2. best-of
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Your Favorite Top 10 tuners all time

Here is an alphabetical list of what I consider it deserve a nomination:

Accuphase all tuners
Audiolab 8000T
B&K TS-108
Carver TX-11a
Carver TX-11b
Denon TU-800
Denon TU-850
Fisher FM-1000
Harmon Kardon Citation 23
Hitachi FT-5500
JVC FX-1010TN
JVC FX-1100
kenwod kt-5020
Kenwood KT-1100
Kenwood KT-3300D
Kenwood KT-815
Kenwood KT-8300
Kenwood KT-917
Kenwood KT-990D
kenwood L-01T
kenwood l-02t
kenwood l-03t
Kenwood L-07TII
Kenwood L-1000T
Kenwoods 600T
Luxman T-117
all magnum dynalab tuners
marantz 10b
McIntosh MR 71
McIntosh MR 78
McIntosh MR 80
McIntosh MR-67
Meridian 104
Meridian 504
Mitsubishi DA-F20
NAD 4155
Nikko Gamma I
Nikko Gamma V
Onkyo T-4310R
Onkyo T-4500
Onkyo T-9090II
Perreaux TU3
Phase Linear 5000 series 2
Philips AH-6731
pioneer f-26
pioneer f-28
Pioneer F-90
Pioneer F-91
Pioneer F-93
Pioneer F-99X
Pioneer TX-7800
Pioneer TX-9100
Pioneer TX-9500
Pioneer TX-9500II
Pioneer TX-9800
Realistic TM-1001
REL Precedent
Revox B760 and B260
Rotel RHT-10
Rotel RT-990BX
SAE Mark tuners
Sansui TU-417
Sansui TU-517
Sansui TU-717
Sansui TU-719
Sansui TU-919
Sansui TU-9900
Sansui TU-D99X
Sansui TU-S9
Sansui TU-X1
Sansui TU-X701
Sansui TU-X711
sanyo t55
Scott 310E
Scott 335
Sequerra
Sherwood Micro/CPU 100
Sony ST-J88B
sony ST-S707ES
Sony ST-S555ES
Sony ST-S730ES
sony ST-SA5ES
Sumo Charlie
Tandberg 3001
Tandberg 3011A
Technics ST-8077
Technics ST-8080
Technics ST-9030
Technics ST-9038
Technics ST-9700
Technics ST-G7
Yamaha CT-7000
yamaha t-2
yamaha t-7
yamaha t-70
yamaha t-80
Yamaha T-85
yamaha T-900
yamaha T-930
yamaha T-950
Yamaha TX-1000
Yamaha TX-2000

If by mistake I forgot any tuner out, sorry for inconvenience. Anyhow this is a comprehensive list.
rmihai
satch
329 posts
 
I'd vote for the Revox 260S. Looks could be better, but it has an array of usefull features that actually improve reception. As for sound, I'd say a Yamaha CT-7000 is best. I recently doubted about buying one, but at half the price I bought the Revox. Still have a little taste of that Yamaha magic trough my TX-900.
larryi
3,983 posts
 
Well adjusted and maintained versions of the Marantz and McIntosh tuners are terrific. The Fisher is pretty good too. I would add Naim tuners to the list.

I own a Magnum Dynalab Etude. This is an unfailingly musical, sweet sounding tuner, but a touch laid back. Still, a great tuner.

One of the very best I heard, extremely good RF performance (its ability to pull in more stations than anything else was staggering), very dynamic and punchy sounding, but a touch hard and transistory, was a Toshiba tuner someone tried to sell to me. It was from the early 1970's, and there is NO record on this baby. Toshiba itself offers no data on this model. The seller speculated that Toshiba has disavowed making this tuner because it may have been caught up in the scandals involving Toshiba inappropriately selling militarily sensitive technology. The inside of this monster-sized tuner is packed with edge connected circuit boards (this from the early 1970's). The build looked like a Tektronix oscilloscope. The seller wanted $5,000 for this 30-year old tuner. I don't listen to FM that much, and I pretty much stick to just one classical music station, so I passed on it.
rhwitt
1 posts
 
Carver PSB-11
Sansui TU-717
Nikko Gamma 1
david12
1,454 posts
 
I use a Creek T43 I enjoy a lot. I am tempted by Magnum Dynalab, which seems to get great reviews, but not fit into many peoples favourite list. I was looking at the 90T.
Can I ask what people have against them, where their deficiencies lie?
Many of the favourites are older units, I am sure with good reason. If you were going for currently available units, which would outperform Magnum? Thanks
almarg's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
almarg
9,670 posts
 
I've been through about a dozen tuners over the years, mostly vintage tube units, but a few modern ones as well including a Carver TX-11. The vintage ones include a REL (Radio Engineering Laboratories) Precedent (from 1954), two different Marantz 10B's, a McIntosh MR71, and numerous Scott and Fisher units.

By far the one with the best sound quality has been the now 55-year old REL Precedent (with a Scott or Fisher multiplex adapter to decode the stereo). The best in terms of station-getting ability have been the REL and the 10B's, which I found to be about equal (both significantly better than the Carver unit, which has proprietary digital processing claimed to provide extra-special sensitivity).

Note: Please no inquiries about the REL -- it is not for sale and will not be. I no longer have the 10B's or the MR71.

Regards,
-- Al
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