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Real question on why use a tuner.

spark1 said:
True dat. However, dynamic range/signal to noise ratio is also better with CD...variables which for most folks are more apparent. But I agree that a good FM signal, with minimal compression and from a full-range source (CD, LP, R2R) can be awfully good.
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What's really kick ass is when you live close enough to a station like that out of Berkley CA, they have their own recording studio and often broadcast live music without any compression. It's totally listener funded so no ads, I've heard 2 hrs of uninterrupted Afro-Cuban tribal chant music, techno, jazz, blues, etc lol. Basically they play whatever the "mostly volunteer" DJ feels like airing, it's been that way for many decades.
 
So much faster & less faff than anything digital / using a pc/laptop ..

2 seconds to hit power button / station memory button / adjust volume..

You'll be lucky to get a digital radio source operating within 60 seconds... Boot up/passwords/browser/buffering etc... DAB & phone based is quicker , but even that 'tunes' for quite a while when you select a new station...

PLUS.. 'Linear' radio is so much better for hearing 'new' stuff, without being funnelled into your own little silo of taste by digital algorithms...

PLUS.. with a good quality FM tuner in every room in my house/office/workshop(and garden via a bluetooth JBL charge4 plugged into my best tuner via a transmitter with 150 yard range) , all my rooms are in perfect 'sync' & I can wander around everywhere doing useful stuff, without missing what I'm listening to (I don't like 'claustrophobic' headphones much)

PLUS... My battery powered radios will work for weeks in a power cut... likely to be handy if this NutZero nonsense carries on much longer...

PLUS.. you can pick up a damn good tuner/reciever for £25-50 off ebay, and no streaming subscriptions (@~£90 pa/per service) to pay (admittedly we are blessed with lots of advertisement free 'terrestrial' radio in the UK)

Sure I use every ancient and modern source going, and for really high end 'audiophilia' FM is not the ultimate, but 95% of the time it (with decent tuners/aerials) is entirely adequate, with the HUGE benefit of surprising you with stuff you never heard before.. I reckon my listening time (usually about 16 hours a day, is 90% FM radio & 10% Digital Radio/Vinyl/Lossless streaming/Tape or CD... I often buy audio media because I heard it on the radio first...

Turn on, tune in, bliss out... (and enjoy the fact your old skool radio is not monitoring your every move)..
 
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The few stations I listen to either don't stream or the stream stinks. Granted my tuner drifts like it's trying to audition for a part in Fast And Furious. Makes my tuner more of a light show than functional.
 
mufster said:
There's nothing quite like turning that tuning knob and finding great music.
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if you have great radio stations nearby, i agree.

the ones around here blow and the only real reason that i listen to tuners are because i work on gear and am learning tuner alignment.
 
painttoad said:
if you have great radio stations nearby, i agree.

the ones around here blow and the only real reason that i listen to tuners are because i work on gear and am learning tuner alignment.
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Having a FM transmitter really helps. You can stream what ever you like to it. Helps doing A/B comparisons with tuners and such.
 
My tuners are just dust collectors now. The only times they're turned on is when we're starved for local news, and that ain't much. Don't even use them for background noise anymore.
 
If you live in cities such as Dallas or Albuquerque it would be great to have a Tuner and antenna on the roof. They have good stations to listen to all day.
 
Taking tuner to mean "linear radio" as in tune to a channel and listen to what is pushed, I guess I have 4 tuners.

AM/FM in the car with the factory radio
XM radio in the car (satellite antenna and output to the aux input). Basically my daily radio.
Sony HD radio at home
Fisher FM-200 at home

Anyway, since something like the Fisher is what the OP was talking about, my unit works beautifully. Yeah, we're talking some nostalgia, but it's cool and sounds great.
 
My first take on this question is why use a tuner rather than a receiver? The idea of not having radio capability in an audio system never occurred to me until I heard about "headless" audio systems in cars.

Pro: If you have a tuner, you are free to upgrade the tuner without having to buy the entire audio system again.

Con: You need to make sure the tuner out and amplifier in impedances and signal levels are compatible. You hardly ever need an emitter follower / cathode follower / source follower / op amp buffer at the output of the tuner section of a receiver because you only have one answer as to what is connected to the tuner output.
 
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