FM Radio

[poppachubby]

FM radio is nothing new around my house. My wife loves it, and has it on through most of the day. I'm objected to the local stations, they are awful.

However, with the recent acquisition of a Pioneer SX-650, I am enjoying radio. The tuner is unlike any other I've had. The DJ's sound like they're in the room and the music is crisp, clear and warm.

Analog radio is unbeatable. I have sattelite radio in my HT system, but it's not the same. There is a real vibe from the Pioneer.

I know as far as radio goes my Pioneer is a shadow of a HAM radio or guys who use the shortwave stuff. Anyone diggin radio these days?

[markw]

I'm right outside of NYC and grew up with great FM radio going back o the early 60's. We had several great classical stations with live performances, in the mid/late 60's album-oriented radio was started and it was FM heaven. All were powerful enough to clear whatever static was out there. From the mid/late 60's I always had st least a decent tuner (Lafayette tuber and Fisher 200T) so was always in a position to take advantage of it.

Now, thirty-five years later listening to FM here is like watching one of those "after the bomb drops" movies.

We're down to one classical FM station. It sold it's powerful transmitter and frequency to s Spanish station, the rock stations are limited in format (compressed classic rock, hip-hop, some moldy oldies), a lot of "Dance" music, several religious stations, and a plethora of ethnic stations, There's a lot of "pop" stations but they are not my cuppa tea and, like everything else, they are compressed beyond belief.

The only saving grace is WBGO, listener sponsored jazz, WQXR, low-power listener sponsored classical, and the college stations below 90 MHz whose programming varies by the hour.

IOW, where once a good tuner was a boon to one's enjoyment of this hobby here, it's pretty much a waste of a good tuner anymore.

As for what tuners/receivers I currently have : Marantz 2230 and 2270, Fisher FM-100B and a NAD 1600 (tuner/pre), not to mention the tuner in my HT system, a Denon 2802. Some are better than others but none of which suck.

[Mr Peabody]

As in most things corporations have ruined FM. Now it's repetitive garbage or repetitive stuff you've heard a billion times. No one puts time or money into programming any more, it's all charts and graphs or special interest, as in I own the station, the venue and recording studio, I will play my artist. I suspect your wife probably doesn't pay much attention to the radio when on, no one can stand that much of the same thing.

[dakatabg]

I am very happy with the Sansui TU-717 Tuner I have.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Station consolidation into large communication corporations have basically killed radio dead.

[Poultrygeist]

I sold my Sansui TU-517 on ebay and replaced it with an Insignia HS-HDTUNE.

[Mr Peabody]

I sold my Sansui TU-517 on ebay and replaced it with an Insignia HS-HDTUNE.

How'd that work for you? I'm sure the Sansui had better sound. I sure had a lot of hope for HD radio being something special, maybe bring back a bit of the old FM when actual people used their mind to program and you didn't hear the ssame song 24 times a day , every day. Many of the stations in my area just clone themselves off the original station. One is a bit unique, it's called "free forum radio" but it's so free forum I can't listen to it, it goes from a song so obscure to just a burned out classic Rock song, nothing in between and nothing worth listening to. There is a Jazz station that's pretty good but they are in mono. At least one of the Country stations plays Classic Country. And one other worth a mention is Deep Tracks which does good but sometimes they play an entire day of music the next day in the same times, bizarre. Of course only some one like me who listens at work and has a good memory in certain areas would know that. :) Plus a string of certain songs is easier to recognize than one or two.

[thekid]

Pops

Glad to see you are still enjoying the 650!

A good tuner or receiver can certainly make the difference when listening to radio. I think we get so used to the hum drum muzak-like quality that we hear in our car or being piped through speakers in stores that a radio becomes just background noise.

[rakeford]

About the only reason I got a new reciever instead of a new amp, was so I could listen to "Car Talk" on public radio. I couldn't see buying a whole seperate tuner for that.

I quit listening to commercial broadcast radio about 10 years ago. I got tired of the mind numbing commercials and the dunderhead DJs.

I'm really happy with my Yamaha RX-797 reciever, but I hardly ever listen to radio. I got my computer hooked into the tape in so I can listen to i-net radio. There's some good stuff there.

[02audionoob]

Music radio has been on life support at best since the dawn of...

http://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/iwantmymtv.png

[Enochrome]

My 650 for some reason does not pull in stations as well as yours Poppa, but when it does get a strong signal it's really good sound. I have never experienced HD radio and the reviews for that Sony says it is a screaming deal. Yet from the tone of these posts, is HD radio overrated? More bad stations with more clarity is like 450 bad cable channels out of 500 that are all in HD.

[dean_martin]

The compression that most (all in my area) top 40, classic rock, clear-channel stations is distracting. There are a few stations like local NPR affiliates and college radio stations that don't use it, but these are quite a distance from me. I enjoy them when I can pull them in. I have a Yamaha T-1 tuner and a yagi-style antenna in the attic that will get these stations when conditions are right.

[Poultrygeist]

I get better sound on the Insignia than on the Sansui as the reception is superior. The Insignia rejection of interference beats the Sansui hands down. That gorgeous old Sansui also tended to drift ever so slighty off station which kept me getting up and adjusting it.

Other than NPR, FM has become a wasteland.

[Mr Peabody]

I would say HD radio options vary from market to market as to how good the content is. There's a place online you can go to listen to all the HD stations in all cities but I don't have a link. You may be able to Google up something. I'm just sour on my market. We had a pretty cool New Age station and the idiots changed from that to a station that plays similar music to the original analog, I just don't get it, especially since they don't have to be worried about selling commercials yet.

[Poultrygeist]

I actually purchased the Sansui to listen to an NPR jazz station in Charlotte ( 90 miles away ) but they no longer play jazz.

[Mr Peabody]

I actually purchased the Sansui to listen to an NPR jazz station in Charlotte ( 90 miles away ) but they no longer play jazz.

What a cruel irony