No love for FM tuners?

[Melbguy1]

If there were any stations here in Central Florida worth listening to, I'd still be using the Yamaha TX-540 tuner that I have over at my father's house. It's just all the stations here are from Tampa and Orlando, so they're all pop, hip-hop, rap, country and one latin.

There's only four decent stations left, 88.5 which is a college station that plays a lot of jazz, blues and new musician stuff, 89.7 which is NPR and is only talk radio anymore (they only play music on their HD stations), 104.7 (Q-105) that plays mostly 70's through 90's pop and rock, and 105.5 (The Dove) which plays mostly pop and love ballads from the 60's to 90's.

So maybe after thinking about it, I may get that tuner and hook it up to my system. It's not the greatest tuner, but at least it should let me know if the few stations I would listen to are decent sounding to begin with. If so, I could always upgrade the tuner. Hmm... :skeptical:


On a minor side note, I really need to re-cap that old Technics SU-8099. That's one mighty fine sounding amp!

My favorite classic Yamaha Natural Sound tuner was the T-85 which was a DX champ & cheaper than the later TX-2000. Come to think of it I lusted after all the classic Yammy gear back in the late 80's, as well as a couple of the Onkyo Integra components.

 

[chops]

It's 1:30 am of Jan 1st, 2017, and I'm still wide awake. What else is there to do other than play around a bit with it?! Uhh... The tuner that is...

Charles.......This is great. I think the Yamaha TX-540 looks right at home. Spend some time with it in the late evenings searching around the dial. You just may come upon some programming you really enjoy. A tuner is one more source for music and entertainment you didn't have yesterday. Make use of it.

Thanks Randy. I'm glad you and your family have found something closer to everyone else, which is very important. Though I was looking forward to meeting you eventually once you moved here to Florida. Oh well.

Excellent Charles! The Yamaha looks great!

Well looks like our plans are changing and we may not be heading to Florida... all of the kids and grand kids are being way too upset.... we have found a place in Bakersfield that may actually be even better for us, and it is 2800 miles closer to the kids... so they are very happy!

Speaking of classic Yamaha tuners, I used to have a mint T-1 back in the very late 90's, early 2000's. I'm not exactly sure why I sold it.

My favorite classic Yamaha Natural Sound tuner was the T-85 which was a DX champ & cheaper than the later TX-2000. Come to think about it I lusted after that all the classic Yammy gear back in the late 80's, as well as a couple of the Onkyo Integra components.

 

[Randy Myers]

"and I'm still wide awake. What else is there to do other than play around a bit with it?!"

TMI Charles ...

"Thanks Randy. I'm glad you and your family have found something closer to everyone else, which is very important. Though I was looking forward to meeting you eventually once you moved here to Florida. Oh well. "

Thank you Charles. We may still visit... my sister and brother still live in Ocala .... or you could travel over to California at some point ...

 

[Randy Myers]

I pulled my McIntosh MR88 out of the studio two channel rack and slid my friends Magnum Dynalab MD108t in to see how it looks. The gold doesn't do it for me. I don't think silver would work either because it accentuates the size of the 19" face plate. A black MD108t might look good sitting there but I am having a hard time with the size of the face plate in relation to the other gear in the rack. Hmm.

Does it take up more room than the MR88? Black would look excellent there ....

 

[chops]

LOL! I noticed how it sounded after I posted it and re-read it, hence why I added the last bit to it.

Also, I very rarely ever take vacation time from work. The last time I took any vacation time off, it was about 3 years ago. Besides, if I ever come out to California, I'm probably going to end up staying! Not to mention, the furthest west I've ever been was New Orleans. And that was only for a few hours before coming right back to Florida. :dry:

"and I'm still wide awake. What else is there to do other than play around a bit with it?!"

TMI Charles ...

"Thanks Randy. I'm glad you and your family have found something closer to everyone else, which is very important. Though I was looking forward to meeting you eventually once you moved here to Florida. Oh well. "

Thank you Charles. We may still visit... my sister and brother still live in Ocala .... or you could travel over to California at some point ...

 

[chops]

Oh I don't know. I quite like it. If you don't like it in your system, I'll swap you my Yamaha for it. LOL

 

[CPP]

Excellent Charles! The Yamaha looks great!

Well looks like our plans are changing and we may not be heading to Florida... all of the kids and grand kids are being way too upset.... we have found a place in Bakersfield that may actually be even better for us, and it is 2800 miles closer to the kids... so they are very happy!

In 2015, The American Lung Association ranked Bakersfield as the second-most polluted city in the United States in terms of both short-term and year-round particle pollution. AHHHH ! But if you like Drag Racing they do have one nice drag strip at Famoso.

 

[Randy Myers]

That what I love about you guys, so supportive .... all the cities in the central valley are high because smog is just trapped in the valley.... but a vast majority of all food in the US is grown there.... go figure....

 

[chops]

Some things I shouldn't have done in the past few days...

• Clicking on this thread
• Contemplating using my old tuner again
• Listening to Dan's suggestion of using my old tuner again
• Asking my brothers to bring my old tuner over
• Getting and hooking up my old tuner again
• Looking at tuners on eBay
• Making a purchase on eBay literally just minutes ago

Because of the recent events listed above, I now have this showing up in the very near future... And it looks absolutely mint in the two photos in the ad!

First two are actual photos from ad...

And photo off of Google to show the "hidden" control panel as well as the display lit up. Nearly identical to my current TX-540's display.

 

[jdandy]

Charles.......Uh Oh! Someone has the tuner bug. :hi:

The Yamaha TX1000 is considered one of Yamaha's best tuners. Looking forward to your impressions.

The interior layout and circuit topology of the Yamaha TX1000 looks excellent. Notice the fully potted transformer.

 

[chops]

Dan, I agree. Obviously. LOL

Apart from the older T-85, said to be hard to beat by many tuners by any manufacture, the TX-1000 is supposedly next in line.

The reason for upgrading the TX-540 is because there are quite a few strong stations that I'm picking up with the cheap "T" dipole antenna. They're so strong, they're running the tuner into over modulation. Black silence in between material which is great, but distortion with music and even talk. And this particular tuner doesn't have the ability to de-tune or attenuate. The TX-1000 however does!

The 540 sounds pretty darn good. In fact, I'm quite impressed with it. The stations around here must not be compressing their signals as much as they used to. The good news is, the 1000 is supposed to sound considerably better! We'll see!

Charles.......Uh Oh! Someone has the tuner bug. :hi:

The Yamaha TX1000 is considered one of Yamaha's best tuners. Looking forward to your impressions.

The interior layout and circuit topology of the Yamaha TX1000 looks excellent. Notice the fully potted transformer.

 

[jdandy]

Charles.......One suggestion. Since the TX1000 is close to 30 years old you may want to take the cover off and check to be sure the power supply caps aren't bulging or leaking. The power supply section of the board is clearly identified right next to the transformer. Check the big black cap and the three next size smaller blue caps. If they are not bulging at the top or leaking you should be fine, otherwise it is relatively easy to order and replace those few caps.

 

[Randy Myers]

Congratz Charles .... I know I have been enjoying the McIntosh since I got it. Don't use it a ton but sure as heck enjoy having one in my system!

 

[chops]

Dan... Funny you mention that as I have been thinking about that as well. I've been trying to look up anything online about updates/upgrades for any of the caps and possibly diodes, but haven't had much luck yet. Thanks for looking out for me though. I appreciate it!

Charles.......One suggestion. Since the TX1000 is close to 30 years old you may want to take the cover off and check to be sure the power supply caps aren't bulging or leaking. The power supply section of the board is clearly identified right next to the transformer. Check the big black cap and the three next size smaller blue caps. If they are not bulging at the top or leaking you should be fine, otherwise it is relatively easy to order and replace those few caps.

 

[chops]

Thanks Randy! I've been using mine non-stop since I hooked it up. Surprisingly there more decent music on a few more stations than I realized. And they don't seem to be that compressed either. See what you're missing by not moving to Florida now? LOL

Congratz Charles .... I know I have been enjoying the McIntosh since I got it. Don't use it a ton but sure as heck enjoy having one in my system!

 

[Randy Myers]

Hehe... I assume Bakersfield will have plenty of stations... I mean Buck Owens and Korn are from there ... (obviously tongue in cheek... not a fan of either )... by the way was over there today... way in the outskirts... much better air quality... big f'n city.... the house will be absolutely great... complex not as good as the one we are moving from on the coast... but 55+, gated and pretty darn nice.... but most important... mortgage free... yehaaaaaa

 

[Jack]

And race car drivers.

 

[Randy Myers]

The antenna has been more of a struggle than the tuner .... Basic Terk, Magnum Dynalab SR100, Terk FM50, just ordered Godar FM1A... if this is not perfect then Magnum Dynalæb ST-2 is next... so many pros and cons... I hope/believe the Godar will fit the bill.

 

[jdandy]

Randy.......I have the Godar FM1A antenna. I use it on my Tandberg 3011A tuner in the vintage system. It works fairly well with good signals. It is directional so you may have to fuss with its location and physical direction to get it to do what you want. While I was reviewing the Magnum Dynalab MD108t tuner I connected the Godar to it just to see how the tuner would work with it. It managed 11 listenable stations, but again I had to move it around to get some signals to be quiet. It doesn't stand up to the performance of my Magnum Dynalab ST-2 that I use with my McIntosh MR88 tuner. On both the MR88 and the MD108t I pulled in 18 listenable stations with the ST-2 antenna. I use a Fanfare FM-2 antenna with my MR85. It is also a half wave base loaded antenna very similar to the Magnum Dynalab ST-2. Both beat the Godar FM1A.

 

[Barry]

For all things tuners and antennas including ratings, modifications go here:

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

Talking about tuners and ignoring antennas for FM completely misses an absolutely essential piece of the puzzle if you're serious about decent sound. Amplified, indoor antennas are a compromise, so you may want to check this out:

http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/

As to finding the station if you have an antenna rotator try here:

http://fmfool.com/

Of course many locations now have very poor signal or program quality and HD really isn't that great unless you live in a high multipath area. Maybe we should all get into R2R?