Vintage FM Tuners

Hi Everyone,

I recently heard two vintage Marantz FM tuners, a 10B (tubed) and a 20B (SS). I was really impressed with the sound when tuned to a good station (my local public radio classical station). Very nice midrange and highs, excellent imaging and dimensionality. The 20B had the better lower frequencies, IMHO.

I had heard a 10B many years ago in a less than stellar audio system, but was impressed anyway. I also frequented a high-end audio store many years ago where I heard Sequerras many times on various ESLs (Levinson stacked Quad/Decca/Hartley system, regular Qual ESL-57s, Dayton-Wrights, Acoustats). I've also heard a few of the Magnum Dynalabs models, too. Hard to recall memories that long ago for comparison, but I was really impressed with these two Marantz tuners and I now have an urge to buy a vintage unit someday.

In your experience, what other audiophile tuners should I consider? Aesthetics aren't a priority (as long as the unit works) or what the tube vs. SS technology may be, sound quality commensurate with MLs driven by good electronics is my interest. Yes, I am aware of the 10B's maintenance requirements and that many of the older tubed units may have similar issues. Budget is up to $1.5K.

Thanks!

you've been listening to some fine tuners

old Scott tuners are classic as is the Dyna FM-3. i was a big fan of FM radio until my local jazz/classical station revamped into "cultural" recording of people passing kidney stones. sigh. now to get jazz/classical i use the cable services.

i use an old sansui TU-7900 which is a smidge down from the sansui TU-9900, but all the sansui tuners from that era are well regarded. check out fmtuners.com for lots of good info, particularily if you enjoy DXing.

Ah - another excuse for my Scott 350 photo. These are cheap as chips, really. But they sound great through Logans - the vocal quality just blows me away. Replaced a Sansui TU-9900 - a great tuner, and more sensitive than the Scott, but I prefer the Scott to listen to by a fair margin.

Word of warning: if you try a Scott, throw all H.H.Scott marked tubes away, and get the best NOS types you can. Also, make sure it hasn't fallen out of alignment.

rhom said:

Aesthetics aren't a priority

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What?! You don't like those cool blue lights of the Marantz (or the gyroscope tuning)? Check my system page; I bought a Marantz a couple of years ago just for the aesthetics. Bonus was the great performance.

Unbelievable!

I was about to start this exact thread today? WOW!
Anyway, I just picked up a Draco CPU 100 LAST NIGHT! What if anything can anyone tell me about it? I know it was first known as a Sherwood piece. Then after a falling out they churned out some pieces under the Draco name. My piece didn't even have a name on the front but found Draco buried on the back.
Any thoughts? I would love to hear.

Doug - out

I'm a big fan of the Marantz stuff too. I'd love to have a 10B, regarded as a true classic from all accounts. I'm happy with my lower end Model 125 S.S. unit though - at least for now.

User211 said:

Ah - another excuse for my Scott 350 photo.

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Thanks, Justin. Your Scott looks beautiful to me. Never heard one, but I'm going to see if I can.

Bernard said:

What?! You don't like those cool blue lights of the Marantz (or the gyroscope tuning)? Check my system page; I bought a Marantz a couple of years ago just for the aesthetics. Bonus was the great performance.

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Hi Bernard,
Yes, I do love the cool blue and red lights of a Marantz....and the brushed gold panels, the trademark gyro tuning wheels, and the oscilloscope displays of some of the vintage models! The older Mcintosh tuners are also beautiful as is Justin's Scott 350 in his posting (above). My comment on aesthetics was two-fold. I'm an audiophile first and am most interested in sound quality. Second, I meant to also say that I don't mind if a good tuner model is in "user" vs. collectable condition.

The sound of some of these great tuners is very addictive to me. Kind of akin to audiophile comfort food!

Thanks!

Rick

I got very lucky wih it - bought it from ebay USA - the listing photos were terrible, but he said it was in great condition, so I trusted him. I also got the original case in almost "made yesterday" condition. Was over-joyed when it arrived.

Anyway, I had one originally, went over to the Sansui because the output stage of the Scott fluctuated in level. Then realised I needed a working Scott! I still have the original... you can have it if you want for a few dollars, you'll just need to get it fixed. No case, and the dial is cracked.

I'd hold out for a nicer one, though, with a case. Wise owner's probably won't sell for less tha $350-400, but that is nothing compared to a 10B.

You must change the tubes, though. The one in the photo sounded plain duff when I got it, with low output. Changed the tubes and - wow!

Hi All,

Just a followup to this thread from some months ago.

A few months ago I heard a vintage Mcintosh MR-74 (SS) tuner owned by a friend. Its sound was similar to my memories of several vintage tuners. I found that Macs of this vintage were much more affordable than Marantz 10Bs (just about anything is more affordable than a 10B!) and so I bought a reasonably priced example via Audiogon. The MR-74 is reputed to be the better sounding of the Mac tuners among tuner affectionados. I shipped it to a renown repair shop that aligns vintage tuners for alignment and the replacement of all of the caps in the audio chain with audiophile caps.

Well, I was floored by what one of these properly aligned and upgraded units can do. Connected to my rooftop antenna, this MR-74 now delivers absolutely gorgeous sound from my local NPR classical and jazz stations (very high quality audio). Three things stand out. First, the transient response of percussion and piano really got my attention, the speed and impact were very apparent and much faster than I thought possible from a tuner. Second, the frequency extension down into the bass as well as up into the treble areas rivals many CDs. And third, the sense of front-to-back depth of the audio image is outstanding, when present. By comparison, the audio quality of my friend's stock MR-74 (as well as this unit before the servicing) does not come anywhere close to this performance in my system.

Highly recommended if you have a high quality FM station in your local area that broadcasts music that you like.

Best,

Rick

Also, don't overlook the Fisher FM stereo tuners from the early / mid 60s. They were basically just the tuner stage from their monster tube receivers.
As an aside, I just listened to Sony's new HD FM / AM tuner. I forget the model #, but they can be had on eBay and MCM Electronics list them as well. I was absolutely floored by it's performance. Especially in HD; the local NPR station broadcasts that. Easily one of the best tuners I've ever heard. And it's a tiny wee thing! About half the size of a cheapie DVD player.

Tube60 said:

Also, don't overlook the Fisher FM stereo tuners from the early / mid 60s. They were basically just the tuner stage from their monster tube receivers.
As an aside, I just listened to Sony's new HD FM / AM tuner. I forget the model #, but they can be had on eBay and MCM Electronics list them as well. I was absolutely floored by it's performance. Especially in HD; the local NPR station broadcasts that. Easily one of the best tuners I've ever heard. And it's a tiny wee thing! About half the size of a cheapie DVD player.

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I too have one of those Sony's in my system. I bought it just to compare it with a highly modded SAE I had bought shortly before. Yes, the sony does alright but is no revalation to the aforementioned SAE and that tuner does better on the weaker stations. The sound on the Sony is almost the same as the SAE also . . . until I hit the de-emphisys switch on the old girl, one of the mods being it's 75 microseconds instead of the usual 50.
I'm sticking to good component tuners, vintage so far, as I've just aquired a McIntosh MR78 today. When I get off this road trip I'll see what it does compared to the SAE.

tuners

Has anyone listen to a Mcintosh MR71 I had one of these and it was outstanding, I also had a Day Sequerra no need to mention has this sounded. I had a chance to buy a Marantz 10B years ago and i let i go thru my hands. Dummy.

The problem with tuners is what can you hear on them? I don't know about where you live, but here in Queensland you can hear advertisments, "bogan" DJs spruking advertisments, bogan DJs laughing at themselves and thinking they're oh-so-funny, or if you're lucky (and only if you're really lucky) some repetitive and highly compressed, mixed and processed screeching that some people (for some reason) call music. Pass.

OTOH, Internet radio has opened up a whole new world of listening. Still - I use it sparingly (maybe 5-10 percent of listening, and usually background too) but a good 128 or 192k stream will even beat FM for sound quality to boot. I'm sure some of those FM stations (especially the pop/Top40 ones) just pipe 32k MP2 streams......

Well my old Scott killed a Musical Fidelity A5 on DAB and FM. A mid-70s Sansui TU-9900 killed it too.

No one will broacast music at 32KBps over FM... unless, of course, they are upside down!!!

FM content can be a problem, however...

Try an old Luxman. For $200+ you almost get the performance of today's expensive models from Mac or Magnum Dynalab.

Luxman disappeared from the US for a while, but is back with a vengeance. It always has been very respected.

User211 said:

No one will broacast music at 32KBps over FM... unless, of course, they are upside down!!!

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Slight exaggeration maybe, but I think we're getting close..........

khenegar said:

Has anyone listen to a Mcintosh MR71 I had one of these and it was outstanding,

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Opportunity knocked with a very favorable deal from a local seller, so I bought his MR71. It looks to be in good condition and it sounds good.

I don't know if this unit is in optimal alignment, etc., so it is not really fair to compare it to my recently serviced MR74. Right now, I would prefer the sound of the MR74.

Eventually, I am going to have this MR71 serviced, aligned, and will have the caps in its audio section upgraded. Then, I'll able to do a comparison if you guys and gals are interested.

These vintage units sure are beautiful to look at!

Best,

Rick

Some of the original McIntosh tube tuners totally need to get plugged into my system... love the well made "behind the fascia" chrome finishes and the tube choices. Something for the Americans to be proud of, I think. Very proud.

Every now and then and over time, great products come along. The question is - are you awake enough to realise it?