Curtis Mathis TUNER AUT-8300E

[Sam Odom]

Found at a Goodwill Store today... I didn't buy it and had little time to check it out but it is on a 24hr "hold" for me.

Completely Analogue made around mid70s in Japan. Weight is about ten Lbs (very heavy). Has three sets of RCA outputs Low/High/multiplex.

Seems like a good candidate for a mod. or two.

Anyone know anything about this tuner?


Thanks...

[Sam Odom]

What the heck... The lady wanted to get rid of it so I paid $5.39 for it.

Not as old as I remembered (memory aint as good as it used to be) and is not all Analogue. It's one of those analogue/digital hybrid tuners. That puts it around 1980? The 3 outputs are Variable, Fixed & FM Multipath also has an output level dial on back.

[Sam Odom]

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[Sam Odom]

On the "front" jpg the flash glare blocked-out this:

"Servo Locked FM With Auto Pilot Canceller"

What the heck does that mean?

[stevesebastianb]

Sam,

Without seeing the connections on the back, the MPX output is for a outboard MPX decoder which will do the stereo decoding.

Don't worry about the Pilot tone issue as this is a standard issue which all tunas have to do in cancelling the pilot tone on the incoming signal during the decoding of the stereo signal.

However, I would not suggest that you get too carried away with modifications. Best to get the tuna aligned properly and check out the power supply and change any leaky, dried out parts or parts which have changed values and leave it at that.

The only thing I would change would be better audiophile grade caps in the power supply section. All IMHO of course

Regards,

Steve

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

And, if it doesn't work out you could always turn it into a tuna sandwich.

[planet10]

Curtis Mathis is a house brand... i wonder which Japanese OEM made it... any clues anywhere?

dave

[stevesebastianb]

Hi All,

Curtis Mathis, like MCS, Walmart and some others made it a habit of sourcing out cheap electronics from the Far East made in factories in Taiwan, Korea and Japan with their brand names printed on. Unfortunately such products were always under licence and never saw the market in any other guise using the OEM outlet's original name.

Unilike today, we know of several radios including one high end model of Grundig's which is made especially for them by Tecsun of China. Tecsun sell the same radio using the Tecsun name in China.

Another case in point is the Korsun u3i phono stage made in China. In the west it is sold by Mark Levinson under the Red Rose Music brand at many many times the price sold in China. He, he, he, I bought the Korsun as I did not want to pay US$2,000.00 when I could get it for US$320.00

The Bow Technologies flagship CDP is also made in China.

There are a few of these tuners out there that we have no information on the OEM source which we we like to know about more.

regards,

Steve

[Sam Odom]

Originally posted by planet10
Curtis Mathis is a house brand... i wonder which Japanese OEM made it... any clues anywhere?

dave

Come to find out it was made by NEC rebranded for Curtis Mathis. In fact NEC had a model with the same # AUT-8300E. Not a bad tuner for a 4 gang FM front end. Well worth $5 and change but not worth the time and cash for a big mod makeover.

Thanks Guys!!

Sam