The best sounding FM Tuner is.....

hi martin,

i also forgot to mention the hitachi ht-8000 - another cheapie tuna that sounds fantastic, & has excellent sensitivity.

re: the kenwood kt-9900, i agree it is a miserable sounding unit stock - i owned one & was extremely disappointed. but, gawd, was it pretty! :>) i recommend it for mods, cuz the modded kt7550 i owned, (which isn't nearly as good stock as the kt-9900), was fantastic.

for mods i would recommend joseph chow or bill ammons. ed hanlon of aps does do good work, so i have been told by those i trust, but i, personally, couldn't send him my biz cuz he refused to provide answers to *any* questions you may have about what he does. i attempted to do biz w/him a coupla times, but didn't follow thru, cuz he was so rude to me, and accused me of trying to steal his "trade secrets"!?! the one time i did actually send him a tuna, it also needed repairs; he said he couldn't fix it, so he sent it back. the guy i sold it to was able to get it fixed no problem.

joseph chow adwertizes on agon. here's his website:

http://www.componentplus.us/pages/upgrades.html

and bill ammons' info can be found on the fmtunerinfo.com site. one caveat about mr. chow - you have to specifically ask him to replace & match the filters, it's not part of his normal procedure. (unless he's since changed this.)

bill ammons is *the man* when it comes to tuna, imo. i have also had decent results from stephen sank, who did my mr65b & hk citation 18, but i don't think he does filter matching/replacing, either... and, he takes *forever*.

regards,

doug s.

Hi doug,
Thanks again for all the very helpful information!
You have given me a lot to work with, and it's greatly appreciated. I'm on my quest for a great tuner!

Regards,
Martin

creek t40 and t43

Well now this is an interesting thread. Especially since we are getting into high definition broadcasts.Not many folks are focused on these components anymore. If so they go after the solid state by far.Yes the Onyko's have terrific reception,amazing. The modded Onyko that I listened to I had to turn it off within several minutes it's sonics were that bad. It was proclaimed to be as good as the Kenwood and Sansui hot shots but less monies with the mod of course. I've listened to a Marantz 10B and then the world reknowned HH Scott 4310 Broadcast tuner used in tandum with the same. They would go back and forth to pick up the best signal and the winner would lock in and broadcast, talk about ahead of their time, WOW. The 4310 creamed the 10b within seconds, it was amazing. I beleive upgraded and properly aligned this tuner will crush anything known to man. Also there is a close second best Scott tuner also. What is it? In my most humbled opinion, Joe

lithojoe, the 4310 *is* the "close second best" scott tuna. :>) most tuna freaks will tell you that the 310d w/an outboard mpx decoder, or the 310e, are better sounding tunas than the 4310. (even most honest scott freaks will tell you this - the 4310 is a collectable.) most tuna freaks will also say the vintage fisher tunas like the fm90r, fm90x, etc, will *also* sound better than *any* of the scotts, tho they're not as sensitive. as will the 3000-series & above tubed sherwoods. again, the sherwoods aren't as sensitive.

so, i think it highly unlikely that a 4310 will crush everything. or even come close for that matter. i have yust sold a perfect 310d & its matching 335 mpx decoder; the decoder has been refurb'd. this combo *was* supurb, no doubt. and, its sensitivity *is* pretty amazing, for an old tube set-up. but its sonic performance, imo, is exceeded by the fisher/sherwoods mentioned above, as well as any number of other tunas i have owned or still own.

ymmv,

doug s.