Tuner sharing in the 80's?

Rod Beauvex

Look at the tiny bunny...
It's well documented on The Vintage Knob that in the 80's there were only a couple of actually different CD players that just got rebadeged, but was there a digital tuner circuit sold like this as well? I ask because I have seen what appears to be the same tuner on at least 6 pieces of equipment (And there may be more). These being a JVC receiver, a couple of AKAI receivers, a couple of NEC receivers, a few MCSes, and Onkyo, and a Mitsubishi tuner. I own the JVC receiver, and used to have one of the Akais, and they both would not wrap around and start over if you tuned to the beginning or end of the bands. The also all have:

8 preset buttons 1/9 - 8/16.
Preset scan.
auto-stereo / manual-mono
memory button for station presetting.
preset select bank

So, coincidence, or is it in fact a single design that was licensed out?

I have seen a couple variants with the auto manual and stereo mono functions separate, and one with IF bandwidth.
 
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Not sure about receivers tuner sections but I know NAD, dbx and at least one other company shared the NAD 4300 tuner.
 
Tuner question aside, I am very sure that TVK never said "there were only a couple of actually different CD players that just got rebadged" - which is absolutely untrue anyway.

The big 2 are there, early Philips swingarm and gen1 Sony split-beam, but there are dozens and dozens of others including some very unique solutions for both the transports (electro-mechanical details of the drawer/optical sled etc.) and D/A conversion as well.

I am quite sure there were a plethora of available digital solutions too, ranging from 100% unique to cookie-cutter applications based on whatever IC's were used, and the application notes for same.

John
 
The two NEC receivers I have (AVR-710 & AVR-1000) have very similar tuner functions, but VERY different tuner circuit boards - populated with many NEC made ICs.

The MCS receivers with digital tuning were all NEC built, so their tuners would be very similar, also, but each model has a distinct circuit board - no plug and play circuits.

The auto/manual and stereo/mono functions were separate, and four of the models had wide/narrow IF bandwidth selectors (MCS 3265 & 3285, and NEC AVR-1000 & AVR-1010).
 
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