[jeffro]

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if you could help me by suggesting a good AM/Fm tuner (walkman) for my office. I currently run my iPod directly into an old set of Boston Acoustic computer speakers - not exactly hi-fi.

I would like to listen to the radio during the day - especially AM radio.

Does anyone know of a tuner (with a 1/8" jack - like a portable walkman) that gets decent reception? I would also be open to a small portable radio.

Here's the catch. I don't want to spend much money on this, so the Trivoli systems are out of my range. I'm thinking below $20 would be ideal.

There are so many portable radios out there, I don't have any idea which are decent and which are junk. Your help would be appreciated.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

AM radios require good antennaes to get good reception, and a 20 dollar radio will not get you a good antennae.

Here is the least amount of radio I think you would ultimately be happy with. You could get a cheaper radio, but if you have to constantly fiddle with it and still get ho-hum to bad quality reception, have you really got a bargain?

 

[Julz]

another thumbs up here for Sangean. The DT-110 is a fantastic little tuner.

 

[jeffro]

Thanks much guys.

This is exactly what I am looking for. I would rather spend a bit more to get something that isn't junk.

I appreciate your input.

 

[gshan]

Check Xin's fixup website. He has a modified Sony S84 mini am/fm radio.

Even without his reception boost modification, my mom's S84 is the most powerful AM/FM I've ever used.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Here is Xin's site detailing mods to the SRF/S83. I don't see anything that specifies a reception boost mod other than at the end where he recommends soldering a wire to the ground pin of a headphone jack to use as an antennae extension (since the existing ground wire of the headphone cord is used as an antennae). Even so, he makes no claims about improved reception with his mods, and seems to be concerned solely with improving the fidelity of FM broadcasts, not AM.

I am no radio engineer, but I believe that in the very first circuit board picture of the page I linked to, between the 220uf and 100uf markings is the AM antennae, which is a little loop of wire. This loop is what is necessary to pick up AM signals, and the bigger it is, generally the better the reception is, up to a certain point. This is why when you have a larger transistor radio at home, putting up the mast antennae and moving it around doesn't help AM reception, because the mast antennae is only for FM. Shifting your radios position to point it more directly toward the transmitter that the AM signal is originating from is most helpful if you don't want to purchase an external antennae.

 

[cfo]

I have the cheap Sony SRF-59 (not sure if this is right model#, but it's less than $20) and it is decent at pulling in stations but doesn't sound very good. I also tried a "modified" version of this tuner and it didn't sound any better.
I also have the Sangean DT-110 and it sounds excellent, but has trouble pulling in some stations clearly some times (and I live in strong signal area).
I don't think the Sangean is still made but you may find one cheap on EBay.

 

[Norbert]

I just got Xin's modded SRF-S84 in the mail today. My initial impressions side by side against my sony walkman SRF-M80V is that Xin's is a superior product. I have used my er6i's, grado 80's, my hard to power lush Senn 525's, and my ATHW1000's with it and it powers them all quite nicely. The reception is better (but not tremendously so). Difficult stations present less static but there is still some. I'm pleased with it. I got it for the gym with my er6i's and it should do the job nicely. Might right a full review sometime down the road if anyone is interested.