[RickG]

Well, I just ordered a Godar FM-1A Yagi antenna for my NAD C 440 tuner. I hope it improves my reception. If not, I guess I'll go for the FM-2G. Does the 2G work worth a darn indoors?

 

[MacDEF]

I still have one of these relics:

http://mark.kouts.home.mindspring.com/st9030.html

Geesh, it's 22 years old now

 

[RickG]

Actually, that still looks like a pretty nice unit, MacDEF!

 

[Val]

RickG, I have used both the Magnum-Dynalab ST-2 and the Fanfare FM-2G inside apartments and on outside walls of houses. Both are very similar (I think the ST-2 is a bit better made) and both work reasonably well inside and very well outside. Nevertheless, I agree that there is nothing like a good high-gain directional yagi as an external antenna.

Val

 

[RickG]

Thanks for the info, Val.

 

[templeboy]

Yes, I have a MR67. But apparently my profile is very outdated. MR67 maybe in top 5 but can never crack into top 3 best tuners. The nice thing about it is that when most of time FM stations broadcast interesting programs in questionable qualities, the tubed tuner can really "smooth" the signals and make listening experience much more enjoyable. I guess that's exactly why so many people think Marantz 10B is the best and old tube tuners like Fisher is so popular nowadays. My experience is that: given quality signals, those tuners, including 10B, really can't hold an candle to SS tuners like MD108, Sequerra, and MR78/80. That why I only keep MR67 for its price/performance as my only tube tuner along with a whole bunch of SS tuners. Another reason I won't sell my MR67 is that I pretty much tweaked it up and had a lot of fun. The tuner itself is saved from someone's trash, BTW.

 

[GCooper]

I just purchased a Carver tuner-TX11a model. Bought mainly for the high fidelity AM section, it functions better on FM or AM than my Redsun RP2100. Part of the magic seems to be in the AM de-emphasis setting. On FM, the tuner renders many stations audible that were lost in multipath distortion on other radios. With a high gain Yagi I am certain I'll hear more stations.
 
I should qualify my AM listening environmentt--a kilowatt station only a few tenths of a kilometer to my house (AM 1490) covers every other station on the dial on my RP2100. The Carver does an outstanding job of locking to AM 880 (KIXI) and rejecting the 1490 "pest". The Carver is NOT as easy to tune, but the audio is considerably better. (I am using two outboard tuned passive AM loop antennas to null the pest.)
 
Don't reject AM out of hand as a low fidelity medium. There are a number of formats out there of interest beyond talk--language specific stations, early jazz (KBRD), etc. Some local markets have world class early jazz, native American music, etc.
 
The Carver runs to my Little Dot III and into my Alessandro Headphones. The only noise I can hear in the signal chain is the noise inherent in the source material from the station. It is fairly easy to pick out MP3 sourced-programming. The static has a sizzling signature, at least to my ears.