Tuners?

Hi Ross - how about a couple of pic's of the National Criterion for those of us who have never seen one. When you state 'National', am guessing your are not stating National Semiconductor, but some other National. Thanks.
 
National as in the Malden, MA company best known for shortwave radios. There have actually been at least 3 "National", the old radio company, a more recent Japanese company, and National Semi.

I've attached a picture for your enjoyment.
 

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Oh man, threads like this make me realize just how much gear I have. Let's see, for tuners I have:

Dynaco FM3 - fully recapped and sounds pretty good. Reception is good and strong but selectivity is just so-so, Boston is a tough area in that respect because there's just so many stations. I suspect this one will be leaving my possession sooner rather than later.

National Criterion - A rare AM/FM mono tuner that represents National's attempt to get into the hi-fi business. It's big, heavy, and looks oh so 1950s. From a performance standpoint it is excellent, I have an Eico MPX unit on the shelf that I might try with it to see how it does with FM stereo. I actually have two of these beasts that I got as part of a package deal with a pair of the matching amplifiers.

Sony XDR-F1HD - I was surprised by this little guy, what it lacks in sound quality it more than makes up for with performance. There's also a couple HD stations I've found that I enjoy. Definitely a keeper.

McIntosh MR67 - Unless FM makes a huge comeback I think this will be the last tuner I ever buy. Mine needs some work (weak tubes, original capacitors, and a so-so alignment) but even as-is it sounds lovely. It's on the bench currently getting the work that it needs taken care of.

try a refurb's sherwood - s3000ll or later, w/stereo mpx built-in; or more modern s/s mpx; you may end up selling your mac & saving a few dollars. ;)

doug s.
 
Hush you, don't encourage me to spend more money on tuners. Although if I could get a good deal on a Sansui TU9900...
 
Hush you, don't encourage me to spend more money on tuners. Although if I could get a good deal on a Sansui TU9900...

you could get a nice sherwood and a tu9900 for the money you get selling that mr71. :smoke:

the tu9900, besides sounding wonderful, is the nicest looking analog tuna extant, imo. i shoulda kept mine (modded/refurb'd), and sold the modded refurb'd tu-x1 instead - not that much (if any?) difference in performance, and the tu9900 is yust so beautiful, while the tu-x1 is merely handsome... sonically, the sherwoods are in this league, not the mac tubers... ;)

doug s.
 
Here's my newest 2 that I've been listening to all week. It was a tough choice deciding which one to put in the main set up. The TU9900 won out simply because it's easier to see, use and to switch stations easier. The Mac tuner sounds great with the sansui amp. And the sansui tuner like wise with the Mac amp. Not exactly the way I had things planned but those 2 set ups really sound great.
 

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National as in the Malden, MA company best known for shortwave radios. There have actually been at least 3 "National", the old radio company, a more recent Japanese company, and National Semi.

I've attached a picture for your enjoyment.

That radio looks awesome!! I have something like that on my wannit list. Just gotta find a way to make room.

Thanx for the pic.
 
Just purchased a Citation IIIx from E-bay. I hope that they don't do to FM what they did to TV.

Stevedel
 
I picked up a really nice Onkyo Integra T-4015 at a thrift store yesterday for $10.00. I am changing out the power cord today and I'll be swapping it into the main system after that to see how it stacks up against the SAE.

I'm currently listening to an SAE Two T14 that does a very nice job with the local college jazz station (shoutout for KRTU at Trinity University)

I also have a Toshiba ST-U22 that was a surprise add-on in the package when I bought the SAE. No idea how it sounds since I have yet to hook it up.

So far all of the tuners that I have are digital. I'd love to have a Sansui analog if for nothing else but the look - those TU boxes are gorgeous.
 
I realised that I haven't posted on this thread for a while. In April I bought my first Kenwood tuner, a KT-1100SD, from the mid 1980s modified with narrower filters. It sounds good (not as good as my Yamaha T-85) but it's the sensitivity that's the main selling point. It beats the XDR-F1HD for pulling in really weak signals right in the noise. The stereo separation is off on marginal/noisy stereo signals but it's OK on stronger ones. I suspect that adding narrower filters put the stereo decoder out of alignment slightly. I hope to get further tweaks done on this Kenwood soon.

I also just bought a Denon TU-800 in champagne-gold livery advertised as being in mint condition but there are a few scuffs and scratches (minor, but it's not as new, which is what I understand mint to mean). But worse that that it was DOA so something must have happened in transit. Hopefully I can get a refund on it.

When I see that an Akai AT-93 just sold for 100 Euros, I'm wishing I went for that instead...

I'll post some updates on here again soon.

Regards,
Nick
 
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The tuners I now have are:

Sansui TU-717
Pioneer TX-9800

Tough call between them as I'm just getting used to the Pioneer. I've always loved how musical the Sansui is but the Pioneer is striking in it's speed and bass. Also the top end "appears" to be slightly better. But as I haven't done any real direct comparisons between them I can't say that definitively. Probably will recap them both at some point but for now just enjoying some amazing music between them both.
 
Rotated the refurbished T-85 back into the system after a year-long luv-fest with the MR80. Am pleasantly surprised just how good the T-85 is. Especially quiet background. Almost up to the uber-quiet background of the ST-J75. Very nice.
 
An Onyko T4555 Muti-platform tuner fell into my lap recently. It's an HD with lots of connection options. I haven't spent any time with tuners since I sold the big Sansui black face.
 
the stromberg-carlson sr443, w/a good mpx decoder, (studio-12, in this case), sounds as good as anything these ears have ever heard. good strong signal is essential. :music:

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doug s.
 
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