Hello!
I am brand new here and hoping someone can help me out. Just recently I graduated from a lousy all-in-one Crosley to a sound-system broken into a few components. I don't have a lot of money, so I did the best I could.
At the moment I have some simple Dayton Audio floor speakers (T652) and an Audio Technica turntable (AT-LP60). A generous friend gave me his old receiver, which is a Sony STR-DE475.
It all works great! I'm listening to old vinyl again and love it - but I want to hear radio. The problem is that I live in a basement apartment in Somerville, MA - not far from Boston.
Not sure if anyone is familiar with this model or how to deal with radio reception living close to a big city. I just received a loop antenna in the mail (just AM: www(dot)ebay(dot)com/itm/311455287655) and I can get some reception but there's a terrible buzzing sound throughout, so listening to the radio is not pleasant.
My question here is - do I just need better antennae and I'll be fine, or is the problem living in a basement, or do I need a better receiver? Hopefully it's just a better antenna I need, because the latter two don't seem so feasible!
Thanks a million,
Charlie
Hello!
I am brand new here and hoping someone can help me out. Just recently I graduated from a lousy all-in-one Crosley to a sound-system broken into a few components. I don't have a lot of money, so I did the best I could.
At the moment I have some simple Dayton Audio floor speakers (T652) and an Audio Technica turntable (AT-LP60). A generous friend gave me his old receiver, which is a Sony STR-DE475.
It all works great! I'm listening to old vinyl again and love it - but I want to hear radio. The problem is that I live in a basement apartment in Somerville, MA - not far from Boston.
Not sure if anyone is familiar with this model or how to deal with radio reception living close to a big city. I just received a loop antenna in the mail (just AM: www(dot)ebay(dot)com/itm/311455287655) and I can get some reception but there's a terrible buzzing sound throughout, so listening to the radio is not pleasant.
My question here is - do I just need better antennae and I'll be fine, or is the problem living in a basement, or do I need a better receiver? Hopefully it's just a better antenna I need, because the latter two don't seem so feasible!
Thanks a million,
Charlie
So you thought you asked a simple question? It was once, but not now.
First of all your receiver is probably as good as anything for radio reception.
I have looked at the map and you should be close enough to Boston for good FM reception, or would have been once.
You stated you bought an AM antenna. I'm unclear whether you want to listen to AM or FM radio.
Let me say straight away, that there is so much RF interference in modern homes that AM radio listening is a dead loss and not going to happen.
FM is possible.
However you live in a basement apartment. For good FM radio reception a roof antenna is best.
I suspect you will have to make do with an indoor one.
Now your problem is interference. The best way to minimize this is to increase the signal strength so the rejection circuits of your radio have a chance.
Now there are amplified FM antennas. However they are really useful for a neater installation. In your case they will probably increase the noise as much as the signal, for no net benefit.
The best Antenna for indoor use for your application is this one.
Unfortunately this may not do the trick.
There is now a lot of radio frequency interference in homes and apartments. By far the biggest offenders are LED light bulbs, followed closely by light dimmers. The combination of LED plus dimmers is horrendous.
This shows the spectrum of interference of LED light bulbs.
As you can see it is right across the FM band. The result is an unwelcome buzz.
To solve this RF problem HD radio was introduced in the US and Canada. However you need a tuner that can detect the digital signal in the analog FM mask. In addition stations broadcast on sub channels stations only available in HD.
There were a lot of problems with HD initially. However the proprietary codec has been improved. Since converting to LED bulbs I have had to switch to the HD digital signal, unless I turn the lights out.
I live a significant distance form the transmitter, and I use a Yagi-Uda array roof antenna.
I do get a high signal strength with that antenna. One additional problem with HD, is that its reach is not quite as far as the analog signal. If signal is inadequate there is default to analog.
By far the biggest problem though, is that the public have never taken to HD radio, and the manufacturers are continuing to abandon it. Now only the very high end receivers have HD radio.
New stand alone FM tuners are fast becoming extinct and very expensive.
These are the offerings available. These are from the iBOC ibiquity site, the developers of this HD system, and the manufacturers of the HD transmitting equipment, which is unbelievably complicated and trouble prone.
Since you are in an apartment, I would bet there are lots of LED light bulbs around now and you will not solve your problem with traditional radio. However I would gamble on the antenna I referenced. If that does not solve your problem with your Sony at that location, I don't have an answer for you for traditional radio.
If that does not work, then I suggest you go to Internet radio, which is rapidly replacing traditional radio.
These will stream from your router. You can buy a standalone digital radio to connect to your Sony, or you can stream from your computer, phone, or tablet. If you use Google Chrome you have the option of chromecasting if you buy the little dongle to go in an HDMI port of your receiver. Many sites also have Chromecasting apps for Apple devices.
The biggest problem with Internet radio, especially in North America, is that the bit rate of the stream is far too low, usually around 48 Kb/sec. 128 ks/sec with the AAC plus codec and MPEG DASH can work quite well. The BBC streaming site in the US uses that spec. If you use a VPN tunnel and can get to the UK BBC site you can get 320 Kb/sec AAC plus MPEG DASH. That sounds fantastic.
So, thingss are in a state of flux at the moment. The change of technology in homes, with LEDs being a big problem and now high frequency inductive cook tops being another huge issue.
I think we are in transition from traditional terrestrial broadcast radio to Streaming radio. Now increasingly car manufacturers are building Wi-Fi hot spots into cars, I expect traditional radio to be extinct in 15 to 20 years.