Why even bother?

SEDOND!!!

Doug! Oh my God! The MAN has returned. It is SOOOOOOOOO good to see you, my friend.

Hope you are back now,
Joe

Sedond, could you share your tuner set-ups, including mods, with us? After reading through this post again, perhaps I should pursue more fm nirvana! If so, I'd much rather start right and without having to spend an arm and a leg. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

i love my magnum dynalab ,its usually tuned to 88.5 WMNF tampa fla. public radio,very eclectic,they play everything from 1930 s jazz to underground hip hop ,and everything in between,,ive discovered so much music i would never have heard otherwise!!!!!! yes ,i love my tuner! wmnf can also be heard online ,check out thier program schedule !! there are times you just dont want to get up and change cds or lps,

>How any audiophile could be serious about having tuner in >his of her system?
>What is your opinion?

My opinion is you have no clue about FM. Like a turntable needs to be setup, an FM installation also needs to be setup to work properly and deliver the best sound.

Suprised?

The antenna system is the primary consideration. It can't be an after thought, like a dipole tossed behind the equipment rack. The dynamic range in stereo FM is directly related to the signal strength. Without a strong, multipath free signal, you'll never be optimized to hear what FM can offer.

This usually means a large, multi-element, dedicated FM antenna on a rotor, and high quality low loss cable to the tuner. Make an investment here first, THEN start listening to what FM can offer. If you pick a tuner from the top 20 list of Jim's shootout list (www.fmtunerinfo.com), you'll likely do OK for a stock unit.

A modded and aligned unit will sound even better. Ed at APS sells them, for a less than most audiophiles spend for high end speaker cables.

If you want to fet an idea of what can be had in your area for diversity of listening, try antering your zip code into www.radio-locator.com
Do an advanced search after the initial results, and check "fringe reception" - with a good antenna as above, and a decent aligned tuner, you'll get all the fringe stations easily in clear stereo.

I guess that's my opinion.

-Bob

"How any audiophile could be serious about having tuner in his of her system?"

Only Sidssp seems to have the right response to this.