Crown FM 2, A Good Tuner?

[dc270]

I finally found a Crown matching tuner to my Crown SL2 preamp. I cannot seem to locate a lot of information on this tuner- what is the general concensus about the Crown FM Two tuner regarding its sound, reliability? I read where it has some Larry Schotz "genius" applied to it so I feel it cannot be all that bad. I had a NAD tuner years back and really liked it!

Thanks for your replies
DC

 

[Blue Shadow]

Reliability is not a question usually asked about Crown gear. I don't know about the tuning quality.

Glad to see you have found a tuner. Give it a try and bolt that thing in a Crown cabinet by Jeln and you only need the power amp to have a nice Crown 'receiver'.

Hope it works out for you.

 

[Jon_Logan]

I had an FM-1 (the larger one) back in the day. The scuttlebutt about the FM-2 was that it was even better than the FM-1. The FM-1 was bad-assed, so I think you've got yourself a good tuner. I think if it didn't blow the doors off of the tuners you're used to, it might need an alignment.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

The Crown FM Two sounds good, is sensitive and selective. And built Missionary Tough. And they don't overload in RF fields either. A superb FM station in Athens uses one for an air monitor.

 

[dc270]

Thanks for the replys here- I am feeling better about the purchase already!!

I though the one guy asking $300 was way out of line, but now feel pretty lucky to have got mine for half that!
DC

 

[Negotiableterms]

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/CrownFMTworeview.pdf

 

[dc270]

That was a good read, thank you!
DC

 

[BMWCCA]

The only thing better might be an FM Three (in my avatar)!

 

[dc270]

oh wow are you ever fortunate!!
DC

 

[dc270]

OK I have had this baby playing now in the triamp rack for a day..........holy crap why have I not got this tuner any sooer!! Unbelievable quality- excellent sound, best damn tuna I have ever owned. Hell I though my Sanyo Plus T35 was the cats ass, this FM2 tuna just blew that one into the closet. Really like the feature of the 25uF switch-FM has suprb high end once again with deep solid bass!

If you ever get the chance to listen to one of these it is a treat- first rate tuner all the way!!
DC

 

[Jon_Logan]

I had a feeling you'd like it.

Crown was kind of off the map for me until I worked for a dealer. Apparently, back in the day, they didn't have too many dealers.

When I was exposed to their stuff and actually repaired and measured some, you knew that these guys, Gerald Stanley comes to mind, really, really knew their stuff. From TEF analyzers to PZM mics, to the Techron line for transformers and shaker tables, and test equipment (RTA), these guys kick ass.

Their tuners always measured very sensitively, with excellent distortion, separation, etc. They also seemed to stay very close to calibrated. The thing that is very nice about the FM-2 it is 1U high. All of that real performance in a 1U rackable. If you've got a multi-amped setup, 1U means a lot.

Congrats on an awesome piece.

 

[dc270]

I have been a mediocre radio fan at best over the years, but have some good station here in the DFW area, even digital fm did not really impress me all that much. But now FM is actually enjoyable and fun to listen to- despite comercial breaks. I would neven have guessed a piece like this could have swayed me so much- but does!
DC

 

[zebulon1]

Old post but I had to see what others thought.
I just finished a repair on a FM3 and, WOW!
I didn't even have the FM antenna connected and I could receive stations.
Bam!
Very nice tuner.

 

[rcs16]

And they don't overload in RF fields either.

I have both a FM1 and a FM2.
Both of these have a overload issue, under the same conditions, the tuner in a Sansui G-7500 (which is not a top end tuner) does not overload the same. I think it is because of the jfet mixer design that Crown used, in both FM1 and FM2, they have the same 2n5485 single jfet type of mixer. I do not think they designed it very well as far as IM performance goes. The G-7500 uses a bjt mixer and have better overload margins.
Both the FM1 & 2 are sensitive and fairly selective, no more than the tuner in the G-7500 however. FM1,2 have almost the same IF filter chain using the old LM703 IF amp, except the ceramic filters are a bit different and the FM1 uses a SAW as the last filter element.
What I would have liked Crown to do is to add a narrow filter option for some congested as as other higher end tuners have done.
As far as the pulse count detector in the FM2, I do not notice that it offers any performance increase over the older FM1 std quad detector using a CA3189E.
The FM1 blew its controller, so that is how I got it so cheap at $50. for years I could not find a GI controller
To get the tuner working, I wired it up to a heli muti-turn pot to the varactor diode supply and added a center tune meter so that I could use it and test it out. Recently I found that Littlediode is selling the GI controller for the FM1 (AY3-8115P), so I ordered one and it is in the mail. Hopefully I can get it back working again with a controller.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Agreed about the love for a narrow filter as an option, this is desirable.