Not sure what version my Creek is.Not really sure how I would know.I bought a T40 s3 from somebody here (thank you) and I must say it’s a lovely little thing. No drift, and it sounds great.
My personal references are the Revox A76 and the 1967 Beomaster 5000 (among many others). I don’t use any Japanese tuners.
S3 is etched on the fascia.Not sure what version my Creek is.Not really sure how I would know.
I recently acquired an Arcam Delta 80 tuner from a fellow PFM member (many thanks) and its sounding very good, dare I say it as good as a T21. It’s like a grown up T21 in its appearance and human/machine interface. Sound wise it strongly resembles its older sibling so sits near the top of my tuner hierarchy which currently looks like this and is based on sound first, functionality second and appearance third:
- JVC FX-1010TN SUPER DIGIFINE Stereo Tuner – this is close to the Kenwood but looks better and is a little less fussy over its aerial.
- Kenwood KT5020L - a great tuner but needs a better aerial than I have so I expect it could give much more.
- Arcam Delta 80 – a grown up T21; a lovely thing and my new favourite tuner.
- A&R T21 – classic, hard to fault and yes slightly warm (which is admirable in a tuner especially if you have an indifferent aerial).
- Creek 3040 – a good tuner but a little ‘brittle’ sounding when compared to a T21
- Rega Radio 3 – really quite average but does the job.
The best tuner I ever used was a Pioneer F91, part of their Elite range. I bought it at staff prices as an ex-dem item when I was working at Pioneer in Greenford.
@Arkless Electronics is that the same for the earlier T1 with the analogue “flywheel” tuning control, A1-style heatsink case and no presets?Rotel RT850 £150 ish. Musical Fidelity T1 £300 ish. Same tuner behind the fascia
I have a Creek T50 Classic RDS in my main system and very satisfied. Better than the T40 I had previously, closer match to the NAT01 and bought it with spare change.I had a Creek T40 mk3, it replaced a new-old-stock Quad FM4 that I bought from Quad in the late 90's. The Creek was better, a decent tuner. I replaced this with a NAT-02 that was subsequently fully serviced at Naim in 2010. To me the NAT-02 is superb. While it's not an 01, it plays music well, is unfatiguing to listen to for hours, and you don't feel like youre missing out on music from a good CDP or TT... as long as it's fed a decent signal.
@1000RPM The NAT-03 you have will be the best tuner in the list you made. The 03 is musical and fun, very under-rated. The Rega Radio is also a good Tuner. Not sure if I'd go for that over another good T40-mkIII?
HTH.
Thanks - appreciate the advice. If the schematic does turn up, please let me know. I’ll see if I can convince a trusted local tech to take a look at it.