This thread must not die! This is for music lovers...not DX nerds. Analog FM Tuner design peaked in 1987 from Luxman, Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, Kenwood, Magnum Dynalab, McIntosh, etc. The Luxman T117 being the best sounding in my opinion... and some Luxman receivers that say "Computer Analyzed Tuner" on the face...e.g. R106. (Yes the Alpine Luxman tuners bettered the 70's Luxmans!!) All that said.... the game has changed with HD digital OTA broadcasting.. and even allegedly compressed internet streams. As I am writing this...I am listening to Pandora gathering pianos from Ciani and peers from an iPhone connecting to my big sound system with a $25 Belkin Bluetooth adapter .. and I am smiling. Sadly, those I trust say the best tuner ever made is now the Sony XDR F1HD..no longer made, MSRP $99.95..now available used at $400+.. most of us but not all of us can get OTA digital but as to analog...does the non HD side of the XDR sound as good as the sound of the T117? Those trusted folk i aforementioned do not get into the music as much as I do. The Sony and Denon at the time( 1987-1990) barely out spec'd the T117 but the T117 sounded better. On the other hand if your tuner of choice is not a top of the mark bench test competitor (S/N, Distortion, Separation etc etc) .. then there is something else going on in your head or in the Alpine- Luxman's case the CAT module is improving the signal retrieved. That is my story and I am sticking to it. I have ABC'd 30 tuners/tuner-in-preamp/receivers at least... and my ears were good once. I know what I am talking about. If you are not over the top fussy a restored Pioneer TX9500 II might be the end of your quest. (And some cheapo Yamahas and Technics sound damn good as well. Higher end tuners are a ruse..look at their bench specs!! then listen and compare ABC blind, rotating switching.)...but it will not be a bench winner.
