musichal
poet emeritus
For some months now I have been thinking of upgrading my tuner. Probably, this won't happen, for various reasons. It's sort of like daydreaming about trading my lovely 65yo wife for a couple 32yo for an hour or two. IOW, pure lust. Uh, not that I, myself, would ever harbor such illicit thoughts of adulterous behavior. Possibly to my credit, I'm at a place in life where I spend a lot more Walter Mitty time on the tuner than on females, even though I am cursed with a pornographic memory.
One of the main factors for me is my demand for remote control. However, that narrows options too much, so we'll just ignore that one here.
Another factor is that it does seem to be a buyer's market, though how true that may be for some of the best models, I'm uncertain. Obviously, streaming, big companies like Clear Channel's homogenized programming, and commercial radio ads have pressured the tuner market downward, too.
An addition to the ignore list for me is limited vertical space available in my cabinet. That, and the remote control thing are dismissed. However, back when they used to count, I thought I'd settled on a Magnum Dynalab MD-90. However, reading about the FT-101a certainly raises questions about price, build quality and performance that I am not technically able to answer.
Furthermore, the new(er) tuners I am using* sound fine to me, but vintage tuner guys say, "No."
If I bought a vintage model, I'd want a restored one, or have it restored by someone who knows what the heck he's doing, including alignment. And I was thinking of spending as much as a grand, or a bit more, at one point. That might well not cover what I'd want vintage.
And, basically, spending that much to get that one college station I like doesn't really make much sense, now does it? Probably depends on who you ask, I know.
The fictional Toby, from The West Wing, once said this about looking at a yacht brochure he received in the mail, "No, I can't afford a yacht, but the fifteen minutes I daydreamed about what I'd name it was the best quarter-hour all week."
Yeah, I am still considering upgrading my tuner. At least in Mitty-land, where tuner lust is free,
*Sony XDR-F1HD, Yamaha T-S500, Pro-Ject Tuner Box S, NAD 4130.
One of the main factors for me is my demand for remote control. However, that narrows options too much, so we'll just ignore that one here.
Another factor is that it does seem to be a buyer's market, though how true that may be for some of the best models, I'm uncertain. Obviously, streaming, big companies like Clear Channel's homogenized programming, and commercial radio ads have pressured the tuner market downward, too.
An addition to the ignore list for me is limited vertical space available in my cabinet. That, and the remote control thing are dismissed. However, back when they used to count, I thought I'd settled on a Magnum Dynalab MD-90. However, reading about the FT-101a certainly raises questions about price, build quality and performance that I am not technically able to answer.
Furthermore, the new(er) tuners I am using* sound fine to me, but vintage tuner guys say, "No."
If I bought a vintage model, I'd want a restored one, or have it restored by someone who knows what the heck he's doing, including alignment. And I was thinking of spending as much as a grand, or a bit more, at one point. That might well not cover what I'd want vintage.
And, basically, spending that much to get that one college station I like doesn't really make much sense, now does it? Probably depends on who you ask, I know.
The fictional Toby, from The West Wing, once said this about looking at a yacht brochure he received in the mail, "No, I can't afford a yacht, but the fifteen minutes I daydreamed about what I'd name it was the best quarter-hour all week."
Yeah, I am still considering upgrading my tuner. At least in Mitty-land, where tuner lust is free,
*Sony XDR-F1HD, Yamaha T-S500, Pro-Ject Tuner Box S, NAD 4130.
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