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What are the Best FM tuners?

This is an often asked question. This is my current list of favorites:
A. Good out of the box, judging sound quality only, not in order of preference because each has merits:

1. Very rare Accuphase T-103
2. 1 out of 10 Tandberg TPT 3001As
3. Onkyo T-909
4. Bogen TP-100
5. Akai AT-S7
6. JVC FX-1100B
7. NEC T-710
8. Onix Audio BWD-1
9. Kenwood KT-990D
10.Crown FM-2
11.Marantz ST-17
12.Sim Audio "Moon"

B. Modified tuners, both RF and audio performance, in order of preference:

1. Kenwood KT-727
2. Kenwood KT-3200D
3. NEC T-6E
4. SAE 8000
5. Accuphase T-101
6. Sony ST-S550ES
7. Onkyo T-4500
8. Tandberg TPT-3011A
9. McIntosh MR-74
10.Luxman T-110
11.Onkyo T-909
12.MD-102, early version

Sure, there are others -- and you may have your own opinions -- but these have proven to be excellent choices over the past 20 years.
bdscott
996cupracer
49 posts
 
This question may have been relevant to hifi in the 1980's but is it in 2017? I had a decent Yamaha tuner with a pretty good antennae in the attic but never used it so I sold the tuner and have not missed it. With all the source options that are available today with better quality and music choices, is this a hifi option?
ptss
1,964 posts
 
As a general comment I would say to be a great tuner it
should allow for fine tuning to the frequency. 
danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
Your opinions are interesting, but there is a site that had many knowledgeable FM guys test and listen to all the ones they could get their hands on, and it was a lot.  All of you are prejudiced by what you have owned and heard, but your experience is too limited.  This site also offers upgrade advice, and occasionally contradictory opinion, such as the low ranking of the Kenwood KT815, which one tech raved about.  I have owned most of the best Kenwood tuners, and others tested for the site, and must agree with both reviewers of this tuner:  For example:  The thing has no bass. It sucks on rock, but it sounds really good on classical music.  Slight mods give it bass.  I really believe this $430 tuner in 1979 was designed to make the $1000 KT917 sound like it was worth more than double the price.  I have owned both, and first had the entry level $300 KT615.  When I read that the electronic (HORRORS!), and inexpensive B&K TS10 sounded a bit better than the 917, I had to find out for myself.  I now own one.  I tried out several tuners from the site's shootout rankings, and they are spot on.  FYI, I had to use my best preamp  amps, and speakers to hear any difference at all between the B&K and 917.  The B&K is a pain in the rear to use, so I kept the 815 to search for stations to put in the B&K's memory.  The reason you never heard of the B&K is that it was scarfed up by Fanfare, which added a remote.  See  fmtunerinfo.com and go to the Shootout page.

russellrcncom
318 posts
 
The thread should be changed to "what are the best VINTAGE tuners".  Can't imagine having a list like this and not including Fanfare. I don,t have personal experience with the Magnum Dynalab so I can,t comment.
cstokum1
1 posts
 
Interesting to see the Crown FM-2 on the list, which I've had for oh around 35 years.  And agree by the way!  Don't ordinarily see Crown components here but it's been able to cleanly pull and lock in stations others can't - with consistency.  Back in the day it seemed Crown wanted to bridge that gap from Pro to consumer and this one was more the latter.
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