Are Tuners - Audiophile quality

Classe use to make an FM tuner. I think it retailed for $5000.00. I would consider this an audiophile piece. I saw one used once for $4000.00 at a local stereo store.

Most of the "junk" that you are hearing is the quality of the signal being broadcast. Believe me, i have looked at more than a few tuners internals ( Magnum, Musical Fidelity, Quad, Citation, NAD, Pioneer, etc... ) and none of them are "real impressive" in terms of engineering or quality of parts. After really starting to "dig" into a lot of gear more frequently, i am becoming more and more disappointed with the overall design, build and parts quality of a LOT of "respected" audio gear. If the EE's that are designing audio gear were working in the RF field, we would still be using tin cans and string.

As such, it is possible to find a tuner that sounds good, so long as the local broadcasts are up to snuff and you've got a decent antenna system. In my opinion, i would not spend a LOT of cash. Quite honestly, we've only have one station here in Chicago that produces a top notch signal. To be totally truthfull though, i was BLOWN AWAY by how good FM can sound after hearing this station on a decent tuner though. With that in mind, the rest of them could be handled by a tuner of much lower quality without ever noticing much of a difference.

One suggestion though. MOST of the old "super tuners" from the 1970's / early 80's tend to sound like a "transistor radio" (literally). Supposedly, some of the old Yamaha's sound pretty solid but can't speak from experience. I'm sure that some of the Mac's might be worth checking into ( PROBABLY better build quality too ) but their price may not be worth the investment if your local FM selection & broadcasts resemble a cesspool. Sean
>

Hi, there, DCAudio. You ask a good question. There are certainly some audiophile-grade tuners that are still available, such as the Sequerra and Tandberg. However, the real problem in most places in the U.S. isn't the tuner, it's the broadcast signal. There are very few cities in the US where FM stations still send a clean, uncompressed signal, and even when they do, multipath distortion can be a huge problem (I'm told that NYC is one of the worst for multipath due to the skyscrapers). Maybe you live in an area that has one or more excellent FM stations, but my bet is that most compress their broadcast signals, which essentially negates the reason for having a top-quality tuner. Before you invest a lot of money in a classic tuner (the consensus is that the analog tuners, as a class, were better than the digital tuners), find out more about your local "source material". If you find that you have access to some high-quality broadcast signals, then the first thing you should do is a get a good external antenna and see how it works with your current tuner. If all goes well, then explore getting a better tuner.

The Magnum 108 is the finest source piece I have ever heard.
Actually beyond the sound of any high-end CD player or player/DAC I've owned.

If you are not sure you want to sink some major $$$ at first, and want a hint of audiophile quality. Find a used Onkyo "Integra". The mid 80s models sell on eBay from $50 to $100. (from low to high: T4017, T4057, T4087); the early 1990 models from $100 to $150 (T4500, T4700. T407). The newest is the T4711 has RDS $250 used. The best ever is the T9090-II which is going to be $350+ used. There is also a T9090 for about $250. Also get some decent interconnect cables.