Tuner and Antenna Suggestions???

[mrm3601]

Hi.

This is my first post and I have to say that I know very little about audio equipment.

I have a Pioneer A/V receiver (about 3 years old) and the 75 ohm antenna input broke. I now want to buy a separate tuner and a good antenna (I live about 50 miles outside of New York City and I was using a Terk FM 50 antenna and I'd say that the reception was fair). I have AV123 Strata Mini speakers and the room is about 18 feet long by 14 feet wide.

I'd like to keep the tuner down to $300.00 or less. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[jostenmeat]

I hear good things about Winegard antennae. I believe that's what TLS Guy uses for his reception. Also, Swerd uses this brand for OTA. For tuner, I don't know. Good luck!

 

[Codifus]

Hi.

This is my first post and I have to say that I know very little about audio equipment.

I have a Pioneer A/V receiver (about 3 years old) and the 75 ohm antenna input broke. I now want to buy a separate tuner and a good antenna (I live about 50 miles outside of New York City and I was using a Terk FM 50 antenna and I'd say that the reception was fair). I have AV123 Strata Mini speakers and the room is about 18 feet long by 14 feet wide.

I'd like to keep the tuner down to $300.00 or less. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

These guys are deep into FM tuners, old and new;

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

A very very good read.

CD

 

[highfigh]

Hi.

This is my first post and I have to say that I know very little about audio equipment.

I have a Pioneer A/V receiver (about 3 years old) and the 75 ohm antenna input broke. I now want to buy a separate tuner and a good antenna (I live about 50 miles outside of New York City and I was using a Terk FM 50 antenna and I'd say that the reception was fair). I have AV123 Strata Mini speakers and the room is about 18 feet long by 14 feet wide.

I'd like to keep the tuner down to $300.00 or less. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

Can you show a photo of the antenna input? It should just be an F81 type connection, which can be purchased from Pioneer. If it's the small cast piece with a few pins that solders directly to the tuner board, it can still be repaired for less than the cost of a tuner. If the tuner just wasn't all that great, I can understand your wanting to replace it.

Separate tuners aren't what they once were and I can't think of a single manufacturer that's known for theirs. I would look on Craig's List, ebay or Audiogon. I have owned several Sony tuners- some AM/FM and two that were FM only. These were from the days when they made sensitive tuners with great alternate channel selectivity, which makes it possible to have better sounding reception because the multipath is rejected better. The last one I had was the ST-A7B but I also had an ST-5150. Other than this, I can't make any tuner recommendations. You may be able to find an old Sequerra or Sherwood Micro CPU, both of which had tuners designed by Larry Schotz.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi.

This is my first post and I have to say that I know very little about audio equipment.

I have a Pioneer A/V receiver (about 3 years old) and the 75 ohm antenna input broke. I now want to buy a separate tuner and a good antenna (I live about 50 miles outside of New York City and I was using a Terk FM 50 antenna and I'd say that the reception was fair). I have AV123 Strata Mini speakers and the room is about 18 feet long by 14 feet wide.

I'd like to keep the tuner down to $300.00 or less. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

If you got any signal with an indoor Terk antenna, the FM tuner in your receiver is pretty good.

Get the 75 Ohm connector repaired. A new separate tuner will be very costly. You would really have to find a good vintage one.

At 50 miles a good roof FM Yagi-Uda array is mandatory. These are the best you can get.

 

[Rickster71]

I got the Sony XDR-F1HD last year.
http://reviews.cnet.com/radio-tuners/sony-xdr-f1hd/4505-7866_7-32987435.html

IMHO It's the best FM tuner I've heard, combine the fact that it can be had for under $100 and it can't be beat.

I seen mods that can be done to it, that fix it's few faults: 1. Station presets are lost if the radio is unplugged from AC power. 2. it runs a little warm.
3. If you get a weak HD signal it switches back between FM & HD. (there is a fix for it though)

 

[Rickster71]

A few reviews and forum talk of the Sony XDR-F1 Hope it helps with your search.
http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=35

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/sony-xdr-f1hd.html

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=198024

 

[TLS Guy]

I got the Sony XDR-F1HD last year.
http://reviews.cnet.com/radio-tuners/sony-xdr-f1hd/4505-7866_7-32987435.html

IMHO It's the best FM tuner I've heard, combine the fact that it can be had for under $100 and it can't be beat.

I seen mods that can be done to it, that fix it's few faults: 1. Station presets are lost if the radio is unplugged from AC power. 2. it runs a little warm.
3. If you get a weak HD signal it switches back between FM & HD. (there is a fix for it though)

I bought one of those to evaluate iBiquity IBOC HD. The problem is that it defaults to that 92 kbs HD stream when the signal is good. I don't think that HD radio system sounds anywhere near as good as good analog FM

On my Marantz tuner pre/pro, I can leave it set to analog FM.

 

[mrm3601]

Thanks very much for your suggestions. I'm going to check out the links you've provided.

Thanks again.

 

[Rickster71]

I bought one of those to evaluate iBiquity IBOC HD. The problem is that it defaults to that 92 kbs HD stream when the signal is good. I don't think that HD radio system sounds anywhere near as good as good analog FM

On my Marantz tuner pre/pro, I can leave it set to analog FM.

Agreed Mark,
if interested here is a link http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm
with a technical review and mods that fix it's few shortcomings.
Along with one to force analog reception.

 

[Codifus]

Agreed Mark,
if interested here is a link http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm
with a technical review and mods that fix it's few shortcomings.
Along with one to force analog reception.

That FM tuner site has a review of that Sony (scroll towards the bottom);

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

They say it's a great DXer

CD

 

[Rickster71]

That FM tuner site has a review of that Sony (scroll towards the bottom);

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

They say it's a great DXer

CD

That's one of my favorite sites.
It's where I found out that my 1987 Kenwood KT-5020 made their top ten.

 

[mrm3601]

I actually found at home a Denon A/V receiver (it's about 3 years old) and it's in perfect working condition (including the 75 ohm antennae input). I live about 75 miles outside of New York City.

I'm now only interested in an INDOOR FM antenna and perhaps an FM amplifier signal booster if this is at all appropriate. I had a TERK FM 50 antenna and again, I'd say it did a fair job (but I really have nothing to compare it to).

I'm not really interested in HD tuners.

Again, any suggestions for an indoor FM indoor antenna would be appreciated.

The people are on this forum are very helpful. Thanks again.

 

[TLS Guy]

I actually found at home a Denon A/V receiver (it's about 3 years old) and it's in perfect working condition (including the 75 ohm antennae input). I live about 75 miles outside of New York City.

I'm now only interested in an INDOOR FM antenna and perhaps an FM amplifier signal booster if this is at all appropriate. I had a TERK FM 50 antenna and again, I'd say it did a fair job (but I really have nothing to compare it to).

I'm not really interested in HD tuners.

Again, any suggestions for an indoor FM indoor antenna would be appreciated.

The people are on this forum are very helpful. Thanks again.

75 miles is much too far for any indoor antenna. Amplifying does not help because you amplify noise as well as signal. You have to use a high gain roof antenna at that range to increase signal over noise. If you are getting any signal with an indoor antenna, then the Winegard Yagi- Uda array should give you a listenable signal. There is just no other way round it at that range.

 

[mrm3601]

Thanks TLS Guy. I'll start thinking about purchasing the Sony HD tuner suggested on this thread.

Thanks again.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks TLS Guy. I'll start thinking about purchasing the Sony HD tuner suggested on this thread.

Thanks again.

Its the Winegard Yagi-Uda array antenna you need. When I tested that Sony unit here, it did not get a usable signal with an indoor antenna about 40 miles from the transmitter. It worked OK with the Yagi-Uda array that supplies all my FM tuners. Three connected at the moment.