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.