jaguar, i suggest you try a marantz 20 or 20b; most tuna aficionados say it's better than the 10b, that the 20/20b is marantz's best. (i own a completely refurb'd 19 receiver, which has the 20b tuna inside it, & it *is* an excellent sounding tuna.) based upon my experience w/the lower-level m-d tunas, & upon the comments of others re: the md-108, i would recommend not bothering w/the ~$9k md109. i know you can exceed the sonic performance of the md108 with literally dozens of $200-$1k vintage tunas. also, i had an accuphase t109 modded by joseph chow. while certainly excellent, it is not worth the money, imo, & i dint miss it when i sold it. i have a coupla others that are as good, if slightly different in presentation. now, the accuphase t1000 is one i would like to try - from reports of others, it is head & shoulders above anything they have ever heard, including the big guns like the kenwood l-02t, sansui tu-x1, etc...
joey, i have never heard a kremlin in my own rig, mebbe some day. :>)
butch, i must heartily disagree w/your assessment of the mac tunas. easily the most over-hyped, underperforming tunas around, imo. well, at least as much as the m-d tunas! ;~)
most tuna addicts will tell you the absolute best sounding s/s mac tunas are the mr74 & the mr77. even richard modafferi will tell you that a properly set up 77 is better sonically than even the modafferi-modded 78. well, i owned a refurb'd/aligned mr77 & it was one of only two tunas i have auditioned in my rig over the past several years that i would not be happy listening to as my only tuna. (the other was a stock mint kenwood kt8300.) and, i have owned ~80 tunas.
while i have never heard the mr85, i trust most other comments about them, from those who have heard it, which are a bit different than yours. i also trust ron cornelius, mcintoshs present main product mgr, who readily admits that the current mr85 doesn't compare to the older mac tuna offerings. a search for "mr85" on the yahoo fmtuner forum comes up w/47 posts, for warying comments about this & other mac tunas.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/msearch?query=mr85&submit=Search&charset=UTF-8
and, if you think i am a mac basher, well, all i can say is that i really *do* like my stephen sank modded mr65b, tho it's still not my best sounding tuna. :>)
ymmv,
doug s.
joey, i have never heard a kremlin in my own rig, mebbe some day. :>)
butch, i must heartily disagree w/your assessment of the mac tunas. easily the most over-hyped, underperforming tunas around, imo. well, at least as much as the m-d tunas! ;~)
most tuna addicts will tell you the absolute best sounding s/s mac tunas are the mr74 & the mr77. even richard modafferi will tell you that a properly set up 77 is better sonically than even the modafferi-modded 78. well, i owned a refurb'd/aligned mr77 & it was one of only two tunas i have auditioned in my rig over the past several years that i would not be happy listening to as my only tuna. (the other was a stock mint kenwood kt8300.) and, i have owned ~80 tunas.
while i have never heard the mr85, i trust most other comments about them, from those who have heard it, which are a bit different than yours. i also trust ron cornelius, mcintoshs present main product mgr, who readily admits that the current mr85 doesn't compare to the older mac tuna offerings. a search for "mr85" on the yahoo fmtuner forum comes up w/47 posts, for warying comments about this & other mac tunas.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/msearch?query=mr85&submit=Search&charset=UTF-8
and, if you think i am a mac basher, well, all i can say is that i really *do* like my stephen sank modded mr65b, tho it's still not my best sounding tuna. :>)
ymmv,
doug s.