FM alive and well here...curious question


SoCal listener here. 

Last night, the Classical station finished their listeners  top 100 with Ludwig B's 9th.
I got sucked in listening to the end of the 4th movement.  I can't remember what conductor/orchestra, but fantastic performance.

My Mac 71 with a $20 indoor antennae is able to get a  signal strength reading just over "8" with dead center tuning according the meter.

Ludwig B was sounding clear,quite and simply fabulous. 
 
Im aware a "real" roof antennae is the way to go. Wondering if the effort to get a "10" reading on the tuning meter will actually be heard as even better sonics?

Just for kicks, I spun a few minutes of a minty 59' Living Stereo to compare. 
WOW! The record naturally wins, but my beloved Mac isn't far off. Considering the broadcast was a CD, it was reasonably convincing. It certainly was just as good as my generic CD deck(no fancy outboard DAC)

My 71 is stock, tuned with NOS glass. I'd love to hand over $ 1K for the RM mod, but ain't gonna happen.

LONG LIVE FM! Hopefully?


tablejockey
tale jockey-                                                                                                         yes, although I require cable here in Boulder, I have heard that the reception on the latest high definition local tv broadcasts have truly super quality for both audio and picture as well.  Which, if true, means that cable tv quality sucks.  Pay more for inferior product.  But you get so much more.  Just like internet radio, in fact.  I could even go into the subject of quality of movies audio reproduction between the up to early 1950's mono, but tube driven, to today's surround, high definition and solid state driven electronics.  Yes, it is true.  At 73 years old, I remember how totally involving movies used to be.  With tube electronics and the high quality speakers that were used at the better theaters in those days, yes movies overall sounded better.  And more involving.
"I could even go into the subject of quality of movies audio reproduction between the up to early 1950’s mono, but tube driven, to today’s surround, high definition and solid state driven electronics."

alanholvey-
Somewhere in the early 90’s Sony made their last tube Trinitron in 16:9 format?
I think it was 480ED (not even HD) capable? I still believe it holds up to 4K OLED in many ways. OLED is pretty amazing, but I could be happy with the ancient Sony.


I have two FM tuners in my two main systems .... a Carver TX-11 in the secondary and an udated Fisher FM-90B in the main.  We have an excellent NPR station here in Western Mass, WFCR and its satellites.  The play classical daytime 9:00-4:00 with live hosts, then again 11:00pm - 5:00am with recorded programs.  5:00 - 9:00am and 4:00 - 7:00pm are filled with NPR news, and the 8:00 - 11:00pm slot filled with a really good jazz program hosted by a terrific and knowledgeable jazz host.  We are truly blessed, and it is good reason to consider Western Mass for retirement.
A few months ago I was lucky enough to pick up a Marantz 10b from the original owner's wife after he passed away. I haven't listened to the radio in years but I had heard a 10b in an all Marantz system (8b and 7c) and was amazed at the sound quality.  It was like listening to vinyl.

This unit cleaned up very nicely and even the oscillascope is working.  Only two tubes had any leakage.  All the original amperex bugle boy 12ax7's and au7's are working great.

i live in Ann Arbor and have several NPR options.  But my wife and I have mad a habit of weekend listening to WDET.  Signal picks up OK with an MD ST-2 on the roof but have to switch to mono to reduce noise.  I have to say I feel more connected to Detroit music now that we are frequent listeners to WDET.  FM sounds great!