Where is my HD radio?

[O'Shag]

CHECK OUT C.CRANE company, if its a radio they have it, especially SANGEAN.
I used to connect my FM tuner to an TV antenna, the sound was quite good.
To say that FM is limited because it "only" goes to 15 khz or so is silly, most can't hear
too much past 13khz.
The problem with FM is programming, most of it is crap, spaced between commercials.
But proper FM, with a proper outdoor antenna, can sound quite good.

Very good point Pix. As I noted previously, I've heard some excellent sound quality from analogue broadcasts. I guess its very dependent on the quality of the material and of course on the lack of interference. We have an excellent Jazz station and some superb classical stations here in so Cal on FM radio. I think that an outdoor antenna is the only way to go to maximize signal quality.

[emaidel]

I know nothing about HD radio, other than what I've read in this thread. I had assumed the HD stood for "high definition," but just learned here that that's not so.

Like several other AR members, I've never considered FM a legitimate source for serious listening. It's not whether or not one is using a good outdoor antenna (or has one's tuner connected to cable), but the amount of signal processing an FM broadcast is subjected to. Almost all broadcasts are severely compressed, and often with what's known as "knife-edge" compression that's quite noticeable, and very annoying. dbx uses its patented "over-easy" compression, which is considerably less noticeable than that of the knife-edge variety, but it still a form of signal processing which, when used, degrades the original signal.

I can't speak from experience with live broadcasts, as I've never had the opportunity to listen to one here in South Carolina, or in the Denver area where I used to live. I can only hope that such broadcasts sound better than the stuff that's pumped out over the air most of the time. Still, whether live or not, tons of signal processing is used: the best FM can ever hope to be is as good as the source, which, other than a live broadcast is often a pretty ordinary CD player, or 16" turntable with an old Stanton 680EL cartridge. Most of the AR members who've posted on the site have considerably better equipment than that in their homes.

As it turns out my tuner (a Parsound T/DQ-1600) is a Stereophile Class-C recommendation. Big deal. I hardly ever listen to it, and nothing from it has ever sounded remotely close in fidelity to either my CD player or turntable. Now that I've replaced my older turntable with a Dual CS-5000, and equipped it with an Achromat platter mat, and replaced my CD player/converter with the Marantz SA-8001 SACD player, the disparity between them and my tuner is even more noticeable.

Just my two cents, again.

[pixelthis]

FM was once considered every bit as much a HI-FI medium as anything else.
BEFORE denon started with HT and quit with serious audio I bought their top of the
line receiver, 598 bucks, 75 wpc, 1985 or 86.
It had a quite serious tuner, with a special circuit for spurious channel rejection, etc.
INSTEAD OF A "TUNER ON A CHIP it had its own sheilded box, and was made of discrete components.
This was my last piece of serious gear before I got into HT, and all of the compromises it entails, anyway the sound was quite amazing .
And I am used to living 50 miles from serious stations (except the local pbs) and when I travel I am amazed by how good FM can sound when the station is close.
Now if they just put some programming on...

[E-Stat]

FM was once considered every bit as much a HI-FI medium as anything else.

Indeed. There was a time that some big city classical stations would do live broadcasts of concerts over FM with little signal twiddling. That was in the day of the Marantz 10B and McIntosh MR-74s, etc. Alas, the commercialization of radio and the evils of compression reign today.

rw

[markw]

Indeed. There was a time that some big city classical stations would do live broadcasts of concerts over FM with little signal twiddling.

Check out WQXR in NYC. Some of the local college stations sometimes do intimate little live shows of local minstrels and sometimes better known guests as well.