The Sequerra Model No. 1 Broadcast Monitor/Tuner - Top 3 EVER made - Complete Your Collection!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- We get a lot of really neat equipment in the shop - but this is definitely in the top 1% of what we've ever seen.
Read more about this unique piece of history on our website:
skyfiaudio.com/products/the-s...
This particular tuner series came out in 1974 at a time where there was some pretty fierce competition. The Marantz Model 10B had been around for a little bit, and the McIntosh MR78 had just come out a year before, so there were three all-American made tuners that are now considered the best tuners ever made. Much better than their British counterparts.
A lot had to do with the fact that in the US designers had the additional challenge of designing tuners to work over significant distances to reach stations - unlike the UK which is a more compact area. These 3 tuners were the absolute best of the best, and this Sequerra was the most sophisticated and most expensive by a large margin.
When this tuner came out in 1974 it was almost $2000, which is almost the price of a car in today's money! During its run which ended in the late 90's, it went all the way up to $4,000 in this variation. There were other variations like the reference models that easily exceeded $10,000, but this was considered reasonable/within reason, as this is more of an actual lab instrument than a piece of home audio equipment. And you can tell by its construction, design, parts quality, and presentation. It was really designed for radio stations to analyze their signals and understand their performance limitations, and was quickly adopted by home owners that wanted the absolute best of the best.
Probably the neatest feature is the built in oscilloscope that is hard to miss. It has several different modes - Panoramic, Display Tuning, and Tuner Vector. And there's also a 4th mode titled External Vector which allows you to input external signal.
Technical Specifications courtesy of radiomuseum.org:
Manufacturer / Brand: Sequerra Company Inc.; Woodside (NY), USA
Model: The Sequerra Model 1 FM Tuner - Sequerra Company Inc.;
Material: Metal case
Year: 1974
Valves / Tubes: 1: D10-160GH
Semiconductors (the count is only for transistors) 84: E310 2N4959 2N4250 MPS3639 MJE345 2N3440 2N3638 MJE3055 2N5962 2N3644 2N5639 2N5458 2N3569 2N2222 2N5210 2N5784 MC1496 LM301 MC10115 MC10131 SN74H102 SN74196 SN7490 SN7476 SN7404 SN7493 SN74123 µA741 µA723 MV104 5082-7302
Main principle: Superhet with RF-stage; ZF/IF 10700 kHz
Tuned circuits: 24 FM circuit(s)
Wave bands Details: FM Broadcast Band Only
Power type and voltage: Alternating Current supply (AC) / 120; 240 Volt
Loudspeaker Power Out: For headphones or amplifier
Dimensions (WHD): 16" x 5.75" x 12.75" / 406 x 146 x 324 mm
Notes:
A digital-readout FM tuner with multipurpose oscilloscope and built-in Dolby Noise reduction, in metal case.
Optional: Without "Panoramic"-RF tuning-band display Price: USD 2000,-
Wood-Case: Walnut USD 125,-; Brazilian rosewood USD 150,-
Original Warranty: 5 years parts and labor (scope and incandescent lamps 1 year)
Magazine Reviews: Audio Magazine, August 1974, Stereo Review, October 1974, High Fidelity, January 1975, Radio-Electronics, March 1975
Also contains: 58 ICs and 4 HP LED displays. Each transistor/IC etc. listed once only. - เพลง
I was one of the original group (of 2) that conceived this unit!! Me and Fred Barrett would sit in his basement in Queens and Blue Sky about what we would or could develop for the world of consumer electronics. We eventually selected a FM studio monitor to monitor the signal as it left/reached source. We decided that we would design the best piece of equipment on planet earth at the very outset....because everything after that would be easier to market to the industry. Unfortunately...the production price let us down and we could not justify a market price of $2,000.00 per unit to the ordinary audiophile.....but needless to say Dr Richard Sequerra did a bang up job and out did himself on the final design of this unit!!! Fred Barrett....the creator of this major project is no longer with us....but his legacy lives on...a genius in his forward thinking and a revolutionary in the world of future home electronics for anyone who wanted perfection!!!!
WOW! This is maybe the best response we've received here on our channel. THANK YOU for writing this down!
This was and still is the ultimate tuner in the universe. Talking about dream piece, this is it in the tuner world. I have wanted one ever since I saw it back in the day! There is no better one, except a reference one which is prohibitably expensive. To die for, oh yes! What else need be said?👍🏻👏
There are two distinct eras of these tuners. The original Sequerra Model 1 was made by the Richard Sequerra Company from 1973 until 1985. Then it was discontinued. In 1987 David Day bought the design from Dick Sequerra, and started a company called Davidson Roth to build a version called the Day Sequerra. It sold for an eye watering $12,000. They also made a less costly model called the Day Sequerra Studio which looked similar, but was completely different internally, and lacked the FM band panalyzer display mode. Dan D'Agostino from Krell had some role in the design of the Studio model. You can tell the original Sequerra Company models from the Davidson Roth versions by the Sequerra "S" logo on the bottom button on the right bank of switches.
I think the Camac connectors on this tuner are a later modification. Stock Sequerra Model 1s used RCA jacks.
In more recent years Davidson Roth seems to be more focused on the pro broadcast side of FM, but I believe they will still make you a Sequerra tuner if you send them enough money.
It’s important to mention that Dick Sequerra was the principal designer of the Marantz 10/10B, before leaving to start his own company. The 10B project nearly sunk Marantz financially and may have forced its sale to SuperScope. I have a 10B, but today’s compressed MP3 FM broadcasts don’t justify a great tuner anymore, sadly.
Thank you for writing!
Let's not forget Magnum Dynalab tuners, also some of the best.
Totally agreed. Thanks for watching!
The front display always reminds me of 2001 A Space Odyssey set design.
can I listen to some classical music?
I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
@@hifijohn Unfortunately, it's more like: "Can we hear some high-quality FM audio, Hal?" "I'm sorry Dave that doesn't exist anymore."
Here in the uk we have BBC 3 which is dedicated solely to classical music that is broadcast in high fidelity. This unit belongs here in England where it would be appreciated.
@@7karlheinz No kidding I have long since given up on sound quality or even programming quality on FM.its fine for the car, or in the old days when we all walked around with our walkmans.If I want to listen to some song ill just find it on youtube. radio like tv is mostly just commercials.
I remember growing up around the Chicagoland area and listening to WFMT a station that was considered the reference for sound quality, I believed it too until we took a tour of their new studios many years ago, the equipment was mid-fi stuff ,I think I saw a old technics turntable with some cheap cartridge, seriously this is the type of stuff I had in high school. one of the guys there even admitted the tonearm wasn't even mounted correctly, but after all these years they never bothered fixing it , the real kicker was they said they took the signal digitized it ,compressed it then sent it down the phone lines for miles to their transmitter. Oh well so much for sound quality.
I still can't believe that you have one of the best tuners ever made and you didn't take the time to put a real antenna on it. Love the tuner, though.
Dies anyone know what it would have sold for new ?
Started around $1800 in 1973, went up to $5000 by the time production ended in 1985.
Lucky you got FM......Not anymore in Norway😡
When did FM go away there, and was it replaced with DAB like in other countries? There's been talk every few years about FM going away in the USA but it's embedded in so many devices going back so many decades that I suspect that would be heavy lifting and upset a lot of folks. Especially in rural areas.