Tuner Recommendation for New York City

My first recommendation to move across the bridge to Fort Lee where I experience, for the most part, great reception from the New York City stations. If that is not a possibility then read on.

I have a Fanfare FT-1A tuner that I love. I am on the 14th floor which is toward the top of the building facing the Hudson River. I have used the whip antenna and the Terk powered antenna in the past. I now use the Magnum Dynalab silver ribbon antenna with better results than the previous two antennas. I am told that if you can place the whip on your terrace or outside of your window it will easily outperform my current setup. There is an antenna made by a company called Godar that sits on top of your tuner that is supposed to give good results. I have not heard it so I cannot say how it performs.

It is difficult to determine what overkill is in terms of tuners. I use my tuner more often than any other source and it is my least expensive source component. In my system the tuner is a bargain. At some point we are able to get 90 percent of our current systems abilities for half of the cost. That extra 10 percent is what we pay for in High End audio equipment. That being said, I have seen numerous advertisements for High End tuners from New York audiophiles who felt that it was overkill for the esoteric tuners.

Good Luck

Harumph, I used the MD Silver Ribbon antenna with a 20+ year old Yamaha T-550 tuner (bought right here on Audiogon for the whopping price of $20) for about a year while on the first floor of a building in the West Village and then gave up. Since I've moved (top floor of a five floor-er surrounded by much taller buildings on all sides near Union Square) the tuner's lived in the closet. I never could get much in the way of a signal (let alone programming) that impressed me all that much. Maybe I should try again....? I guess this is one vote for how not to do it.

Why not a tuner from New York City. Try the Fisher FM-1000 broadcast monitor. Designed originally as an industrial piece to use in radio stations to monitor broadcast quality. Unreal sensitivity and selectivity with a monster capture ratio to boot. Tons of tubes including a nuvistor. These are right up there with the Marantz 10B. And what better tuner to use in the town with Avery Fisher Hall than Avery Fishers own tuner?

While I don't live in NYC, I do live in Chicago and expect we have similar problems. I recently upgraded to a Fanfare FT-1A from a very good Sony ES tuner. The Fanfare is much better for multipath problems and has balanced out. The balanced out was nice because it gave me something to use my standby cables that I've "outgrown" on. As always the best way to find out is to try as many as you can get your hands on in your particular dwelling. The multiple antennae sampling situation could make it more of a complex test. But, it certainly would be best to find the greatest combination that you can afford and live with prior to purchasing. Best Regards, Aaron

Lots of information on tuners here. //www.geocities.com/tunerinfo/