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On-Deck Circle

McIntosh - See the Tube Tuners page for information on several McIntosh tube tuners.

McIntosh MR 73 (1969, $550) search eBay or search eBay
Honorable mention. The MR 73 is very common and usually sells for $325-475 on eBay, with a low of $278 in 8/04 and a recent high of $688 in 5/05 for one with a cabinet.

McIntosh MR 74 (1972-79, $849, photo) search eBay or search eBay
Former Stereophile reviewer Don Scott compared a modified MR 74 to a stock MR 78 and said: "I thought the MR 74 was better in oscillator stability (less drift) and every bit as good in selectivity and sensitivity. This was using just one Murata 110 kHz filter in place of the 230 kHz (?) filter they used. I would think that using two IF filters in series, and replacing the IF-amplification transistor on the little separate super-narrow IF board with one with more gain, would yield even better results. I think it would beat [the MR 78] hands down." Our contributor John B. says, "The MR-74 has one of the best AM sections of any tuner I have owned, although that only applies if it has been modified by the addition of a 10 kHz whistle filter, which the stock unit lacks for some reason." Our contributor John L. points out that the MR 74 has variable selectivity for AM as well as FM. Our contributor Hank A. adds, "The MR 74 has wonderful sonics and is the quietest tuner I own" out of many top tuners. Our contributor Kent says, "The MR 74 is a much better tuner than any of the Magnum Dynalab units. The MR 74 is the best solid state tuner Mc built for sound quality. Excellent AM section, too. The RF performance of the MR 74 is excellent and the audio quality is superb. A best buy for your dollar. I am chief engineer of two NPR outlets in East Tennessee and we use MR 74 tuners as air monitors." Our contributors Tim and Ann did a wonderful writeup of the MR 74 and other Macs in the Yahoo McIntosh Audio group, with a follow-up here. See Roger Russell's site for more information. The MR 74 generally sells for $400-600 on eBay, but nice examples (particularly with wooden cabinets) can sell for $700-800.

McIntosh MR 75 (1980, $1,400) search eBay or search eBay
Honorable mention. Our contributors Tim and Ann discussed the MR 75 and other Macs in the Yahoo McIntosh Audio group. The MR 75 usually sells for $475-800 on eBay.

McIntosh MR 77 (1970-78, $699, photo) search eBay or search eBay
The MR 77 is not quite an MR 78, but maybe pretty close if the specs listed on Roger Russell's site are accurate (but we're not so sure that they are... see our FMtuners group for details). Our contributors Tim and Ann discussed the MR 77 and other Macs in the Yahoo McIntosh Audio group, with a follow-up here. Our contributor Brian L. says, "I've owned the MR 77 since new and it has gone up against some very good tuners and its sound has consistently been the winner. When I put it up against my Philips AH-6731, it was neck and neck for sound. Very close, with the Mac being slightly more smooth and preferred to the Philips." Here is an Audio magazine article written by Richard Modafferi, the designer of the MR 77, about Rimo filters. Sale prices for the MR 77 on eBay have been trending higher the past couple of years, with $500-800 now typical. A nice-looking MR 77 with a beautiful wooden cabinet sold for $1,075 in 2/05, and a mint one went for $1,275 in 3/06.

McIntosh MR 78 (1972-79, $1,699, photo) search eBay or search eBay
A wonderful classic analog tuner with great sound, sensitivity and selectivity, the MR 78 was "the" tuner in some circles (including among DXers) in the '70s and still holds its own against newer tuners that sell for higher prices despite less solid construction (the Fanfare tuners come to mind). See Roger Russell's site for the specs. Our contributor David Rich notes, "The MR 78 is double-tuned at the input, then has a cascoded (better linearity) RF stage followed by another double-tuned filter." Here's our panelist Bob's detailed description of the MR 78's layout: "5-gang front end, implemented as follows: 2 gangs, followed by cascode RF power amp (Nch. JFET driving NPN bipolar), then 2 gangs, then balanced mixer (IC1, no common ID), then double-tuned IF transformer. Then the IF switching starts - at the super-narrow section, which uses a packaged crystal filter similar to a ceramic (connections are in-gnd-out). Normal and narrow bypasses it. Normal uses 4 double-tuned transformers, set up as 2 - amp - 2. Narrow adds 4 more double-tuned transformers, to makes the composite filter 4 - amp - 4. So the normal IF filter is 8 poles, and narrow adds 8 poles, for a total of 16 poles." Bob is not sure whether the MR 78's designers counted the double-tuned IF transformer at the mixer output as part of the normal filter, because it is not labeled as a filter on the block diagram; if it is counted, the normal IF filter would be said to have 10 poles. Despite its fantastic selectivity, the MR 78 is no longer the premier tuner for DXers because its selectivity can now be matched or exceeded by a less expensive tuner modified with narrow ceramic filters. Our contributor Ed Hanlon suggests that an MR 78 be tuned up: "After mods, it's a top-flight performer. However, audiophiles have noticed that the very top frequences sound like they're missing." Our contributor John Byrns points out that "there are at least two different versions of the MR 78 with different audio stages. The early MR 78s have no low-pass filtering before the outputs, while the later models add a pair of 'brick wall' three-inductor 15 kHz LPFs and a pair of buffer amplifiers." Our contributor Jovit identified three different versions of the MR 78 when describing how to change the de-emphasis in our FMtuners group. Our contributors Tim and Ann discussed the MR 78 and other Macs in the Yahoo McIntosh Audio group. Here is an Audio magazine article written by Richard Modafferi, the designer of the MR 78, about Rimo filters. MR 78s with wooden cabinets usually sell for $950-1,100 on eBay, while the $800-1,000 range is more likely sans cabinet, but prices are very dependent on condition -- cosmetically challenged pieces can sell for as little as $600 or so on eBay, while those in mint condition may sell for much higher. A decent-looking MR 78 without a cabinet inexplicably sold for $1,525 in 5/05. See how one MR 78 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page, and read our panelist David "A"'s treatise on the MR 78 on the Ricochets page. Our contributor Charles posted a great review of the MR 78, and a worthwhile follow-up, in our FMtuners group. A final caution for eBay buyers: for a big, heavy piece, the MR 78 is very sensitive to being bumped during shipping, especially the front panel lamps. [EF][JR]

McIntosh MR 80 (1980-85, $2,499, front1, front2, back, Audio review) search eBay or search eBay
The MR 80 has an LED frequency display despite its analog tuning knob and mechanical tuning capacitor. Its digital readout in lieu of tuning and signal meters can be cumbersome for a DXer because it is difficult to determine where the edge of a channel is when detuning. (This should be less of a problem for non-DXers, who are more likely to tune stations with the MR 80's "lock" circuitry engaged.) The MR 80 has 4 presets that are like little separate tuners, and the tuning knob acts as a fifth preset. Some controls are located on the top of the tuner. The MR 80 has two IF settings, compared to the MR 78's three, but most of the comments above regarding the MR 78 apply to the MR 80 as well. Our panelist Bob says, "The MR 80 is clearly designed to a higher standard for difficult-signal reception, at least on paper. In the RF front end it uses the superbly overload-resistant 'cascade' amp design (as seen in the MR 78), but it has 5 *varactor* gangs. It has 2 gangs before the RF amp, which is the optimum configuration for strong out-of-band signal rejection. The mixer is balanced, using two JFET transistors, feeding the IF output transformer. In the IF it has a selector to engage a 'super narrow' quartz crystal filter, which then feeds the 'narrow' IF path. The narrow IF (the definition on the schematic, not mine)consists of 5 ceramic filters, 5 IF amps, and a limiter amp. If we take that literally, the MR 80 has super narrow and narrow modes, and no wide. After the diode type detector (both diodes point the same way on the schematic, Foster-Seeley type?), the MPX circuit uses the LM-4500. There are separate L,R separation adjustments, followed by op-amp buffers, then 19 and 38 kHz notch filters, then a stage that appears to be an op-amp based low-pass filter, at least four poles. This is a complex and expensive implementation not usually seen except on 'statement' high-end tuners. On paper, the MR 80 would not appear to be the best choice for an audiophile, due to lack of the RIMO low-distortion IF filter found in the MR 74, MR 77 and MR 78. That to me appears odd, especially with the care given to the sonics of the MR 80's MPX stage. Typically 5 ceramic filters do not yield the lowest distortion. Maybe it doesn't matter?" Bob adds, "All the ceramic filter stages are individually given the proper 330-Ohm input and output impedance, which is the best way (many other tuners use two filters in a row, without a gain/buffer stage to separate them). But lacking in the MR 80 are the adjustments (cap and pot) seen in Yamaha tuners to dial in the lowest possible distortion from the ceramics." See how one MR 80 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page. Our panelist Eric found that one sample of the MR 80 sounded as good as or better than an MR 78, and the MR 80 even has slightly better specs (see Roger Russell's site). The MR 80 usually sells for $800-1,000 on eBay, with a high of $1,992 in 5/05 when two newbies went berserk, but anyone who is patient should have no problem buying one for $800 or less. [EF][JR]

McIntosh MX 113 search eBay or search eBay
Our contributors Tim and Ann tell us that the MX 113 tuner-preamp has essentially the same tuner section as the MR 74, "but the MX 113's audio output is handled via completely different circuitry than in the MR 74. In the MR 74's design, after the signal leaves the MPX section, it is routed to a very simple output amp (remember the 'KISS' rule) [keep it simple, stupid - Editor] that amplifies the signal and sends it to both sets of outputs on the MR 74. The volume control on the MR 74 is completely passive in nature and only attenuates the signal from the output amp, which explains why the sound quality from both sets of outputs on the MR 74 is identical. In the MX 113, however, the PHONO preamp is utilized as the circuit that amplifies the FM signal output from the MPX section of the tuner. Additional signal processing takes place here in that the RIAA curve EQ is not applied to the signal from the MPX section AND the gain of the phono preamp has to be reduced from ~120 to 10 when it is handling the output from the MPX section. This output is sent to the Tape Out jacks and the preamp's line section. The end result is that FM on a stock MX 113 is not going to sound the same as FM on a stock MR 74 because of the additional complexity in how the FM signal is processed in the MX 113." Our panelist Ray says his MX 113 "came up a tad short" of the Pioneer TX-9800 and Hitachi FT-5500 MKII for sensitivity, and equalled the FT-5500MKII for overload rejection. [RFM]

McIntosh MX 114 search eBay or search eBay
According to Tim and Ann, the MX 114's tuner section is basically the same as the MR 74, but read the caveat in the MX 113 writeup above.

McIntosh MX 117 search eBay or search eBay
The MX 117 is a tuner-preamp that uses the same tuner as the Mac MR 75. Our panelist Bob offers this analysis: "The MX-117 has 5 analog gangs, a typical 4-pin MOSFET RF amp, and a MOSFET balanced mixer. Two of the gangs are before the RF amp (when the 'preselector' switch on back panel is engaged, which would likely make this tuner very flexible for both city dwellers and remote DXers. It has 4 ceramic filters with 4 gain stages, which is in no way an 'economy' design. All the ceramic filter stages are individually given the proper 330-Ohm input and output impedance, which is the best way (many other tuners use two filters in a row, without a gain/buffer stage to separate them). But lacking in the MX 117 are the adjustments (cap and pot) seen in Yamaha tuners to dial in the lowest possible distortion from the ceramics. The MPX stage uses an unidentified chip, which directly drives a block identified as the 'MPX' filter, followed by an op-amp stage. This is more typical of what is seen in most other 'common' tuners." Our contributors Tim and Ann evaluated the MX 117 in our FMtuners group, and did a lengthy shootout with the MR 74 here. They conclude, "For sound, we think the MX 117 gives our MR 74 a real run for the money, and the MR 74 wins by a mere slight nose on sound quality. But, and this is a big but, if we needed to DX or listen to stations weaker than the ones we listen to, we'd happily use the MX 117 as our primary tuner as it is more sensitive than the MR 74. Our big beef with the MX 117/MR 75 is that this is when McIntosh dropped the ability to choose between wide and narrow selectivity in their tuner line, and all subsequent tuners they have designed and manufactured operate at a fixed selectivity. The MR 80 was the last tuner they made and designed that had adjustable selectivity. We hear a slight roll-off of the highs on our MX 117 that we do not hear on our MR 74 and this, and the very slightly more natural midrange reproduction we hear with the MR 74, is why we prefer the MR 74. But again, if we were signal-strength challenged, we'd happily choose the MX 117/MR 75."

McKay Dymek search eBay for tuner search eBay for antenna
We'll be listing these AM-only tuners and antennas on our new AM Tuners page, coming soon. In the meantime, we're tracking eBay sale prices in the On-Deck Circle.

MCS search eBay
MCS tuners were sold by J.C. Penney. Our research indicates that most low-end department store-brand electronics was made in no-name Asian factories and store employees would tell potential customers almost anything as part of the sales pitch. We've heard from a couple of sources that Matsushita (Panasonic/Technics) manufactured some MCS turntables, so there may be some truth to that. Still, we would steer clear of eBay sellers like "dennyone" who claim that Kenwood, Pioneer or another major company was the manufacturer of a given piece of MCS, LXI (Sears), or similar equipment. We would also suggest that no one pay more than $20 or so for a typical MCS tuner, but there are exceptions: those who are looking for a tuner with AM stereo capability might consider the MCS 3050 listed below, and the MCS 3700 and (presumably) the 3710 were made by NEC and might also be worth a try.

MCS 3050 (photo) search eBay
The MCS 3050 is one of the few tuners with AM stereo capability. John Byrns says, "The AM reception of the MCS 3050 is better than the Carver TX-11a - it doesn't have the high noise level of the TX-11a. Unfortunately, the sound of the MCS 3050 is very gritty and sibilant on both AM and FM, while the sound of the TX-11a is undistorted save for the background hiss." The 3050 tunes in 10 kHz steps by pressing the up-down button, or by pre-tuning. The memory bank intermixes AM and FM stations, so preset 1 could be used for an FM station while preset 2 could be an AM station. The stereo light comes on for both FM stereo and AM stereo stations (AM takes about three seconds to lock in). The 3050 usually sells for $10-40 on eBay, but $50-60 or even higher is possible.

MCS 3700 (photo) search eBay
This fairly attractive-looking black tuner was the twin of the NEC Authentic Series AUT-7000E (photo). The MCS 3700 had a heavy gauge black matte-finish aluminum faceplate, metal chassis, solid metal knobs and smooth flywheel tuning system. There's also a 3701 (front, back) search eBay), that may be similar to the 3700. A 3701 and its matching amp sold for a total of $10 on eBay in 3/06, and $5-20 is typical for the tuner (one even went for $1.00 in 3/06). Our contributor Jeff H. reports that the apparently similar 3710 (photo, search eBay) has some features that the 3700 doesn't have, including variable level outputs that are adjustable with a front-panel control, multipath outputs and MPX filter. The 3700 and 3710 can be found for $15-50 on eBay, but one 3710 sold for $83 in 5/06. We don't know anything about the 3705 (photo, search eBay), which is quite different from the others despite the similar model number and often sells for just $5-15 on eBay; or the 3720, one of which sold for $40 in 3/06.

Meridian Model 104 (1978, $650) search eBay
Read our panelist Jim's review of the Model 104 and see how it sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page. Two Model 104s sold for $311 and $281 on eBay in 1-5/05. [JR]

Meridian Model 204 (1987, $1,200) and
Meridian Model 204 MK II (1993, $1,200) search eBay
Honorable mentions, based on our panelist Jim's opinion of the Model 104 and Model 504. The Orion Bluebook lists both of these models and says that the MK II version has 18 presets, but we don't know anything else about either of these digital synthesizer tuners. If you do, please post the details in our FMtuners group.

Meridian Model 504 (1993, $1,300, photo1, photo2) search eBay
The "Boothroyd Stuart Meridian 504" (as it says on the front panel) is a very well-built digital tuner. Our panelist Jim opened up a 504 and reports: "Inside the heavy steel cage you see the main circuit board in the back left, the power supply and front display board in the right rear corner, and the transformer in the right front corner. They all do their jobs and were obviously located so as not to interfere with one another. To suppress noise between the boards, the designers used four ferrite beads at the input of the main board coming from the power supply with four more on the power supply board. An LM4500 multiplex chip is used with polypropylene caps in the deemphasis circuit. The audio stage has two bi-FETs, an OPA 275 followed by an LF353. Four poly caps are here, too, and the main decoupling on this board consists of four Nichicon Muse electrolytics at 1000 uf 16 volt each. I see only two normal-looking ceramic filters. There are two filters marked Pilot Tone Left and Pilot Tone Right, and a third marked Birdy Filter. If this sounds like a tuner designed by a DIY team, you're right. That is what they do at Meridian and maybe one reason DIY has filtered down to us. One more thing, it sounds great." The Model 504 can sell for $460-835 on eBay, with a high of $910 in 7/03, but one was a drastically underpriced $199 "Buy-it-Now" in 4/04. See how the Model 504 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page. There's a page on the 504 on Meridian's website. The Orion Bluebook also lists a Model 604 that was supposedly manufactured from 1993-1995 at a list price of $2,200, but no one we know has ever seen one. [JR]

Mission Cyrus search eBay
Please post in our FMtuners group if you have any information about the Mission Cyrus. It usually sells for $110-175 on eBay, but one inexplicably sold for just $46 in 2/05.

Mitsubishi DA-C20 (1979, $490, photo) search eBay
The DA-C20 is a combination tuner/preamp that, despite the "20" in the model number, seems to be more similar to the DA-F10 than the DA-F20. The DA-C20 has 4 gangs and decent, but not exceptional, sound and selectivity, according to our contributor Ryan. The DA-C20 has two IF bandwidths, using linear-phase LC filters in the wide IF bandwidth mode and ceramic filters in narrow mode, like the DA-F20. A tuning lock circuit that will grab onto a nearby strong signal may make the DA-C20 a poor choice for DXers. Our contributor Tim, who worked for an audio dealer, says "When customers came in inquiring about the Marantz 2325, we showed them the Mitsubishi DA-C20 tuner/preamp coupled to either the Mitsubishi 70 wpc or 100 wpc amp. These two units would actually 'dock' together and it was a much better performing and sounding unit than the Marantz 2325 receiver. And we never had any come back for service." The DA-C20 usually sells for $100-170 on eBay, but as low as $50-60 is possible. The alltime high was $202 in 4/06 until two silly newbies ran up the price of another one to $255 in 5/06.

Mitsubishi DA-F10 (1977, $300, photo) search eBay
The FM/AM DA-F10 has a 4-gang FM front end with a dual gate FET RF amp. Our panelist Bob says that the DA-F10 "is not just like a DA-F20 with meters - it's totally different inside, like the difference between a Sansui TU-717 and TU-919." Our contributor Bill Ammons reports: "At first glance the DA-F10 appears to have two IF strips - there is one IF strip that drives the H&V multipath scope outputs and the second is for the RF path. [There are two ceramic filters in each strip. - Editor] In the wide IF bandwidth mode it uses a 6-pole linear phase filter block, while in narrow mode there are 2 standard 230 kHz filters switched in before the 6-pole filter. The DA-F10 sounds great, and is fairly selective even in the wide IF bandwidth mode. This unit is very easy to get to the circuit board to do mods. I changed out the two 3-pin 230 kHz filters with new 150 kHz Muratas, and with the narrower filters this tuner is now within shooting distance of what the Carver TX-11a (stock) can do." Bill also makes some suggestions for audio section mods in our FMtuners group. Unfortunately, the DA-F10 has an overactive crystal lock like the Sansui TU-919, and a combined stereo/mono and muting on/off switch that prevents one from choosing to listen to weak signals in stereo (muting can be defeated only by switching to mono). The DA-F10 usually sells for anywhere from $50-130 on eBay, and one even went for a shocking $186 in 7/05. [BF]

Mitsubishi DA-F20 (1978, $430, photo, specs/controls, schematic, alignment guide) search eBay
The DA-F20 is an unusual-looking FM-only tuner whose front panel resembles an automobile dashboard. It has a 5-gang traditional tuning capacitor front end, and crystal referenced tuning with digital LED readout. It also has a discrete output stage and decent ergonomics. The DA-F20 has two wholly independent IF paths, each with its own detector, with linear phase LC filters in the wide path and standard 3-pin ceramic filters in the narrow path. Wide/narrow switching is done by a front panel switch that selects which detector output feeds the stereo MPX circuit. Our panelist Bob was able to easily mod the narrow filter path and install better filters in place of the original Toko filters, which were out of spec. After he replaced the narrow filters, it was necessary to retune the narrow detector. This, along with tweaking the RF front end, brought the tuner to fantastic working condition. Bob reports: "The DA-F20 is one of my top tuners. I like the tight bottom end and clean reproduction of brass and strings, and it's one of my most sensitive and quiet units in stereo mode with no blend or MPX filter applied. One of the things I like best about the DA-F20 is the ease of tuning, especially for an analog front end, digital LED readout unit. There is no complicated mechanism, simply 3 LEDS that let you glide through a station, and a lock indicator to let you know when it is dead-on. With numeric counter type readout, wide-narrow filters, and separate mono-stereo and muting switches, this is a tuner that gets it right for usability." But Bob cautions, "The DA-F20 needs honing to make sure it's not trying to play your station while tuned in the weeds (i.e., 50 kHz off the channel center). Sometimes this means narrow filter replacement with matched filters to the existing wide LC filters. If your alignment guy cannot/does not do this, it has not been fully done. And not many can. It's expensive to keep thousands of sorted filters in stock. It's expensive to buy the equipment to sort them, and time-consuming to do it. After seeing four of these pass my test bench, all four got new filters - they really needed it. I do this mostly for fun, when I have the time. If you want to pay someone, talk to Ed Hanlon or Bill Ammons." Our contributor Hank calls his DA-F20 "one of the most sensitive tuners I have. It can be bought and modded so inexpensively and made so good, it is virtually self-recommending. When the internal balun is removed, matched filters installed (or, even better, a Bill Ammons' Filter-Adder board or two), improved capacitors in the audio circuits added, and (it goes with saying) a good alignment, this tuner becomes a great tuner." Our contributor Thrassyvoulos says, "My DA-F20 sounds and receives absolutely terrific and is very quiet, too. I would put it in my top 6 overall (along with the TU-9900, TU-919, Toshiba ST-910, Pioneer TX-9100 and Denon TU-850, and maybe Yamaha TX-2000), and about the same as far as sonics alone are concerned." Our contributor Thomas adds, "The DA-F20 stock is one of the best I've ever heard. It's really a miracle to me because Mitsubishi wasn't well-known as a tuner builder. The parts are of very good quality compared to its time companions (class of '78). Read the schematic diagram and you can see that there are a lot of widely recommended features like LC filter and ratio detector. The detector (wide) is discrete, as is the audio stage. The PSU is not bad at all. If you want to replace the coupling caps of the audio stage (which I recommend as a first modification), there will be enough space under the PCB." But while you're reading the schematic, heed our panelist Ray's cautionary note: "The schematic incorrectly depicts the output wiring from the PC board to the jacks. It shows the left channel output feeding the right channel jack and vice versa. The unit itself was correctly wired." See how one DA-F20 sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page, and read our panelist Jim's comparison of a stock DA-F20 to an aligned one on the Modified Tuner Report page. Our contributor John C.'s mods to the DA-F20 are on the DIY Mods page. Sale prices for the DA-F20 on eBay have climbed steadily from under $100, to $120-200 in early 2004, to mostly $275-360 in 2005, to mostly over $400 in early 2006. The alltime high was a bizarre $521 in 3/06. DO NOT OVERPAY; THIS IS NOT A RARE TUNER! We predict that prices will return to the $200-300 range eventually. [BF][EF][JR]

Mitsubishi DA-F30 (1981, $400, photo) search eBay
Thanks to Bill Ammons for this technical analysis of the FM-only DA-F30: "The DA-F30 uses a small voltage-tuned RF front-end assembly. It looks to have a FET RF amp and bipolar mixer stage. The IF strip consists of a 280 kHz ceramic filter, followed by one-half of a LA1222 IF Amp IC driving a second 280 kHz ceramic filter and the second half of the LA1222. The LA1222 then feeds a third 280 kHz ceramic filter. In the WIDE IF mode the signal is routed to a HA11225 quad detector IC. In the NARROW IF mode, the signal is routed to one additional 280 kHz filter, plus an additional IF filter stage, which then feeds the HA11225 IC. The HA11225 detector then feeds a KB4437 stereo decoder IC. The stereo decoder IC then feeds the audio low-pass filter driver IC, which is a uPc4558. The de-emphasis pole is in the feedback network of the IC stage. The IC then drives an LC audio low-pass filter block. The filter block then drives the left and right output audio output stages which are emitter followers. Stereo separation is adjusted by cross coupling channels at the audio driver IC. The controller IC for the unit is a uPcD1704 IC. Suggested upgrades: Replace the uPc4558 with a bi-fet IC, TLO-72 or better; increase C125 and C126 to 33 uF; increase C160 to 33 uF; increase C172, C173, and C181-183 to 10 uF; replace CF101-103 with swept matched SFELA10M7FA0G 280 kHz ceramic filters; and replace CF-104 with a 230 kHz SFELA10M7GA0G filter." Our contributor George T. adds, "The DA-F30's chassis is about as flimsy as I have ever seen, but it received real well with a folded dipole. But the real surprise is the sonics. It has a discrete output stage - kind of a novel circuit at that. The frequency extremes were there, but the mids were a little off and the top seemed too hot. I did a direct comparison to a modded and aligned Pioneer TX-9100 and preferred the smooth mellow sound from the TX-9100. But then I rebuilt the DA-F30's power supply and output stage with fresh high-quality parts. Now the sonics are a killer! The audio is close to my disc player and phono. The Pioneers had put the Kenwood in the closet. Now the DA-F30 is putting the Pioneers in a stack in the closet." The DA-F30 is fairly common on eBay and usually sells for $35-75, but over $100 is possible.

Mitsubishi DA-F620 search eBay
Thanks to Bill Ammons for this review of the DA-F620: "The DA-F620 is a 3-gang analog AM-FM tuner. The RF front end is a simple 2SK55 J-FET (not a MOS-FET) which is followed by a bipolar mixer. The IF chain consists of two 280 kHz filters with one bipolar gain stage. The FM detector is a KB4420B quad detector IC. This drives the KB4400 multiplex decoder IC. The multiplex decoder IC drives a bipolar output stage. There is no stereo separation control, hence expect about 40 dB stereo separation at most. The AM section is based on an HA1197 AM IC. There is an analog center tuning meter, and a 5-LED bar type signal level meter on the front panel. With a simple audio and stereo signal chain, only a few audio modifications are possible: C132-133, change 1 uF stock to 10 uF, and C164-165, change 0.47 uF stock to 10 uF. A 500 K 10 turn pot could be connected between pins 4 and 5 on the KB4400 IC to add a stereo separation control. For IF modifications: use an IF Filter Adder PCB where CF102 was. For best audio quality, use three SFELA10M7FA0G (280 kHz) filters. For better selectivity, use a 280 kHz FA0G filter to replace CF101 and two 230 kHz SFELA10M7GA0G filters in the IF Filter Adder PCB." The DA-F620 usually sells for $20 or less on eBay.

Musical Fidelity search eBay
Please post in our FMtuners group if you have any information about any Musical Fidelity tuner. We're tracking eBay sale prices for a couple of models in the On-Deck Circle.

Myryad search eBay
Please post in our FMtuners group if you have any information about any Myryad tuner. We're tracking eBay sale prices for a few models in the On-Deck Circle.

NAD 4130 (1986, $230, photo) search eBay
We'll leave this one to our contributor "ilimzn": "This simple PLL tuner uses a Matsushita front end with the electronic equivalent of 4 gangs, offering good selectivity and decent image rejection - nothing spectacular for the latter but certainly excellent for the price! The tuning system provides 5 presets for each band, frequency, 'tuned' and centering indications. The IF uses matched ceramic filters with amplification in between and, while not cutting off the sidebands to utmost perfection (like some $1,000 tuners!), it offers less distortion and better sound quality for the frequently overmodulated local stations. Although typically NAD no-frills (to the point of being nondescript), this tuner does have an interesting feature that is never seen on such a cheap device: dynamic FM hi-blend noise reduction. Unlike fixed FM blends, or those with steps, this system actually monitors the output signal for HF noise created by FM de-multiplexing and dynamically adjusts the amount of mono-to-stereo blending to cancel out the distortion. This useful feature is also defeatable, when you want to listen to the purest sound from a high signal station." Like most inexpensive digitals, the 4130 tunes in 200 kHz increments. Our panelist Bob adds that the 4130 has a single IF path and uses a quad detector, the LA3380 MPX chip, and an NJM 4023 dual op-amp per channel on the outputs. The ceramic filters are configured as follows: mixer, single-tuned IF t-x, JFET amp, CF1, LA1222 amp, CF2, LA1222 amp, CF3, LA1235 limiter/detector chip. The 4130 can usually be found for $50-80 on eBay, but a mint one sold for $117 in 12/05.

NAD 4150 (1982, $340, photo, Hi-Fi News Review) search eBay
and
NAD 4155 (1985, $450, photo) search eBay
NAD claimed that the 4150's sensitivity "exceeded the theoretical limit," and one stereo magazine reviewer agreed, but our panelist Eric found that his used 4150 fell well short of that. Furthermore, selectivity was absolutely awful unmodified, although it improved markedly with narrow filters. Perhaps it was out of alignment? The 4150 and 4155 have digital tuning but only 5 presets. NAD claims that the 4150 was the first tuner to use Schotz noise reduction circuitry, while the 4155 used something they called the "FM Noise Reduction System." Like most NAD products, they were good values when new and still sound pretty good on strong signals. See how one 4155 sounded compared to many top tuners on our Shootouts page. Our contributor Sean found the sensitivity of the model 4125 (1985, $200, photo search eBay) to be the best of all his tuners. Our contributor John V. cautions that NAD tuners were apparently not built to stand up to rough handling in shipping. There are a ton of NAD tuners on eBay and many of them sell for under $100, so those who want one need not overpay. The 4155 normally sells for anywhere from $70-170, but as low as $40-55 is possible and a mint one went for $235 in 11/05. The 4150 normally sells for $40-75, but over $100 is possible. [EF]

Naim NAT 01 (1985, $3,750, photo, back) search eBay
The NAT-01 is a rare, ridiculously pricey, minimalist British tuner with a reputation for good sound. NAT 01s with the "NAPST" power supply have sold for $1,200-1,825 on eBay in the past several years, and one NAT-01 sold for $2,600 in 2/05 as two morons chased each other up from $1,401. See what our panelist Jim thought of one particular NAT 01 on our Shootouts page.

Naim NAT 02 search eBay
Beats us. Please post in our FMtuners group if you've ever used one. Four NAT 02s sold for $821-1,300 on eBay between 3/03 and 8/05, in no apparent pattern, and one went for $711 in 5/06.

Naim NAT 03 search eBay
We're stumped again. Please post in our FMtuners group if you've ever used one. The NAT 03 appears to be somewhat less rare than its siblings and usually sells for $560-675 on eBay (low $495, high $810).

Naim NAT 05 search eBay
Our contributor Max reports from Italy: "I pick up invitation to comment on the NAT-05. I owned an Onkyo T-9090II, which I sold to a friend who wanted it. It was, as you all know well, very good, though sounding a bit too warm sometimes. I live in a not very difficult area, but neither it's a feast of reception. Then I was able to try a Kenwood L-01T: better in sound, I should say, than the Onkyo - somewhat brighter and more dynamic. Excellent in reception. But manual tuning each time, and having to correct it sometimes, no thanks... Then I bought the Naim, because I know the brand well and I had their gear already, and it was a bargain. Now the Naim has no regulations, but they kind of declare it as a line of thought: enjoy music the most, tweak the least. It catches stations perfectly, is very silent, easy to use, has a light and clear sound with good, articulated bass, is dynamic and has good looks - though this is my opinion only. Since I caught, in the review of the NAT-01, a glimple of irony on the minimalism of the tuner, I say: mind you, the Naim have a reputation as good-sounding tuners, and they are." Three NAT 05s sold for $735-846 on eBay in 7-11/04.

Nakamichi ST-7 (1985, $849, photo) search eBay
The ST-7 was a pricey black digital tuner with Schotz noise reduction circuitry. Our contributor Tom thinks it sounds great and owns two of them. Our contributor Bill T., on the other hand, sounds pretty convincing: "I think it's a neat-looking tuner, and I really wanted to like it. First, I thought the tuner was either misaligned or malfunctioning. I had it checked out and was advised that it worked just fine, so I thought it was just the fact that I resided in a low-lying area and that my reception just sucked. Then I picked up a Kyocera T-910, just to try it out. Well, the Kyocera had much better selectivity, it picked up more stations, and even sounded better than the ST-7. It also appeared to have been built better than the ST-7. The Kyocera, however, sounded somewhat thin and closed-in. I'm stubborn, though, so I acquired a second ST-7 in mint condition. Its performance was on par with the first unit. So, I put them both on eBay, and they were promptly snatched up. The people I sold them to absolutely love them. As they say, to each his (her) own. I suppose, however, that the ST-7 could be made to sound good, as long as you were no more than 10' away from the broadcast tower." See how one ST-7 sounded compared to many top tuners on our Shootouts page, but note our contributor Mark S.'s possible correction for Jim: "I noticed in the Shootout that the reviewer [Jim] stated that the ST-7 didn't have a wide-narrow setting but in fact it does. On the back panel of mine is a wide-narrow switch right next to the de-emphasis switch. Mine also has variable output limiters. Mine is a multi-voltage unit - could the difference be that [Jim's] sample was a 110v only unit and didn't have the extra adjustments, or did [Jim] just not notice them?" The ST-7 usually sells for $160-250 on eBay, but as low as $94 (in 7/03) or as high as around $400 for a "new old stock" ST-7 are both possible. Three crazy people ran one up to $460 in 11/05, and one very silly person who paid $425 in 3/06 was the only bidder on that one. The Japanese ST-70, as seen on k-nisi's website, was identical was identical to the ST-7 cosmetically but we don't know about its circuitry.

Nakamichi 430 (1978, $440, photo, closeup) search eBay
The 430, Nakamichi's only entry into the analog component tuner market (not including the 630 tuner-preamp), has 5 gangs and two IF bandwidths. The wide IF bandwidth is fully shielded on both sides of the circuit board, but appears to be made up of flat group delay LC filters. The narrow IF bandwidth uses 3 of the older style 4-pin ceramic filters. The front panel has pushbuttons for wide/narrow, stereo/mono, muting, high blend and output level, and the dial pointer has two lights on either side of the frequency indicator that indicate center tuning. The 430 is one of very few tuners that was available with Dolby FM built in, albeit at an additional cost. Our contributor Tom M. tells us, "The dealer would install a little PCB card if you bought it. The button is there on all of the units, but I do not know what it does if you did not purchase/install the Dolby option. This tuner is indeed a thing of beauty." Our contributor Ryan reports that the 430's build quality is among the very best that he's seen: "Nakamichi pulled off a packaging miracle with this tuner. Although the package is small, the power supply, tuning cap, IF strip, discriminator, and a few other things are all separately shielded. A lot of the circuitry is on plug-in riser cards and the wiring is terminated with Nomex style plugs. I can only think of a few other tuners that approached this level of build quality." Ryan also says that the 430 is one of the best-sounding vintage tuners that he has heard. The 430 is fairly rare and usually sells for $150-180 on eBay, but as low as $90 and over $200 are both possible. A nice one with a custom cabinet sold for $295 in 1/04 and one went for $255 in 2/06.

NEC T-710 search eBay
Thanks to our contibutor Dave N. for this writeup: "The T-710 is a 4-gang, dual-gate front end MOSFET design, that features copper foil capacitors. That means that it still sounds like new, after 15 or so years, and is very quiet. The T-710 has wide/narrow bandwidths, separate mute/mono switching, fluorescent display, auto and manual tuning of .2 kHz, calibration tone and auto and preset channel scan. It has good sensitivity and selectivity, and outstanding sound, with notable bass, very good midrange and detailed treble. The T-710 is also remotable, with one of two compatible integrated amps--the A-610 and A-910. The [2-gang] AM section sounds pretty good." The specs include usable sensitivity of 10.8 dBf, S/N ratio of 78 dB stereo and 85 dB mono, image rejection ratio of 80 dB and IF rejection ratio of 100 dB.

Nikko: There are several Nikko tuners in our On-Deck Circle that we'd like to consider listing here if we can get some basic information on them. If you've used any of them, please post the details in our FMtuners group.

Nikko Gamma I (1977, $400, black w/matching amp, silver, Audio review) search eBay
The Gamma I is a 5-gang rack-mount style analog tuner that was sold in black and silver. It uses one LC filter and one "SAW" (surface acoustic wave) filter in the wide IF bandwidth mode, and 4 standard 3-pin ceramic filters in narrow mode. Our panelist Bob says, "The Gamma I has been praised by two people I trust. It uses the HA11223W MPX chip, same as the Gamma V. Looks tough to mod, with one board above the other, but not impossible. Looks to be discrete outputs also." Our contributor Hank adds that the Gamma I has a "fundamentally sound design. I have not yet had mine modified but it has been restored (all marginal or suspicious parts replaced) and aligned. It is a very nice tuner and I suspect that it has significant potential for improvement." Our contributor Ryan cautions, "At least some of these have gotten really screwed up with age. Bob and I both had big problems with ours in wide mode that resulted in poorer wide-mode performance than in narrow. I blamed in on the SAW filter not matching the other filter. One of our contacts in Germany (where SAWs were much more common) noted that SAWs can sometimes degrade over time and become unpredictable. I have no knowledge of the correctness of this, but I did later take in another Gamma I for alignment that aligned perfectly and behaved as expected. Thus, it's another unit with high variability that cannot necessarily be brought into proper working order if it's off. A good cautionary note for anyone, and a good reason not to pay too much unless it has been measured, aligned, and THOROUGHLY checked out. Incidentally, narrow-mode matching and performance has been superb among all three known measured units." The Gamma I usually sells for $100-175 on eBay, but as low as $50-75 is possible.

Nikko Gamma V (1978, $700, photo, gangs, schematic left, schematic right, alignment guide) search eBay
The Gamma V is a very sensitive and selective rack-mount style digital tuner. It is a better DX performer in stock form than most digitals we've tested, with the equivalent of 6 gangs, but the Gamma V also sounds terrific with particularly good bass. It uses one linear phase LC filter block in wide mode and adds two more in narrow, both of which are adjustable for best linearity (but because it uses no ceramic filters, it is not suitable for filter modification). There are also dual transformers for powering the digital and analog section to prevent corruption of the analog power supply. Construction is all frame and beam with heavy shielding around the front end and digital control sections, with beams running from the front to the back of the tuner to further isolate noise-producing circuitry from the audio circuitry. Fixed, variable, and scope outputs are provided on the rear panel. Our contributor Ryan recently aligned and analyzed a Gamma V, and provides the following commentary: "When this tuner is fully aligned, it can be better than any stock tuner I have ever heard. The sound is superb from top to bottom, and the measurements back it up. Spectral analysis showed that IM distortion was essentially nonexistent, THD at any frequency over 1 kHz was at .009% or under, and separation was 60 dB out to 10 kHz. In my experience, this just does not happen with almost any stock tuner at any price. I attribute this in large part to the superbly linear IF strip that seems to pay good attention to group delay characteristics, and good ratio detector coupled with the HA11223W multiplex. But do keep in mind that the Gamma V is two decades old, and without alignment you will not get these results, and because of the LC filters, it is no ultra-selective DXer. And like many vintage tuners, birdies can be a problem on stations loaded with SCA subcarriers."

Our contributor Bill T. also gives the Gamma V a rave review: "It's digitally synthesized, has only 6 presets, and has a search feature that is fairly primitive. Instead of a tuning knob, it has an up/down rocker switch that's large enough to operate with your elbows. Now the good stuff: the Gamma V is probably one of the best stock FM tuners out there. Build quality on this sucker is outstanding. Nikko didn't skimp on parts with this baby. I have not seen another '70s or '80s digital tuner built this well for less than $1,700-2,000. It appears to have better sensitivity than my unmodified Kenwood 600T, and the Gamma's selectivity is much better. The Gamma's sound stage is a little flatter than what you will hear with the best analog tuners. However, width and depth are easily the equal of the best digital tuners I have heard. The frequency response seems to be more extended in the upper range than the 600T (I like the sound of the Kenwood, but the highs tend to be a little soft and rounded off)." And our contributor Hank calls the Gamma V "a very sensitive tuner with superb sonics and first-rate build quality. Though not *quite* the DX machine that some of the other tuners are, this is nevertheless one of my favorites." See how one Gamma V sounded compared to other top tuners on our Shootouts page, and read our panelist David "A"'s Ricochet. The Gamma V usually sells for $130-220 on eBay ($235 in 9/05), but someone inexplicably paid $340 for one in 10/02 (even worse, it was "as is"). [BF][EF][JR]

Nikko NT-850 (1978, $230) search eBay
The NT-850 has 4 gangs and 5 IF filters (although strangely, in our contributor Ryan's sample, one of the filter slots was left empty). Ryan tells us that the NT-850's user interface is very good, with separate switches for IF Band, Hi-Blend, Multipath and Muting, a selector knob for mono or stereo, and a knob for output level. The most interesting of these is the multipath button, which allows the user to hear the multipath component of the signal being received. Ryan explains: "I haven't seen this feature anywhere else. Normally, one can gauge multipath by hooking the multipath output up to an input on the preamp. Unfortunately, this is rather cumbersome and takes an extra input on your preamp, and even then is only one channel. The NT-850 gives you a button that does pretty much the same thing." Ryan also reports that the NT-850 should be easy to mod because the removable bottom panel allows access to the bottom of the circuit board. The NT-850 usually sells for $25-60 on eBay but a "new" one went for $153 in 3/06.

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