Best Mac tube FM tuner: MR67 or MR71??

For comparison evaluation of various tube tuners check out Vaccuum Tube Valley magazine's back issues...they invite tuner afficionado's over for an evening's competition!

Remember that the antenna is 90% of a tuner's preformance. Think about wartime...a spy's weak radio on top of a mountain could "get out", but his powerful radio in a mineshaft could not. And don't forget to use a groundrod.

I agree that the best all around choice is between an MR67 or an MR 71, with the rest being attractive in various respects. In modern units you cannot beat a FT101A (forget the FT11 or the FT101 - much older) for value, ease of operation and "CD quality sound" Ha! Fishers are good too, the 100 or 200R, I believe, though I have never sampled one. (Just traded a '50's Radio Craftsman mono for a Bogen).

My rule is to always have analog tuning...some have this (MD's) with digital readout added...ok.

I agree with preferring analog (as a system) to Digitally synthesized (as a system) tuning.  But it got better in the most ambitious units of the '90's, and "average" doesn't do a good job of carrying the torch for Digital Tuning technology.Tube fetishists won't sanction anything but a hierarchical litany of preferences that are as frozen in Amber as anything could be.  So I won't be part of that (already well represented) demographic either.

None of the best Tuners I've owned are Tube.  (Sound or RF performance).  They include a Pioneer F-28, F-93, TX-9500II, 9800, and an, MR 78, Yamaha T-2 (rip) and three or four others that were supposed to be "upstart" HD references, that were (to me) the MOST disappointing of all. I get the "tube" appeal, but in my experience it's informed by the eccentricities of electric Guitarists and not particularly faithful to the tenets of High Fidelity. It's possible that my not being in the center demographic for the tube Macs shines light on my being underwhelmed by the Far Eastern HD widget on the other side of my age demographic. (I owned one new for $50.00 and gave it to a relative.  She never turns it on, btw.) But I do listen critically and there's more rampant subjectivity in FM Tuners than I ever thought possible.  It's even whackier than turntables.  In my experience, the better either gets the more like the other it sounds.  If you like what you have, hang on for dear life.  A good solid state tuner will be the most neutral source for that format. The big problem now is content.  YMMV.....

Great discussion all.  Related question:  I have a SAE VIb refreshed that's really great. Also running an Adcom GTP500-II.  Because it has presets, and my family is too dang lazy to wait for the SAE to warm up and then manual tune.

But the adcom sounds really flat.  What's the best option for a 2nd tuner with the requirement (handicap?) that it also has presets?