space_cowboy Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Well, the MSRP on these things seems to indicate something, but I'm not sure what. They can always be found on e-bay or Audiogon, so I'm not so sure if this is good or bad; good for the relative price, but maybe bad if they are over rated. So if anyone has experience with the FT-101 or 101A I would like to read your comments. On a side note, do analog tuners like this require periodic calibration? Thanks, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leok Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I have the FT 101A and like it very much. I do recommend replacing the two electrolytic output caps with conditioned 20uF polypropylene metalized film caps (kind of big and expensive, but worth it). The linear tuning is handy in difficult signal situations and the sound is very un radio-like .. more like whatever is playing at the station. An interesting thing is FM sound has to be low pass filtered to 15KHz. This seems to improve many cd recordings that get into aliasing trouble and mess up that last 5 KHz, so they sound better played via radio station through the FT101A than through a cd player. Calibration? no. the IF filters, which is what used to require periodic "alignment" are fixed, just like in the digital tuners. Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I have used many of their tuners, including their flagship. While I can't comment much since I don't know books worth about tuners, they have always felt very well built. The flagship one I heard sounded as good as CD, though I'm not sure what kind of antenna they had it hooked up to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 ---------------- On 4/2/2004 9:06:26 PM space_cowboy wrote: Well, the MSRP on these things seems to indicate something, but I'm not sure what. They can always be found on e-bay or Audiogon, so I'm not so sure if this is good or bad; good for the relative price, but maybe bad if they are over rated. So if anyone has experience with the FT-101 or 101A I would like to read your comments. On a side note, do analog tuners like this require periodic calibration? Thanks, Mark ---------------- Check out the fmtunerinfo.com website. There is some good info on MD tuners there. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Mark- I purchased a MD Etude tuner used almost a year ago from a local dealer. I probably paid a bit more for it then I would have via Audiogon or Ebay, but it was well worth it to test it out prior to buying it. A few items have made the tuner well worht the price I paid. The build quality is outstanding and it has an extreamly sensitive tuner, plus you can "detune" a frequency to get the maximium signal. I'm in a location that doesn't get great radio reception and I can't use an outdoor antenna . I can now tune in stations that I use to never be able to get and it produces a warm and inviting sound. IMHO, they are well worth the price, HOWEVER, I'm not sure I would pay the new prices for them...... Leo- Could you give more info on the 20uF cap tweek? Or point me in the direction where I can read about it. How does it effect the sound? -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leok Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Dave, If you have the Etude, I think the output caps are already metalized polypropylene film. I was led to believe that was one major improvement from the straight 101A. Pop the lid. The caps are on the pc board just inside the output jacks. If there is a huge space there and two little electrolytics then you have electrolytics. If the spot is filled with two huge (probably white) caps, then you have the polys. Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Leo- Hey thanks...will check under the hood! -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
space_cowboy Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 Thanks for the replies...will see what comes along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cisco-wizard Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 IMHO, the MD tuners are over-rated and way over-priced. Hell, they don't even employ a full-time RF engineer on their staff: Their tuners are designed by contract engineers. They are a good sales and marketing company, and they do provide good service on their products to their customers, but they also make continuing changes to current production runs so an "xyz" tuner you bought last year might be slightly different inside than the current "xyz" they are currently making. The absolute best source of unbiased tuner info can be found at www.fmtunerinfo.com These people have forgotten more about tuners than most people know. And they have recently reviewed some MD tuners you should read the reviews on. You can buy a good vintage tuner for well under $400 that will outperform any of the MD tuners, and put your savings towards a good outdoor antenna with a rotor (mandatory for good FM listening) and a cleaning and alignment of your vintage tuner. ANY vintage tuner over 10 years old can benefit from a good cleaning and alignment by one of the techs recommended on the FM Tuner Group web page. Also, there are many "sleeper" tuners yet to be discovered. A "sleeper" tuner is one that gives incredibly good performance that has yet to be discovered by the eBay masses and sell for a cheap price. These are discussed frequently on the FM Tuner Groups discussion site in www.my.yahoo.com. One example of a "sleeper" is the Sony ST-J75: It sold new for $450, got a rave review from Len Feldman in "Audio" magazine, it became his new reference tuners, and they typicall sell on ebay for between $12 and $42. When the FM Tuner Group gets around to testing one, if they like it, the price for this unit will skyrocket on eBay. And there are many other "sleeper" tuners out there yet to be discovered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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