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Does anyone notice a reduction in sound quality when a tuner is part of ther audio chain?

I notice that when my tuner is taken out of my audio rack/chain that the sound quality from my system is significantly better. I like the sound of my tuner but when disconnecting it I find the cd player has a much quieter overall sound.  If my tuner is attached but turned off I still find the sound quality less than if the tuner is disconnected completely. Is my best option to simply disconnect the interconnects from the tuner to the preamp when not using the tuner? Would a better preamp resolve this issue or is it a matter of  RF leakage that would happen with any preamp?
128x128mitchb
mitchb's avatar
mitchb OP
336 posts
 
Thanks for all your input. In fact my tuner is out being repaired which is how I notice the difference in sound. I think it's a matter of RF which is leaking from tuner input into the rest of the preamp. I think it's not resolvable unless I actually unplug the tuner's interconnects from the preamp.I would leave the tuner plugged into ac when not in use but left off and unplugged from preamp. I'm hoping this would be my solution. Any thoughts or advice?
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Yes for sure better gear will help. RCA connections share ground. XLR is a better option.

Glad to see you don’t buy into the idea that your gear is so resolving that simply the proximity of the tuner will affect it. There are many tin toilers here who believe that detrimental effects on the music from extraneous factors like cables etc. indicates their gear is highly resolving (instead of realizing that something is faulty with the setup).
erik_squires
16,006 posts
 
Not an expert, but I think that the IF amplifiers in tuners can be pretty noisy and emit a lot of noise. If you leave them on all the time then this would explain it.

This is kind of how radar detectors detectors work, they pick up on the IF amplifier output.

Best,

E
sfall
346 posts
 
This happens all the time. The cause is usually noise from a digital source contaminating the rest of your system. I don't know what kind of tuner you have, but you're options are to get a higher quality tuner, a PC like the JPS Digital AC, or a power conditioner that isolates the outlets from each other.

If you call Cable Company and explain your problem, they'll know what to send you (demos that you can try first to make sure a product fixes the problem).
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,411 posts
 
It also depends on the preamp. Some tuners can bleed into the unbalanced inputs if the tuner has a high gain.
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