Tuner question

Own two McIntosh tuners, MR500 and MR7084, like the older MR500 better. McIntosh does not make their newer tuners as good as the older models. It is presumed that people do not want to spend alot of money on excellant tuners any more. Many in to HT. I will wait for digital tuners when they come out before I buy again. Thought about switching to Magnum dynalab, but will wait. The older McIntosh tuners will pick up more distant stations that the newer models. That is why many hold on to the older models. No experience with MR85.

There's no voodoo magic about good FM tuner design and I'm sure there are plenty of good ones from the past including McIntosh. Of the tuners that are readily available I like the entry Magnum FT-101A. It sounds outstanding and has good selectivity for strong signal metro areas and good sensitivity for pulling in weak stations - but many decent FM tuners can do this. I also own a $180 (used) Adcom GFT-555II AM/FM tuner. I wouldn't hesitate recommending this bargain tuner to any audiophile (except those who only feel satisfied spending mega bucks on their gear).

I recently swapped one of my tuners with my Dad so that we could compare notes. He has a Magnum Dynalab 101 and i gave him my Musical Fidelity E-50. He came to the same findings that i did. We both like the Musical Fidelity better. Only problem is, now he doesn't want to give it back to me... Sean

Is the E-50 a current model or only available used? I'm not familiar with it. I like the Magnum FT-101A but something as good for less $$ WITH remote control would be nice.

Abe, the E-50 was disco'd about a year to a year and a half ago. It was the "budget" version of their "sardine can" Xplora model built into a "standard" chassis. While the Xplora had remote capability, the E-50 doesn't ( as far as i know of ). I think that they did this to encourage you to spend more money and get the Xplora ( which was probably much higher profit unit ).

While i haven't tried the current Musical Fidelity offerings ( that do offer remotes ), someone else that i know ( from the net ) did and was not happy with it. Don't know if it was a matter of system incompatability, personal taste, lack of performance at that specific receiving location, etc... I will say that it is similar in performance to most English tuners, they lack sensitivity. He ended up replacing it with a more expensive Magnum from what i can recall.

If you look around on the web, the E-50's will pop up from time to time. I just snagged another one for my Dad for under $115 including shipping !!! Needless to say, i couldn't pass it up. They typically sell for about $250 - $325 from what i've seen. Not saying it is the best you can buy, but i've found it to more than hold its' own, especially at the prices that i'm talking about. Sean
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