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Best tuner ever made?

As objects AND as things that sound good - 70s Mac and Accuphase are hard to argue with. Still regret parting with my mint MR-77. But the Accuphase T100 was better yet. A Yamaha T-2 held its own. The Tandberg 3001A produced odd smells. The Kenwoods I never took to. Never got hold of the big Sansuis. Tried UK tuners - the Quad FM4 was really really nice but not so good on reception. The Revox held no interest once I got to touch one. I still want an olive Naim Nat01 or 2 just to say I tried (and love the aesthetics). Proton table radio - BIG thumbs up there too!

The nighttime glow of The Mac was just - I want one all over again. Like the 77 more than the 78.

And for the record - still LOVING the cheap Sony digital tuner (here in the states) - XDR-F1HD . Sounds WAY better than anything this cheap has any right to. Small and homely, but whatever...
 
That's some list Al2002! I have a TU-9900 from USA and use a transformer. Sounds fantastic. Would love to hear a TU-X1 (much of an improvement?)

So, GT Audio - what's this "de-emphasis" about and what am I missing out on (and how corrected if I was minded)? I've heard my Sansui alongside top Naim tuners and it fared very well as it is....
 
De emphasis is much the same as Dolby noise reduction

Treble frequencies are boosted to be later attenuated along with the hiss
 
I am struggling to find an aerial connector to go into the back of my tuner, it is a male plug very similar to the one that goes into the back of your television, however the male part of the plug is much thinner like a needle. The tuner I have is a Revox B160, your help would be appreciated.
 
tu9900.jpg


according to this circuit diagram you already have switchable de emphasis.

if the 50us or 75 us settings are unsuitable i dont think it would take much time to come up with the required components to give other settings.

if you want the whole circuit diagram send me your email address by PM
 
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. :D 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.
 
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I am struggling to find an aerial connector to go into the back of my tuner, it is a male plug very similar to the one that goes into the back of your television, however the male part of the plug is much thinner like a needle. The tuner I have is a Revox B160, your help would be appreciated.
sounds like you need a pal adapter, something like this:

http://store.jvc.com/product.asp?Model=PAL-F-FEMALE

these are awailable from many sources...

doug s.
 
I have always thought that the old Sansui TU 919 was very good indeed, as with most of the Sansui range of that time, nice sounding and well engineered. The usual "Pioneer and Technics" brigade used to look upon it rather sniffily. I had an old AU505 Amp many years ago feeding a pair of Wharfedale Denton 2's and later on for a short while into some KEF C80's and I remember it sounded rather good actually. Replaced it with an old Denon PMA something or other, more powerful but lacked the "something" the Sansui had. I liked Sansui gear..
 
I have always thought that the old Sansui TU 919 was very good indeed, as with most of the Sansui range of that time, nice sounding and well engineered. The usual "Pioneer and Technics" brigade used to look upon it rather sniffily. I had an old AU505 Amp many years ago feeding a pair of Wharfedale Denton 2's and later on for a short while into some KEF C80's and I remember it sounded rather good actually. Replaced it with an old Denon PMA something or other, more powerful but lacked the "something" the Sansui had. I liked Sansui gear..
damn! besides the tu-x1, i forgot about the sansui's! the tu517/717/719 all offer superb performance, yust a cut below the best, even when bone stock. while ~$200 or a little more is not uncommon, somethimes they can be found for $100 or less - especially the 517, which gets less respect, even tho almost identical inside to the 717.

some folks think the tu919 is as good or better than the tu9900 or even the tu-x1.

doug s.
 
If you can find one. Lynx put a modified Magnum Dynalab board in a case to match their preamp. I like the styling too. Mine is the best tuner I have heard, but I have not heard the famous super expensive items. I also own a Hitachi FT-5500 Mk II and a Musical Fidelity T1
 
hi all tuna freaks!

near and dear to my heart is my first real tuna - the onix bwd-1 w/soap power supply.

doug s.

Doug, I have a BWD1/SOAP. I know its a lovely tuner but I am not getting the best out of it. The special cable has got a bit ragged and I haven't implemented an aerial very well. Although I got a Magnum Dynalab I have it indoors and not very well connected.

Can you point a tuner ignoramus anywhere for pointers on how to set things up correctly? I rent a flat so I don't want to spend a lot on getting the aerial set up, but at the same time I don't want to waste the last years of FM because I couldn't be bothered.
 
Elephantears - nothing too special about the BWD1 cable - it's just a 6pin din plug/socket. Mains cable works well if you need to make up a new one.

Incidentally I found the BWD1 works even better with a quieter supply applying some RF filtering.
 
i have gone thru about 6 tuners in the past 6 months and currently have a kenwood 8300 , lovely sound , very sweet , very clear and no hiss on classic fm , hooray!!!
its not quite as good as the magnum md100 i had recently but its not far off.
does anyone know anyone in uk who can fit iec to these to give a better mains cable ?

incidentally doug mentioned the bel canto fm1 which is a cracking tuner, well worth a demo from aanvil audio . i had one for several days but its not cheap!
 


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