FM Tuner in your System

The concept of someone out there selecting, playing and locally discussing, music is highly enjoyable. The Marantz 10B was a great tuner.

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Definitely
As was the Sequerra but both are so rare and costly now.

I haven’t listened to radio in years. But when I did, I used these…

x580TXS805B-f

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Love your tuners. About six months ago, I took a large “portable” AM/FM radio from a closet at work, brought it home to listen to talk radio. Found myself doing that periodically as well as rarely listening to music in the car. Rides to and from the office are opportunities for us to catch up on world events/interviews. There appears to be a significant demand for vintage FM tuners. I used to listen to FM and vinyl in equal measure, but when the babies were born, I would listen to Barney and got away from both. I have my turntable decision made (cartridge not so much). This is a very casual interest area for me unlike other hobbies which were very much hands on.

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Internet radio is very convenient but the quality of the sound is limited compared to a good FM tuner with a good antenna. The Sansui TU417 is in storage but performed admirably when it was used. The MD90T (with ST-2 antenna) blew it away it terms of sound quality - if you like analogue sound like vinyl then you’ll probably like Magnum Dynalab but whether this is your cup of tea you have to decide yourself with an audition.


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Both look great.

I always liked the clean lines and performance of the Sansui tuners and they remain well loved and popular still.

Totally agree regarding internet and DAB radio where the bit rate is usually so low that performance suffers badly.

The difference between good FM and DAB is immediately obvious much of the time.

The Magnum Dynalab are in the latest Music Direct Catalog and the tube units as well. I used to own Sansui receivers.

I have had internet radio for many years, never listen to it.

Radio stations on Roon are nice to have available. I have occasionally listened to a Blues station.

I remember when McIntosh and Marantz went to their new solid state tuners. The Marantz 10B became, as I recall, the 20B. The 10B was at close-out for $300, and they could not move them. Then again, a `59 Les Paul was about $400.

TEAC PD-301-X, good news is it output FM sound not only to analog (RCA) but also to digital via S/PDIF.
https://teac.jp/int/product/pd-301-x/top

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Use internet radio now but back in the day I had a Quad FM3 then an FM4 ,

Laterly my Onkyo av receiver had one , I never even wired up the aerial

I have a Tranny in the kitchen for morning news :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

FM is obsolete.

We have a station out of a local university and another that have lengthy (many hours per day) of classical music. There is (or at least was) a jazz station. The classical station does cover much of the work of our orchestra. The moderator always gives history on the piece about to be played.

My personal favourite is the Quad FM4

there is just something about the design of them.

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Quad products have always been noteworthy. That is a good looking unit.

They said that about vinyl 30 years ago…

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I have always had an FM tuner as part of my music system. In the past I had a Quad FM4 in my main system and a Quad FM3 as part of a second system. Now that I stream music around the house I have only one system and it includes a Naim NatO5 FM tuner. I recently had a new FM antenna installed and the sound quality is really first class. I mainly use it to listen to BBC Radio 3. Although there are many other ways of listening to Radio 3 I find I always come back to the FM tuner as my preferred source for this.

Most of my listening these days is music streamed via a Roon Nucleus to a Naim NDX2 end point or, via AirPlay to a Naim Muso or a MusoQb in different rooms. I also play LPs on my recently extensively (and expensively) upgraded Linn Sondek LP12 turntable (bought in 1975).

I am reasonably agnostic about the source I use for listening to music - after all it is the music not the equipment that I want to listen to and enjoy. And in that context I find FM radio as enjoyable as any other source.

Vinyl appeals to retro diehards who usually also enjoy tube equipment to go with it. Good digital kills this stuff. But it is fun to have an old Thorens with an SME arm. Vinyl is a nostalgia trip.

FM is blown out of the water by digital in every single respect. There aren’t even many FM stations and the reception is often poor and ridden with interference. Your reception range is severely limited. But people like their old Japanese receivers and Marantz 10b tuners.

This old stuff is fun to use and historically interesting but modern digital is vastly superior. Buying a tuner for sound quality is a mistake, but getting one for fun may indeed be just that.

That’s a beauty.

That’s your opinion. I respect it but disagree on nearly all counts.

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A late 1980s ADCOM GFT-555 II, but it does not get much use anymore…