Need a good tuner and there aren't many?

For what it is worth, I have the Fanfare FT-1A, and I realize it is over your $1000 request, but I thought I would at least give you my two cents on it. Before I bought it, I picked up an old Sansui TU-717 on eBay to get my feet wet using a tuner again. Rightly so, the Sansui couldn't hold a candle to the Fanfare. Things I like about the Fanfare: it may have nothing to do with performance but it is a beautiful piece and it is much smaller than the older tuners; it has remote control, this is very handy!; it has presets, I use these every time I use the tuner, don't be fooled into thinking they are not necessary; it pulls in a lot of stations, I now mostly listen to a station I didn't know existed. The Fanfare has five signal strength lights, this station I found, for the most part, will only light up 4 of the lights as it is a week station and distant, yet there isn't a lot hash when playing it, although I do play it in mono. That leads me to another thing, when programming presets, you can program it in mono or stereo; it is very musical, you do not tire of playing it. I find I use the tuner more than any other source. Unfortunatly we are still at the mercy of the signal. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

I have a McIntosh MR-78 available for sale if you are interested. It is universally considered to be one of the top 3 tuners ever made and when you hear it you'll know why. They really are exceptional in all respects. I've recently moved to a rural area in the Rocky Mountains where multi-path is a big problem and the stations in this area aren't so great anyway. It has been lovingly cared for and is in excellent condition with all original documentation including service manual. If you are interested and would like more info please e-mail me at: tswhitsel@aol.com

Ezmerelda, try contacting Ken Mull at Audio Advisor and find out about the Musical Fidelity A3 tuners. I have found them to offer excellent sonics if the broadcast is up to snuff. They are not the most sensitive though, so if you live way out in the boonies, you might need a more sophisticated antenna array. I have three year old MF E-50 that works very well and am quite pleased with it. For comparison sakes, i also have three Quad FM 4's, a Yamaha TX-950 and a Citation 23. All of these are highly reviewed pieces for the cash. The FM-4's are EXCELLENT tuners also, but their cosmetics are different ( tiny ) and they don't use RCA's as outputs. You would have to have an adapter cable, which is no big deal. Another benefit to the Musical Fidelity deal is that they have remotes now ( most "quality" tuners don't ) and AA offers their 30 day return privilege. Good luck in your search. Sean >

I have listened to or owned most of the best known tuners including Mac Mr 71s, 78s, Marantz 10Bs. The best overall tuners I have owned that are solid state are the Naim and Linn tuners. They are very simular sounding to a tweaked Marantz 10b. The Naim and Linn tuners are not however the best at selectivity,etc. They are amazing sonically though.

sws2, i agree w/the sound quality of the linn/naim. but ya can't get their top tuners for $1k, even used. that's why i got the onix bwd1, w/soap power-supply - virtually indistinguishable sonics from the linn/naim, better selectivity, better price. regards, doug