Tuner Information Center...gospel?


I am sure many of you know this site. It seems way too many people are taking the shootout opinions as gospel.

Obvious Kennwood bias. Units that are nothing special being rated as something special....ie: Technics ST-9038 and Sansui TU-717(ok, but flat, thin, old sounding).

For what it's worth I have owned most of what this site has in the top 30, and none are better than the Magnum MD-108 (with the exception of the Accuphase 109v).

Most of the top rated older tuners sound like that...old transistors, old(and not very good) capacitors,aluminum internal wiring, Zinc RCA jacks...etc...guys and gals these do not make for high end sound.....if so, go buy some old Sansui or Kenwood amps...you wouldn't because they are outdated sonically. Then the newer Kenwoods that are rated highly...all have cheap op-amp based audio cicuits....again, these are not audiophile parts.

If you have watched the price of older tuners...and these Kenwoods...the site has had much impact on the re-sale prices of these tuners....people are putting way too much faith in one person opinions (which is what the shootouts are).

The Mitsu 20 and the Sansui 919 are very,very good...esp. if aligned and newer caps, wire and RCAs are installed. But better than the top Magnum........nope.

Also, tuners like the top two Linn, the top Naim, and others, are not among those listened to.

All this said, I do like the site, and there is much useful information and I do like the fact that this site may have made people more interested in tuners. If you have a great FM station in your area, or a few of them, then having a good tuner is a great investment. There is useful info on the site, but the shootouts are just one person's opinion.....so do some of your own listening and don't take anyone's opinion (including mine) as anything more than that.
whatjd
76doublebass, i remember your postings, as i am also a joseph chow customer. i went back & searched the archives, & didn't find anything offensive about responses to your postings. in fact, i noticed i replied to one of your questions myself! :>) of course it could be that you were not the only one that took offense - the moderators may have gone back & deleted a post or two. they do that sometimes, if things get outta hand. don't be scared off by one or two folk that may get a wild hair up their a** once in a while. it happens everywhere. as i said, the moderators go in & remove the ugly stuff. some sites i know about have the posts screened *beforehand*. you wouldn't want that, now would ya? ;~)

doug s.
fmpnd, you were not completely ignored - in fact, i replied to you, referring you to more info about the rht-10 on the fmtunerinfo.com site. you will also recall i teased you about the fact that you thought your modded 990bx wasn't as good as your md108! :>)

part of the reason (the main one, imo), that you didn't get a better response, is the fact that the rht-10 is a *wery* rare tuna; (only ~500 ever made), most folk have never heard one. i certainly haven't. i had a chance to buy one a while back, i should have jumped; but it was a bit over my budget. (is the one you have a line on awailable for a good price?) :>)

i would hazard a guess that a stock rht10 would be comparable to your modded 990bx, but, per the info on the site i referred you to, it can be modded to be even better (perhaps the best, according to the info on the fmtunerinfo.com site?)

doug s.
ps - the naim nat-01 *was* in the shootouts; it fared poorly. the one *i* heard was fantastic, imo...

doug s.
I stand corrected Doug, you have always been one of the few willing to give advice without hesitation and I do appreciate it. Yes, I did wonder whether the reason I got so little response was unfamiliarity with the Rotel - but heck, these guys seem to have heard EVERYTHING out there so I figured that wasn't it. Maybe you are right.

I will say this 990 BX is a killer for its meager price. The RHT-10, although not priced very low (2/3 of retail) is LITERALLY brand new (20-40 hours at most played and placed back in the box and stored for years).

Your thoughts?

Thanks for pointing out your previos response and for all of your valued advice.

Frank
hi frank,

i really *do* believe that hardly anyone - on the yahoo tuna forum, or anywhere else, for that matter - has heard the rht-10 - too rare. which is why i pointed you to the yahoo tuna forum's sister site - fmtunerinfo.com - comments from someone there who has actually listened to a modded one.

re: whether or not the rht-10 is worth it, well, there was one f/s here on agon from israel for ~2/3 retail, i personally would pass on that. i *should* have nabbed the one for ~1/2 retail about a year ago. ;~) oh well...

there's really so many nice sounding tunas - especially after mods - that, unless you have lotsa $$$, & *really* like the looks of a certain model - like the rht-10, for example - it's hard to justify spending a lot of cash on something like that. but, then again, i am talking to someone that bought an md-108 - even used, i think i couldn't afford that! :>) in your case, it may be worth trying the rht-10. get it modded to the gills & tell us what you think. even if ya pay top dollar, it *still* will cost less than even a *used* md108. and, you could always sell it w/o taking *too* much of a hit, especially if it's been modded.

tunas that i would recommend modding for an all out assault on the best sound there is, but still at a reasonable cost, would be the accuphase t101, rotel rt-2100, mitsubishi da-f20, harman kardon citation 18, philips ah673, roksan caspian (if this can be modded?), aiwa 9700, heathkit aj1600, & sansui tu-9900. this small sampling is based upon my personal experience, and also takes into consideration "cool" factor. :>)

i await my accuphase t109; it should be coming back from joseph chow any day now, modded up big time. i also have high hopes for this one, but it's not what i would normally consider *bargain*. i was lucky, & got it *right* on ebay a while back - it was japan-spec, & needed to be conwerted from 76-90 band to usa 88-108 band. i think folk were afraid it couldn't be done, & it affected bidding. i was lucky; joseph chow did it for a reasonable price, but it took him >6 months to source the part, as accuphase wouldn't sell it to anyone here in the usa. he had to sneak one in from a friend of his in asia.

i *do* own a coupla relatively spendy tunas, but, (like my t109), i got 'em right, so i can sell 'em w/o taking a hit. problem is - i may have to keep 'em! lol!

regards,

doug s.