FM tuner with digital or Coaxial output

[ujjwaana]

..
.... I am saying this from my personal bitter experience.
Even if you get a brand new tuner, unless you live within 30 Km radius of the transmitting tower you wont get clear stereo signal. For that you will have to build your own Yagi antenna as you can not get the same in the market.

So you mean to say these Technics/NAD/Sansui tuners are not that sensitive ? If aging/misalignment is the real problem, auditioning could help. But do you think all the newer Receivers are better in sensitivity/gain/Stability ? but good that you warned about the reliability of such Tuners.

And Yagi for FM/SW I can think of Folded Dipole/Log Wire but the length of Yagi for such Frequency would attract more authorities than Radio Stations - I have nearly been a HAM and build such Transceivers DIY. Building the best antenna is a hobby in itself and for pleasure of listening I would recommend a Receiver with better gain, because the challenges start with building your own antenna.

All the best for the search pal!

 

[Prasad Karpe]

I am not saying that all the tuners are bad. You might get lucky if you find a decent one. My peculiar problem is that i live in a shadow of hills around Thane. These tuners can catch signals in Mumbai itself but the same give lot of static in & around my place which is around 50 Kms from Mumbai.
I have vintage Technic/Aiwa/Sony Tuners. They all play fine in my parent's place at Mumbai but at my place they start to give problems.
The used market is situated in Mumbai & it becomes very difficult to judge the performance of the same by auditioning.
You are absolutely right about the new tuners but at least you know that most probably the problem will be with antenna & not with the tuner.
Anyway thanks for the advice.

 

[omishra]

.
I have vintage Technic/Aiwa/Sony Tuners. They all play fine in my parent's place at Mumbai but at my place they start to give problems.
.

What exact models do you have? Because I use my car fm in Thane as well as in Pune-Mumbai Exp way till karjat. It works fine means Thane should be okay. This means you have highly misaligned batch. From Khandala onwards Pune fm stations work fine.

 

[Prasad Karpe]

What exact models do you have? Because I use my car fm in Thane as well as in Pune-Mumbai Exp way till karjat. It works fine means Thane should be okay. This means you have highly misaligned batch. From Khandala onwards Pune fm stations work fine.

I have following tuners with their problems
1) Vintage Technic ST-C04 = Gives lot of static beyond 98.3 Mhz
2) Vintage Aiwa R - 30 = Good sensitivity but no stereo
3) Vintage Sony Receiver STR - 333S = No reception at all. Earlier i use to get some stations but the tuned frequency used to drift away after some time.
4) New Norge Tuner = Stereo with lot of ststic.
5) Onkyo AVR HT - R 340 = Static on all stations.

I have experimented with Rabbit's Ear, a dipole & a wire running right upto the terrace. No matter what i did not get a clean stereo signal. I also tried to search for a TV antenna at Opera House but nowdays nobody is keeping it.

I live in Kalyan which is further down 30 Kms from Thane.

I guess with a car you can come across to lots of open space with no disturbance to the signal or it might be possible that the car radio has got a stronger reception circuitry.

 

[omishra]

Okay next time you come to Pune, if you wish then drop any analog tuner at my place. I will try to look into it. May be #3. And no hurry.

 

[Prasad Karpe]

That is so kind of you ! Thank you very much. I will PM you when i am set to drop in Pune.

 

[gobble]

And Yagi for FM/SW I can think of Folded Dipole/Log Wire but the length of Yagi for such Frequency would attract more authorities than Radio Stations

Why would the authorities have a problem with an antenna? Because its too big?

I have following tuners with their problems
1) Vintage Technic ST-C04 = Gives lot of static beyond 98.3 Mhz
2) Vintage Aiwa R - 30 = Good sensitivity but no stereo
3) Vintage Sony Receiver STR - 333S = No reception at all. Earlier i use to get some stations but the tuned frequency used to drift away after some time.
4) New Norge Tuner = Stereo with lot of ststic.
5) Onkyo AVR HT - R 340 = Static on all stations.

Hi Prasad

I was considering the Norge tuner long time back, but then I thought the user interface may not be so good, so I backed out. How is the front panel and buttons of this tuner and also how good do you think is the performance and SQ if in good reception area?

Thanks
G0bble

 

[manniraj]

@Gobble

Good to see your post after a long time , its very boring on the forum without your posts

 

[theironhorse]

Why would the authorities have a problem with an antenna? Because its too big?



Hi Prasad

I was considering the Norge tuner long time back, but then I thought the user interface may not be so good, so I backed out. How is the front panel and buttons of this tuner and also how good do you think is the performance and SQ if in good reception area?

Thanks
G0bble

look who's back... sorry for the OT though..

 

[Shivam]

Why would the authorities have a problem with an antenna? Because its too big?



Hi Prasad

I was considering the Norge tuner long time back, but then I thought the user interface may not be so good, so I backed out. How is the front panel and buttons of this tuner and also how good do you think is the performance and SQ if in good reception area?

Thanks
G0bble

I was also thinking about the Norge tuner sometime back but when I looked at it, the tuner somehow reminded me of a car stereo set inside a bigger box.

I am still searching for a good tuner.

 

[Prasad Karpe]

@ gobble & Shivam
The performance of Norge Tuner is very good in good reception area. The sensitivity is very good, it catches most of the stations even without any kind of antenna. If you attach even a small piece of wire it catches all the stations in Mumbai barring 107.1 Mhz. This particular station gives some kind of ststic though. The appearance is like a small car stereo packed in a big box. The technician at the Norge factory told me that they are importing it from Taiwan. The butttons on the front panel give a "plasticky" feel. It could have been better had Mr.Bajaj provided a remote for that.
The specsheet claimed that the sensitivity is 6uVemf & the stereo separation is 40 dB. Though i doubt the figures of sensitivity, the performance is quite good. The sound quality is quite airy so you will require a warm sounding amplifier & speakers.
The specs also say that the powersource required is DC 12 V which indeed suggest that this particular equipment is manufactured for automobiles. The Norge people must have modified the power supply to be used in our homes.
The label at the antenna connection says that it requires 75 ohms unbalanced one but the connections are of spring clip type.
I was wondering how you can connect a 75 ohm coaxial wire to these terminals.
Anyways this tuner is value for money to be used in good reception area, which gives better stereo separation which is hard to find in todays' receivers. But it will be injustice to compare with dedicated tuners like "Nad" & "Sony".
IMO if you can design a good Yagi then it can be used in bad reception areas, otherwise you have to be content with some amount of ststic.
regards
Prasad

 

[reignofchaos]

Try and source a Sony XDR F1HD if you want a good tuner in this day and age. They are outstanding. Used to sell for under 100$. No clue of the price now.

 

[Prasad Karpe]

The Sony Tuner is selling at $500 at Amazon. It is beyond my budget.

 

[manniraj]

The Sony Tuner is selling at $500 at Amazon. It is beyond my budget.

Even I just saw it on amazon and it seems the high price may be because of its HD service capability even though the analog section is supposed to be good. I saw some people selling this tuner on ebay.com for as much as $250 to $300. I think for our local FM stations a standalone vintage tuner should be and far better than this tuner.

 

[reignofchaos]

Ouch its not worth it at those prices. When it was in production, it would retail for 80$. Didn't know the prices have inflated so much.

 

[gobble]

@ gobble & Shivam
The performance of Norge Tuner is very good in good reception area. The sensitivity is very good, it catches most of the stations even without any kind of antenna. If you attach even a small piece of wire it catches all the stations in Mumbai barring 107.1 Mhz. This particular station gives some kind of ststic though. The appearance is like a small car stereo packed in a big box. The technician at the Norge factory told me that they are importing it from Taiwan. The butttons on the front panel give a "plasticky" feel. It could have been better had Mr.Bajaj provided a remote for that.
The specsheet claimed that the sensitivity is 6uVemf & the stereo separation is 40 dB. Though i doubt the figures of sensitivity, the performance is quite good. The sound quality is quite airy so you will require a warm sounding amplifier & speakers.
The specs also say that the powersource required is DC 12 V which indeed suggest that this particular equipment is manufactured for automobiles. The Norge people must have modified the power supply to be used in our homes.
The label at the antenna connection says that it requires 75 ohms unbalanced one but the connections are of spring clip type.
I was wondering how you can connect a 75 ohm coaxial wire to these terminals.
Anyways this tuner is value for money to be used in good reception area, which gives better stereo separation which is hard to find in todays' receivers. But it will be injustice to compare with dedicated tuners like "Nad" & "Sony".
IMO if you can design a good Yagi then it can be used in bad reception areas, otherwise you have to be content with some amount of ststic.
regards
Prasad

Thanks Prasad for the post. The thing is some time back I got a Sony dsx-a30 usb only HU and I have never enjoyed bollywood music so much in my life. The thing really smoothens out the harshness of the shrill Indian recordings and makes them pleasant and lively o listen to. I got it for 3.3K on snap deal and for such a low end unit, it has the ability to convey a sense of drama in the orchestration. So ideally I would simply purchase one more for home use but I want a better interface that what the car unit offers. Ideally I would go for any Sony with the same DSP chip and processor. But there is no current model from Sony for home use.

Alternatives are Yammy T-S500
T-S500 - Tuners - Hi-Fi Components - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States

or a Marantz
Marantz AP | Tuner

I don't want to buy an EOL'ed Denon product as warranty replacement will be a problem.

But then none of the above appear to have a DSP hence the dilemma.

--G0bble

 

[Prasad Karpe]

Thank you very much for the information

 

[Kaushiknitin]

Hello!
Anyone willing to sell a vintage Sansui tuner? I need one to go with my vintage Sansui amp.
thanks

 

[bnd555]

FM is analog modulates signal, tuner receives and discards carrier hence leaving analog audio for hearing.

 

[nakamichi]

Kaushiknitin.Sent u a pm