Simply unbelievable TX-9100

Mark W.

Mark W.

Nut house of the Universe
WOW you guys told me this was an awesome tuner but tonight I learned just what that really meant.

I wanted to listen to any FM and since my sysyem is still without interconnects and the antenna and the ground and and and a bunch of stuff.

I just plugged the tuner in and stuck my new KOSS headphones in the jack. I could pick up AM but no FM OK I need something as an antenna so I stick a 15" long piece of cheap clear insulation 18 gauge speaker wire on the 300 ohm antenna leads. Crap nothing the signal meter shows something but it won't tune in nothing.

Then I notice it's on MUTE 1 I switch the Mute off and BANG in comes a station I tune it to my favoraite station and wowo it sounds great with nothing more then some crappy speaker wire this thing must have a WHINCH to pull stations in that well.

I think the stereo light is out and I'll have to wait to get a real antenna to see why the tuning meter doesn't center when on signal. BUT she works wonderful.

And since I'm a big FM listener it will get a lot of excersize once all is up and running.

Tomorrow evening I should have enough done on the rack/cabinet to show it off the wife let me get a LOT done on it today. I have to work in the middlle of the living room as once the rack is full it will wiegh way to much to move around more then just out of the pocket in the wall to the middle of the living room where I can get at a things.

HAPPY HAPPY
 
Register to hide this ad
Congrats Mark! I've wanted a TX-9100 since 1990. Perhaps I have narrowed the gap. I bought a Japanese domestic TX-8800 for $10 - $15. It tunes to the distinctive Japanese bandwidth. I replaced ALL the caps. Just as in the case of my TX-6300, there was a remarkable improvement. If you are reluctant to take this project on, at least change out the caps on the power supply board. You don’t need expensive boutique caps. A reputable brand of standard caps will do fine.

Unfortunately, FM broadcasting is very thin in most areas of Japan with only two or three licenses being issued for each of the provincial prefectures (states). Of these, two will broadcast compressed crud and chatter. The universal NHK broadcasts a lot of chatter and degraded transcriptions. But, on the occasions when it broadcasts live or taped performances from Tokyo, the Pioneer is simply breathtakingly realistic — no exaggeration.

I hope that you find out why the stereo light is out. It could be a dead lamp.

At the moment I use the most common sort of 300 Ohm dipole arial stretched out on a strip of softwood. I have also constructed and used a dipole that is equivalent to half the wave of a target broadcast frequency. Try using a simple dipole and flip on the IF Band switch to WIDE. If there are no multi-path problems, you should get untarnished performance from your Pioneer. If you want to go DX’ing, you can play with antennae and the NARROW setting. FM is a very under-appreciated source for high fidelity listening. Happy Listening in the New Year!
 
congrats - welcome to the land of fantastic sound where someone else does all the cuing! ;) while i have never heard that particular tuna, from those whose ears i trust, i know it's a goodie. if ya have stations that broadcast music ya like w/a quality signal, it will definitely be worth your while to have it completely refurb'd & modded. the sound quality of a quality tuna w/a quality signal will easily rival the best digital & analog sources on a hi-rez rig.

best,

doug s.
 
Impressive Mark, I would imagine that it is pretty hard to get reception out there in Silverton. My parents are in Colton and a super tuner like my dad's MR-78 is almost a must.
 
Hey Mark question for ya...

I'm in Salem and my stock KT-8300 is capable of picking up KZEL 96.1.
BUT than frigg'n country channel KRKT 96.3 bleeds over :rant:

How does your 9100 do on 96.1?
 
Jupiter1610 said:
Isn't KRKT 99.9? ?
Click to expand...

Yes it is and I can pick it up loud and clear :puke:


BUT they feel the need blast the same exact programming over the 96.3 signal too :gigglemad
 
I don't have any problems with bleed over with either my SX-3000 or the little I have been able to play with the TX-9100.

The one thing I did pickup a couple of nights ago blew me away I picked up Corbin Colleges little campus FM station. KWBX-FM 90.3 a wopping 135 watts of power.

Well its about 12.5 miles straight line South Southwest of me but the thing is it's backed up against the Hill and for me to get it her the signal has to go up over the Aumsville Road hill The transmitter is only 14-17 meters above the ground while the terrain between it and me is close to 200 feet higher then the transmitter. I was impressed.

Their info is here http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/info?call=KWBX&service=FM

Of course since they are a GOD station I doubt I will ever listen to them except to check signal strength LOL

I just checked and on my office system 96.1 comes in about a 2.5 on my signal meter so pretty weak but I didn't notice any bleed over.

BUT when I looked up at my SX-3000 after having it off over night all the panel lights are out I think I need to actually fix the blown fuse LOL I did have it jumped as I was in a hurry to button it up last time I was inside her. OH well I missed the Stereo bulb las time guess I have an excuse to fix it now.
 
MP3H8tr said:
Hey Mark question for ya...

I'm in Salem and my stock KT-8300 is capable of picking up KZEL 96.1.
BUT than frigg'n country channel KRKT 96.3 bleeds over :rant:

How does your 9100 do on 96.1?
Click to expand...
do you have bleed-over even w/the narrow band? if so, then mebbe time for a tuna refurb. this unit will benefit from audio mods *immensely*, also, so why not do it all in one fell swoop?

doug s.
 
Yea I thought so too.It's in pretty good shape.
Problem is that I also have a Sansui tu 717.
I once asked someone about modding them and which one I should have modded.
They told me that both of those tuners will be about the same after the mods.
I have read that the 717 is better after mods but the 8300 is quite spectacular after a rework.Any truth to that?
I also find the 717's look sexy compared to the look of the 8300.

Another problem is that I don't know if I should have one of them moded or sell them both and buy something better from the start.I'm a bit of a low buck guy compared to a lot of people here because I don't get paid a great. Kinda kicks me in the nuts from time to time.
I was quoted 5-600 bucks for the full mods from Punker on the 8300.I kinda wanted to immerse my head under water for a while.

I contacted the guy on agon about that Mutsubishi but I was way too late.
I came home from work and saw it, clicked on the link, and discoverd I was looker 278.I'll bet he had 277 offers before me.
And to top it off someone here posted a link to it and gave it greater exposure......

Wonder who that was :scratch2:

LOL
 
Last edited:
MP3H8tr said:
Yea I thought so too.It's in pretty good shape.
Problem is that I also have a Sansui tu 717.
I once asked someone about modding them and which one I should have modded.
They told me that both of those tuners will be about the same after the mods.
I have read that the 717 is better after mods but the 8300 is quite spectacular after a rework.Any truth to that?
I also find the 717's look sexy compared to the look of the 8300.

Another problem is that I don't know if I should have one of them moded or sell them both and buy something better from the start.I'm a bit of a low buck guy compared to a lot of people here because I don't get paid a great. Kinda kicks me in the nuts from time to time.
I was quoted 5-600 bucks for the full mods from Punker on the 8300.I kinda wanted to immerse my head under water for a while.

I contacted the guy on agon about that Mutsubishi but I was way too late.
I came home from work and saw it, clicked on the link, and discoverd I was looker 278.I'll bet he had 277 offers before me.
And to top it off someone here posted a link to it and gave it greater exposure......

Wonder who that was :scratch2:

LOL
Click to expand...

i know punker is well respected here, but anything over ~$300-$350 for a refurb & full-tilt mods on a 100% functional kt8300 sounds a bit excessive, imo. i'd ask mike williams at radio-x for a quote. i'd also check w/bill ammons, but i have heard he's outta the tuna-modding biz for a while. but, if it were me, i'd wait for a kt-9900 - i much prefer the darker faceplate. :)

i owned a kt-9900 in great shape & was extremely unimpressed w/the sound. but bill ammons - one of the tuna-tech guru's - told me this isn't unusual, that these things really shine after mods, but are extremely pedestrian when stock. realise that the tic's jim rivers, who does those "shootouts", still thinks his all-time best sounding tuna is his modded kt-7500, which ranks near the bottom of his shootout list, when it's stock. the kt8300, tho a bit better, is really similar. i owned a bill ammons modded kt7550 (bronze kt7500), & it is a complete different animal - it crushed my stock kt9900 sonically. my only issue w/that tuna was its slightly higher noisefloor than my other top tunas. but, this isn't really an issue for most of my listening...

personally, my feeling is that any of the top sounding tunas, after mods, will be within spitting distance of each other, sonically. mebbe a modded kt8300/kt9900 *will* be a smidge better than a modded tu-717. but, mebbe not - my gut reaction is to think that if it sounds better stock, it will sound better after mods. my tu-517 was way better sounding than the kt9900. mebbe the analog kt-series kenwoods are an exception to this. but, to be honest, they will both sound fantastic, & you will not be able to say unequivocally that one is better than the other, except upon close direct a-b.

if yure not a tuna-holic, & only wanna end up with one tuna, pick one that really makes ya happy from an ergonomic & aesthetic point of view. while i am also into aesthetics, other things are important to me, like easy tuning, & being able to see where the tuning pointer is, from across the room. when your eyes go at middle-age & ya now need reading glasses for everything, this narrows your fave tunas a bit! :D re: the da-f20, i like it cuz its digital readout is easy to read, it's easy to tune, & it is cool looking, in a non-standard funky way. and, one of the best sounding tunas i have ever heard, stock or otherwise.

hippo gnu ear,

doug s.
 
doug s. said:
do you have bleed-over even w/the narrow band?
doug s.
Click to expand...

Yes there is.The 96.3 signal is broadcast in the same city that I live in.
So that signal is loud and clear, while 96.1 is broadcast from Eugene.About 60 miles away.

Should a stock 8300 be blocking 96.3 in narrow when it's so close to me?
 
doug s. said:
i know punker is well respected here, but anything over ~$300-$350 for a refurb & full-tilt mods on a 100% functional kt8300 sounds a bit excessive, imo. i'd ask mike williams at radio-x for a quote.
Click to expand...

uh :headscrat after I looked at the email again I found I misquoted him.
The cost was 450-500.00


To be fair to X I asked him about an alignment, filter mods, adding black gates, and such.You know, the works.

He stated that his quote included all I had mentioned and everything else he could think of.
I notice APS quotes about the same price if you go to that sight.
 
Last edited:
I am wondering if any less experienced tuna people are perhaps being a tad confused by the issues surrounding stock and mod units. When people refer to the massive improvements in mod over stock we should ALL remain clear about the following:

* Novices should be aware that many mods are directed toward performance improvements in regards to receiving weaker stations, separating overlapping signals and increasing sensitivity. SOME of these mods can be detrimental to the fidelity over the whole bandwidth — that is to say there may be a considerable improvement in the reception of signals that are otherwise weak or marginally listenable at the expense of the best possible fidelity. There may be trade-offs, particularly when filter substitutions are an issue.

* I often ask myself this: when claims are made of modded tunas over stock ones, are we considering a unit/s that when stock were in fact retaining the original capacitors, and semiconductors? Or are the assessments based on boards stuffed with fresh parts. In my experience (which is admittedly less than in the expert or guru class) even modest but well-designed tunas of say '70's vintage respond to change-outs of these components to an astonishing degree. Replacements possessing the stock values (except for Silicon replacing Germanium) may boost the fidelity quotient enough to satisfy all but the most demanding and knowledgeable enthusiasts in respect to fidelity. (DX performance is another issue.) A simple change-out strategy may make a tuna project well within the capabilities of the average hobbyist so that expensive mods may not be necessary. ... at least until the user gets used to the lay of the land, so to speak. ... at least in terms of fidelity. Again, DXing is another matter. A well designed vintage tuna — even a modest three or 4 gang model — with fresh parts and properly aligned may provide excellent sound.

Many people really need the best DXing type of gear because of distance and multi-path complications. But novices who read our discussion should be bear in mind that less radical approaches can bring huge enjoyment in situations where the target signal is loud and clear to begin with.
 
MP3H8tr said:
uh :headscrat after I looked at the email again I found I misquoted him.
The cost was 450-500.00


To be fair to X I asked him about an alignment, filter mods, adding black gates, and such.You know, the works.

He stated that his quote included all I had mentioned and everything else he could think of.
I notice APS quotes about the same price if you go to that sight.
Click to expand...

That quote was quite extensive, power supply mods, all electrolytic caps, filter mods, 4 opamp upgrades, replace resistors in the audio circuits with 1% metal film, blackgates in the audio path, hi-pass filter mod for better bass response. F connector, cardas rca's. All listed al carte came close to $700 in work. As a package it was discounted to $500.

For the work originally asked for it would have been in the 300 range, but I was asked for a quote covering mild to wild.

X
 
MP3H8tr said:
uh :headscrat after I looked at the email again I found I misquoted him.
The cost was 450-500.00


To be fair to X I asked him about an alignment, filter mods, adding black gates, and such.You know, the works.

He stated that his quote included all I had mentioned and everything else he could think of.
I notice APS quotes about the same price if you go to that sight.
Click to expand...

mike williams did up a hk citation 18 for me - which included a small repair, as one channel was taken out by a lightning storm. same thing - full mods w/black gates, etc, filter adder board, alignment, matched filters - including an extra set of matched 230's to experiment with, if the 280's were a mite too wide. total cost was ~$320. mebbe i should be keeping quiet - mike may wanna raise his rates. :scratch2: in fairness, the hk layout is such that it lends itself to mods, but this is also about the same rate that bill ammons charges, when he's doing mods...

doug s.
 
I think Lorne has a good point. I find some of the TIC info leans towards DXing - not sure if fidelity and DX are mutually exclusive. Changing filters looks like the thing to do, but I'm sure the expert techs mentioned here could recommend the right type of fiters for good audio vs good DXing.
As for getting a decent tuner on a budget, it might be possible to simply get the important electrolytic capacitors changed and then get it well aligned. If the filters are good, leave them in. I've always been told that even a decent stock tuner, aligned and hooked up to a good outdoor antenna, gets you 98% there. It's tempting to go all-out, but some of us don't need (want) that level of effort. I'm sure the techs know what the options are and talking to them could net a good compromise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom