sensible FM tuner choice

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Jump to Latest
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
digital technology in Radio

Like it or not, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a broadcast radio, for car or for home, that does not have a frequency synthesis front end.

Both the Marantz ST-6000 and ST7001 have frequency synthesis front end. The ST7001 front end is more integrated, thus, more compact in size. I suspect the same Marantz team designed both tuner and used newer components for the later ST7001. Both have decent sensitivity with ST7001 edged out ST-6000 by 0.1uV, practically identical.
 
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
paba said:
IBOC noise is documented here is one report, you can skip to conclusion on page 45.

http://www.nprlabs.org/sites/nprlab...ge and Compatibility Study - Final Report.zip

You can also google a bit on IBOC noise .

Paul
Click to expand...
Paul, it is a 10 years old report. Do you experience a lot of IBOC noise when listening to FM at home? Particularly on headphone?

More importantly, it concluded that IBOC noise is mostly not a problem in component tuners. It should be no surprise to anyone. In car, it is so noisy that nobody cares.
NPRLab_report2008 said:
First, as stated before, results vary greatly among radios. In addition to cost (perhaps the biggest determinant of quality of a receiver), the type of receiver seems to correlate with susceptibility to host channel IBOC impairments, primarily due to a correlation between cost and type of receiver. When ranking all of the receivers tested by their MP1 mode results only, a handful of not particularly surprising trends become clear. Of all 7 of the boom boxes, all but one falls in the bottom half of the group of all 29 receivers tested, having higher than average impairment from IBOC. Conversely, of all 7 home stereos, all but 2 rise to the top half of the larger group. In a way, this grants broadcasters of high power IBOC some leeway with regard to analog host interference. It seems that receivers designed for careful listening, such as home stereo entertainment systems, have less trouble filtering out IBOC than portable stereos and clock radios, not intended for critical listening. These radios are more often used in situations where background environmental noise will overpower some or most of the decline in the analog receiver’s noise floor.
Click to expand...

In the good old days, component tuner used to spec the 19KHz and 38KHz sub-carrier signal suppression. Filter in modern tuner are so good that no one spec those number anymore.
 
Last edited:
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
BrianL said:
Keilau,

Have you looked at the Tuner Information Center - Vintage Stereo Tuners web site; they also have a mailing list. There is a huge amount of info there on tuners by FM tuner enthusiasts. Check it out if you haven't already.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am quite familiar with the TIC website and have consulted its reviews many times. But they have not covered the Marantz ST7001 and ST-15S1. So far, no respondent claims first hand experience with them yet,

The Denon is very well represented. I have used Denon TU-600 and TU-1500RDS in recent years based on information there. The TU-1500RDS performed beautifully.

I have WFMT in the Chicago area which has very high quality and good classical music selection. But selection of FM station is very limited. I decided not to spend the money on a collector's grade FM tuner. The Maraantz that I asked about are good enough for my purpose. I ended up looking at Marantz ST7001 and Marantz ST6000 due to performance, feature, availability and cost at the moment.
 
Last edited:
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
streaming WFMT

rayma said:
Don't forget that you can also stream WFMT. No noise, no problems.
Listen | 98.7WFMT
Click to expand...
My goal is for listening on my main, 2-channel, analogue sound system. Can I do it without a computer, Ipad, iPhone, Google Assistant or Amazan Alexa connected to the sound system?

I have Comcast/Xfinity for cable service. A Sony BDP-7200 Blu Ray player is connected to internet by CAT-5. I use a DAC to connect their digital sound output to my preamp.

Your advise is much appreciated.
 
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
rayma said:
The Sony should be able to stream internet FM to your stereo system.
Check the owner's manual for details to see.
Click to expand...
possible, but I have not tried it yet. The Sony software has a number of music (Pandora etc.) and video (Hulu etc.) in the default menu, but I could not figure out how to add to them using URL yet.

I suspect that I can access WFMT using its internet browser, but the screen keyboard is a pain in the neck to use.

I hope that other Sony user can help me out. If it works, I will not need a FM tuner after all.
 
Last edited:
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
rayma said:
A newer model may be easier to use, try a Best Buy or similar store
if no one here can help.
Click to expand...
The BDP-S7200 is the Sony top of the line in 2016. I am not aware that 2017/18 model BDP-X800 or later provide any new feature to allow customization of the Streaming menu. The later model supports 4K which I do not need. Correct me if I am wrong.

You can still get the BDP-S7200 on Amazon.

Newer model has the advantage of the latest firmware update which may not support the older model.

Any tip on using the Sony Blu Ray for streaming is greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
Initial impression of Marantz ST7001 Tuner

Received the Marantz ST7001 Tuner this afternoon and listened to an hour of classical from WFMT. First impression is very good. The sound stage is 3D with good instrument locations. The dynamic is good.

The response seems to lean toward the bright side. But it could be misleading since I listen to music on YouTube often this day, which mostly has limited frequency range.

The Marantz ST7001 Tuner is a keeper.
 
Bigun

Bigun

Member
Joined 2009
diyaudio.com/community/threads/tgm8-an-amplifier-based-on-rod-elliot-p3a.245619/
Paid Member
keilau said:
The response seems to lean toward the bright side.
Click to expand...

You can 'fix' this by adjusting the de-emphasis filter, likely they used a simple capacitor. The de-emphasis is different between UK and US so if you got an import from Europe it will certainly be way too bright but even if not, it's an easy thing to adjust so that the tuner is to your taste - which is what matters at the end.
 
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
Bigun said:
You can 'fix' this by adjusting the de-emphasis filter, likely they used a simple capacitor. The de-emphasis is different between UK and US so if you got an import from Europe it will certainly be way too bright but even if not, it's an easy thing to adjust so that the tuner is to your taste - which is what matters at the end.
Click to expand...
I have a US model for sure with XM-ready function. The European model has DAB built in and a very different back plate.
 
PRR

PRR

Member
Joined 2003
Paid Member
keilau said:
...The Sony software has a number of music (Pandora etc.) and video (Hulu etc.) in the default menu, but I could not figure out how to add to them using URL yet....
Click to expand...

I see you already found a happy answer. But others may later find this thread and WFMT is one of the few stations worth the bytes.

Info from their website:
98.7WFMT | Chicago's Classical & Folk Music Radio Streaming Online
Streaming Help | 98.7WFMT

"Can I access the wfmt.com live stream from my Wi-Fi or Internet Radio device?
"Yes, the WFMT stream can be accessed through any device that accepts a broadcast internet stream. You many find that in programming your device, the device instruction manual refers to one of the many wifi/internet station aggregator websites (vTuner, Wifiradio-frontier, ect.). However, these aggregators may not have the correct playlist for WFMT’s stream listed in their online directory. Below, find the correct playlist (.m3u) that can programmed directly into your device."
WFMT Live Stream -- https://www.wfmt.com/res/streaming/live/wfmtmp3stream.m3u
There's much more information on WFMT's pages.
 
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
Streaming music on a Blu Ray player or a TV

Streaming WFMT is never a problem on my PC. Is it possible to do WFMT stream on the Sony BDP-S7200?

For classical music, the Sony player streaming music default menu has digital-music-hall.com (Berliner Philharmoniker). General music streaming site includes Slacker, Pandora, Stingray Radio etc. I don't know a pathway to WFMT yet.
 
K

keilau

Member
Joined 2013
danielwritesbac said:
DSP & PLL Digital Stereo FM Radio Receiver Module 87-108MHz with Serial Control 783611214522 | eBay
I like that $8 digituner fairly well.
It doesn't do HD radio, but the AF section is considerably nicer sounding than my Sony XDR-F1HD.
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Do you know of any technical evaluation with performance measurements? Sensitivity, selectivity, frequency response, S/N, distortion?

It is interesting to hear you said that this tiny tuner had a nicer AF section than the Sony XDR-F1HD. It is a very significant statement to me. It seems that the FM board has a surface mounted opamp. Can you tell what it is?

I paid less than $60 for the Marantz ST7001 and am very happy with it. I am set for the time being. The ST7001 sounds signicantly nicer than my previous Denon TU-1500RDS. The sound is more open and has exceptional stable and precise sound stage. It shows FM sound at its best. I am lucky to have WFMT in the Chicago area. The ST7001 does not have HD, but it is Sirius-XM ready. I have an Audiovox CBP-1000 Connect & Play antenna (XM tuner built-in) on order to me. The Sirius-XM has good music channel selection and 3 classical music channel. Is it worth the $5.99/month promotional cost for 12 months?
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Top Bottom