ili@ariel.UUCP (05/07/84)
< > I have had a NAD 4150 tuner for about 13 months. The first 12 I was living in an apartment and ran the tuner from a folded dipole in the basement. I now livein a townhouse and have an antenna in my attic (The townhouse association prohibits mounting of antennae on the roof.) Here's my problem. I pick up more stations now than before (Trenton, Phila., etc) but the quality is no better. There is a lot of annoying noise in my reception and most stations are much more listenable in mono than in stereo. I had the unit checked out at the dealer (still under warrantee) and they said there is nothing wrong with the unit. I've also tried many different anntenae up in my attic (omnidirectional as well as highly directional) and the results were always the same. I make many tapes from broadcasts and need good reception. My question is can anyone recommend tuners that will pull in stations and at the same time do it QUIETLY? Can this performance be had for under $400? under$500 I guess $600 would be the most I would want (or could afford) to spend. Any body know anything about the new tuner from HAFLER? Any comments (good or bad) will be appreciated. As usual reply by email and if interest warrants I will post a summary. Ira Idelson
wmartin@brl-vgr.UUCP (05/08/84)
If you have access to the back issues of The $ensible Sound, an underground audio magazine, I recommend looking at the tuner reviews written by Richard A. Modaffieri. He has also done some tuner reviews and articles in Audio. He designed the McIntosh MR-78, a tuner widely regarded as one of the best ones ever made. Unfortunately, the list price of an MR-78 (they're still being made, and list is the only price you'll ever pay for new McIntosh) is $1699 or so. He liked the NAD tuner, though he deplored its construction quality. It is optimized for performance on poor antennas, which is what most of us have. Since the writer of the referenced posting mentioned that he could use high-performance attic-mounted antennas, though not external ones, several points come to mind. First off, the roof construction: if it has metallic sheathing of some form (copper, foil backing or vapor barrier on insulation, or metallic siding) this might be shielding your antenna, thus negating the advantages of the better antennas you have tried. Second, consider an amplifier if the problem is weak signals, but not if the problem is a high ambient RF noise level swamping the signals. The amplifier will amplify noise along with signal. There is a tunable model called the "Magnum FM Sleuth" or something like that -- a tunable model will be preferred to reduce images and spurious responses. If the roof is shielding your attic antennas, and this cannot be corrected without rebuilding the house, a combination of an in-room tunable antenna unit, like a Beam Box, and an amplifier, or an amplified omnidirectional antenna in the attic paralleled with the Beam Box either directly or with a splitter/combiner might be a good approach. (I have an omni in the attic -- just wood and shingles above and around it -- paralleled with a Beam Box and it works pretty well. Someday I'll get a splitter/combiner and see if it helps.) If a new tuner turns out to be the only solution, try a Carver TX-11. It is reported to perform better on high-performance antennas than the NAD. Its special circuits may cut noise and multipath enough to help your recordings. Maybe you will be able to borrow one from a dealer on a money-back try-out basis. Will