Why a tube tuner?

J

Jeff banker

Active Member
With today’s FM signals is there any advantage to having a tube tuner? Besides the fact that we have a hobby that possesses us? I understand the advantages of a tube amp. Tube amp and tube tuner paired together? I’m just posting what was running thru my mind while listening to fm on solid state.
 
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Jeff banker said:
With today’s FM signals is there any advantage to having a tube tuner? Besides the fact that we have a hobby that possesses us? I understand the advantages of a tube amp. Tube amp and tube tuner paired together? I’m just posting what was running thru my mind while listening to fm on solid state.
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Of cause there is NO ADVANTAGE of having tube tuner. But there is no advantage in 1960's Mustang over brand new Supra. But people do spend more on restoring these old Mustangs, just for fun of doing it. Same can be said about tube tuners in the age of digital signal processing.
 
Jeff banker said:
With today’s FM signals is there any advantage to having a tube tuner? Besides the fact that we have a hobby that possesses us? I understand the advantages of a tube amp. Tube amp and tube tuner paired together? I’m just posting what was running thru my mind while listening to fm on solid state.
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Ever heard one? ;-) In good condition they're sweet as all getout.
 
Dollar for dollar -- they sound better IMO and IME (if one is fortunate enough to have one or more good quality stations broadcasting in one's neck of the woods). They don't necessarily receive better, so if high sensitivity or selectivity is important to one, they may not be the better choice -- but they do sound better (per dollar invested) all else being equal.

There absolutely are good sounding solid state tuners -- but they're very expensive.

Listen to a Sherwood S-3000V (e.g.) -- which has built in MPX stereo (if that's important to one -- personally, I'd rather listen to excellent FM mono than meh FM stereo). Mine was $30 at an antique radio fleamarket. It is the second best sounding tuner in the house* -- bettering a Kenwood KA-9900 (bronze-faced version of the KT-8300) and slightly outclassed by a Mac MR-67. I paid... rather more than $30 for the Mac.

Sherwood S3000 V 2 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

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* There are quite a few tuners in the house. :confused:
 
Depends on the quality of your FM market. Most areas I would say - why bother. I gave it up over 15 years ago. Not willingly but out of my life it went. Switched to streaming and never looked back.
 
If I’m gonna listen intently for long periods, it’s one of my FM tube tuners, and the Fisher sounds better than the Dynaco, but they both sound better than my SS tuners and at night they are gorgeous (-;

The only way I know to explain it is to experience it personally....

VR
Andy

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Im listening to a tube tuner (fisher fm200b) into a tube preamp (fisher 400cx2) and tube amps (McIntosh mc30s). Sound is amazing. Very relaxing. Its in a different league than listening to solid state. Did have to replace almost all the tubes in the tuner ( used top quality nos tubes) to get it working great. Tubes cost me more than the tuner...but worth it...
 
In a vain attempt to answer the OP's question ;) Most of the solid state FM tuners (and receivers) I've heard have a thin sound with a slightly metallic 'sheen' and mediocre bass -- relative to most of the vacuum tube FM tuners I've heard.

Just remember -- all generalizations are false, including this one.

:cool:
 
Restored a Fisher KM-60 (all tube except for the rectifier) a year or two ago and it opened my eyes. On the right station it is holographic and the sound seems to dig deeper than SS tuners I've used. Sadly, I only have one station that seems to really shine through it in my market. The other stations sound good, but not as noticeably outstanding. They do something different at that station that seems to synergize with my KM-60. It's a local public broadcast station and they have various shows that rotate through all kinds of genre's. Not usually my bag, but at the right time slot I do find stuff that I really enjoy a lot.

Tube rolling in the audio section of the tuner can give you different results too. I'm using an original Fisher tube in that position, but I can't remember if it is Mullard, tele or what have you.
 
A good tube tuner is very good, but pre-stereo ones tend to be limiting. Its mono obviously, but even with a stereo decoder they don't always have particularly great separation. They were not designed to pass the pilot tone and the MPX signal stuff so the L to R split ends up not always so awesome. Not everyone got their stereo tuners entirely right either. Fisher did a very good job of it though.
 
My MR-67 still sounds better than most of the tuners I hear, and have heard, but most of the ones I hear are in SS receivers and radios, I have not listened to a separate SS tuner in almost 10 years. I would not pick up another SS tuner, so I will never have the opportunity to compare again. XM on the other hand sounds. pretty good
 
Jeff banker said:
I also understand streaming. But I hate to see vintage audio go to waste.
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I can relate to this sentiment. I have a really nice KLH model twenty one that just isn't that useful in the time of streaming. I've been playing around with it and an FM transmitter from my phone. Right now I have the FM transmitter in a Chromecast audio's 3.5mm output and tuning the KLH to the selected frequency.

Hey, I know it isn't the most pure signal path, but for kitchen duty it is more than adequate. And on the plus side my KLH is being prominently displayed and used daily instead of being in a pile of unused audio on my basement. :dunno:
 
likebike23 said:
I can relate to this sentiment. I have a really nice KLH model twenty one that just isn't that useful in the time of streaming. I've been playing around with it and an FM transmitter from my phone. Right now I have the FM transmitter in a Chromecast audio's 3.5mm output and tuning the KLH to the selected frequency.

Hey, I know it isn't the most pure signal path, but for kitchen duty it is more than adequate. And on the plus side my KLH is being prominently displayed and used daily instead of being in a pile of unused audio on my basement. :dunno:
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I am in Springfield Neighbor!
 
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