Antonio Machado
07-29-2002, 04:58 PM
Hello my friends of Audiokarma:
During the last few years I've been working/saving/investing on building a good audio system, I've being doing it step by step, component by component, patiently, I think now I have a decent one (please check it out below). But I was always thinking on a high-end FM tuner as an important part of my system, so I began to read/ask/learn about that field, after which I got a beautiful FM tuner, no less than the Magnum Dynalab MD-100-R.
That Company -to my knowledge- is one of the best manufacturer of high-end FM tuners, just like Fanfare, McIntosh, Arcam, etc., all of them great products. Magnum Dynalab offers several models, since the entrance level model MD-90 to their top of the line MD-108, the mine one is one of their intermediate level models. I got it with two "extras": the remote control (that's the meaning of the "R" at the end of it's name) and a silver faceplate to match with the rest of my components, all of them the same color. M.S.R.P. for this model, including both extras is aprox. $ 2.100.00; I got it for around $ 1.600.00 at Audiogon.
Right out of the box (about three months ago) the sound was very good, and since then I've being playing it several hours daily, and it is getting better and better, since -as you know- with any good component, given capacitors, internal wiring and output devices the break-in period is a natural phenomena. Now I think it already stabilized and it is giving me it's best, a great, marvelous sound in every sense: clear, accurate, and very musical sound.
Well, guys, I have a decent collection of aprox. one thousand CDs of classical music and Opera, and now my tuner is giving me lots of music more, many masterworks I didn't know before now I am listening them through this great tuner, it is just like an open window from which you see a huge landscape. So now, listening to -let us say- "WQXR-the classical station of The New York Times"
I enjoy Monteverdi's madrigals, Albinoni's Adagios (he has many adagios), Beethoven Symphonies, Bach's cantatas, Verdi's choruses, Mozart's string quartets, heavens! that's an endless pleausure! and the list continues: Bellini, Donizetti, Dvorak, Brahms, Samuel Barber...
Before I used to listen a few moments the radio stations of New York in my old Marantz receiver/FM tuner, but I always felt it's sound very poor and fatiguing. Now, the sound of this MD-100-R is from far lots better, I couldn't imagine a high-end FM tuner could sound so beautifully, so musical and lively. Now, to be fair, compared with my old Marantz my new toy sound very much better, but compared with the CDs played in my Metronome Signature combo (transport/DAC), the CDs sound much better than the tuner.
On the other hand, just like everything in life, it has also pros/contras: the best "pro" is it's great sound, magnificent analog sound; but it has also "contras":; the basic unit doesn't have pre-sets, so if you want that feauture you have order it as an extra (extra money), and even in the handset you can program just five stations, sometimes I'd like to be able to program more stations; the second "contra" is that it doesn't have "scan" function, neither in the unit nor in the handset, so whenever you want to scan stations you have do it by yourself and -worst of all- the tune up/down bottoms in your handset is highly sensitive and extremely fast, so it is not really an easy task. Now, compared with the great sound you get from this beauty, those are just small "contras".
So my friends of Audiokarma, based on this excellent experience, I'd suggest you to think about a good quality FM tuner as an important part of your system, it is an open window to a huge variety of music of any kind and it gives to you lots of fun. Laura Dearborn (from "Good sound") writtes: "A tuner is like a lending library, you can room at will through all the stations, stopping to listen whenever you want, then either passing it by or going out to purchase a copy of your own. Some of the music you could never hear anywhere else. It is worthwile to get a good tuner because otherwise you probably won't listen to it too much". Hope this good experience motivates you to give a try to a good quality FM tuner...
My system is:
Metronome Signature T-20 transport
Metronome Signature C-20 Digital Analog Converter
McCormack RLD-1 preamplifier
McCormack DNA-225 power amplifier
Magnum Dynalab MD-100-R FM tuner
Paradigm Reference Studio 100 v.2 speakers
Paradigm PS-1200 powered subwoofer
Shunyatha Hydra Power Line Conditioner (from Power Snakes)
Transparent musicwave ultra XL bi-wire speaker cables
Nordost SPM Reference interconnect cables
King Cobra v.1 power cord
Billybags # 5007 staggered shelf component with truss.
Hope thig good experience motivates you to give a try to a good quality FM tuner. Best regards, Antonio Machado.
During the last few years I've been working/saving/investing on building a good audio system, I've being doing it step by step, component by component, patiently, I think now I have a decent one (please check it out below). But I was always thinking on a high-end FM tuner as an important part of my system, so I began to read/ask/learn about that field, after which I got a beautiful FM tuner, no less than the Magnum Dynalab MD-100-R.
That Company -to my knowledge- is one of the best manufacturer of high-end FM tuners, just like Fanfare, McIntosh, Arcam, etc., all of them great products. Magnum Dynalab offers several models, since the entrance level model MD-90 to their top of the line MD-108, the mine one is one of their intermediate level models. I got it with two "extras": the remote control (that's the meaning of the "R" at the end of it's name) and a silver faceplate to match with the rest of my components, all of them the same color. M.S.R.P. for this model, including both extras is aprox. $ 2.100.00; I got it for around $ 1.600.00 at Audiogon.
Right out of the box (about three months ago) the sound was very good, and since then I've being playing it several hours daily, and it is getting better and better, since -as you know- with any good component, given capacitors, internal wiring and output devices the break-in period is a natural phenomena. Now I think it already stabilized and it is giving me it's best, a great, marvelous sound in every sense: clear, accurate, and very musical sound.
Well, guys, I have a decent collection of aprox. one thousand CDs of classical music and Opera, and now my tuner is giving me lots of music more, many masterworks I didn't know before now I am listening them through this great tuner, it is just like an open window from which you see a huge landscape. So now, listening to -let us say- "WQXR-the classical station of The New York Times"
I enjoy Monteverdi's madrigals, Albinoni's Adagios (he has many adagios), Beethoven Symphonies, Bach's cantatas, Verdi's choruses, Mozart's string quartets, heavens! that's an endless pleausure! and the list continues: Bellini, Donizetti, Dvorak, Brahms, Samuel Barber...
Before I used to listen a few moments the radio stations of New York in my old Marantz receiver/FM tuner, but I always felt it's sound very poor and fatiguing. Now, the sound of this MD-100-R is from far lots better, I couldn't imagine a high-end FM tuner could sound so beautifully, so musical and lively. Now, to be fair, compared with my old Marantz my new toy sound very much better, but compared with the CDs played in my Metronome Signature combo (transport/DAC), the CDs sound much better than the tuner.
On the other hand, just like everything in life, it has also pros/contras: the best "pro" is it's great sound, magnificent analog sound; but it has also "contras":; the basic unit doesn't have pre-sets, so if you want that feauture you have order it as an extra (extra money), and even in the handset you can program just five stations, sometimes I'd like to be able to program more stations; the second "contra" is that it doesn't have "scan" function, neither in the unit nor in the handset, so whenever you want to scan stations you have do it by yourself and -worst of all- the tune up/down bottoms in your handset is highly sensitive and extremely fast, so it is not really an easy task. Now, compared with the great sound you get from this beauty, those are just small "contras".
So my friends of Audiokarma, based on this excellent experience, I'd suggest you to think about a good quality FM tuner as an important part of your system, it is an open window to a huge variety of music of any kind and it gives to you lots of fun. Laura Dearborn (from "Good sound") writtes: "A tuner is like a lending library, you can room at will through all the stations, stopping to listen whenever you want, then either passing it by or going out to purchase a copy of your own. Some of the music you could never hear anywhere else. It is worthwile to get a good tuner because otherwise you probably won't listen to it too much". Hope this good experience motivates you to give a try to a good quality FM tuner...
My system is:
Metronome Signature T-20 transport
Metronome Signature C-20 Digital Analog Converter
McCormack RLD-1 preamplifier
McCormack DNA-225 power amplifier
Magnum Dynalab MD-100-R FM tuner
Paradigm Reference Studio 100 v.2 speakers
Paradigm PS-1200 powered subwoofer
Shunyatha Hydra Power Line Conditioner (from Power Snakes)
Transparent musicwave ultra XL bi-wire speaker cables
Nordost SPM Reference interconnect cables
King Cobra v.1 power cord
Billybags # 5007 staggered shelf component with truss.
Hope thig good experience motivates you to give a try to a good quality FM tuner. Best regards, Antonio Machado.