I recently acquired a Kenwood KT9900 tuner... it sounds really good and there are some good radio stations around, but when I turn the volume up it becomes obvious they are compressing the signal too much for my taste: Fine for background listening but disappointing when I want to LISTEN to it.
My system has a very low noise floor so there a no issues with noise and this FM tuner was well maintained and it sounds really good and quite quiet.
What are my options for expanding the dynamic range of the signal? I figure I'd put between the tuner and the preamp.
My system has a very low noise floor so there a no issues with noise and this FM tuner was well maintained and it sounds really good and quite quiet.
What are my options for expanding the dynamic range of the signal? I figure I'd put between the tuner and the preamp.
There was the SSS ASRU, though it may be hard to find now. As I recall it worked OK and was a fun DIY kit.
https://reverb.com/item/48663084-sy...o-expander-build-kit-1981-walnut-and-aluminum
https://reverb.com/item/48663084-sy...o-expander-build-kit-1981-walnut-and-aluminum
A quick review of some DBX stuff on ebay, well, I wouldnt pay what they're asking for any of it to resolve a problem like that. Oh, "vintage" = $1000 -
DIY on the other hand there's https://thatcorp.com/datashts/THAT_4320_Datasheet.pdf. You'd need two for stereo. QFN24 package - dip converters are available.
DIY on the other hand there's https://thatcorp.com/datashts/THAT_4320_Datasheet.pdf. You'd need two for stereo. QFN24 package - dip converters are available.
No, they do it as a rule of thumb. All of them, except for the classical stations. KUCI is near by and they do a good job, but they tend to go nuts half the time with strange noises and political rants... KUSC is actually good "easy listening" classical.... Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi... No Philip Glass.
Also, doesnt most FM station these days stream? You could run a stream from the station through a plug-in hosted by Foobar2000, made by Reaper. It's a multiband compressor, that - I suppose just because they could - it's only math - can do multiband expansion. I've done it and it's a fun result.
That's an interesting chip. So it can compress and expand by a fixed 2:1 ratio?
eBay and "vintage" is absolutely nuts. The entire "vintage" resale world has been taken over by Fly By Night Flippers... like selling a 10wpc '74 Superscope receiver for an asking price of $400 because it was "made by Marantz."
Perhaps we need a thread discussing "The Horrors of Vintage Resale Prices".. or "Vintage Resale Temple Of Shame"
THAT MISSES THE POINT. I mean, I could easily run Internet streams thought the Android Tablet to the DAC the way I use Tridal...
...but... it must misses the point... And the tuner is easy to run... just three buttons and I use it's volume control to run the stereo. No need to mess with the fancy resistor ladder, push buttons and remote of the preamp.
I have this... The bottom one is the Macho 252 SIT in iteration 2, before we replaced the diodes.
Attachments
Yeah, I was lucky to get a mono tube amp to experiment with for the princely sum of $35 - unheard of anywhere - at a local ham radio show and swap meet! The same amp on ebay - $250.
Then run the audio from the tuner into your Scarlet USB, through the PC processing, the back out to your amp. All that resampling wont effect how it sounds, right? Any delay from the computer dont care if it misses real time, right?
I suppose the only advantage of that is, if you have the USB interface, you could hear the result today, versus laying out circuit boards or paying for shipping and waiting to repair some old thing with all the leaky caps.
Stupid radio stations dont realize what someone has to go through to fix what they do as their standard broadcast practice.
I suppose the only advantage of that is, if you have the USB interface, you could hear the result today, versus laying out circuit boards or paying for shipping and waiting to repair some old thing with all the leaky caps.
Stupid radio stations dont realize what someone has to go through to fix what they do as their standard broadcast practice.
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^ "Scarlet USB"
Huh?
I got an RME ADI-2 PRO FS R Black Edition..
Thanks for the input, but you're trying to tell me to use a cheap USB device.. Me? I'm messing around with rolling op amps in the P3?
I am NOT going to process the output of an analog tuner. You know, the Kenwood KT-9900 is one of the best tuners made! I'm taking that output to a CJ CJ tubed preamp with teflon caps, out to a Nelson or Zem amp to English speakers.... digitizing is done only for the digital chain... analog doesn't get messed with, unless I decide to make a "needle drop" recording.
And for that, I got the RME noted above. Sure, I could use that to make great 24/96 or 24/192 recordings off the tuner and then expand it in the digital realm.
BUT...
There's a point in life where we care about STYLE.
If anything, I need an HP storage scope on the rack, but my wife might really object to THAT.
Huh?
I got an RME ADI-2 PRO FS R Black Edition..
Thanks for the input, but you're trying to tell me to use a cheap USB device.. Me? I'm messing around with rolling op amps in the P3?
I am NOT going to process the output of an analog tuner. You know, the Kenwood KT-9900 is one of the best tuners made! I'm taking that output to a CJ CJ tubed preamp with teflon caps, out to a Nelson or Zem amp to English speakers.... digitizing is done only for the digital chain... analog doesn't get messed with, unless I decide to make a "needle drop" recording.
And for that, I got the RME noted above. Sure, I could use that to make great 24/96 or 24/192 recordings off the tuner and then expand it in the digital realm.
BUT...
There's a point in life where we care about STYLE.
If anything, I need an HP storage scope on the rack, but my wife might really object to THAT.
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I've got an old 119 somewhere. I used it back in the day before I got their 224 for cassette noise reduction. I do recall expansion above about 1.3/1.4 resulted in "pumping", so expect pumping if you try to do more than that. The 224 used fixed 2:1->1:2 expansion, it worked pretty well, but required source be encoded obviously. After that I picked up a ZX-7 with Dolby-C that I felt did a better job than the dbx. The big plus to the dbx system was it did not need to calibrated levels like the C system.The Nak had a calibration tone builtin so that was not an issue.
^ exhancer....
@TNT figures...
I do call it expresso....
@adason The tuner was kept aligned by the previous owner who is an audio tuner collector. He likely Yes, I plan on having it fully rebuilt by a guy who's an expert in mid 70s Japanese units. That's in the plan. He's rebuilt all of my vintage units (No LED lighting). One of these days I might pick up a Luxman tubed integrated. His Luxmans (and Kenwoods) sound really good.
The KT9900 is very good. Don't knock it. The Magnum Dynalab is exceptional, but with the current state of FM stations I doubt if you can notice the difference. Besides, my KT9900 has THREE big meters. It has the same tuner as the US KT8300. And, IMHO, look better than the Magnum units. Which, to be honest was important, as the tuner sits in the living room and somewhat alleviates the industrial look of the rest of the racks.
The tuner is used mostly used for background music. It keeps my wife from running the darn TV all day long.
BTW: this is a good web site about audio tuners.
https://www.fmtunerinfo.com/tubetuners.html#MR65
@TNT figures...
I do call it expresso....@adason The tuner was kept aligned by the previous owner who is an audio tuner collector. He likely Yes, I plan on having it fully rebuilt by a guy who's an expert in mid 70s Japanese units. That's in the plan. He's rebuilt all of my vintage units (No LED lighting). One of these days I might pick up a Luxman tubed integrated. His Luxmans (and Kenwoods) sound really good.
The KT9900 is very good. Don't knock it. The Magnum Dynalab is exceptional, but with the current state of FM stations I doubt if you can notice the difference. Besides, my KT9900 has THREE big meters. It has the same tuner as the US KT8300. And, IMHO, look better than the Magnum units. Which, to be honest was important, as the tuner sits in the living room and somewhat alleviates the industrial look of the rest of the racks.
The tuner is used mostly used for background music. It keeps my wife from running the darn TV all day long.
BTW: this is a good web site about audio tuners.
https://www.fmtunerinfo.com/tubetuners.html#MR65
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