I love my Cambridge audio t500 tuner. I have it hooked up to an aerial antenna, a Winegard, mounted in the attic. I pull in station 50 miles away. It’s fun late at night surfing the dial. The t500 has a conventional knob used for tuning, so it provides that old school feel. I also have a vintage Kenwood tuner and a Marantz st6000. This coming from a guy who still uses cassette decks and mini disc recorders, even 8 track....it’s about the music for me....using all the above components is a lot more fun than streaming in my opinion.
Vintage Tuner-Only wonderful because it's the SOUND I grew up with?.....
I scooped up a lovely vintage 70s, Nikko FAM 500 Tuner.
When I work from home, I will stream certain Chicagoland radio stations while working. Several have pretty strong data over stream - per Roon's readings of the connection.
I plumped the cute yet smartly designed Nikko into place and the machine sounds great! I've only listened to FM stereo so far. It's been hours, so who knows? But I sure am enjoying a smooth sound with a bit wider soundstage--I know those to be true.
I wonder for a second.. . What was so wrong with radio when played over just decent equipment?
So, do vintage tuners have a subjective sound quality that makes them enjoyable? Or is this the sound I grew up with, which is just great with faults.
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Great responses. It is interesting how using a machine like a tuner or tape deck or turntable changes or influences the process of listening and enjoyment. Listening late last night to the Nikko showed me a few things. While there are some inherent artifacts in the signal, the depth of the soundstage and imaging are quite something--just a different sound than streaming. But.... the inner detail on bass is lacking. I was surprised at how enjoyable the sound is. @jasonbourne52 , that's a sweet tuner. I've been watching those.
@audioguy85 , I'm not familiar with your unit. I'm going to check it out.
@pindac , thank you for the kind words and encouragement to enjoy the journey!! |
@jbhiller re: bass, just for grins I swapped over a pair of my better OCC copper interconnects from another component over to my FM tuner. Against all odds and specs of transmitted fm-radio signal, bass and inner detail started showing up. To this day, I'm pleasantly surprised sometimes as to what sound actually comes through on some channels every once in a while. Best of Luck, enjoy! |
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