I don't want to talk you out of your TX-9500 but also consider the TX-9800 especially if it's mint.
I have a TX-7800 and love it. And if the TX-9800 lives up to its billing it's worth a try --- looking at ebay biddings --- a c-note would be a score!
Pioneer TX-9800
http://www.silverpioneer.netfirms.com/tuners.htm
In 1979 Pioneer introduced was is arguably the finest analog tuner the company has ever built. It was the TX-9800 and featured some of the best performance specifications of any tuner available on the market. It was also the most expensive tuner Pioneer had offered up to that time, with a list price of $450. Pioneer also offered the TX-9800 in 1980. While the digital tuners that came on the market in the early 1980s are all but ignored today, this model is eagerly sought out by Pioneer collectors.
Photo: hifinut1 on eBay
fmtunerinfo:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/pioneer.html
Pioneer TX-9800 (1979, $450, photo, block diagram, schematic, alignment guide 1 2 3, ad, Audio review) search eBay
The TX-9800 has 5 gangs and 5 filters, one for the wide IF bandwidth mode and 4 for narrow, and is solidly built. The TX-9800 has exactly the same RF front end as the TX-9100 and TX-9500/TX-9500II, with differences only in the IF and audio circuit areas. From a technical standpoint, however, the TX-9800's complex crystal referenced oscillator sets it apart from those other Pioneers. According to our panelist David "A," although it has excellent bass, "the TX-9800 shows that it was cost-reduced compared to the TX-9500II. The shields for each section that are present on all TX-9100s, all TX-9500s and most TX-9500IIs (ones that I have seen, anyway) are gone in the TX-9800, and the TX-9800's parts quality is worse overall." Chuck Rippel of Audio Video Service Labs describes the TX-9800's circuit that operates the two indicators 'TUNE' and 'LOCKED': "What that circuit is looking for is a null in the discriminator offset. In all tuners, that null should also be coincident with the point of lowest distortion (established, in part, by the adjustment of the discriminator secondary). In this tuner, that circuit works correctly and it's clearly audible. Slowly tune through the station, the red 'TUNE' indicator will illuminate and the 'LOCKED' indicator will illuminate when you release the tuning control. The tuner is then at the point of least distortion. The AFC will maintain lock at that point."
Our panelist Ray, who has owned many tuners, says "When it comes to low end of the band sensitivity, the TX-9800 is my best." Ray did a DXing shootout among his TX-9800, a Kenwood KT-8300 and an Optonica ST-7405: "The TX-9800 won the pure sensitivity challenge, but not by as much as with most [over the KT-8300]. When I tested them for adjacent-channel performance, the TX-9800 and KT-8300 could both ignore the adjacent, but the ST-7405 had lots of interfering hash." The TX-9800 has a 3-gang AM section with wide and narrow bandwidth settings, so it may be a good choice for those who listen to AM radio. Pioneer's published specs for AM show selectivity of 50 dB in Narrow mode vs. 20 dB in Wide mode. On eBay, the TX-9800 can sell for almost any price depending on condition, fluctuations in demand and whether it has a wooden cabinet, but prices have been trending higher since 2005 and two garden-variety ones sold for $500 and $530 in 10/07 for no apparent reason. On the low side, two sold for $77 and $84 in 7-8/05. Mint TX-9800s can sell for $300-380, the same price range for those with the rare rack-mount tray. See how one stock TX-9800 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page, and read David "A"'s Ricochet. Additional information on the TX-9800 is available at classic-audio.com.
