High Quality FM Tuner - Advice

I was in the same boat as you several months back. I went with the Fanfare FT-1A, which is just about into the MK.II version along with thier AMAX am. The FT-100 will be the MKII version plus the am capability. Its a nice tuner and I don't regret not buying one of the magnum's. I didn't go with the older ones, although I almost got a Mac 78, just because I wanted something new and that i could count on for reliability. I'm sure the old tuners are nice, some very nice, but I was still a bit wary of buying something 15 to 30 years old that still claims to be state-of-the-art. Unless you're going to spend $6k for Magnum's top of the line or a Day Sequerra or, maybe the Linn Kremlin, I still think the Fanfare is the one to own in the up to $2,500 price bracket. I'm pretty well isolated from getting an audition for any of them so I just had to go on faith in the end. The Naim's, from what I read, are rather flimsy in constuction and minimalist in parts. Now if they sound great then it doesn't matter, but I never really considered them. The fanfare packaging is nice and the owner's manual is a three-ring binder with each page in plastic sleeve. That's about all I can say.

I was another in the same position. I considered the Fanfare, Magnums, and Tag. Probably couldn't go wrong with any of the above.

Fanfare and Tag are somewhat more fancier (especially the Tag), although you have to love the Magnum's look and meters. If you have multi-path problems, the Tag is probably the way to go but it's more expensive.

I finally went with the MD102 given the balanced out capability and wonderful sound. If your system is up to the task, this tuner is special and extremely smooth and musical. Ultimately, it's also a good buy here on Audiogon. Picked up mine as a demo in mint shape for about $1,700. It's a frequently available piece and usually listed new, or like new for $1650 - 1900. At this price, a great buy.

I don't know that I would have paid $2500 list for it.

Hope this helps.

The Yamaha CT-7000 is one of the all time great tuners and doesn't command a high price. They show up once in awhile.

pkron

Lots of good suggestions above, but you should also add a Tandberg tuner (model 3010?) to your list. There was one listed here on Audiogon a few days ago for about $375 -- the Tandberg was and remains one of the great tuners ever made.

The Day Sequerra remains my favorite, but I'm not sure if it's still made. It was so good that it forced me to get a top-quality roof antenna to take advantage of its capabilities. A work of art. All of the ones mentioned above are excellent, although my suggestion would be to get an analog tuner with a signal strength meter (I think the Magnums meet this description), you don't realize until you have such a capability how much of a difference it can mean to get a signal precisely locked in.