FM tuner

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allen_in_texas

Audioholic Intern
I have a decent amp and speakers and for the past few months I've been scouring thrift stores for an FM tuner. I figured I would have found something that would get the job done by now, because thrift stores are jam-packed with CD players, DVD players, tape players, receivers, etc, and they're usually around $10 or less. But alas, no tuners. I have brought home two receivers just to use for their FM tuning capabilities, but both turned out to be duds.

So, I'm throwing in the towel. I'm gonna suck it up and pay whatever it takes to get an FM tuner delivered to my door. Well, as long as whatever it takes is cheap. It can be new or used. I'm just looking for a simple radio tuner that works well. What would you buy?
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
I'd be looking for a vintage analog tuner, circa the 60's or 70's. Consider that due to it's age, a tuneup (no pun intended) might be called for in order to bring it up to snuff which, in all honestly, will most likely beat any tuner in any receiver built since 1980.

Also, don't discount the need for an antenna. That can make or break a tuner. I'd rather have a great antenna with a mediocre tuner than a medioctr antenna with a great tuner.

To get you started, here's some basic tips on getting hte best out of your FM setup and here's a rough guide on what stations are in your general vicinity. Go to the "advanced search" and type in your zip code.
 
macddmac

macddmac

Audioholic General
Sansui TU-517 is the bomb.. About 200-250 for a nice one.
i have a 317 and its impressive as well
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
You can find listings of great old tuners at:

Tuner Information Center - Vintage Stereo Tuners

You will also find a bit of nonsense thrown in, but you will be able to find a good old tuner with that site. And if you do go with a tuner from the 1970's, it would be good if you had a trusted electronics technician who can make sure it works as well as it should.

Here is a specific tuner you might want to consider:

Vintage Pioneer TX 9500 II Stereo Am FM Tuner | eBay

Of course, since it is used, and I am not the seller, I make no promises about it. And there are other models to consider. For example, the Pioneer F-26 is regarded by some as a particularly great FM tuner (it is only FM, with no AM at all). But it is rare and expensive.
 
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M Code

M Code

Audioholic General
Irvrobinson said:
No way! Marantz is the bomb, like my Marantz 2110:

http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/pics/2110e.jpg

Tuning with a 'scope is almost as good as listening!
Click to expand...
The Marantz tuner with a scope is a kool component..
The advantage of a scope beside showing a visual display of a stereo input signal was in-phase, could show signal strength, multi-path and center channel tuning all simultaneously..
The 2110 was only a 3 gang tuner, the high performance one was the stepup 2130 5 gang plus quartz lock, and before that the 150 with crystal IF filters..
If you really want high performance get a 2600 receiver with a scope, 400W x 2, 5 gang tuner plus quartz lock, torroidal power supply, incredible phono peamp circuit. The 2600 actually used the Marantz pro amplifier 510M heat tunnel design.. The 510M amplifiers powered (72 of them) the Eagles tours for many, many years as their mixing engineer worked for Marantz many, years. A good condition working 2600 typically sells for about $5K..

Just my $0.05.. ;)
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
M Code said:
The Marantz tuner with a scope is a kool component..
The advantage of a scope beside showing a visual display of a stereo input signal was in-phase, could show signal strength, multi-path and center channel tuning all simultaneously..
The 2110 was only a 3 gang tuner, the high performance one was the stepup 2130 5 gang plus quartz lock, and before that the 150 with crystal IF filters..
If you really want high performance get a 2600 receiver with a scope, 400W x 2, 5 gang tuner plus quartz lock, torroidal power supply, incredible phono peamp circuit. The 2600 actually used the Marantz pro amplifier 510M heat tunnel design.. The 510M amplifiers powered (72 of them) the Eagles tours for many, many years as their mixing engineer worked for Marantz many, years. A good condition working 2600 typically sells for about $5K..

Just my $0.05.. ;)
Click to expand...
What you say is true about the 2130. As for the 2600... ugh. Putting a radio and a high-gain phono pre-amp in the same chassis as 800W of amplification is dumb. I don't care how how it measures, it's dumb. :)
 
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walter duque

walter duque

Audioholic Samurai
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Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
You mean Sequerra, and I agree. I've never seen one in person. Finding one cheap is probably impossible, since they're worth a lot even for parts.
 
M Code

M Code

Audioholic General
Irvrobinson said:
You mean Sequerra, and I agree. I've never seen one in person. Finding one cheap is probably impossible, since they're worth a lot even for parts.
Click to expand...
Sequerra was started by **** Sequerra many years back, who originally worked with Saul Marantz on their classic 10B tuner. Its important to note that in the mid-80s when the PLL digital synthesized tuners started to appear their RF performance was inferior to a good, analog tuner. Another great tuner was the Draco, the 1st high performance digital tuner. However as other stereo playback sources became more popular like the VCRs > CD player > changers > iPods the performance of the tuners generally declined as most brands were all using the less expensive IC..

Just my $0.05... ;)
 
walter duque

walter duque

Audioholic Samurai
Irvrobinson said:
You mean Sequerra, and I agree. I've never seen one in person. Finding one cheap is probably impossible, since they're worth a lot even for parts.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the spelling, I just got up. Looked back on my other post, also a mistake or two.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Audioholic Jedi
Absolutely the best FM tuner ever produced was the Quad FM 4. There have been more expensive tuners produced, but none better. They are highly sought after. I have two of them and there performance is completely beyond reproach.

Most are for sale in the UK, and if you buy one form there, the voltage is easily changed at the transformer, and a couple of caps need changing to change the FM Eq from 50 msec to 75 msec in the US. I would be happy to do this for you,

There is a really nice late model one for sale in the UK right now.

They panel mount really nicely also.

 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
TLS Guy said:
Absolutely the best FM tuner ever produced was the Quad FM 4. There have been more expensive tuners produced, but none better. They are highly sought after. I have two of them and there performance is completely beyond reproach.
Click to expand...
TLS Guy says that a Quad component is the best of breed? Now how was someone supposed to guess that? Will wonders never cease?

:)

The Quad may be good, but it doesn't have a scope, so it just ain't as cool.

Frankly, I haven't had my Marantz out of the factory box for years. Except in a few choice metro areas in the US there aren't any stations worth listening to, and I don't live in those areas.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Audioholic Jedi
Irvrobinson said:
TLS Guy says that a Quad component is the best of breed? Now how was someone supposed to guess that? Will wonders never cease?

:)

The Quad may be good, but it doesn't have a scope, so it just ain't as cool.

Frankly, I haven't had my Marantz out of the factory box for years. Except in a few choice metro areas in the US there aren't any stations worth listening to, and I don't live in those areas.
Click to expand...
FM tuners are for listening to high quality radio broadcast, not watching squiggles. The Quad FM 4 delivers fantastic FM fidelity with excellent S/N ratio. It is superior in all areas that really matter.

If I want a scope I have one in WaveLab on my workstation.
 
M Code

M Code

Audioholic General
Irvrobinson said:
TLS Guy says that a Quad component is the best of breed? Now how was someone supposed to guess that? Will wonders never cease?

:)

The Quad may be good, but it doesn't have a scope, so it just ain't as cool.

Frankly, I haven't had my Marantz out of the factory box for years. Except in a few choice metro areas in the US there aren't any stations worth listening to, and I don't live in those areas.
Click to expand...
A major advantage of the scope is to determine that the stereo channels are in-phase..
With my Marantz 2600 I had (2) occassions for its use..
1. FM broadcast
Here in SoCal a popular station is KLOS (95.5) very popular from the early underground days. I was listening to it 1 nite and noticed the scope phaes was flipped over, the next day I call the station and talked with their chief engineer they had made an error in their transmitter setup.. They were broadcasting out of phase..
2. Phono cartridge
Since I write product reviews for some of the major CE publications, I evaluate certain new products..
I received an expensive phono cartridge to review thats sells for $550.. I mounted it into my SME headshell and set the stylus pressure and anti-skating. Something didn't sound rite, I switched the scope on and found that internally the cartridge was wired out-of-phase. Again the scope showed the error...

Just my $0.05... ;)
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
TLS Guy said:
FM tuners are for listening to high quality radio broadcast, not watching squiggles. The Quad FM 4 delivers fantastic FM fidelity with excellent S/N ratio. It is superior in all areas that really matter.

If I want a scope I have one in WaveLab on my workstation.
Click to expand...
You have no sense of humor whatsoever when it comes to Quad. Lighten up. BTW, wasn't the Quad tuner known to be rather finicky about which pre-amp it was paired with? A low input impedance, like a lot of components have now, would roll off the bass. True, or review BS?
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
M Code said:
A major advantage of the scope is to determine that the stereo channels are in-phase..
With my Marantz 2600 I had (2) occassions for its use..
1. FM broadcast
Here in SoCal a popular station is KLOS (95.5) very popular from the early underground days. I was listening to it 1 nite and noticed the scope phaes was flipped over, the next day I call the station and talked with their chief engineer they had made an error in their transmitter setup.. They were broadcasting out of phase..
2. Phono cartridge
Since I write product reviews for some of the major CE publications, I evaluate certain new products..
I received an expensive phono cartridge to review thats sells for $550.. I mounted it into my SME headshell and set the stylus pressure and anti-skating. Something didn't sound rite, I switched the scope on and found that internally the cartridge was wired out-of-phase. Again the scope showed the error...

Just my $0.05... ;)
Click to expand...
You have a 2600? Is it in your primary system?

Good points, but I really am just joking about the scope.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
The OP asked for a simple radio tuner...not the best of the best, right? :)

I have two questions for the OP:
1. Did you use an antenna, and if so, what kind?
2. Why did you consider the two that you tried to be duds?
 
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