+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 10 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 102

Thread: Tuners ... are they all pretty much the same ?

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

    Default Tuners ... are they all pretty much the same ?

    Hi guys , so my tuner is an old Yamaha T-700 that I paid a fiver for at a carboot and I have always had the thought that anything of a decent brand will do the job, am I wrong about this ?
    Clearly the source matters as does the amplification and speakers and cables but the tuner ??

  2. #2
    Join Date: Oct 2011

    Location: Charente, France

    Posts: 3,531
    I'm Nodrog.

    Default

    I would have thought that a tuner was as important as any other part of the system - if you listen to the radio!

    I used to have the Yamaha and it was pretty good but not as good as the Troughline or the FM4. I reckon most decent tuners are pretty similar but the bad ones.......yuck. Ronnie, my wife, had a Pioneer tuner with her system. The rest of it is great but the tuner was thin, screetchy with no body to the sound at all. Terrifically sensitive though, a shoelace would have done for the aerial. We tried with a big outside one but it went straight to the dump without passing go!

  3. #3
    Join Date: Nov 2008

    Location: North Down /Northern Ireland/ UK

    Posts: 19,484
    I'm Neil.

    Default

    With any FM tuner the aerial is the first part of the chain, suitable good aerial and decent coax cable to it and you are on your way. After that yes different tuners and makes offer something different and improved sound quality.

    I used to think the Leak Troughline + an FM decoder was the best out there, I was wrong. Yes its a fabulous tuner but there are so many others that are better. Tuners from Kenwood, Sansui, Pioneer, Sony, etc.

    Read through this site http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/index.html particularly the review comparison section. Its possible to pick up fabulous tuners for not much, though since FM got a stay of execution the prices are going up again. My own recommendation re best sound for least money the Kenwood KT3050, or the KT5020. Stunning and up there in the top 6 or so FM tuners. Nothing special to look at, but really nice to listen to.
    Regards Neil

  4. #4
    Join Date: Feb 2011

    Location: England

    Posts: 290
    I'm James.

    Default

    FM via Troughline will, IMHO, knock the spots off any other way of receiving the Radio. Let's hope they never turn off Analogue Radio as they have with TV.

    DAB is pretty awful but suffices for 'day to day' listening. Not Hi-Fi though.

    With a decent DAC, listening via PC is pretty good from sites such as...........
    http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/other.asp (still not much better than MP3 though).
    There are also some other good feeds via URL's which were printed in 'What Hi-Fi' (?) or some other such magazine last year. Sorry I don't have details though. I seem to remember the Radio 3 feed was pretty darn good. (Sounded a lot better than MP3! JRiver said it was 48kHz 16 bit, don't know what bit-rate though).
    The Freeview feed is not too bad either for listening this way (with a DAC). Better quality (bit-rate) than DAB.

    Magnum Dynalab make some of the very best modern FM Tuners but the price tags reflect this!

    Pioneer made some exceptionally good Tuners in the 70's and 80's (sorry to disagree with the previous Poster!). But their very best efforts I think were always reserved for their Receivers. So, if you've already got an Amp...............

    Get yourself a Leak Troughline, get someone to service it (correctly) for you, spend a decent amount on a proper Aerial and you won't look back. But start petitioning your MP to keep Analogue Radio going!

    Jim.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Nov 2008

    Location: North Down /Northern Ireland/ UK

    Posts: 19,484
    I'm Neil.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JimC View Post
    FM via Troughline will, IMHO, knock the spots off any other way of receiving the Radio. Let's hope they never turn off Analogue Radio as they have with TV.

    DAB is pretty awful but suffices for 'day to day' listening. Not Hi-Fi though.

    With a decent DAC, listening via PC is pretty good from sites such as...........
    http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/other.asp (still not much better than MP3 though).
    There are also some other good feeds via URL's which were printed in 'What Hi-Fi' (?) or some other such magazine last year. Sorry I don't have details though. I seem to remember the Radio 3 feed was pretty darn good. (Sounded a lot better than MP3! JRiver said it was 48kHz 16 bit, don't know what bit-rate though).
    The Freeview feed is not too bad either for listening this way (with a DAC). Better quality (bit-rate) than DAB.

    Magnum Dynalab make some of the very best modern FM Tuners but the price tags reflect this!

    Pioneer made some exceptionally good Tuners in the 70's and 80's (sorry to disagree with the previous Poster!). But their very best efforts I think were always reserved for their Receivers. So, if you've already got an Amp...............

    Get yourself a Leak Troughline, get someone to service it (correctly) for you, spend a decent amount on a proper Aerial and you won't look back. But start petitioning your MP to keep Analogue Radio going!

    Jim.
    That's fine Jim, I have well over 25 tuners, I have compared them and I am solid on my thoughts regarding this.

    The Troughline I used to use regularly is a mk 2 with a Tim De P FM decoder, its set up right and the likes of the Kenwood 3050 eats it for breakfast.

    Magnum Dynalab are good, but one needs to go up their model range to get best, and frankly the cost is so crazy high that compared to the best vintage FM tuners... well in my view they don't represent good value for money.

    Re Pioneer the 9100, 9500 mk2 and 9800 are very good tuners. I also own most of the Sony highend tuners too. The A6 is very good, as is the much older ST5000 FW. I have Accuphase too, Audiolab, Revox, Sansui, and I could go on.
    Regards Neil

  6. #6
    Join Date: Feb 2010

    Location: Moved to frozen north, beyond Inverness

    Posts: 2,602
    I'm Dave.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon Steadman View Post
    I would have thought that a tuner was as important as any other part of the system - if you listen to the radio!
    Absolutely agree with this, if it matters. I do still listen to FM on cheapo radios - e.g in the bedroom, though now we mostly use iPads and stream, and actually for going to sleep the iPad speakers themselves are good enough.

    I have a couple of FM tuners - one is an expensive first generation DAB with and FM section, and the other is a JVC TX55. With a good input both are good, though I've always preferred the sound of the JVC. I could never get rid of all the problems of FM though, but someone sent me some CDs he'd made from broadcasts - somewhere around Dundee I think. Whatever kit he was using to receive was amazing - I just could not believe the quality of the audio from his CDs. I asked him if he'd cheated in any way, or used digital, but I was assured the results were from his FM receiver.

    Without a good signal though, which often means a decent roof or at least loft installed aerial, don't expect miracles from any FM tuner.

    Re DAB - that is fundamentally limited now by the broadcasters, and the codecs used. I think some broadcasters may be using DAB variants - with different codecs - which may sound OK, but the BBC is still using plain DAB (not any form of updated DAB used by broadcasters in some other countries), and I think the max bit rate is still 192kbps for radio 3, which is not as good as some of the audio channels on digital TV. Some of the BBC's channels are still at 128 kbps, while some go even lower and are mono only I think.

    However, if checking out tuners, it may be worth looking at some of the better DAB+FM models. DAB also benefits from having a good aerial - there will be "bubbling mud" noises or nothing at all if the signals are weak or variable.
    Dave

  7. #7
    Join Date: Dec 2014

    Location: UK, inactive

    Posts: 1,570
    I'm inactive.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dave2010 View Post

    However, if checking out tuners, it may be worth looking at some of the better DAB+FM models. DAB also benefits from having a good aerial - there will be "bubbling mud" noises or nothing at all if the signals are weak or variable.
    Would agree with this.
    When I was looking out for a reasonably priced tuner 2nd hand, most of the ones listed on the 'fmtuner' site were either unobtanium or fetching daft prices on eBay (doubtless a victim of their reputations). In the end I found a Creek 3140 for £40 in good nick. This has a very good reception even when coupled with the Screwfix £10 aerial I use in the shed were it ended up.
    Details here:
    http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.ph...k-cas3140.html

    Downside to the Creek is the lack of remote or presets which entails twiddling up and down the dial to change stations but as I mostly listen to late night Radio 3 this was not a big deal. The biggest issue was the lack of Radio 6 on FM which I do listen to during the day and for that I had to switch to my Mac/DAC combo.

    Currently I'm using a Cambridge 640T DAB/FM combo in the house (cost £110 used) and I have to say the performance is outstanding and better than the Creek - in fact I use DAB over FM finding little real difference to speak of - despite all the negativity DAB attracts. Added bonus to this set up is the quick switch via remote from 3 to 6 plus the very useful set of digital and analogue outputs offered by the 640T (currently outputting to my DAC). I had a DAB/FM roof aerial fitted by a reputable local guy to replace the ageing FM one and this turned out to be possibly the best upgrade of all.

    Good, and in my view accurate, review in this Tuner Shootout:
    http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.ph...2.html?start=3

    Edited to add that I disagree with their opinion of the display which I find perfectly readable - even from a few feet away.
    Last edited by mikmas; 03-01-2017 at 18:03.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,850
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

    Default

    Late to the party, but I would like to confirm that the Leak 'Troughline' tuner is a highly over-rated design: a very warm, sweet and 'cuddly' sound, making speech far too deep in tone to sound realistic. It was an interesting design using an original idea to avoid the tuner drifting out of tune with time as it 'warmed up'.

    Contemporary UK tuners of the time, such as the Quad FM2 were better in that respect. However whilst they were adequate as regards sensitivity and sensitivity for the broadcast conditions of the time; the UK then only having a few broadcasing stations, they are not best suited for current UK broadcasting with the greatly increased number of stations to choose from. So if one wishes to choose to use a vintage tuner, it would be better to look at American designs from Scott, Fisher, Marantz and McIntosh. These were designed to have higher sensitivity and selectivity to cope with the plethora of low power FM broadcast stations. Many of these now command ridiculous prices today, so it is worth considering '70s Japanese tuners from say Trio (Kenwood), and Yamaha instead. These are very well built and have a similarly high specification to their American cousins.

    If you are only interested in listening to a few powerful UK stations and want a 'vintage' design from a British manufacturer, I would consider Quad FM2 and FM3, Sugden R51, and Rogers (as well as the Leak 'Stereofetic' design).

    I'm not familiar with more recent FM tuners, but if I wanted a European design, I would look at Revox, B&O, as well as the Linn 'Kremlin'.


    Since I only listen to BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, and occasionally Jazz FM, I'm quite happy with the Quad FM4 for both performance and sound quality.



    Also I would agree a good rooftop mounted antenna/aerial (both terms are acceptable) is essential if you are serious about FM reception. It needn't be elaborate: I use a simple 3-element Yagi and can easily pick up the local radio stations that are only intended to be received in London.
    Barry

  9. #9
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Milton Keynes

    Posts: 3,577
    I'm Andrew.

    Default

    Ah yes the FM4 , I did enjoy mine as I do this Yamaha. Like you said why discount the tuner when we strive for perfection elsewhere. I have a horrible acoustic solutions dab tuner that I haven't even tried ( it was free ) . Some tuners fetch damn good money too though I suspect that it's not because of their sound .

  10. #10
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    Yes you get good, average and shite same as anything else. I think a decent antenna make and breaks most tuners. No point in buying a fancy cd player and playing mp3 on it
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 10 123 ... LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •