Best Tuner under 500?

The old Yamaha T-1 and T-2 tuners are great. There is a T-2
on ebay now. They go in the $300-$400 range, depending on condition.

Either the Quad FM4 or the MD FT-11 would be good choices and for much less than $500.00. You can usually pick up a MD 101 or 101a used for less than $5 bills.

I was fortunate to find a RT -955 recently and after living with it for about 3 months, I am very satisfied. I don't generally use it for AM but what I have tried it appears to be very sensitive and should prove usefull with a good antenna. Of course AM is so very prone to electrical noise it does depend greatly on your immediate environment with respect to electrical noise.

The FM section sounds very good and in fact when a good quality broadcast is on CBC ie jazz or classical it almost surpizes me at times how good it does sound. Of course the majority of pop and rock stations simply sound very compressed and as a result are basically unlistenable. So your at the whims of the broadcaster buit the tuner is very capable.

If you don't mind an older/vintage unit they are a number of excellent ones folating about as suggested. Previous to the Rotel I used an old Marantz receiver which had the best tuner both in R.F. and sound combined.

If you do go the route of The Rotel 955, I am sure you will not be dissapointed with its performance. Good luck and keep us informed.

For solid state and digital tuning, if you look around you will be able to find a mid 1980's Onkyo Integra Tuner models T4015 & T4017. These two have unbelieveably good reception and sound. They can be had for $50 usually. More money, but with excellent sound is the late 80s model T4087 (around $100 to $150 depending on cosmetics). The T4087 is the one with the Rosewood sides. It is the closest thing to the T9090-II which is the best thing they evey made around $350 to $400 used. May not sound much better than the T4087, but has excellent reception. Of the more modern 1990's vintage Onkyo Integra Tuner (are R1 remote capable), the only one I thought sounded good was the T4500 and T4700. Did not care for the most recent T4711. What can be said about the Onkyo Integra's is excellent reliability.

PS: The Onkyo Integra T4017 and T4087 have a variable output knob (volume), so I guess you could skip the preamp and run it right to the power amp like many do with their CD Players.