anyone notice that older radios usually sound better then newer ones......... Like an older one speaker radio sounds better then a newer 'stereo' one with two speakers.
What you are experiencing may be more attributed to the Mono vs. Stereo signal and their respective differences.
(Not to say there aren't good and bad receivers of both types.)
Mono vs. Stereo FM
Mono operation gives an FM signal the best range, generally adding 30% to the useable distance over which listeners can hear a broadcast signal clearly. For radio formats in which spoken word predominates, mono is often a better choice.
FM reception problems are magnified by stereo broadcasting because of the receiver's increased susceptibility to noise in the stereo mode. A stereo FM receiver has a noise admitting bandwidth of 53 kilohertz, compared to about 15 kilohertz for mono. Through the stereo decoder circuit, all the AM noise above 19 Khz demodulates back into the 15KHz audio spectrum. This amounts to about an 11dB increase of noise intensity.
In addition, a left or right signal modulates the main and sub carriers just 45 percent each. This means that the recovered main and subcarrier signals are noisier than a mono signal by 6.9dB. When these are dematrixed, the net resulting noise is the RMS sum of the left and right channel noise that equals 1.4 times 6.9 or 9.8dB. The total net stereo reception noise is therefore 9.8dB + 11dB = 20.8dB worse than mono reception.
In a good receiver that is fully quieted, the stereo noise will be sufficiently low. However, even the slightest reception problems that produce noise or distortion will be exaggerated on a stereo receiver -- 21dB more than what's heard from a mono receiver. Manufacturers recognize this problem, and include a mono switch on their stereo tuners so listeners can tame troublesome FM stations.
