[Vinyl Rules!]

wrote:
I can understand your wanting to repair or replace your tuner if your
heart is set on listening to a particular station. But other than that,
why bother? Are there any "audiophile" reasons for using a tuner
nowadays given the advent of the satelite radio broadcasts? And for
those who have heard them, how IYO does the XM or Sirius sound compare
to FM stereo from a decent tuner?

ESTG/

Yes, there are very valid audiophile reasons. To quote an old southern
saying, comparing satellite radio to the real deal (analog FM) is "Like
comparing chicken salad to chicken ****!" ;-)

ALL the satellite radio stations as well as the HD Radio standard
utilize a lossy codec with bit rate no better than, and usually much
worse than MP3. I don't think you'll ever find anyone in this group who
will say MP3 is "audiophile quality."

The FCC standard for analog FM broadcasts is 50Hz to 15,000Hz and many
stations do a bit better than this, particularly at the low end. Now,
most commercial stations compress their signals so they can reach a
larger audience and the sound quality of most commecial stations is
generally absymal, but there are some exceptions.

However, most independent college FM stations and most National Public
Radio stations sill sound pretty darn good and their programming is
generally more eclectic than that of the large chain-owned commercial
FM stations.