A Flock of Tuners....

[Beobloke]

Well, I recently culled my tuner collection down to one, or so I thought. The one in question was an Aiwa AT-9700 which is very nice indeed. I thought I was set for FM for life, and then this thingy with 'B&O Beomaster 5000' written on it came my way, having been bought new by the BBC in 1968 and lived its life monitoring the output quality of GLR!

It's a truly magnificent thing, so it and the Aiwa fulfil my radio needs for now.

[Nick_G]

Are there any updates on this Neil? I'm looking forward to reading your report.

[Spectral Morn]

Are there any updates on this Neil? I'm looking forward to reading your report.

Sort of Nick

I have been away for a week but before I went away I had covered Pioneer, Kenwood, Revox, Sansui and Sony re listening and some writing up of my thoughts - though I have copious listening notes - this week coming I will be listening to the rest Marantz, Technics, Panasonic and once that is done the best of the previous tuners will be in a big show down with the Leak.

The bottom line is that I have done the bulk of the preliminary listening so I should have some published material fairly soon.

I am looking forward to finishing it as this project has been way too long in the doing.

[Barry]

Not yet Nick

I have been away for a week but before I went away I had covered Pioneer, Kenwood, Revox, Sansui and Sony re listening and some writing up of my thoughts - though I have copious listening notes - this week coming I will be listening to the rest Marantz, Technics, Panasonic and once that is done the best of the previous tuners will be in a big show down with the Leak.

The bottom line is that I have done the bulk of the preliminary listening so I should have some published material fairly soon.

Welcome back Neil!

Your imminent tuner report reminds me I said I would do a mini-review of the six tuners I have. Sad to say I have got no further with this since suggesting the idea.

Spurred on by your progress, I could perhaps have something done by the end of the year.

[Barry]

Well, I recently culled my tuner collection down to one, or so I thought. The one in question was an Aiwa AT-9700 which is very nice indeed. I thought I was set for FM for life, and then this thingy with 'B&O Beomaster 5000' written on it came my way, having been bought new by the BBC in 1968 and lived its life monitoring the output quality of GLR!

It's a truly magnificent thing, so it and the Aiwa fulfil my radio needs for now.

B&O made some great tuners. I have a model 1700: a sort of slimmed down version of your magnificent 5000.

Interesting to read the BBC used the 5000 to monitor broadcasts. Later they chose the Quad FM4 for that task.

[Spectral Morn]

Welcome back Neil!

Your imminent tuner report reminds me I said I would do a mini-review of the six tuners I have. Sad to say I have got no further with this since suggesting the idea.

Spurred on by your progress, I could perhaps have something done by the end of the year.

Thanks for the welcome back, I was away for a week in the wilds of Scotland.

Well Barry that would be quicker than I have done mine (insert embarrassed gif). Well actually I am not finished yet so who knows it might be another year lol

[Nick_G]

Any more news on this Neil? Bumping this thread up to stop it from disappearing....

[Nick_G]

I snagged a silver Yamaha T-2 off ebay yesterday; it should be with me in about a week or so. Didn't think I'd win with the max bid I'd put in but I did. Have you ever tried one of these Neil? Or anyone else? I hear they are supposed to be excellent.

[Nick_G]

An update on the T-2 which actually arrived last Tuesday:

It is absolutely stunning! I am constantly amazed at how good this tuner sounds on the stronger BBC national signals, even through my humble system. It really is a significant step up from the T-85. The sound is natural, relaxed, with the best soundstage and imaging of all my tuners. There is a warmth to the sound yet it doesn't give up any detail. It's the most true-to-life sound I've yet heard from FM. The 'Shootout' on the Tuner Information Center also mentions a problem with drift when it's first turned on, but I can't say I've noticed this on mine. I know David 'Anonymous' on his Ricochet (also on the Tuner Information Center website) has said it's a lottery as to whether you get a good T-2 or not, but I can only assume that I got a good one

Could the superior sound be partly because it has traditional analogue tuning? I've heard before that digital synthesised tuning can be detrimental to the sound (not sure how this works, but someone on here will probably know). The T-85 in comparison does sound colder and more clinical.

Despite only having two IF bandwidths it seems to be a touch more selective than my T-85. I must get it aligned at some stage. It's the best £100 I've spent on a tuner!

I think you should add this one to your list Neil

Regards,
Nick

[Nick_G]

I picked one of these up last Friday via eBay from a local seller so was nice & cheap (£22!). At that price (a Buy It Now) I couldn't resist. This model was introduced in 1988 IIRC. It has 3 IF bands, Wide, Narrow and Super Narrow. It uses 8 ceramic filters: two are in line for wide, another two for narrow, and a separate IF strip of 4 lots of 150kHz filters for Super Narrow. So you could modify it by installing 110kHz and 80kHz filters in the Super Narrow IF path without affecting the sound quality in Wide and Narrow.

Condition is very good, just a few minor marks, and the display is bright and clear. It is very sensitive and the selectivity in Super Narrow is superb, just a hair behind the modified Kenwood KT-1100SD. I only have cheapo RCA leads connected to the amp but the sound quality seems very good, better than the Kenwood but not as good as the Yamaha T-2. It is very quiet with a clear, detailed but spacious sound. In fact it sounds similar to the Yamaha T-85. I may have to get some proper interconnects for it like the Chord ones I am using for the T-2.

A couple of points: the signal strength meter is a bit odd: it jumps up to 2 bars on very weak signals and doesn't seem to go any higher than 5, even on locals, despite a scale going up to 7. Also it seems to go to stereo when there's barely any signal (1 bar), so it adds extra noise. A gripe related to this is that if I change the mode to mono to cut out the hiss, and the signal level is on the border between 0 and 1 bar the tuner goes back to STEREO AUTO and will flick back and forth in time with the level. However if the signal stays at 1 bar or more then you can select mono.

The TIC review states that the MPX NR button doesn't do anything. Well on this UK version it does. If you find a weak hissy stereo signal, and hit the button, after half a second or so the highs are reduced to minimise noise.

Overall it seems to be a very nice tuner and has got to be one of the best DXers for a 'conventional' tuner i.e. without DSP trickery. Wasn't this one of Denon's best tuners? It gets a very good write-up on the TIC. In fact one member says it has many similarities with the Sansui TU-X710/711 but with better audio and DX capability.

Definitely a nice find. Has anyone else ever tried one?

Regards,
Nick

PS it's about time this thread was bumped up anyway