Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
Fri, Jan 7 2011, 2:01PM
Please could someone advise how best to listen the the radio (mainly R3) using an existing amplifier & speakers? I went to John Lewis the other day and asked to see some tuners and they looked at me as if I were mad.
Is is worth buying a "digital" tuner and, if so, can anyone recommend one? Should I stick to FM or should I get one that uses the internet?
Any advice gratefully received - I haven't looked at this since the 90s!
Fri, Jan 7 2011, 5:03PM
#2
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
You can do one of several things...
1) Buy a Denon TU-260L Mk2 from eBay for about £20. Brilliant AM/FM tuner.
2) Buy a Freeview set-top box, the bitrates of which for R3 are better than DAB
3) Use the internet
If case 1), get a proper roof-mounted FM aerial (which will cost you somewhat more than the Denon) if at all possible.
Don't buy a DAB tuner until they get rid of FM and you absolutely have to, or you absolutely must have stations that are available only on DAB (like the wondrous Planet Rock, for example...).
Mon, Jan 10 2011, 12:08PM
#3
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
Many thanks for these comments.
John - how do I use the internet with my existing amp & speakers etc and how does this compare for quality? Is there any equipment I need (I do have wireless equipment)?
Mon, Jan 10 2011, 12:09PM
#4
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
Many thanks. No I don't have Sky or Virgin so will probably explore options using the internet.
Mon, Jan 10 2011, 12:35PM
#5
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
John - how do I use the internet with my existing amp & speakers etc and how does this compare for quality? Is there any equipment I need (I do have wireless equipment)?
Before I answer that, can you tell me what your current setup is in terms of location of equipment? Do you have your television and hifi in the same place or are they completely separate?
If they're in the same location, do you use Freeview and if so, from a box or from the television itself?
Lastly, what's putting you off my first suggestion of a cheap (but really rather excellent) Denon tuner from eBay?
Mon, Jan 10 2011, 3:14PM
#6
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
John,
Many thanks for getting back to me.
The hi-fi and TV are in separate rooms (so I can listen in peace when the family are gawping!)
Could buy the Denon equipment but I understand FM is disappearing in a couple of years. I'd rather a more future-proof solution! Also, not sure how to arrange a roof-mounted arial. I may do this if the convenience/quality of using the internet is worse!
Mon, Jan 10 2011, 3:32PM
#7
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
I'd be surprised if FM is gone by 2015, tbh. Even if it were, I would suspect that any DAB equipment you bought now could well be redundant by then anyway!
Any local aerial installer will put up a proper FM aerial for you. Expect to pay about £100 - though note you'd need to do this for DAB as well, to be fair...
If you want to go down the internet route, the obvious choice is something like an Apple Airport Express streaming content from your PC (though you'll need Airfoil software to stream BBC iPlayer. Alternatively, the latest iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad software release (iOS 4.2) will let you stream direct from those to an Airport Express using Airplay, which is quite an elegant solution...
Mon, Jan 10 2011, 3:56PM
#8
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
Here in Holland DAB has been a complete failure. I don't know anyone who uses it (that may be me). For televesion, we mostly use digital cable. The radio on that does not sound very good because of pretty low bit rates. Fortunately, the signal still arrives as an analogue signal, so for radio I just continue to use the analog cable signal with in my case an old Quad FM3 tuner. It sounds much better than the digital cable radio. I do believe that the real future will be in internet radio, with its unlimited number of stations. For now, signal quality is still indifferent, but standards are clearly rising. It is just a bandwith issue, and that will be progressively less of a bottle neck.
Willem
Sat, Jan 15 2011, 7:29PM
#9
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
An approach that has served well is to
EDITED BY MODS
bid for them on eBay. I got a legendary Hitachi 5500 which is outstanding for only £28. Other good tuners can be found from Kenwood, Sansui and Pioneer. A decent tuner will go for about £15 - value for money that the high street just can't touch.
EDITED BY MODS
And like other people have said here, a properly positioned FM roof aerial will make the music come alive (but cost about £120 installed), but a simple dipole or ribbon aerial from a shop (for about £5) will do.
Wed, Feb 2 2011, 9:54PM
#10
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
Does anyone know what the radio bitrate is through a Sky box?
Sun, Feb 13 2011, 2:14PM
#12
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
If you live in a reasonably strong reception area, then an FM half wave dipole aerial will give excellent results with both FM and DAB. (Vertically or diagonally aligned but NOT horizontal.)
Eschew any suggestion of an 'omni' FM aerial (they are dire) from your aerial installers.
Chances are that your existing TV mast will suffice but - if you still have an old terrestrial TV aerial - you may as well get the lot replaced with a new mast, new (digital/Freeview optimised) TV aerial and FM half-wave dipole.
I had this done a couple of years ago for £180 in total.
Freeview radio is excellent quality (better than DAB and not far off optimal FM so long as your Freeview reception is good.)
John's suggestion, of a good, used Denon TU260L, is a sound one. I used one (£10 + delivery from ebay) a couple of years ago and the sound was of very 'respectable' quality.
FM is very unlikely to be gone before the old December 2015 'deadline' and might well be around for a few years beyond that.
Thu, Feb 24 2011, 4:24PM
#13
RE: Idiot's guide to buying a good tuner
I have experimented successfully with the following way of getting good live classical radio out of my hifi from a digital source.
1) digital source is laptop or netbook
2) link USB output to an external Digital Analogue Converter i.e. a DAC
3) link two analogue RCA outputs from DAC to an input on your amplifier.
I have saved the website of BBC Radio 3 as a favourite on the laptop/netbook. Just click on favourites, click BBC 3, and you get sound.
I have added other live classical stations to my favorites on laptop/netbook and can now listen to Catalonia, Madrid, Praag, Paris, etc., etc. You can live classical radio stations in Europe at: http:www.listenlive.eu/classic/html
Analogue sound quality will depend on how much you spend on a DAC which can range from 20 to 10,000 pounds, but a sensible Hifi DAC will cost 500 to 1000 pounds. I could suggest manufacturers.
Other tips available
Hmm. Buying an FM tuner at this point in time might be a bit of a cul-de-sac (even though a lot of people [not me] prefer them to any digital service). Do you use Sky or Virgin TV boxes? They have pretty high quality digital feeds that you can plug into a DAC or (with somewhat restricted quality) use their own internal DAC and take an analogue feed to your amp. If not, you might have to consider a DAB tuner, perhaps with FM as well, but DAB dosn't get a lot of praise as a hifi medium - the Sky or Virgin solutions do better.