The most interesting aspect in having these types of posts is how depending on the popularity of certain tuners, they will immediately experience a boost in their prices. I remember years ago when the founders of the by invitation only AudioMart magazine (the largest used audio magazine in the world at the time) were invited by The Absolute Sound's publisher, Harry Pearson, to write an article on pieces of hi-fi gear which would be considered to be classics in the future.
Virtually every piece of gear that they chose became an instant classic: gear like the Levinson ML-2's, SAE Mk VIB,
Acrosound 20/20, Electro Research A75, Paragon E preamp, Krell KSA 50 etc.
Was it that these pieces of gear were so much better than the myriad others which had competed favorably with them? No. It had far more to do with the respect that TAS readers had for Walt and Lennice, and the fact that their choices were based on very good gear to begin with.
However, much of this equipment has appreciated exponentially, because of enthusiasts' "perceptions" of this gear, more than how good it actually was.
This is not to say that much of the gear chosen was not quite good in its day.
However, most of it is now ancient, and well in need of expensive servicing. Yet, that has not prevented many who've purchased such pieces of gear, from spending a small forture on them, or the subsequent services which the prior owners had managed to avoid.
The lesson here, is that there is quite a bit of excellent gear that has fallen underneath the radar of the would be
classic hi-fi buyer, and as such still remains a bargain.
However, the moment that this gear starts getting "talked up" it will experience a similar rise in price, simply based on the perceptions of those who want a piece of gear that others have acknowledged to be a cut above the rest.
The following are my choices for top 10 top tuners. And I know that there are at least a hundred other tuners which can match or better these, however, it is my perception of these tuners (having even owned some of them), which dictates my suggestions here.
It is certainly nice to be able to dabble in something as enjoyable as used hi-end audio, without actually going broke in the process. Purchasing some lesser known but also popular tuners such as the Dyna FM-3 or Onkyo T 9090 (that while excellent don't have the same cache as
a Day Sequerra or Marantz 10B) will get you sound quality that is nearly on par with the best, yet at a fraction of the cost.
These types of tuners are still considered to be a relative bargain -- especially if their cosmetic condition is less than perfect.
However, the prices of some of this more esoteric used gear have become stratospheric based on buyer's perceptions, meaning that our perceptions oftentimes outweigh our good common sense.
For example, there are the thifty, yet savvy amongst us who can put together a collection of very nice sounding and aesthetically pleasing tuners, for what one enthusiast might spend on a minted out Marantz 10B or Scott 4310.
However, is the person with either (or perhaps both) of the
aforementioned tuners going to enjoy them more than the person who has 8 or 9 more affordable tuners? (Tuners capable of nearly equal sound quality?)
It would all depend on the people involved. However, in most cases, unless the people with the more expensive gear are well heeled, they may find themselves constantly at odds with the large sums of money that they've spent for the more esoteric gear -- especially when considering that it is decades old, and that repairing certain parts which go bad, may turn out to be impossible, simply because the parts are no longer available.
However, with the less expensive tuners, if they experience a similar failure, there's far less invested them, so the losses will be on a much smaller scale.
Once again, it all comes down to our perceptions of these pieces of gear -- which in essence all serve the same primary function -- that of listening -- and the secondary function of being aesetically pleasing.
Or is it the other way around?
Once again, that's a matter of perception too.
Marantz 10B
Scott 4310
Sequerra FM Reference
McIntosh MR71 Modafferi modded
Revox B 760
Revox B 261
Tandberg 3001A
Marantz 125
Naim NAT-01
Leak Troughline 2 w/Internal or external stereo decoder
