Best fm tuner ?

[Michael loves music]

im looking for a Fm tuner with good sound on Radio 1 and 2 and classical will go up to £100 on eBay and advice most welcome

[Spectral Morn]

im looking for a Fm tuner with good sound on Radio 1 and 2 and classical will go up to £100 on eBay and advice most welcome

Kenwood 3050, 5020 or 7020. No valves, no bling, no metres etc but stunning sound for least amount of money. I have done the comparisons and unless you are a collector these are the best for sound, compared to some other really good tuners.

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/kenwood.html


Regards Neil

[Michael loves music]

Is the Quad FM 4 a good tuner ?

[datdad]

Hi there Michael, the Quad FM4 we have had for 30 years, sounds fine for us. Its been serviced twice by Quad. Last December Quad updated it a bit (new set up for station memories & battery from memory). Works a treat IMO. We had an FM aerial installed with the TV aerial 30 years ago and with that the FM4 works well.
The FM4 can be had at a bargain cost, but suggest test any example since the batteries are failing now if not before. Quad will 'service' for a good price I feel given that the kit is at least 30 years old.
At times I do look towards the Audiolab FM with DAB as a more modern piece of kit, though such a new toy in our set up would disturb the 'better half ' upsetting the Quad 44, 306 and FM4 neatness.

[mikmas]

Is the Quad FM 4 a good tuner ?

Quad tuners get a panning on the fmtuner info site. Haven't had an FM4 but wasn't too impressed with my FM3 and sold it a few years back.
I'm currently using a Creek 3040 which is great value at about £40 from eBay. Super quality reception, certainly for Beeb stations, and holds tuning well. I record a lot from Radio 3 and am very pleased with the results.

I spent some time looking for many of the fmtunerinfo 'hot favourites' on eBay, gumtree and such for a reasonable price but to no avail so was glad when I discovered the Creek.

there are a couple on eBay at the moment:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Creek-CAS-...item463c8f0f2f

[Spectral Morn]

Is the Quad FM 4 a good tuner ?

It is a fine tuner but compared to the one's I mentioned its not as good re sound. This boils down to whether you want best sound for least money or want to collect. I have about 26 tuners and compared most of them and the Kenwoods are stunning. I have the top vintage Sony's, Pioneers, Sansui, Leak, Audiolab, Revox, Accuphase and older Kenwoods (8300 etc) all highly rated and the more modern Kenwoods come very close to the very best I have such as the Audiolab and Revox B760 and for very little money.

The 3050 is easy to get, the 5020 a little harder and the 7020 very hard to get. I would keep an eye out for the 3050. Yes its plain, no VU metres etc but sounds wonderful and works well off almost no aerial.

The Tuner info net views are pretty much on the money, I diasgree a wee bit in places but soundquality interests me more than DXing which seems to interest them more.


Regards Neil

[Barry]

I would also second the Quad FM4. It's perfect for my needs and location. I don't need high sensitivity, as I have an external roof mounted 3-element Yagi aerial (I live 35 miles from london yet can easily pick up LBC, only intended to received within London). Nor do I need high selectivity, as I'm only interested in receiving BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 as well as Jazz FM.

None of the Quad tuners were designed to be used in countries with a large number of closely packed but low power radio stations; which is why they get indifferent reviews on the tuner review site.

As to sound quality - well I go by the fidelity of human speech. Of the four Quad tuners, the FM2 and FM4 are the better, and are much better than the (IMO) over-lauded Leak Troughline Stereo. Other tuners that have passed my ears are the Cambridge T55 and B&O 1700; both are fine tuners and can be found cheaply on eBay for well under £100.

[Michael loves music]

Many thanks for the replies my Nad 4225 tuner I got on eBay for £6 last year use it with a rabbit aerial on wall full strength FM sounds fine but just think I can do better I love Radio 2 I see Denon tuners can be had for £10 on eBay and lie the display with station name etc

[Kvaal]

There is a lot of used good tuners to buy for small money these days.
You have one of the good ones imo. If you want a better equipped tuner you can try to find a Kenwood or a Denon. The Quad is also good but not that equipped. Anyway, the transmission will have a big effect on the reciewed sound, so I don't think you will get a substancial bettered sound. The transmitters use compression and other kinds of "make-up" to "better" the sound.

[IHP]

Forgive me, not what you asked but if you have a Tivo box and a DAC you can connect the 2 with an optical cable. The sound (into my Quad CD-P2 DAC) is just wonderful. And of course you can record the radio, which is a real bonus for me. Anyhoo, just something for consideration.