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Real question on why use a tuner.

Although my favorite local station (WRTI) streams their signal, their over the air signal sounds a lot better. I believe this is at least partially because it's not in MP3 format. Also, there are other local stations IMO worth listening to such as WKDU (Drexel Univ.) and WXPN (Univ. of PA). both stream over the internet and for both their over the air signals sound IMO significantly better than what is streamed.
 
Why use a tuner? A very good question.
The OTA stations in my area are pretty bad except for my NPR outlet's classical offerings, and online streaming is where I get new music without DJs that irritate the hell out of me. After my mom passed, I got her Sangean WR-11 table radio and that's actually pretty good.
I am seriously considering retiring or selling my Yamaha T-80 that hasn't been used in years.
 
If you have local FM stations you like, and a decent tuner and good reception, then you can easily compare SQ between OTA and OTI (over the internet). Tuner sounds better. That is why I still own a few. Range for good reception with indoor dipoles in my home is only about fifty miles (at best), so when I want to listen to Denmark jazz the tuner is hopelessly out of play.
 
I was on another forum where one of the members was a DJ on KCIA1, Kansas City Internet Audio 1. At first it was easy. They had a low bitrate signal that you could bring up on Windows Media Player with a little bit of typing and it took a few minutes but it was on. Then they changed to a higher bitrate and WMP no longer worked. We either had to go with Winamp or VLC Media Player, I forget which, but this is the part of streaming I don't like - the incompatible formats and the need to type in what you want.

By contrast, a tuner is simple. Turn dial or press up/down switches or press presets. That's it, you're there. I have always liked the challenge of bringing picowatt signals up to listenable or louder strength and I appreciate the technology involved.
 
When we built the house we now live, back in 2009, the contractor looked at me in disbelief when I told him I don't care about satelite dish but I wanted a good FM antenna. We are on a hill with plenty of open space all around and reception is perfect (good with an internal antenna, even in the lower floor).

The tuner UI is much better than the PC software. I like being able to listen to music without tying up the computer (although I do listen to music with the PC being the source plenty of times). My wife, despite her engineering phd, is adept enough to start the stereo and select one of the FM presets or load a CD on the CD player. The cassette deck is plenty complicated for her. She also hates PC software in general - she can only tolerate outlook, word and excel. So she is the best customer of the well defined UI stereo components.

As far as quality is concerned, FM stereo, when reception is good, is sometimes even too good if you don't have a very good cassette deck to record. Of course, nowadays, all FM stations local to me are digital, at least to the point of transmission of final audio to the transmitter tower up the mountain. So FM audio from a tuner is analog no more.
 
They're just so impressive, not having one in my system would be tantamount to removing my turntable, not gonna happen, even living in the FM wasteland that S Fl has become. The ONLY thing I miss about my four yrs living in California is the availability of SO MANY great radio stations. Hell, one even has Alice Cooper as a night time DJ, how cool is THAT?

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59volvo said:
most radio stations stream at 128k mp3s or best I have come accross is 320k mp3s. FM over the air is better fidelity -- equivalent to vinyl and close to cd quality
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Correct if you are talking about public, non-commercial, and college stations at the bottom of the dial. FM audio for most commercial stations farther up the dial is often downright horrible.
 
Don't tuners signoff at 15K?
Not that I can hear that, but I always had the impression that was the case.

I still have one and play it quite a bit. It's set to WRCJ a local NPR with classic days and jazzy nights and serves me well for background music.
 
Tuners don't cut off at 15k but there might not be a lot up high. The signal telling the tuner it is a stereo reception is at 19,000 Hz. If tuners didn't go above 15k there would be no reason to have multiplex filter that takes leftover 19kHz out of the audio signal do it doesn't mess up recordings.
 
It’s that FM has more potential depending on a persons situation....

If you live where there are multiple FM stations that aren’t over modulated, a great antenna and a top of the line tuner will shame the sound of streaming. In many parts of the country media moguls have destroyed FM reception by buying up radio stations and making them ineffective so people have to use inferior streaming services that put money into the pockets of these media moguls.....Rupert Murdoch is one such person. But of course I’m not saying that all tuners are better than streaming. Then there is the moral issue of people duping others making people pay for what once was free and people following a judis goat without even a struggle. For areas that have never had good reception, it’s a plus, but not for the average person that can do a bit more to get allot more without paying for a service that provides less.
 
Streaming is OK for talk and sports, but unless music is streaming at a respectable bit rate, good quality FM sounds better.

And then of course, if you're into paranoia, your listening habits are being recorded somewhere on the Internet when you stream.
 
I am into the modest Pioneer Silver Faced equipment from the 70's, but I truly love this equipment. I currently have 2 sets of Pioneer SA-5500 II with TX-5500 II I also have a set of SA-6500II/TX-6500II with another set on the way this week with wooden cases. I love FM via vintage equipment. I may be the weird one on this aspect, but I LOVE FM Drift LOL. I love having to tweak the dial to ensure the meter is right where it should be for the best reception. The Quartz Lock Tuners that came along in the early 80's made it less fun as it was no longer quite so "interactive" LOL Tonight is WQUT "House of Hair" from 10:00PM to midnight. Good chance to hear 80's hair bands via FM! This is the current 6500 II seriesTX-6500II.JPG
This is the pair that is being delivered this week! I can't wait!
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Grenadeslio said:
They're just so impressive, not having one in my system would be tantamount to removing my turntable, not gonna happen, even living in the FM wasteland that S Fl has become. The ONLY thing I miss about my four yrs living in California is the availability of SO MANY great radio stations. Hell, one even has Alice Cooper as a night time DJ, how cool is THAT?

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Really love the sentiments behind this post and also respect the silver faced Kenwood. Really nice set up!
 
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