because of their outboard dac capabilities.
one last word about a tuna that i have been using while marooned here on a temporary assignment in latvia - a uher eg751. i picked this up from ebay.be, based on someone's opinion back home that i respect, who says only the wega lab zero beats it, and only in some areas, and only by a tiny bit. (he's presently trying to sell it, cuz he wants funds to try a k+h fm2002):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160560257380
well, w/my mini traveling stereo, and less-than-ideal set-up, it is difficult to judge ultimate dynamics and soundstaging of the uher, but i can tell it's a contender; it definitely offers more sonic info than the nice but not stellar euro-spec philips 22ah105 i had shipped here from home...
best to all,
doug s.