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MusicLG
11-06-2006, 08:13 PM
Hi. I'm new to this forum and would appreciate advice on selecting a tuner for my system. I have a Sim Audio Moon integrated amp and CD player. My speakers are JM Lab Focal 926's. I'd like to get a tuner to match the performance of my system...I was told about Cambridge Audio Azur 640T. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.:confused5:

elapsed
11-06-2006, 09:30 PM
Rotel RT-1080, a bit pricey but sounds great. It all depends on how often and how seriously you listen to the radio.

100th post!

Mr Peabody
11-06-2006, 09:35 PM
I haven't had a tuner in my system in several years but a couple things you may want to think about. HD radio is here and you might want to see if any tuners with that capability are on the horizon. If remote or matching styles isn't important you may find a great vintage tuner for not much money. This will require some research though. Kenwood made some awesome tuners. I know the KT-3300d would be as good as the Cambridge if not blow it away. I A/B'd the KT-3300d against an Arcam tuner. The sound was a toss up but the Kenwood killed the Arcam on reception. Another one I had that was good was a AX9 or A9X, something like that. You just have to be sure it's one of Kenwood's good tuners and not one they just made to stick in a rack system or something. In the 70's and 80's they usually had equipment that was a better product, then they had the mass market stuff. If you get a line on some vintage tuners just Google the model and you should turn up enough info to tell if it's "classic" or a boat anchor:) Also don't forget there is music stations on satelite and cable for free and XM or Sirius are around if you want to pay for your radio listening. These options will yield, or should yield, better sound quality than regular FM.

Good luck

Feanor
11-07-2006, 07:42 AM
Hi. I'm new to this forum and would appreciate advice on selecting a tuner for my system. I have a Sim Audio Moon integrated amp and CD player. My speakers are JM Lab Focal 926's. I'd like to get a tuner to match the performance of my system...I was told about Cambridge Audio Azur 640T. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.:confused5:

Of all components, tuners are perhaps the most reliable over time -- and also the leaset improved by technological advances in recent years.

Check out the Tuner Information Center for vintage tuner info. See especially the "Shootouts" for comparisons. Then go search eBay or Audiogon for whatever suits your needs.

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

SlumpBuster
11-07-2006, 12:10 PM
Also don't forget there is music stations on satelite and cable for free and XM or Sirius are around if you want to pay for your radio listening. These options will yield, or should yield, better sound quality than regular FM.

Good luck


I haven't heard Sirius or XM on anything other than a factory car stereo or a crappy plastic boombox. I certainly have not heard it on anything that could be termed Hi-Fi or even Mid-Fi. What I do know is that there has been some controversy about the purported sound quality. I have read claims that some channels are broadcasting at no more that 64kbs, or crappy MP3 quality. I don't know if the claims of poor sound quality have any merit, but you may want to hear it through a decent system before you add a home tuner.

Also you may want to look at music channels available through your cable or satelite provider.

Mr Peabody
11-07-2006, 08:01 PM
Feanore, great link. It looks like if you were into FM that Kenwood L02t would be the tuner to lust for.

FM, itself isn't exactly audiophile. The frequency response only goes to 15Khz and I forgot the low end cut off. Though a narrow bandwidth, I guess an analog FM clear signal could still be more appealing than some digital compressed file. There are so many radio stations that broadcast inferior signals though, and they don't seem to care about sound quality.