What happens to old FM radios?

[Sean O'Leathlobhair]

Chances are the tuner was out of alignment, there's not much to go wrong
with power amplifiers.

Thanks.

Do you expect that is all or most of the reason? The difference in
quality between this old tuner and the newer NAD 701 and the Denon
that I just bought is huge.

Or in other words, how much has the sound quality of FM tuners
improved in the last 20 years? There have been considerable
improvements in ease of use, I now have preset stations, RDS and
remote control which are all very nice. But I wonder if the new one
sounds much better than the old one did originally.

On the other hand, the amplifier still sounds good by today's
standards. If the quality has improved then it is beyond me to detect
it though I have not done a very scientific side by side test.

Seán O'Leathlóbhair

 

[Colin B.]

(big ol' snip)

Or in other words, how much has the sound quality of FM tuners
improved in the last 20 years? There have been considerable
improvements in ease of use, I now have preset stations, RDS and
remote control which are all very nice. But I wonder if the new one
sounds much better than the old one did originally.

I would say that the sound quality of FM tuners has decreased steadily for
about 15-20 years. There are a VERY VERY few high end tuners that can
compete favorably to most higher-end tuners of two decades ago. While
shopping for a Magnum Dynalab, I ended up getting an ancient Sansui TU-9900,
and I'd argue that they're fairly comparable. (the Sansui after an alignment
may be better)

Nobody listens to music on FM anymore. Most of the stations are heavily
compressed, which makes a good tuner pointless. Most of the stations
compress because they can put out a higher apparent signal level, and
besides--no one has good tuners anymore. It's a big vicious cycle.

I'm lucky--including campus radio, I have three excellent stations locally
that broadcast the highest quality signal possible. Now I just need to find
someone to align this ol' tuner of mine.

Colin

 

[James Sweet]

(big ol' snip)


I would say that the sound quality of FM tuners has decreased steadily for
about 15-20 years. There are a VERY VERY few high end tuners that can
compete favorably to most higher-end tuners of two decades ago. While
shopping for a Magnum Dynalab, I ended up getting an ancient Sansui TU-9900,
and I'd argue that they're fairly comparable. (the Sansui after an alignment
may be better)

Nobody listens to music on FM anymore. Most of the stations are heavily
compressed, which makes a good tuner pointless. Most of the stations
compress because they can put out a higher apparent signal level, and
besides--no one has good tuners anymore. It's a big vicious cycle.

Most FM stations are flooded with advertisements and 90% crappy music too,
that probably is the biggest reason for it's decline aside from the
convenience of CD's.

 

[Pcaorwb]

Here in Tucson, we have a 24-hour Classical station from the University of
Arizona. I think it has excellent sound quality.

Speaking of radios, I'm gonna start looking for some of those nice table
radios Magnavox had in the 60s/70s. Beautiful cabinets and nice sound.

BobbyB
Tucson, AZ

 

[old fart]

Here in Tucson, we have a 24-hour Classical station from the University of
Arizona. I think it has excellent sound quality.

Speaking of radios, I'm gonna start looking for some of those nice table
radios Magnavox had in the 60s/70s. Beautiful cabinets and nice sound.

BobbyB
Tucson, AZ

when i was in college back in 70, i picked up a big westinghouse
cabinet am/fm/turntable for $15 at the disabled war vets store.
i went down the street to SAFEWAY and bought a missing tube for $3.
Yeah, SAFEWAY was selling tubes in 1970. Thing fired up and worked
great. I replaced the old sledgehammer turntable with a $50 turntable
and had reasonable sound for the money. Only mono, but it rocked.

got rid of it down the road. too bad, but sometimes you can't
warehouse all the stuff you find.

it would have make a real good big tube TV stand these days

 

[Charlie+]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:47:29 GMT, "James Sweet"

Might be worth your taking a listen to BBC Radio 3 (bbc.co.uk) which
is mainly classical and I think available streamed on the web 24 hrs a
day - no ads - and top quality as broadcast FM in the uk - however the
BBC web quality will probably take a hit through compression but I
have no idea how much - might be worth a try for you guys though!!
Or BBC Radio 1 for modern music, or BBC Radio 2 for medium music and
comedy or BBC Radio 4 for current affairs comedy and mainly voice or
BBC Radio 7 for old rerun voice comedy etc. -- all with no
commercial ads.! Shedules are all available on the same website
though afraid youll' have to put up with Brit voices and humour
etc!!.
PS I have nothing to do with BBC!
Charlie+

 

[Charlie+]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:47:29 GMT, "James Sweet"

Might be worth your taking a listen to BBC Radio 3 (bbc.co.uk) which
is mainly classical and I think available streamed on the web 24 hrs a
day - no ads - and top quality as broadcast FM in the uk - however the
BBC web quality will probably take a hit through compression but I
have no idea how much - might be worth a try for you guys though!!
Or BBC Radio 1 for modern music, or BBC Radio 2 for medium music and
comedy or BBC Radio 4 for current affairs comedy and mainly voice or
BBC Radio 7 for old rerun voice comedy etc. -- all with no
commercial ads.! Shedules are all available on the same website
though afraid youll' have to put up with Brit voices and humour
etc!!.
PS I have nothing to do with BBC!
Charlie+

 

[James Sweet]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:47:29 GMT, "James Sweet"

Might be worth your taking a listen to BBC Radio 3 (bbc.co.uk) which
is mainly classical and I think available streamed on the web 24 hrs a
day - no ads - and top quality as broadcast FM in the uk - however the
BBC web quality will probably take a hit through compression but I
have no idea how much - might be worth a try for you guys though!!
Or BBC Radio 1 for modern music, or BBC Radio 2 for medium music and
comedy or BBC Radio 4 for current affairs comedy and mainly voice or
BBC Radio 7 for old rerun voice comedy etc. -- all with no
commercial ads.! Shedules are all available on the same website
though afraid youll' have to put up with Brit voices and humour
etc!!.
PS I have nothing to do with BBC!
Charlie+

Web radio is great when you're home, but it kinda defeats the convenience of
radio in the first place aside from that.

 

[Sean O'Leathlobhair]

Web radio is great when you're home, but it kinda defeats the convenience of
radio in the first place aside from that.

Yes we are lucky here in the UK. The BBC, at least for some stations,
maintains high standards. If you like classical music then it is
worth getting a good quality tuner just for BBC Radio 3. It is also
good for BBC Radio 4 even though it is primarily talk, some of the
talk is drama. Classic FM, an independent classical network, also has
quite good standards.

Here, there are several ways to receive BBCR3.

There is a national network of FM transmitters which cover almost all
of the country. This is very good quality.

It is available on the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). I have no
personal experience of this. DAB gets a lot of criticism in the UK
since it seems that the broadcasters have chosen to use high
compression and lots of channels rather than fewer channels and higher
quality. I have read that BBCR3 uses the highest rate and some, at
least, think that the quality is good.

DTTV (Digital Terrestrial TV) is also active here and carries some
radio channels as well as TV. The bit rates of the radio stations are
higher than DAB and if your reception and equipment are good then the
quality is good. Whether it is better or worse than FM depends on
reception conditions, your equipment and subjective factors.

I know nothing at all about web radio.

I normally use FM for BBC radio but DTTV is close and I use it for
recording since I have this nice Humax PVR which makes recording of TV
or radio from DTTV very easy.

Seán O'Leathlóbhair

 

[Sean O'Leathlobhair]

Web radio is great when you're home, but it kinda defeats the convenience of
radio in the first place aside from that.

Yes we are lucky here in the UK. The BBC, at least for some stations,
maintains high standards. If you like classical music then it is
worth getting a good quality tuner just for BBC Radio 3. It is also
good for BBC Radio 4 even though it is primarily talk, some of the
talk is drama. Classic FM, an independent classical network, also has
quite good standards.

Here, there are several ways to receive BBCR3.

There is a national network of FM transmitters which cover almost all
of the country. This is very good quality.

It is available on the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). I have no
personal experience of this. DAB gets a lot of criticism in the UK
since it seems that the broadcasters have chosen to use high
compression and lots of channels rather than fewer channels and higher
quality. I have read that BBCR3 uses the highest rate and some, at
least, think that the quality is good.

DTTV (Digital Terrestrial TV) is also active here and carries some
radio channels as well as TV. The bit rates of the radio stations are
higher than DAB and if your reception and equipment are good then the
quality is good. Whether it is better or worse than FM depends on
reception conditions, your equipment and subjective factors.

I know nothing at all about web radio.

I normally use FM for BBC radio but DTTV is close and I use it for
recording since I have this nice Humax PVR which makes recording of TV
or radio from DTTV very easy.

Seán O'Leathlóbhair

 

[Sean O'Leathlobhair]

(big ol' snip)


I would say that the sound quality of FM tuners has decreased steadily for
about 15-20 years. There are a VERY VERY few high end tuners that can
compete favorably to most higher-end tuners of two decades ago. While
shopping for a Magnum Dynalab, I ended up getting an ancient Sansui TU-9900,
and I'd argue that they're fairly comparable. (the Sansui after an alignment
may be better)

Certainly there is much less choice than there used to be. 20 years
ago a HiFi magazine would have many pages of tuners. Today there are
just a few. I was looking at the bottom end of serious HiFi and had
only a few tuners or receivers to consider. 20 years ago I would have
had masses.

Nobody listens to music on FM anymore. Most of the stations are heavily
compressed, which makes a good tuner pointless. Most of the stations
compress because they can put out a higher apparent signal level, and
besides--no one has good tuners anymore. It's a big vicious cycle.

We get that problem but maybe no so bad. See my other post to this
thread today for some comments.

Devices such as MP3 players seem to be killing radio. At home, people
want pictures so they use TV and on the move MP3 players now are an
easy and cheap way to get the music you want. In the car, you can use
CD or MP3 again.

But there are still some radio fans left here and I am one of them.

I'm lucky--including campus radio, I have three excellent stations locally
that broadcast the highest quality signal possible. Now I just need to find
someone to align this ol' tuner of mine.

I am also lucky with the BBC stations. See further down the thread.

Colin

Seán O'Leathlóbhair

 

[Charlie+]

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 02:12:40 GMT, "James Sweet"

Yes, no answer to that one!! I think it would be impossible for the
US to take the step backwards in time to public service broadcasting.
There is a section of opinion here nibbling away at it in the uk.!
Charlie+

snip

 

[Alex Bird]

I expect it is a capacitor getting old.

This is what I was going to say, I just couldn't work out where in
this tangled thread to say it!

I have made several '70s tuners usable again by replacing aged
electrolytic capacitors. These dry out over time, especially where
there are lots of bulbs in the unit to light up the display.

I have recently upgraded to digital preset tuning, on a lovely JVC
FX-1010 I saw going cheap. Sensitive, low noise, two antennas,
accurate signal readout, optically isolated gubbins, mmm...

ALex