Re: Yup, used to start
CBC is great. At the stations I've seen, they do process their signal but they do very soft processing - mainly it's AGC stuff to make their hosts talk at the same level as the music they're playing, with a bit of light compression to make the station a bit louder against the noise floor.
A live-jazz station in Colorado spent months developing the programming on their processor so that it would enhance their sound rather than clobber it, while still keeping a decent amount of modulation. I've heard the recorded, processed AES output of their processor, and it's absolutely outstanding.
For these kinds of stations, i'm proud to have created a no-comprimises, highest-quality-possible audio chain. But for the great majority of "HITZ-FM! top 5 songs, all the time!" type of stations, it just feels wrong somehow...
Oh, don't worry... we highpass our incoming content with a -3dB point around 0.05 Hz, and you can even DC couple your AES feed so your ultrasuperinfrabass is getting broadcasted with the least attenuation possibleGeek said:With stations, especially rock/trance/dance/hip-hop so over processing the audio, why bother designing in sound quality? Especially hip-hop, why even bother designing something for these guys with any response over 300Hz?
CBC is great. At the stations I've seen, they do process their signal but they do very soft processing - mainly it's AGC stuff to make their hosts talk at the same level as the music they're playing, with a bit of light compression to make the station a bit louder against the noise floor.
A live-jazz station in Colorado spent months developing the programming on their processor so that it would enhance their sound rather than clobber it, while still keeping a decent amount of modulation. I've heard the recorded, processed AES output of their processor, and it's absolutely outstanding.
For these kinds of stations, i'm proud to have created a no-comprimises, highest-quality-possible audio chain. But for the great majority of "HITZ-FM! top 5 songs, all the time!" type of stations, it just feels wrong somehow...
Good FM Tuner: Kenwood KT990D
Radio Stations: Here in Switzerland, our "national" Rock/Pop Station (German language) plays VERY loud (compared to other stations - don't know if they "overdrive" anything) and VERY compressed. Maybe a good thing in a noisy car, but at home I don't like it at all. No dynamics...
Radio Stations: Here in Switzerland, our "national" Rock/Pop Station (German language) plays VERY loud (compared to other stations - don't know if they "overdrive" anything) and VERY compressed. Maybe a good thing in a noisy car, but at home I don't like it at all. No dynamics...
My vote goes for Sansui TU-717..Mostly because I've got one,and it's a pretty nice (analog) tuner.
It can pull in stations quite well,and has good sound.
I guess this one also makes a good entry level DX'er.
I can pick up a station from ~100 miles away with a length of wire,and I get a good solid stereo signal with a twinlead "T" dipole on the wall.
Not many other tuners can pickup that station here. The sound is darn good too IMO.
It can pull in stations quite well,and has good sound.
I guess this one also makes a good entry level DX'er.
I can pick up a station from ~100 miles away with a length of wire,and I get a good solid stereo signal with a twinlead "T" dipole on the wall.
Not many other tuners can pickup that station here.
The sound is darn good too IMO.
i highly recommend technics st-9030
i made a couple of tuners myself around factory aligned front ends with good results
chips for good fm demodulators and stereodecoders are still available if you know where to get them
but its not worth it, get a good sansui or similar on ebay....it will cost less than parts
i made a couple of tuners myself around factory aligned front ends with good results
chips for good fm demodulators and stereodecoders are still available if you know where to get them
but its not worth it, get a good sansui or similar on ebay....it will cost less than parts
I recommend the Revox B760 if you can find one for a resonable price. They are sometimes on Ebay but the price is usually outrageous. I've owned one for over 20 years and see no need to replace it. When new the performance was unmatched and it is still excellent, even though this is a 25 year old design. The front end design is one of the best I have ever seen. The audio section could use some tweaking, but I hesitate to modify a classic with modern components.
Regards,
Ray
Regards,
Ray
the Pioneer receiver tuners of the 1970's are also fantastic -- I have an SX838 I bought when I got out of grad school and the tuner is great. the power amplifier is "wont" to give up on you, however. I have replaced the PA transistors twice.
Pioneer also made a series of auto tuners called "the supertuner" around the same time -- I replaced the GM unit in my Buick station wagon with one and the sensitivity was excellent, the noise in stereo very low, etc., etc.
Pioneer also made a series of auto tuners called "the supertuner" around the same time -- I replaced the GM unit in my Buick station wagon with one and the sensitivity was excellent, the noise in stereo very low, etc., etc.
Magnum Dynalab! Try overpriced LARGE. The Revox tuners are excellent, McIntosh are good. Marantz 2120 and 2130 are really good. There are lot's to choose from, even the Nakamichi ST7 is great (I wish I had one of these).
You need to like how it looks and how it operates. The $$ need to make sense and the rest of the family needs to be okay with it (wife).
It is amazing what you may find in some places. I got a Luxman C05 preamp that was headed to the junk pile (now in living room).
-Chris
You need to like how it looks and how it operates. The $$ need to make sense and the rest of the family needs to be okay with it (wife).
It is amazing what you may find in some places. I got a Luxman C05 preamp that was headed to the junk pile (now in living room).
-Chris
Oh, IMHO... the best AM/FM gear you can buy is probably something from Belar (http://www.belar.com).
Something like a FMRR-4 off-air receiver combined with a FMSA-1 or DSD-1 stereo decoder will give you incredibly good sound quality. We use this sort of equipment at my workplace to perform audio benchmarks on the broadcast equipment we make.
Might cost you several thousand bucks though.
Something like a FMRR-4 off-air receiver combined with a FMSA-1 or DSD-1 stereo decoder will give you incredibly good sound quality. We use this sort of equipment at my workplace to perform audio benchmarks on the broadcast equipment we make.
Might cost you several thousand bucks though.
I'm currently listening to an old Sansui TU9900 which I modified a bit.
I must say the sound is more then pleasing.
http://www.sansui.us/PG_TU9900_Series.htm
/Hugo
I must say the sound is more then pleasing.
http://www.sansui.us/PG_TU9900_Series.htm
/Hugo
Hey there.....short note......I'm amazed of the amount of poor audio quality of satellite transmissions.........there's alot of difference between stations esp european. Sat tuning has considerable convenience advantages, i.e no ghosting or image signal problems (ajacent channel interference) when compared to the standard FM tuner.
My 1970's Ambit analogue FM tuner and so many others can offer superlative audio quality. I'm not flinging my FM tuner away.. Not yet.. ..Nor those aerials which have good directional properties. They just as important.
Switzerland has abandoned it's SW slot in favour of Satellite transmissions.......Alot of us know too well that it becomes a question of time before the trend of general terrestial radio also follows this course.
rich
My 1970's Ambit analogue FM tuner and so many others can offer superlative audio quality. I'm not flinging my FM tuner away.. Not yet.. ..Nor those aerials which have good directional properties. They just as important.
Switzerland has abandoned it's SW slot in favour of Satellite transmissions.......Alot of us know too well that it becomes a question of time before the trend of general terrestial radio also follows this course.
rich
hi guys
i am cerainly no expert on satelite fm radio, but we have had digital fm radio promotion deal in our house for 3 months, wow, i have never heard such an awfull sound....
the sound from real fm radio, 30 years old hitachi fm tuner was like day and night
i dont know what else to say but buzzword "digital" just makes me puke
anyway i have both magnum dynalab ft-11 and technics st-9030 tuners, i bought magnum new for $500 and technics used for $130, and guess what, technics beats magnum in any parameter, sensitivity, separation, adjacent chanell, frequency response, noise floor, you name it...
i bet any good sansui or kenwood tuners do the same
dont make the same mistake as i did, dont buy new tuner
dont you guyes have an impression that more digital abominations are designed, the lower the sound quality? i mean we trade the sound quality for convenience, is that right?
i am cerainly no expert on satelite fm radio, but we have had digital fm radio promotion deal in our house for 3 months, wow, i have never heard such an awfull sound....
the sound from real fm radio, 30 years old hitachi fm tuner was like day and night
i dont know what else to say but buzzword "digital" just makes me puke
anyway i have both magnum dynalab ft-11 and technics st-9030 tuners, i bought magnum new for $500 and technics used for $130, and guess what, technics beats magnum in any parameter, sensitivity, separation, adjacent chanell, frequency response, noise floor, you name it...
i bet any good sansui or kenwood tuners do the same
dont make the same mistake as i did, dont buy new tuner
dont you guyes have an impression that more digital abominations are designed, the lower the sound quality? i mean we trade the sound quality for convenience, is that right?
Hi there.......yes junk sound from commercial stations.......this is where the headaches start. There was an adage in the recording industry in the time I was working in it (1978-88) to put a transformer/s in the signal-in lead when interfacing to digital. This may seem controversial but this was done in many studio consoles and one in particular Neve got world wide fame for this. I regulary use a tube pre/main amp and transformers throughout the signal path. .. This can <round off> the upper freq sound without the tone controls and without jarring the squarewave shape.....some sounds are quite horrid.. CD players with direct o/p are generally pretty clean. Transformers also serve to isolate any hum loop . When I examined the FM decoder in my sat receiver, I didn't find proper wound coils on a former but open-wound types on down-signal conversion.
Those FM tuners which have mid 1970's ic's HA1196 & HA1137 with double detector IF's and stereo decoders are worth their quality in gold. Alot would say "whats this" ???
Where's the real broadcast standard radio gone ?
rich
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