Analog Tuner Existence.....

There are so many excellent tuners out there for $200-$400, why buy a collectors piece and worry? I have had an MR-71, a full Audio Classics mod MR-77, a Fanfare 1A, etc. over the years. I now have a Marantz 7001, and a Sherwood 3000 lll, with less than $400 in both.
The Sherwood seems the sonic equal of my MR-71. The Marantz is not the equal of the solid sate Macs in sonics, but it beats the pants off them in quieting on distant stations. I now hear my favorite college station with a dead quiet background, whereas with the Macs it was always subject to noise and cut out.
Read more and spend less.
cheers,

Trumpetbri,

The radio situation is a bit different than TV. Most TV users have cable, so the transition to digital didn't affect them at all, and the TV industry was willing to risk pissing off a few customers to bring in a system that benefits them and their advertisers. Make no mistake, the TV move was all about advertising; more side channels and bandwidth utilization equals more ad revenue.

Contrast radio, where virtually all listeners use the broadcast signal. Until HD capable radios reach critical mass, there's no way stations can go exclusively HD, as they'd cut off a huge piece of their audience. Radio stations are going to HD for the same reasons TV did, and none of them have to do with helping the consumer.

It will be analogous to the introduction of FM; it took 20 years for FM to really take off. I would expect analog broadcast signals to be around for a long time. That said, I completely agree with Samujohn that it makes little sense to invest in a high buck tuner at this point. A decent $200 tuner with a good antenna will squeeze pretty much all you're going to get out of an analog broadcast signal these days, even the ones that use little or no compression.

Tune in with something reasonable and relax; I haven't owned a TV in 15 years and my Yamaha T-85 is plenty.

David

I have owned a lot of hi-end tuners from the McIntosh MR-71, 77, 78 and 80. I have owned the Tandberg 3001A and the Yamaha CT7000 along with a few T2's. I love tuners, but got tired of the limited broadcast content and quality of the signal. My favorite independent stations and University /College based broadcast are no longer. I had given up on "radio" until a friend turned me onto the Logitech Squeezebox products and it has opened up the entire world of internet radio to my main system. I have the Squeezebox attached to an external DAC and listen to stations from around the world. The broadcast quality is from okay to very good, but the content available is absolutely stunning. The addition of the Squeezebox has been the best single addition to my system and has introduced me to music that I am not sure how I would have discovered in the past. I have sold ALL of my tuners and have absolutely no regret and would not consider a tuner purchase again unless it was a wireless internet based system upgrade to the Squeezebox.

Have to completely agree with Armstrod's take on Televisions reasoning for HD. Its about money and profits period. FM broadcasts will be here for a long time to come as Armstrod stated they just cannot loose the audience. Its that, that drives their revenues through advertisment and the amount of listeners they have that drives advertisers to them. Unlike TV where if you own a TV your at their mercy. I,m lucky however , in my area their are still plenty of excellant stations and variety as well to choose from. I still use an expensive tuner in a Magnum Dynlab MD 108 and love it. If it goes HD I bet Larry at Magnum can make it sound as best as it could with some form of mod or something. You can still though for very reasonable cash get a descent tuner and " tune in and relax ". Cheers

digital FM is just another subcarrier riding / sucking up bandwidth on the main analog carrier which will always be there. There's nothing HD about it. If you compromise buying a cheap tuner you get what you pay for. Invest in a quality product & enjoy the full benefits available. You'll not regret the quality of a classic design either; most of them were built better than what's available now. Grab that Mac while you still can!