I have one of the Kyocera T-910 tuners you show here. What is interesting is that I opened it up and discovered that the left side of the compartment at the rear by the antenna inputs is filled in with what looks to be wax. Someone dripped some type of gunk in there to prevent anything from changing. Most of the parts in that one area are submerged in the stuff. Your tuner video shows the same thing at about 10:57 (leftmost compartment of the 3 compartments).
It's intentional, from the factory. Obviously, not a hard resin, but a similar purpose...to protect components from likely corrosion and or from trim pots from being adjusted. Good eye!
I’ve had a number of excellent (for their day) FM tuners starting with a superb Eico HFT-90 in the 1960’s. Then I had gorgeous looking Pioneer tuner (can’t recall the model number but I think it was a 9500). Then I had a Yamaha T-85 (best performing tuner I ever owned. In fact I still have it). About 20 years ago, a friend gave me a Marantz 10B that he pulled out of a radio station that was being renovated.while it sounded good (after a re-tube, and a modification to the stereo decoder to eliminate the infamous Marantz 10B “SCA whistle”). But I sold it because it was worth so much. The 10B might have Ben the best sounding tuner ever, but by the time I got it, FM was and remains, worthless as a high-fidelity medium! People who weren’t around in the early 60’s when FM stereo started won’t know what a wonderful and diverse medium FM was in those days. I was a teen, and grew up in the Washington DC area, which was a rich source of FM content that market provided. But technically, because there weren’t many stations crowding the dial, many stations neither compressed nor limited their audio signal. Stations were far enough apart that overmodulation simply wasn’t an issue. If one had owned a 10B in those days, one practically had a straight wire to the source. There was so much live concert activity in DC in those days that one could hear several live concerts a week. There were the President’s Bands (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines), the National Symphony, and lots of local talent (I first heard Charlie Bird with his Trio play live at a summer Watergate Concert via FM). Now, everything is canned. Real, live concert broadcasts are few and far between. All radio stations are severely compressed and heavily limited. One might as well be listening to AM. A fine FM tuner is a waste of money and time now days. Heck there are internet “radio” stations that sound better than FM!
The 10B is a tuner I've never owed or had the pleasure of listening to. I've heard wonderful things about them...Today, we have a few decent stations around Toronto, still worthwhile listening to - Jazz 91.1 is one of those...Wonderful programing! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Yes mr.Graves. Nice explaination based on the decades of experience. I am that old too, so I can confirm everything you wrote. First 1/3 of my life I was passionate "DX-er". But rest thirds I was a broadcasting professional even owning a radio station. Yes, FM (MPX) Stereo by the principle is not "Hi-Fi". It is a huge compromise to the other technologies. Even simulcasting on two transmitter with two adjacent frequencies (one-Left channel, second-Right) was one of alternatives. So "Zenith" patent of stacking the mono, pilot tone and LR component on higher frequencies was the cheapest option. But mono component was reduced to 50-15000 Hz, and on Stereo mode, a lot of high harmonic noise with every step down radio signal level. So, it is what it is. Tuners from the seveties are made to look attractive (otherwise they will be cheaper. Electronically they are very simple). They were big, having a nice looking scale, signal, tuning, MPX Stereo indication. Even having "High Blend" function that reduces stereo sound to the 12000 Hz max, while 12000-15000 Hz signal is blended in to mono. This slightly reduces hiss, but for the price of reducing the overall quality of sound. And yes, FM (MPX) Stereo technology is sounds even funnier in todays time. There is no diversity on the FM Band. You can have clones of the same content. Soundwise, all music is Computer generated sounds and voices (Voice samples, and autotuned). Even without FM Stereo optimod processing, sound is overlouded, hard limeted and compressed. The future? In Europe some conutries alocated all High Power Public and Commercial FM Radio stations on DAB and DAB+. So FM Band could be perfect sollution for LP noncommercial broadcasting. Technically there are no obsticles, but politically?!
The thing about the 10B is that one of it’s major attractions was the oscilloscope. Unfortunately, the Cathode Ray tube used by Marantz is no longer made, and there are no NOS CRTs left. I have heard that the socket for the CRT can be reworked to accept other, similar sized tubes, but I don’t know if any of those are still available either. Marantz made a number of tuners in the 1960’s and 1970’s, both tubed and Solid State that sported oscilloscopes as well. Whether or not they used the same CRT as the 10B, is something I don’t know, nor do I know about the availability of replacement CRTs for those tuners if they use a different one from the 10B. I saw an article online several years ago where someone had replaced the CRT oscilloscope in a. Marantz tuner with a small Chinese LCD ‘scope module. I guess that would work. But sound wise, the 10B’s biggest failing is it’s stereo decoder circuit. If the stereo station to which one is listening also had an SCA subcarrier (in-store music subscription service) in addition to the stereo subcarrier, then the stereo decoder would “beat” the two subcarriers together and produce a whistle in the stereo sound that could not be tuned-out! Over the years, various circuit mods were offered to eliminate the problem, and the one that I incorporated in my 10B was a very effective notch filter that suppressed the SCA subcarrier enough to make the beat frequency inaudible.
Well, I can certainly say you know your stuff when it comes to the 10B! I just acquired a couple Marantz, stay tuned for the reviews and thanks for the input!
I like your review, except for one major thing; turn the background music down several notches. It’s extremely hard to hear your dialogue with the background music level so high.
I remember that little guy! The only other ones I know are from companies like Brik Audio, Pro-ject, etc. You could also find an ultra-cool vintage AIWA from their mini component set!
Thought I was the only FM Tuner freak. From my experience Kenwood followed by a close 2nd Pioneer have been the best to me for signal strength and clarity and will never buy another Yamaha tuner and Marantz as well have been let down with horrible signal strength. My surprise that I was high-bid on EBAY and got a FM Tuner for $26.00 Sanyo 611K, and is quite remarkable both signal strength and clarity. Own 2 Kenwoods, 1 was $60.00 and the other was $80.00 and in my opinion a bargain. Pioneer SA 7500 got for $72.00, just needed lighting and a good cleaning as was done on the Kenwoods as well.
I had a Yamaha RX-900U years back. It was a digital tuner so kind of apples to oranges but it pulled in stations cristal clear from far away. It would have been too far but they had you covered with a local button. Better than any other tuner I've owned separate or in a reciever. When I was young my parents had a silver faced beast reciever. Can't remember the brand but the needle was lit red unless you were pulling in a station and then it would light up green. It was a quadraphonic unit.
Yamaha makes some nice stuff for sure. I bet, as a kid, you gave your parents receiver a work out...lol! I remember we played my dad's so loud once the speaker fell off the mantle (oops!) :)
Excellent rundown and presentation video of FM tuners! Looking forward to watching Part 2.
Thank you kindly!
Definitely gonna be a fun one
I have one of the Kyocera T-910 tuners you show here. What is interesting is that I opened it up and discovered that the left side of the compartment at the rear by the antenna inputs is filled in with what looks to be wax. Someone dripped some type of gunk in there to prevent anything from changing. Most of the parts in that one area are submerged in the stuff. Your tuner video shows the same thing at about 10:57 (leftmost compartment of the 3 compartments).
It's intentional, from the factory. Obviously, not a hard resin, but a similar purpose...to protect components from likely corrosion and or from trim pots from being adjusted. Good eye!
I’ve had a number of excellent (for their day) FM tuners starting with a superb Eico HFT-90 in the 1960’s. Then I had gorgeous looking Pioneer tuner (can’t recall the model number but I think it was a 9500). Then I had a Yamaha T-85 (best performing tuner I ever owned. In fact I still have it). About 20 years ago, a friend gave me a Marantz 10B that he pulled out of a radio station that was being renovated.while it sounded good (after a re-tube, and a modification to the stereo decoder to eliminate the infamous Marantz 10B “SCA whistle”). But I sold it because it was worth so much. The 10B might have Ben the best sounding tuner ever, but by the time I got it, FM was and remains, worthless as a high-fidelity medium!
People who weren’t around in the early 60’s when FM stereo started won’t know what a wonderful and diverse medium FM was in those days. I was a teen, and grew up in the Washington DC area, which was a rich source of FM content that market provided. But technically, because there weren’t many stations crowding the dial, many stations neither compressed nor limited their audio signal. Stations were far enough apart that overmodulation simply wasn’t an issue. If one had owned a 10B in those days, one practically had a straight wire to the source. There was so much live concert activity in DC in those days that one could hear several live concerts a week. There were the President’s Bands (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines), the National Symphony, and lots of local talent (I first heard Charlie Bird with his Trio play live at a summer Watergate Concert via FM).
Now, everything is canned. Real, live concert broadcasts are few and far between. All radio stations are severely compressed and heavily limited. One might as well be listening to AM. A fine FM tuner is a waste of money and time now days. Heck there are internet “radio” stations that sound better than FM!
The 10B is a tuner I've never owed or had the pleasure of listening to. I've heard wonderful things about them...Today, we have a few decent stations around Toronto, still worthwhile listening to - Jazz 91.1 is one of those...Wonderful programing! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Yes mr.Graves. Nice explaination based on the decades of experience. I am that old too, so I can confirm everything you wrote. First 1/3 of my life I was passionate "DX-er". But rest thirds I was a broadcasting professional even owning a radio station. Yes, FM (MPX) Stereo by the principle is not "Hi-Fi". It is a huge compromise to the other technologies. Even simulcasting on two transmitter with two adjacent frequencies (one-Left channel, second-Right) was one of alternatives. So "Zenith" patent of stacking the mono, pilot tone and LR component on higher frequencies was the cheapest option. But mono component was reduced to 50-15000 Hz, and on Stereo mode, a lot of high harmonic noise with every step down radio signal level. So, it is what it is. Tuners from the seveties are made to look attractive (otherwise they will be cheaper. Electronically they are very simple). They were big, having a nice looking scale, signal, tuning, MPX Stereo indication. Even having "High Blend" function that reduces stereo sound to the 12000 Hz max, while 12000-15000 Hz signal is blended in to mono. This slightly reduces hiss, but for the price of reducing the overall quality of sound. And yes, FM (MPX) Stereo technology is sounds even funnier in todays time. There is no diversity on the FM Band. You can have clones of the same content. Soundwise, all music is Computer generated sounds and voices (Voice samples, and autotuned). Even without FM Stereo optimod processing, sound is overlouded, hard limeted and compressed. The future? In Europe some conutries alocated all High Power Public and Commercial FM Radio stations on DAB and DAB+. So FM Band could be perfect sollution for LP noncommercial broadcasting. Technically there are no obsticles, but politically?!
have the T-85, love it, but it’s Yamaha sounded, sounds a little tuby, but only a tiny little bit
The thing about the 10B is that one of it’s major attractions was the oscilloscope. Unfortunately, the Cathode Ray tube used by Marantz is no longer made, and there are no NOS CRTs left. I have heard that the socket for the CRT can be reworked to accept other, similar sized tubes, but I don’t know if any of those are still available either. Marantz made a number of tuners in the 1960’s and 1970’s, both tubed and Solid State that sported oscilloscopes as well. Whether or not they used the same CRT as the 10B, is something I don’t know, nor do I know about the availability of replacement CRTs for those tuners if they use a different one from the 10B. I saw an article online several years ago where someone had replaced the CRT oscilloscope in a. Marantz tuner with a small Chinese LCD ‘scope module. I guess that would work.
But sound wise, the 10B’s biggest failing is it’s stereo decoder circuit. If the stereo station to which one is listening also had an SCA subcarrier (in-store music subscription service) in addition to the stereo subcarrier, then the stereo decoder would “beat” the two subcarriers together and produce a whistle in the stereo sound that could not be tuned-out! Over the years, various circuit mods were offered to eliminate the problem, and the one that I incorporated in my 10B was a very effective notch filter that suppressed the SCA subcarrier enough to make the beat frequency inaudible.
Well, I can certainly say you know your stuff when it comes to the 10B! I just acquired a couple Marantz, stay tuned for the reviews and thanks for the input!
I have a Kenwood KT-815. A GREAT FM tuner.
Never owned one before. If it's anything like the KT-8300, I bet it's great!
I like your review, except for one major thing; turn the background music down several notches. It’s extremely hard to hear your dialogue with the background music level so high.
I agree ☝️
Does anybody know if any company other than parasound (tdq -150) make a mini tuner?
I remember that little guy! The only other ones I know are from companies like Brik Audio, Pro-ject, etc. You could also find an ultra-cool vintage AIWA from their mini component set!
How about a link to Part 2?
I did film a part two, never figured out how to embed the link...I'll try to add it.
Thought I was the only FM Tuner freak. From my experience Kenwood followed by a close 2nd Pioneer have been the best to me for signal strength and clarity and will never buy another Yamaha tuner and Marantz as well have been let down with horrible signal strength. My surprise that I was high-bid on EBAY and got a FM Tuner for $26.00 Sanyo 611K, and is quite remarkable both signal strength and clarity. Own 2 Kenwoods, 1 was $60.00 and the other was $80.00 and in my opinion a bargain. Pioneer SA 7500 got for $72.00, just needed lighting and a good cleaning as was done on the Kenwoods as well.
I recently came across a Sony st5150, a great sounding tuner for only $99!
I had a Yamaha RX-900U years back. It was a digital tuner so kind of apples to oranges but it pulled in stations cristal clear from far away. It would have been too far but they had you covered with a local button. Better than any other tuner I've owned separate or in a reciever. When I was young my parents had a silver faced beast reciever. Can't remember the brand but the needle was lit red unless you were pulling in a station and then it would light up green. It was a quadraphonic unit.
Yamaha makes some nice stuff for sure. I bet, as a kid, you gave your parents receiver a work out...lol! I remember we played my dad's so loud once the speaker fell off the mantle (oops!) :)
Tuners are nice but I can't stand much of anything on the radio these days..
lol. I know...makes me kinda sad in a way! I do get the odd nice late night broadcast though.