[Shaun]

"Dave" wrote in message ...

For the last couple months I have been attempting to find an FM tuner to
bypass the one in a Pioneer SC-37 AVR. The AVR built-in tuner has a lot of
background noise and birdies; its basic sound is not bad, but the extraneous
noises make listening difficult. I have tried a variety of tuners, from
Ebay and other sources with costs ranging from free to $60. My total cost
so far is well under $200. The AVR has B&O class D amplifiers that I like
and I am very happy its pairing with Spendor S5e speakers.

So far the best sounding one listened to is a Harman Kardon TU-910 analog
tuner that needed new dial lights. Others tried in descending sound order
a Luxman T-111 (Alpine digital one, not the analog one), Sansui T-707
analog with mechanical autoseek, Marantz ST-59 digital and Yamaha T-30
digital. The Yamaha is probably the most sensitive of the batch, but sounds
a bit harsh, still a lot better than the AVR tuner. The Luxman was the
biggest surprise, expected that the Alpine Luxman digital would not be very
good, but it is almost as good as the HK; HK seems more real on good
broadcasts, allows me to sink into the music and forget the tuner itself.

Does anyone have any other recommendations that I should try, or have I hit
the best performance/price with the HK, ideally less than a couple hundred
dollars? I do not need DXing, listen to just 2 FM stations in the Boston,
MA area, WHRB and WCRB. I would like AM for occasional listening to a new
station. The HK is OK on AM, good enough for informational listening.

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I really doubt that your AVR is using class D for the main speakers, that is
pulse width modulation and requires a filter to remove the carrier frequency
(PWM frequency), it would be a difficult design - if not impossible for a
full range amp. For subwoofers it is fine since they have a limited
frequency range. Usually class D is only used for subs.

Sansui was well known for making very good analog tuners - they would
probably be the best selectivity and sound quality.

Shaun