Looking for AM/FM receiver

[Mike Hubbard]

I own a Marantz PM-8005 Integrated Amplifier and a

Marantz SA8005 Super Audio CD Player they have been in a

Box unopened since 2015 I moved and had no room for another

project. But now I want to unbox and setup my music collection.

My question is what would be the best Am/fm receiver under $2,000.

To go with my Marantz setup?

 

[lovinthehd]

You want a receiver or just a tuner? Receiver would duplicate functions of your integrated amp.

You live where there's still good choices on am/fm radio? Been a while since I bothered as where I've lived much better access via internet than the air....

 

[Mike Hubbard]

Just a tuner, still new to this stuff still, we have lots of stations here in the San Francisco Bay area. I have never used the radio internet access yet except thru hey google and Syrie. But I'm willing to try it. Ya I know total newbie here, Now that I'm retired I have more time for internet access. And other fun hobbies.
So I guess my question should be what the best Tuner with Internet access for between 2-4k. My tax return is burning a hole in my pocket.
Thanks lovin for the help. Pink Floyd oh ya.

 

[-Jim-]

Just a tuner, still new to this stuff still, we have lots of stations here in the San Francisco Bay area. I have never used the radio internet access yet except thru hey google and Syrie. But I'm willing to try it. Ya I know total newbie here, Now that I'm retired I have more time for internet access. And other fun hobbies.
So I guess my question should be what the best Tuner with Internet access for between 2-4k.
Thanks lovin for the help. Pink Floyd oh ya.

I used to be a big fan of AM/FM radio in my youth, but I've found it lacking in recent times (like the last decade or so). I'm much more into streaming for casual listening and only listen to radio in my car on a sports station. I'd encourage you to take a look at this option instead of internet radio, as I've never found it to be of decent quality for even casual listening.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[lovinthehd]

Just a tuner, still new to this stuff still, we have lots of stations here in the San Francisco Bay area. I have never used the radio internet access yet except thru hey google and Syrie. But I'm willing to try it. Ya I know total newbie here, Now that I'm retired I have more time for internet access. And other fun hobbies.

Lived in that area for the most part from 1971-2010 The great fm stations we had earlier in that range of years died in corporate hands for the most part IMHO....a few college stations were still pretty good but reception depended where you lived. Classical stations might be an exception, but not my taste. When I lived in the city early in that range, reception was okay but the quality of programming/dj declined generally; in later years I was down the peninsula up on Skyline and reception for phone/radio was bad/near impossible where I lived. Internet radio stream quality can vary, but there's a much larger choice that way, but I tend to just use streaming services myself (Pandora and Spotify personally but there are others with big catalogs, too). Never did use AM much myself.

A streamer like a WiiM Pro might be a thought instead of a tuner, the streaming services like Qobuz, Amazon, Spotify, etc offer great catalogs and are commercial-free (well, depending on subscription level), and would provide internet radio access as well.

Tuners have somewhat gone by the wayside compared to many years ago, too and there's not a lot of choice....I do see a new NAD on Crutchfield for $550 that might be interesting. Don't forget a good antenna, too. Makes me wonder if my old fm tuner (JVC?) still works at all....been on the shelf for about 30 years

Good luck!

 

[TLS Guy]

I own a Marantz PM-8005 Integrated Amplifier and a

Marantz SA8005 Super Audio CD Player they have been in a

Box unopened since 2015 I moved and had no room for another

project. But now I want to unbox and setup my music collection.

My question is what would be the best Am/fm receiver under $2,000.

To go with my Marantz setup?

I would definitely go vintage for this, no doubt about it. Analog radio has had its day. There are pages of really good units on eBay.

This one really caught my eye. You won't go wrong at the buy it now price.

 

[MrBoat]

5 minutes of music, 7 minutes of ads, and the same top 40 they overplayed decades ago to the point I still can't listen to those songs.

Start out with Pandora online. There is a free version. Choose an artist and create a station based on that and then choose discovery mode. It will take you much deeper into albums and related groups than FM ever will. The paid for version has no ads. It's not the best streaming quality but is good enough for me and is often as good or better than the classics recordings can be anyway.

FM now is full of Mark Span real estate ads and the seediest ambulance chasing lawyer crap and products for hair loss and erectile dysfunction. If that's all there were to listen to, I would quit audio,

 

[Mike Hubbard]

Ya your right Mr Boat, most of the time i listen to Public radio Am and Fm talk radio, cd and my iPod audio books or podcast. Traveling with a good SciFi book or comedy Is amazing. My car is 12 yo with no internet. Plus I’m too cheap to pay for something that was always free when I was a kid.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd bet you can get a lot of that and more with radio internet (i.e. outside your local area). My car does have a thumb drive slot but no internet capability....with the thumb drive I can load far more content than I can likely get with trying to find particular channels of such.

 

[Mike Hubbard]

Yes same here, I have a USB in my car but no internet. Which I love I pick and choose from whatever is plugged into the radio. I never upgraded my radio, because everything goes thru it and the steering wheel, it just wasn’t worth all fuss plus I am happy with the way it works.

 

[TLS Guy]

5 minutes of music, 7 minutes of ads, and the same top 40 they overplayed decades ago to the point I still can't listen to those songs.

Start out with Pandora online. There is a free version. Choose an artist and create a station based on that and then choose discovery mode. It will take you much deeper into albums and related groups than FM ever will. The paid for version has no ads. It's not the best streaming quality but is good enough for me and is often as good or better than the classics recordings can be anyway.

FM now is full of Mark Span real estate ads and the seediest ambulance chasing lawyer crap and products for hair loss and erectile dysfunction. If that's all there were to listen to, I would quit audio,

Public radio and MPR do not have ads. I do use FM for live as the Internet stream is only 128 kbs. My FM tuners are only tuned to 99.5, they never move off that.

 

[MrBoat]

Ya your right Mr Boat, most of the time i listen to Public radio Am and Fm talk radio, cd and my iPod audio books or podcast. Traveling with a good SciFi book or comedy Is amazing. My car is 12 yo with no internet. Plus I’m too cheap to pay for something that was always free when I was a kid.

My truck is 25 yrs old, has no internet but I put a decent Alpine stereo, speakers and subs in there and the Alpine head unit has CD, Tuner, XM, Pandora and Bluetooth among others. I mostly Bluetooth to the head unit because it's about the only thing I use the phone for other than calls. I have been using the Pandora app via Bluetooth from my phone to it and it works reliably well.

At home here, my bedroom system consists of a budget, Fosi Audio BT30D Pro amp and it has Bluetooth too and I use the phone for that too. Pandora will stay on all night, unlike other streaming services I tried. I have a smooth jazz station for night time and Pandora selects a great variety, IMO. That tiny Bluetooth amp and a pair of great homemade speakers and my phone is all that system consists of and the sound quality is great.

I am pretty much tech stubborn/lazy, hate cell phones, and only listen to 2-channel stereo, but I have to admit that the streaming selects more and better music than I would think to find on my own. This, IMO, has been one of the best uses of the internet than just about any of the bs that goes on here. I also don't have a television anymore.

Streaming has podcasts and other discussion platforms as well and with no shortage of topics. I mostly just live for the music. Since you said you have money to burn, perhaps start out with a budget setup to learn your way around it. I have mine all set up through my desktop PC, including my audio system. Games, movies, E-books and some of the best music capabilities on the planet.

The guys at work listen to the streamed version of the FM radio station they otherwise listen to via my Alexa setup when I'm not there. The one guy listens to talk radio over it so you can still have the best of all the worlds pretty much.

 

[tillerman6]

I own a Marantz PM-8005 Integrated Amplifier and a

Marantz SA8005 Super Audio CD Player they have been in a

Box unopened since 2015 I moved and had no room for another

project. But now I want to unbox and setup my music collection.

My question is what would be the best Am/fm receiver under $2,000.

To go with my Marantz setup?

IMHO- Don't bother with radio! Too many adds and jaw flapping. All the radio stations now are owned by the same network and they gave up on music a long time ago. Ours is 80% ads 24-7.

Plus the bandwidth is only 15Khz, you need an antenna of some sort and it's one more thing to break!

Believe me, You Tube or Spotify is 1000% better and more fun, sounds good, limitless songs, videos (reccomend getting You Tube premium)

AND it might take you a couple of days or weeks to get your other system set up and working like you want it.

I have an AM/FM radio in my Yamaha RX-V365 that has not been used more than 10 minutes in 10 years if that gives you an idea.

 

[MrBoat]

Public radio and MPR do not have ads. I do use FM for live as the Internet stream is only 128 kbs. My FM tuners are only tuned to 99.5, they never move off that.

I gave radio a fair try for most of my life. Since I have the streaming enabled, I just don't need the radio unless the internet is down. For a long time I was only using CDs everywhere when I ditched radio when it got too cluttered with ads and just haven't needed it.

I will look into public radio, though, just for something else to try again.

 

[highfigh]

5 minutes of music, 7 minutes of ads, and the same top 40 they overplayed decades ago to the point I still can't listen to those songs.

Start out with Pandora online. There is a free version. Choose an artist and create a station based on that and then choose discovery mode. It will take you much deeper into albums and related groups than FM ever will. The paid for version has no ads. It's not the best streaming quality but is good enough for me and is often as good or better than the classics recordings can be anyway.

FM now is full of Mark Span real estate ads and the seediest ambulance chasing lawyer crap and products for hair loss and erectile dysfunction. If that's all there were to listen to, I would quit audio,

"One call, that's all"?

 

[highfigh]

I own a Marantz PM-8005 Integrated Amplifier and a

Marantz SA8005 Super Audio CD Player they have been in a

Box unopened since 2015 I moved and had no room for another

project. But now I want to unbox and setup my music collection.

My question is what would be the best Am/fm receiver under $2,000.

To go with my Marantz setup?

You don't need a receiver- the difference between that and your PM-8005 is that a receiver has a tuner. You can buy a vintage used tuner at a resale store if you want vintage, or you can buy something newer, but there's absolutely no reason to spend two grand on that. However, Marantz did make the ST-6003 AM/FM tuner and it matches the cosmetics of your integrated amp.

 

[-Jim-]

I like good sound sources but we have Spotify on a Family plan where a handful of us all listen to whatever we want commercial free. It's really for casual listening as it's not lossless but the selection is immense. I use it mostly off my iPhone onto Bluetooth Headphones when I'm working around the house. It also has podcasts that I use to keep up on NHL Hockey and Football. For the car I have a ton of Tunes in MP3 as again, it's just for casual listening. I do have a ton in FLAC as well and use them for listening on the various systems I have at Home and the Cabin.

I'd suggest @Mike Hubbard try Spotify, or even Tidal (as it's CD Quality / lossless), as it will not only let him use it one his home system but on the move as well.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There seems to be a lot of commentary about NOT listening to radio, but I think the bigger option is that if you do want to listen to some stations, then maybe look at streaming units that can stream your favorite stations.

Getting a good quality streaming device with multiple services available to it for audio may give you far better control, more options, and better reception of those stations. Whether it is talk radio, or music, most stations are streaming their content over a streaming platform, free of charge, direct to your home.

So, if you Google "Listen to KXXX Online" you should be able to see what service they use to stream. In my area, a popular station, DC101, is carried by iHeart Radio. So, I can download iHeart Radio to my streaming device, and play it back easily.

If you want a nicer streamer, consider a Bluesound product, but less expensive, but similar, is Sonos or Wiim products. In the case of these products, it is ALL about the quality of their software along with having good audio quality. You can verify the supported music services before you buy...

What music services does Bluesound support?

At BluOS, we are an alliance of audiophiles with the mission to create an innovative wireless software platform for digital audio products and technologies that allow for the most true-to-life musi...

support1.bluesound.com

I like my Sonos. I can program in favorite stations, which bridge across different services. So, I can have my XM Christmas Music, right next to my WTOP Local News/Traffic station in my favorites, which is a really nice feature to have and I would think is common. I use a Sonos device, so others can comment on the other streaming devices if that's something you are considering as an option, or just an 'in addition to' product.

 

[Mike Hubbard]

I have google devices that run Spotify but has a few commercials the little round hockey pucks play really bad sound. Will a streaming blue sound help? I don’t know how to hookup such a device I know it goes to the internet then I assume RCA out to the AMP?
Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think any service you use that plays commercials will have different audible "qualities" in that they tend to be of elevated levels and distortion along with that. Best to avoid commercials altogether. What google devices are you using? The pucks I have are Audio Chromecast devices but they are just receiving/processing units. Puck shaped speakers could be an issue