Tuner Help/Options for S/H unit?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I have found my self listening to my recent sony st70 purchace quite a lot!
i was not, before i bought the radio, aware of the fact there is a 75ohm standard in the uk as aposed to the 300ohm that my new (vintage) jap radio uses.
this leads me to belive that if i get a tuner with 75ohm input i will be able to get a better signal and will therefore get more enjoyment out of my radio listening
im not going to get rid of the old one as it looks to pretty, im just going to run a second one (i have a hole in my rack that to that wants a new box putting in it). i dont have much money as i have just bought a headphone amp

so suggestions please!

it could do with being black to match alll the rest of the kit and it wants to have 75ohm input i only listen to radio 2 for the most part so AM doesnt matter but that is it as far as specs goes

i dont want dab as it is poo (in my experience) i want to make use of fm while we still have it

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hamish,
A few questions if you don't mind:

What sort of budget are you blessed with?
Do you want modern preset convenience or a vintage style tuning knob?
Must it absolutely be black?
What sort of aerial are you going to use?

With those answers, I can hopefully make a few useful suggestions - they'll probably help others to assist.

Cheers
Chris

[The Vinyl Adventure]

"What sort of budget are you blessed with?"

low, im after a bargain, might considor up to £50 i guess but am interested to hear whats there for a little more if you get me

"Do you want modern preset convenience or a vintage style tuning knob?"

simpler the better, i dont really care for presets etc as i said i only really listen to one station

"Must it absolutely be black?"

black is def a preferance, im trying to get rid of all my silver kit

"What sort of aerial are you going to use?"

internal... house rented... what ever is best sort for the unit

[The Grand Wazoo]

Black, vintage and cheap is tough to find!

You could try this.................http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/McINTOSH-MR-77-FM-TUNER-TOP-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ110387684688QQcmdZViewItemQQptZ UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Tuners?hash=it em110387684688&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1300%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A4%7C294%3A50......... .....2 out of 3 ain't bad!!

Don'tcha just love that polished flywheel & the way it's on display!!

Back soon with some more realistic ideas!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

yeah, lovely stuff! i could prob stretch to £100 maybe £150 for the right tuner but £750 is maybe, just a little, pushing it
and if posslets try keep it more toward the £50 end

it doesnt have to be vintage im just not fussed about having all the "mod cons" i dont mind if it does have them, as long as i can tune it to the station i want and it sounds good
i quite like the look of some of the creek tuners (vaguly recomended on my original st70 thread) but i dont know which ones are good and which are naff. i also ike the look of the naim nat 02 .. big green nubers are cool. its just to much money!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

lots of nad 4020's on ebay, they any good?

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hamish,

The NADs are OK but they were only ever budget tuners - good workaday kit & they'll do the job. I've a soft spot for the Creeks, & though I never owned one, I know they're very good.

I'll tell you a secret..............Oy!, you lot leave the room......... it's a secret.

I've found Ebay in Germany to be an excellent source of vintage tuners and, especially my other love, receivers. Serious radio listening seems to have been incredibly popular there. And importantly for you I guess, vintage kit in black is far more common than here. You also get things like Uhers & Brauns that never turn up here – also many, many more Revox’s.

Usually, sellers speak pretty good English and will reply to your questions in
English if you appear to be serious. Paypal is not as commonly used in Germany as here, but many sellers will allow British folk to use it despite what their listing may say. I don't speak German - that language & I parted company at the 'The peach is on the table' stage when I was 13 ('der Pfirsich ist auf der tabelle' if you're interested) & I've managed pretty well so far.

One trick I learnt fairly early on was to avoid anything with the words 'Für Bastler' in the description as that means 'for the handyman' - i.e. it don't work. And it can get too complicated if you're not very technically minded for someone to translate what the problem is.

I know the exchange rate is crap at the moment, but shipping is not nearly as bad as you'd expect.

I've found a couple of good uns if you're interested in a Continental adventure.................

Number 1.
http://cgi.ebay.de/Harman-Kardon-Citation-Eighteen-Tuner_W0QQitemZ270388483757QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_A udio_Hi_Fi_Weitere_Hi_Fi_Komponenten_Tuner?hash=it em270388483757&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1229%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A3%7C294%3A50

This one's a peach (and it's on the table!) -I'd snap it up if I dsidn't have so much unused kit lying about.

Info in English & better photos available at:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/reviewsD-L.html#harman

(By the way, fmtunerinfo.com is the place for tuner info).

Number 2.
http://cgi.ebay.de/Uher-EG-740-Stereo-Tuner_W0QQitemZ290316854928QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_A udio_Hi_Fi_Weitere_Hi_Fi_Komponenten_Tuner?hash=it em290316854928&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1229%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A6%7C294%3A50

Number 3.
http://cgi.ebay.de/BRAUN-Tuner-CE-1020-CE1020-D-Rams-1974-TOP_W0QQitemZ200340835681QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_Aud io_Hi_Fi_Weitere_Hi_Fi_Komponenten_Tuner?hash=item 200340835681&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1229%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A5%7C294%3A50

By the way, the thing Mike referred to on your other post - A Baluns is used to convert between a 300 ohm ribbon cable (like the one I think you're using) to a 75 ohm co-ax cable which goes into a socket like a tv aerial socket. Usually when you buy a ribbon aerial, there's also a Baluns included. Some older tuners have a spring (or screw) terminal for the centre conductor of a coax cable & a chassis mounted clamp to grip the return. A ribbon cable is balanced & a coax is unbalanced, so a Balun converts between the two, giving compatability.

[Alex Nikitin]

I would recommend older Creek tuners - T43, T40, CAS3040. The last one is now on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250423052966).

Alex

[The Vinyl Adventure]

chris

i have bought cameras of the german ebay before, managed to get a beautifull ziess ikon taxona http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Tenax_I (scroll down a bit)
for about a 3rd of what they go for over here, rare a rocking horse poo these days, they shoot 24 x 24mm frames on 35mm film. they are that old they tend to jam when using colour film due to the thickness of emulsion and material they use to keep the light out of modern film canisters. beatuifull photos when you can get one through the thing though

you may have guessed, i am to cameras what most people here are to hifi i have about 60-70 of the things, most have films in and just sit on the shelf but i see a bargain and i have to have it

anyway...

i shall keep a beady eye on that hk although it does look as though it might go above my prefered budget
i have come across fmtunerinfo before, was a touch overwhelmed by the quantity of info! had a look at the pictures on there, you gotta love rack mount kit
that uher looks pretty good too, i asume the black patch by the meters is a digital display?
can i ask what you think of the creek that alex has recomended, the main reason i ask is it is the most subtle in its features and therefore i would likely sneak it onto the rack without the missis even batting an eyelid

thank you for all your effort, i think thats probably the most informative resposnse i have ever had on a forum

hamish

[Darrenw]

Hamish

I have a creek 3040 (I think) in the garage - paid £50 for it a few years ago and it gave my naim 101 a good run for its money at the time - if you are interested then £30 plus postage (assuming we can;t arrange pick up or drop off)

also have a Sony ST4950 for £50 which is a top tuner (see article in recent hifi world)

other option is a Accuphase T101 - thats prolly out of your budget though and its silver so a non starter

if you want sex on a stick then look out for a Sansui TU517 717 or similar they all sound good but they look flippin fantastic - can be had for around £100 to £150 depending on model - popular though so would ave to ship around

rgds
darrenw

[Barry]

I have found my self listening to my recent Sony st70 purchace quite a lot!
I was not, before I bought the radio, aware of the fact there is a 75ohm standard in the UK as opposed to the 300ohm that my new (vintage) jap radio uses.
This leads me to believe that if I get a tuner with 75ohm input I will be able to get a better signal and will therefore get more enjoyment out of my radio listening


If you already have a 75Ohm aerial, then you can probably use this with you 300Ohm input Sony, if you connect the aerial to the tuner as follows:

(1) connect the inner conductor of the aerial lead to one of the screws of the aerial input of the tuner (it doesn't matter which of the two screws you choose),

(2) connect the screen, or braiding, of the aerial lead to the chassis metalwork of the tuner (preferably near the aerial input connections).

This method is not guaranteed, but it works with most 300Ohm tuners.

Regards

Barry

[SteveW]

Just a thought...but posted about this before. You can still get hold of Galaxie aerials. Got mine last year...have the details somewhere. Made an amazing difference to my Linn Kremlin..
Let me know if interested and I'll dig out the contact.
Bloody huge though...just about fits in my loft...

[DSJR]

Aren't 75 - 300 baluns still available in older radio shops? Some of the later Japanese analogue-tuning tuners weren't all that good on 75 Ohm cabling (Yamaha's for instance)

Regarding aerials, the Galaxies are huge and cumbersome and the bigger ones are best with rotators (this from Ron himself, whom we had a lot of business with as we were just down the road from him). His Orion models are better on the chimney and pole if you don't have too many channels of equal strength competing for attention.

Our large Galaxie at the shop was superb though, but came down in the 1987 storms. I'm surprised it didn't take the brickwork with it. We had to use guy wires (is this the term?) to help prevent the thing swaying in the wind.....:)

[REM]

Hi Hamish

Would this fit the bill

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Philips-rack-mount-170-Tuner-Black-Tulip-range-RARE_W0QQitemZ330329257842QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Au dioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Tuners?hash=item330 329257842&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1300|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A0|293%3A4|294%3A50

IIRC the Black Tulip range was quite up-market stuff from Phillips in the late 70s/early80s. Could be worth a punt.

Ralph

[SteveW]

Aren't 75 - 300 baluns still available in older radio shops? Some of the later Japanese analogue-tuning tuners weren't all that good on 75 Ohm cabling (Yamaha's for instance)

ahh...you'd be thinkin about them 99 red baluns.

[DSJR]

Haha......:D

Black Tulip? We called them Black Turnip! They weren't that bad to be fair, but Philips never "got" the solid feel right with any of their audio equipment, despite often having great performance. The most memorable ones being the great sounding GA212 turntable with its plinth held together with sticky tape and the grungy, clunky VHS mech named "Charly" - a right Charly it was too, despite being a good performer.

[Ali Tait]

How much do you want for the Accuphase? Any piccies? Pm if you wish.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Buy the Accuphase..............buy the Accuphase!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

[Darrenw]

Ali

I would be looking for £250 for the accuphase - its been cleaned and the power caps replaced, its all A1 condition - would be in my rack but for the colour (sansui black works better) its a better tuner by some margin than the sansui but I am shallow enought to not worry about such trivia as how it sounds...

Let me know if you might be interested not a great snap but this is the one

http://media.photobucket.com/image/accuphase%20t101/zippy670/IMGP0247.jpg

I swapped it with Rob Holt for a Naim 101 - its gathering dust at the mo so would be good to get it used again

rgds
darren

[Ali Tait]

Hi Darren you have PM.

[Marco]

Hi Darren,

I'm not getting that picture, mate - just a white box with a red cross...

Btw, how's it going with the anti-skate on your Alphason and your M3D now? :)

Marco.

[Darrenw]

Marco

tried to redo it but buggered if I know why its not working - just dabbling at the mo pending an expert opinion

waiting to hear from you re the M3D trip - I have it a bit better and it certainly sounds ok but would like a second opinion - assumed you would be inundated with visitors to check out the reds (good choice BTW - been wanting a pair of 66 reds for some years now)

whilst I have been waiting I have bought an Audio Note IO11 and step up to try as well - could bring that along too if you have time to listen to the two side by side

off to bristol for a week now but we could arrange something after that ?

rgdsd
Darren

[Darrenw]

changed it to a link cos at least that works - Ali, haven;t recieved your pm?

rgds
darren

[Ali Tait]

Ok I'll try again.