Mcintosh tuners - Way overrated?

Thought it would be useful to resurrect this thread since I found a street photo of the Channel Master FM Probe on the back-side of Pop's house in Massachusetts.

It was my first FM antenna installed sometime around 1976-77. The photo was likely taken in late 1994.

FM_Probe_Discone_2.jpg
Hope the photo isn't blurred too much from uploading. There was a discone (45-450 MHz) mouthed on the rear south dormer face.


The following is a re-post of an installation sketch drawn on a 2014 photo. See two soffit brackets in RED.

4408_mast_0651_2.jpg

This is a way for most users to get away with an OUTDOOR beam antenna on a rotator that's inconspicuous from the street.

The Channel Master FM Probes have worked GREAT over the years with McIntosh tuners. :thumbsup:

IMHO an outdoor beam antenna on a rotator is essential for LOW DISTORTION FM reception, especially for Dx'ing Mc tuners with variable selectivity.


-Greg
 
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Not a lost art as much as the customers that wanted that distant station do not want it anymore. The trend changed to music in multiple rooms with remote control of the tuner and therefore no reasonable control for the old school rotator.

As for antenna install all you need to do next time you are at a traffic light look up. Typically you will see a vertically polarized yagi making sure your mug is being sent to big brother over at traffic control. So the black art of sending and receiving radio waves through the ether is not dead just different.
 
I have the MR77 an MR80 and like them both, though neither is in use at present. The 77 sounds good but cannot match the MR80, performance wise. It's great to run the MR80 through the C33 Monitor Amp for all-day listening.


Antenna recommendation

Will have to agree completely with the antenna recommendation. Look at the distortion chart in the back of your tuner SM. It will be apparent that THD decreases as signal strength increases, which makes the case for an antenna. The MP scopes will display multipath IIRC, that is multipath reduction as you dial-in the antenna direction with an antenna rotor.

Notice what the MR71 literature says below..

MR71_256.png




300 ohm twisted transmission line

So yes, low distortion FM is possible with a directional (Yagi) antenna and rotor. One would intuitively use coax cable for the down-lead, but a twisted 300-ohm balanced transmission line will be lower loss. Twist it so it spirals while installing onto the stand-offs. A twist every 1/2 to 1 foot or so would be good, which prevents unwanted signals from being induced.

twinlead_installed.png



The above scan is from the Channel Master installation instructions.



-Gregory

To all on this thread regarding outdoor antennas. I live in a part of Florida notorious for lighting. It's been years since I've owned a tuner (obviously I've been considering a purchase since...). So, many/most (?) here aren't too worried about their systems getting fired? Sure, most of us are insured, but, man, it would suck. And there is also the cumulative effects of near misses and static discharges that may not be so obvious to an adjustor. Just wondering what you veterans have experienced... THX. 1138
 
To all on this thread regarding outdoor antennas. I live in a part of Florida notorious for lighting. It's been years since I've owned a tuner. So, many/most (?) here aren't too worried about their systems getting fired? Sure, most of us are insured, but, man, it would suck. And there is also the cumulative effects of near misses and static discharges that may not be so obvious to an adjuster. Just wondering what you veterans have experienced... THX.

The Mc tuners with Channel Master antenna systems I had installed worked really well, and there was always a threat or worry of thunderstorms.

There are steps you can take: Ground antenna mast with a 6' copper stake driven into the earth, install a `lightning block´ where your transmission line enters the building, ground your McIntosh chassis to a buss that's connected to the COLD water pipe. My ground buss was hooked to the hose bib or faucet in the back of the house, just inside the wall.

Also install and `quick disconnect´ Type F connector so you can easily unplug the antenna from the tuner. I only connected the antenna when using the tuner. Or best recollection was.. disconnected it when away or when bad weather was expected.

In summary: ground the antenna mast with a stake and ground wire, use a `spark gap´ or lighting arrester when the cable enters the house, and disconnected the antenna from tuner when not in use.

As for using outdoor antennas with McIntosh tuners — sometimes I put `don't make me slap you´ here.:rflmao:

-Greg

Tip: pick up a 16' or 20' galvanized pipe typically used as the horizontal run in a chain link fence, and use THAT as your mast from the ground, up. Attach it to the back of your house and ground it at the bottom (see images of pop's house.). Mount your FM beam on a rotator at the top, and use an `arrester´ where the feed cable enters the house, then ground you tuner, preamp, etc on a common buss inside house. Disconnect antenna from tuner with QD plug when not in use. 300 ohm parallel (flat) transmission line is less lossy but harder to install.
 
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There is no substitute for a well placed antenna. Growing up, my dad used a Channel Master rotor to point his fm antenna. That thing worked like a charm. We lived 25 miles from Lake Erie in Pennsylvania. My dad could pick up Canadian stations like they were just down the street. That was a cheap but beautiful set up.
 
There is no substitute for a well placed antenna. Growing up, my dad used a Channel Master rotor to point his fm antenna. That thing worked like a charm. We lived 25 miles from Lake Erie in Pennsylvania. My dad could pick up Canadian stations like they were just down the street. That was a cheap but beautiful set up.
Ya gotta love being near the lake. I own a lake front cottage on the north shore of Lake Erie, basically northwest of Cleveland. From there with an antenna & rotor on a single story house, I receive crystal clear television from Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie Pa, and Buffalo. And this doesn't include all the Canadian Stations to the north. Radio reception is not much different although I don't really spend much time listening to FM while there.

At home my MR-78 is coupled to a 1/2 wave dipole antenna mounted in the attic with excellent results.
 
Ya gotta love being near the lake. I own a lake front cottage on the north shore of Lake Erie, basically northwest of Cleveland. From there with an antenna & rotor on a single story house, I receive crystal clear television from Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie Pa, and Buffalo. And this doesn't include all the Canadian Stations to the north. Radio reception is not much different although I don't really spend much time listening to FM while there.

At home my MR-78 is coupled to a 1/2 wave dipole antenna mounted in the attic with excellent results.
Luckily, most of the FM stations were to the north of our house. My Dad only needed to tweak the antenna location for optimum results.
 
I need to get my act together and get an outdoor antenna, I now live 40miles away from the nearest transmitter, and in New Zealand, the maximum transmitting power a station can have is 3,000watts, so they don't go very far. I can receive some stations with the 300Ω Dipole, an outdoor would pull them in much better though....
 
The Mc tuners with Channel Master antenna systems I had installed worked really well, and there was always a threat or worry of thunderstorms.

There are steps you can take: Ground antenna mast with a 6' copper stake driven into the earth, install a `lightning block´ where your transmission line enters the building, ground your McIntosh chassis to a buss that's connected to the COLD water pipe. My ground buss was hooked to the hose bib or faucet in the back of the house, just inside the wall.

Also install and `quick disconnect´ Type F connector so you can easily unplug the antenna from the tuner. I only connected the antenna when using the tuner. Or best recollection was.. disconnected it when away or when bad weather was expected.

In summary: ground the antenna mast with a stake and ground wire, use a `spark gap´ or lighting arrester when the cable enters the house, and disconnected the antenna from tuner when not in use.

As for using outdoor antennas with McIntosh tuners — sometimes I put `don't make me slap you´ here.:rflmao:

-Greg

Tip: pick up a 16' or 20' galvanized pipe typically use as the horizontal run in a chain link fence, and use THAT as your mast from the ground, up. Attach it to the back of your house and ground it at the bottom (see images of pop's house.). Mount your FM beam on a rotator at the top, and use an `arrester´ where the feed cable enters the house, then ground you tuner, preamp, etc on a common buss inside house. Disconnect antenna from tuner with QD plug when not in use. 300 ohm parallel (flat) transmission line is less lossy but harder to install.

Greg, thanks, "much obliged" :music:
 
If it wasn't for NPR hereabouts,----.
I agree but NPR isn t a reason to need a good tuner (I guess maybe if you're on the fringe)
I listen in the car. It's enough.
If the tuner is on 20 days a year its a lot. Probably closer to 10
 
I have it on most of the time at home or in the car, depending, particularly when alone. Without NPR, FM radio wouldn't be an essential element in my systems in my area.
More on topic, I have a couple of better examples by Sony and Pioneer and some adequate sources otherwise, but nothing RF by Mac. Unfortunately, NPR offers some of its more fidelity inspired content on alternate digital FM band channels such as in Atlanta, so a fine vintage tuner isn't maximally useful in such areas for NPR. The smaller well-run stations playing jazz and other well-produced content on hand-me-down analog FM gear would be worth the investment.
 
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Here I'm lucky enough to choose from 3 NPR affiliates; WVIA-FM local; WSKG in Binghamton and WRTI Temple Univ, Philadelphia (via translator in Mt Pocono). WRTI can be difficult though.

The audio quality of VIA and RTI (when it's coming in) are excellent. VIA supports local musicians & bands by providing their own record production services mastered in their own humble studio. The production quality of most of these studio recordings is superb - far beyond anything I've ever heard from any other source. Whoever their engineers are, they know what they're doing!

**Every so often WSKG runs a plug for Audio Classics, "Sales and service of Bowers and Wilkins and McIntosh..., Vestal NY" :D
 
Just got a C. Crane dipole for my apartment. I was shocked to see it give a 12 dB signal increase over a regular wire dipole according to the Sony tuner's internal signal strength meter.

Looking forward to my new-to-me MR77 but I expect it will be October before I get it after the refurbishment by Mike and international shipment. At least I think I have the best possible antenna for it given my physical situation.
 
When I started this thread in 2014 I was still a tuner "fanatic" mainly due to the nostalgia of living in Chicago and the metro area until the 80's. In high school and college I was also an FM DXer which sticks in your blood. I got spoiled being able to see the Hancock Bldg. from the roof of my house. Since then the physical location of my homes in relation to large metro areas, the topology of my surroundings and the quality and variety of receivable stations has constantly gotten worse. My local NPR station in the Akron area is mostly talk until some classical after 8 pm. I recently read that the two big public radio stations in Boston; WGBH and Boston U. are switching to all talk on their main analog channel to increase listeners. More than likely I can see myself slowly thinning down my tuner collection to one piece; my MR78 and experimenting with homemade dipoles. The 78 was gone over by Terry D. a few years ago. I just have to keep from being tempted to buy another bargain off CL.
 
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