The best sounding FM Tuner is.....

A second to Gasman's review above. I also have the Fanfare FT-1 using the balanced outputs and am extremely happy. You will think a CD is playing when the reception is strong. This is worth the cost!

my experienceis....... a harmaon kardon citation 15. it sounded like the studio feed. it wasnt that reliable, perhaps the repairer was below standard. when i switched in mono after a repair, left and right channels were out of phase! next...the tuner in the marantz mokdel 19 receiver was excellent. then lately, my friend purhcased a magnum dynalab ft101. he is a dyed in the wool radio afficianado who has worked at a couple of stations (kppc+kpfk), and also instantly hears the copression/limiting schemes used by the different stations. of course he has an fm beam AND a rotator. he has yet to stop raving about the mag-dyn. oh yes, i bought the hk form him.

Without a doubt, the Marantz 10B from the 60's had the lowest distortion, superior quieting, fabulous separation and(too bad!) a need for alignments far too frequently. Not being a big FM fan here in Mpls/St Paul, I never really listened to it very often. The stations here just don't have great audio quality or variety. I sold mine to Audio Classics last year for @ $1100.

After having searched wide for some sort of decent tuner, I am certain that the Mcintosh mr78, circa 1970s is one of the best tuner's out there. The question of selectivity, narrow, wide, distant etc . . . It gives a excellent reception even with poor signals. Nothing beats its styling and also its aftermarket value.

Accuphase T109 is hard to beat on any count.