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On Jan 5, 7:09 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
wrote in message





On Jan 4, 6:36 pm, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:
"braitman" wrote in message



Folks:

I'm about ready to look for a replacement for my fine
Sony 5000F FM Stereo Tuner. Nothing wrong with it, but
I'd really like something with AM reception, also. Any
suggestions for a unit that combines both FM and AM that
is comparable in quality to the Sony?

Best tuner around:

http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm

http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index...tCategoryId=1&...

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10446...-tuner-hits-al...
For FM it's a good buy although hardly "The Best".

Based on what relevant facts?

To be "the best" it has to be superior to any thing else available.
It isn't as good as a dedicated channelized rebroadcast receiver, it
isn't even as good as the yardstick McIntosh MR78. It's a pretty good
FM tuner but an inexpensive one lacking professional features. It
isn't designed to go into a monitoring facility or a translator
transmitter site rack. It has a cheap plastic case, 75 ohm input
(everything in real RF is 50 ohms) and no balanced audio, no IF, no
SCA output.

For AM not so much.

Based on what relevant facts?

Performance.

For AM you have to decide whether you want good DX
performance or superb fidelity.

This is an audio group, so the answer to your question is self-evident.

It isn't because many "audiophiles" include classical or nonprofit
style music listeners in hick towns who have to get skywave or big
town rimshot reception for satisfaction.

Equally sensitive but not as selective
are many common old junk yard car radios.

They don't compare with little Sony. I have that from senior car radio
professionals who work for the big 3. Some of these guys rather dislike
Philips for some of the crap that they have put out in the past have to
admit that this time they did it. Many of these guys cut their teeth on the
radios that you idolize, Bret.

There's nothing like producing radios by the 100,000s and then putting them
in expensive vehicles with extended warranties to teach people what works
and what doesn't.

Probably the
best ever built are the earlier all solid state Delcos
and Philcos (Ford) up to the mid to late 70s.

They were mediocre, even compared to the best recent radios that aren't yet
based on the same Philips chip set that Sony is using.

The solid state sets are quieter and have
generally better sensitivity but they do overload easier.

Simply not true.

While solid state has many advantages, front end headroom and AGC
dynamic range are not amongst them, at least not on any kind of
device-for-device basis. Front end RF tubes operating at 90-200V B+
and especially remopte cutoff pentodes used in AGC circuits had some
wonderful qualities, and it takes a lot of transistors and
considerable circuit conplexity to even equal them.

The other variables are 1) declining interest in AM performance by
most car buyers , and 2) the need to accomodate FM, cassette tape, 8
track tape or CD players in OEM sets. The latter took up space and
build cost budget. Therefore there was a range of years in which car
radios improved in AM performance, peaked, and then declined. When
build cost, declining importance of customer demand, and lack of
infinite engineering staffing place pressures in one direction that
aren't compensated in the other, the bubble moves left. Things don't
always continually get better in every way, as some things improve
others deprove-that is get worse. The auto industry is a textbook
case. Modern engine control electronics offer great advantages, but
the introduction of lost foam casting, shattered bottom connecting
rods, and one time torque to yield fasteners has made modern car
engines into more and more throwaway assemblies. In electronics,
there are many deprovements, or disimprovements, we see in everyday
life if we look. You can't buy a well made landline phone anymo old
WE 500 and 1200 sets are vastly better in terms of longevity and even
audio quality than modern cheap phones.