2. analog
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Tuner Advice. Help a lost soul.

There seems to be a lack of good information on the web and elsewhere when it comes to tuners. Which is too bad because I'm looking to get a good tuner for my system, and I'm lost. I listen to a lot of radio and I would like a tuner that sounds good...no that sounds GREAT!! Unfortunatly I don't have $5000 for a Magnum Dynalab MD 108 or even $1500 for a Fanfare FT-1. I'm looking in the $200-500 range I guess. I've considered the NAD C440 and a used Magnum FT-11. Other than these two and the Onkyo line (which is confusing) I'm lost. Can anyone recommend a few quality tuners and/or a good place to purchase them. Any help, advice, recommendations, etc. would be great.
mailman199
trelja
3,223 posts
 
I have an old Sansui tuner. I can vouch for those that say they are good. Over the past 15 to 20 years, I have bought 4 tuners to try and replace it. They were all returned. I have now stopped trying, and just enjoy the music. New tuners are almost all digital. While, I thought that would be a help, it is actually a negative in my case. I am in a weird situation. I live 1 - 2 miles from the Philadelphia radio and tv towers. I am UNDER the signal. A good analog, that you can REALLY fine tune has proven best for me.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Both the Creek T43 mentioned and the Cambridge Audio clone (Yes, Mike Creek did design both) interestingly use a high end car stereo chipset. Mike discovered they had better reception and sounded better than most digital tuner stuff. Go to http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/ for reviews on both.
sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
NEC made a very fine line of moderately priced tuners in the late 80's and early 90's. I recently sold my NEC T6-E to a fellow in Connecticut who absolutely raved about the quality of radio reception he was getting on New York City stations. If you can find a NEC tuner in the T6-E or later series (T6-F, etc.), they often sell for less than $100 and are absolutely unbeatable at the price.
cp991
1 posts
 
You might wish to consider a Magnum Dynalab FT 101A. They can be found used for approx. $450. It's the real deal and sounds consistenly musical. I've had one in my system for about 8 years now and it always delivers!
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