Best Sounding FM Tuner?

[Ron Resnick]

Hi Ron,
I have several Mcintosh MR78,MR80,MR66,and MR71. The 66 and 71 I just purchased so I can’t say which one I like the most yet.
My favorite so far is my Day Sequerra FM Reference.
I also have a Dynaco FM-3 that had been modified but sounds nice.
I suspect that the MR80, FM Reference, and the T-106 will be the best of the herd. The MR71 should be the best tube turner. I purchased the T-106 because a fellow on another forum told me it was the best of the 40 tuners that he has owned.
That’s it for me on tuners except when a friend tells me she is ready to part with her late husband ‘s Marantz 10B which he bought new.

That is quite a collection! Thank you for your reply!

 

[Artnet]

See the Shootout results at FM Tuner Information

This tuner shoot out had me enthralled for some time. Inspired me to buy a refurbished Revox B760 and ... was a big improvement over existing tuner, and even put my CD player to shame. It has since been up graded.
I enjoy listening for more than an hour a day and asume an anologue transmission as several local stations still spin the occasional LP.
At nearly 30 years old this tuner and many mentioned here make me question the quality of consumer hifi products we buy.
Not starting a Radio museum and very happy listening with a strong FM signal (Melbourne Australia)

 

[Barry2013]

I hope it is not attracting the mice!

 

[Artnet]

I hope it is not attracting the mice!

If I had been listening to internet radio I could have missed it, but with my local FM stations I get the best of classical, jazz and the news. They do all stream as well, but the FM is better. Not that it matters to the mice!

 

[Andrew S.]

I owned an Accuphase T100 a few years back. I thought it was very good for FM with a good signal. warm, lovely sound. Perfect for our local classical stations. It needed a service when I got it. It was large and heavy. They are inexpensive now.

 

[Mikem53]

When I had the McIntosh MR78 and we compared it to my friends Marantz 10B tuner, I could not discern a difference between the two. The 10B was over engineered, I think it had 20 tubes, a specialized CRT, etc.. I once read they lost money on every unit as it was quite difficult to assemble and align.

Anyone use FM over the net thru their playback system ? I might have to give that A try.

 

[ack]

FWIW, I am contemplating a 90SE with the 105 upgrade, plus custom modifications. Why the 105? This:

• A fully shielded and hand selected RF stage
• Audio Cap gold plated capacitors with Mundorf Supreme by-pass caps

Both of these are mods I made 10 years or so to my Etude, and thankfully finally Magnum Dynalab caught up

Which additional mods? Stuff I've already done to my Etude:

• Mundorf Mlytic power supply capacitors
• Vishay HEFFRED diodes in the PS

What would I be getting? Better chips than the Etude, and hopefully an improvement to my already-incredible FM sound

Looks like I made good on my threat and just ordered the 90SE with the 105 audio upgrade. For me, unfortunately, space is an issue, and this is just about the only tuner that fits in here. It will replace the MD FT101A Etude which I bought in 1995, and is still going strong - not even the lamps have gone yet, and I use just about every day. Have a whole bunch of HEXFRED diodes at hand to install...

 

[Andrew S.]

I know this is really downmarket for you guys but a modded Accu 100T I had was really lovely.

 

[ack]

My new MD90SE with the 105 audio upgrade; already received my touch of Vishay bypass caps and Mundorf electrolytics (higher voltage rating, 10x the lifetime; not a fan of those Daewoo FHS it comes with), which were very hard to replace but worth paying someone 2-3 hours to do it if you are not up to it; also using an RG6 quad-shielded coax this time to the antenna; finally, rewired so that it doesn't go on standby when turned Off.

 

[miniguy]

Analog and HD. I have a large antena on my roof pointing at Mt Whitney. When the LA Phil was in session, they played live broadcasts on Sunday night.

I think you meant Mt Wilson.

 

[RogerD]

I setup a couple of tuners in my bedroom system
I listen to.a lot of FM at night
Reno is blessed with many first rate sounding stations KUNR,KNCJ,KVNV and more.
I use my Marantz 4400 as a receiver presently but installed a switch to run extra outputs
The tuners now are...
1.Marantz 4400 updated
2. Dynaco FM3 updated
3. Accuphase T-106
I own several McIntosh tuners and 3 of them are scheduled to be upgraded. My MR78 is downstairs along with my DaySequerra FM Reference.
The Marantz has a nice sound but the Dynaco,and Accuphase are better...no surprise.
The Dynaco has the tube sound everybody likes and sensitivity is good. Not bad for a used $300 tube turner.
The Accuphase will probably give any high end tuner A run for its money. My Sequerra is great at everything,but so is the Accuphase. If you are into pulling in as many stations as possible and with excellent FM sound maybe a Acc should be in your stable of tuners. A great tuner.

 

[Zero000]

Great picture. Stands the test of zoom in

Accuphase and Luxman. Gotta love them. Responsible for some very, very good engineering.

Not so impressed with building nukes in stupid locations, but hey. That's Japan for you.

 

[RogerD]

About these Accuphase tuners...just a heads up later versions like the T-106,107.108.109,1000,1100,1200..U.S. versions are fairly rare. I don't think many were imported by dealers and most were special order.
You see many models from Japan and Europe on auction sites and for U.S. users they are unuseable for the most part. Differences in power voltage and FM frequency reception and 50us vs 75us make for issues that cannot be overcome no matter what the seller says.
European versions can still be problematic for U.S. buyers.
I copied a post from AK and a link provided.

Accuphase Japanese tuners on EBay?

Question can a Japanese tuner which is an Accuphase T104 100V 50/60hz be used in the US 117V . The frequency is different also so is there a way to covert it to 87-108 from 70-90 . Surely Accuphase must have a jumper to do this on there board. If anyone has done this conversion please chime in.

audiokarma.org

Accuphase gear can usually be converted to 120 volts ac internally, but they’ve made it harder and harder to figure out over the years. I had some 1990 era Accuphase where there was a clearly marked terminal bock where you just switched a couple of wires. But the 2010 Accuphase I have now just has some unmarked PCB spaces for the connector from the power transformer primary, and you have to figure out which is for which voltage.

The big problem with any Japanese market tuner is their oddball broadcasting frequencies. Analog or digital, it requires replacing the front end, and that is usually difficult to impossible to find. I wouldn’t try it unless you know enough to design your own tuner circuits.

I’ve bought two foreign market Accuphase tuners and used them in the US, but only ones which were already 88-108MHz models. The T-108 I bought from a guy in France. The supply voltage was easy to change. But to change the deemphasis from 50uS to the US 75uS standard required tracking down the data sheet for the MPX IC to determine which parts to change. The T-1100 was a Korean market version, which was important because that’s the only country outside North America which uses 75uS deemphasis and 88-108 MHz. I did have to figure out how to rewire the power to 120VAC from 230VAC, which required tests with a step down transformer and a voltmeter.

BTW, there was no way I could see to change the reception frequency on the circuit boards in either of these tuners.

Finally, Accuphase refuses to service gear outside the market it was built for, and refuses to release schematics and service information to anyone but their distributors. So if you buy privately imported Accuphase gear and it breaks you may end up with a very expensive doorstop.

 

[RogerD]

I finally managed to purchase a nice Marantz 10B and have wanted one since my high school days.
I will.send this off to Audio Clasics to have all.the Modaferri upgrades done.
They are quite the piece of kit.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

I finally managed to purchase a nice Marantz 10B and have wanted one since my high school days.
I will.send this off to Audio Clasics to have all.the Modaferri upgrades done.
They are quite the piece of kit.

Very nice congrats.

 

[DasguteOhr]

if you find something like that, buy it now. Rohde & Schwarz that was used to check antenna systems and radio quality. the thing with a good 8 element antenna is Mount Everrest among tuners.
A lot of rare tubes in there that can be a problem if need tubes ask me

 

[Addicted to hifi]

if you find something like that, buy it now. Rohde & Schwarz that was used to check antenna systems and radio quality. the thing with a good 8 element antenna is Mount Everrest among tuners.
View attachment 83955

Nice classic.

 

[Marcus]

My new MD90SE with the 105 audio upgrade; already received my touch of Vishay bypass caps and Mundorf electrolytics (higher voltage rating, 10x the lifetime; not a fan of those Daewoo FHS it comes with),…

Can you please describe sonic benefits of Mundorf electrolytics upgrade.

 

[richard_crl032]

Spendid Bel Canto FM1 tuner @ 24bit 192khz dc powered by uptone lps1.2 that nvr drift, with built in signal strength meter and having digital output to my upgraded Denafrip Tplus ... sold my Accuphase T1000@16/96khz and nvr missed it since sound quality lags so much behind which I thought cannot nvr happen.

Very rare unfortunately which you will find out if you wish for one but fortunately having managed to score a 2nd unit that I keep as spare.

Streaming of local fm stations at max 64kbps that sounds distinctly inferior even via oladra upgraded Antipode ex and cx.

Hope someone here will have the opportunity to try it out .. with whichever latest and greatest dac they prefer.

Cheers.

PS: managed to mod display to blue leds to match and rid of its dated green display

 

[Addicted to hifi]

Spendid Bel Canto FM1 tuner @ 24bit 192khz that nvr drift, with built in signal strength meter and having digital output to my upgraded Denafrip Tplus ... sold my Accuphase T1000@16/96khz and nvr missed it since sound quality lags so much behind which I thought cannot nvr happen.

Very rare unfortunately which you will find out but fortunately having managed to score a 2nd unit that I keep as spare.

Streaming of local fm stations at max 64kbps that sounds distinctly inferior even via oladra upgraded Antipode ex and cx.

Hope someone here will have the opportunity to try it out .. with whichever latest and greatest dac they prefer.

Cheers.

PS: managed to mod display to blue leds to match and rid of its dated green display

This bel canto is a better tuner than the accuphase t1000?