Are Tuners - Audiophile quality

SDCampbell: The FM frequency band is between TV channels 6 and 7. So any good VHF antenna should work whether also for TV or just FM. The fact that some FM only roof antennas cost more means we are all probably getting ripped off.

It is true that a TV antenna has enough range to pick up the FM band that is between channels 6 and 7 VHF. That said, an antenna that is designed only for the FM band will do a much better job of rejecting channel 6 and 7 and a lot more RF that your tuner doesn't need sent to it's first stage. So use a cable feed or TV antenna..and they are very usefull, but the best is an antenna designed for the FM band. The very best set-up I've ever heard was a pair of stacked Finco model 5's, but the models from APS are likely to be the best available now...maybe better than the old twin 5's.

Once the tuner receives a strong enough signal to go into what is called "full quieting", it is pretty much up to the tuner from there. This is taking into account that it is receiving a direct signal and not something loaded with multipath reflections. As such, almost ANY outdoor antenna can pull in a reasonable signal so long as you are not a million miles from the transmitter.

To prove the point, how many times have you been able to listen to a station in your car with a factory installed stereo and then gone into the house and NOT been able to get the station in near as good using a wire dipole, amplified indoor antenna, rabbit ears, etc... ??? Do you think that the difference was that the "cheezy" car stereo had a better tuner section in it than your "hi-fi" grade tuner or was it the fact that the ( much shorter ) car antenna was outside ????

While i am a BIG fan of proper antenna systems, they become FAR more important at distance OR when you are nearfield with a lot of tall buildings or structures that will deflect the signal. You can actually run into problems by having TOO much antenna when the receiver is located relatively close to the transmitter. This is called "front end overload" and can be quite a problem in big cities.

As to Marv / Fanfare's comments, Quad used to do very similar tests / demo's when they came out with their FM-4. They even went so far as to bring a small transmitter being fed via vinyl to their "big" dealers and demo this for them and the interested customers. Switching between the vinyl being fed directly into the audio system and then listening to the same record via the signal being transmitted and then received by the FM-4 resulted in no discernable difference ( other than the delay ) under those conditions. Sean
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Sean makes a very good point...what your reception location in regards to broadcast signals is. I am so used to being in the "sticks" that a very directional antenna with very good side and rear rejection..and rejection of 6 and 7 on the TV VHF band have been very important. That said, it is easier for any audio or RF circuit to porduce a cleaner signal out when it is feed a cleaner signal in.

The person who said that th4e FM band exists between channels 6 and 7 on the TV dial is correct about that and somewhat inaccurate about the rest.

The fact the FM band exists where it does will allow a TV antenna to "broadband" th FM signal, but with no elements actually dedicated to the FM frequencies, the actual gain at 100MHz could be less than unity (0dB). The signal could be noisy because the antenna's design makes it susceptible to harmonics of other frequencies with can become just plain noise. This type of problem does not occur with a dedicated FM antenna because it is tuned narrowly to the FM band, and in doing so has sufficient gain at the FM frequency band to disregard low signal harmonic interference. The analogy here might be that hi-test gas is a rip-off if it does not provide better performance for a high performance engine.