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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
Old FM radios never die, they just fade away...
I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... Anyone knows what typically happens to (ordinary) FM radios with age? Would I have better luck with a digitally tuned device? Per. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
Per Stromgren wrote:
Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... I haven't noticed this effect with capacity/inductance tuned sets. The most likely cause is changes in the resistance track and switch contacts (if the readio uses mechanical switches) caused by ingress of dirt or damp, as well as mechanical wear. A less likely fault would be component failure somewhere in the power section, supplying the voltage to the tuning controls. None of the components involved are expensive and if you are otherwise happy with the set it is well worth repairing. -- rgds LAurence ....Seven and a half million years and all you can come up with is 42? |
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What happens to old FM radios?
Many radio's suffer from alignment problems as they get older. This applies
to digital models also, but not so much, since they have fewer adjustments and are somewhat self-compensating. Station frequency, for example, won't drift, but component values do somewhat, meaning VCO and discriminator alignments may need to be re-done. Mark Z. -- Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam have rendered my regular e-mail address useless. "Laurence Taylor" wrote in message ... Per Stromgren wrote: Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... I haven't noticed this effect with capacity/inductance tuned sets. The most likely cause is changes in the resistance track and switch contacts (if the readio uses mechanical switches) caused by ingress of dirt or damp, as well as mechanical wear. A less likely fault would be component failure somewhere in the power section, supplying the voltage to the tuning controls. None of the components involved are expensive and if you are otherwise happy with the set it is well worth repairing. -- rgds LAurence ...Seven and a half million years and all you can come up with is 42? |
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What happens to old FM radios?
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 05:01:01 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias"
wrote: Many radio's suffer from alignment problems as they get older. This applies to digital models also, but not so much, since they have fewer adjustments and are somewhat self-compensating. Station frequency, for example, won't drift, but component values do somewhat, meaning VCO and discriminator alignments may need to be re-done. I probably won't do that, these sets are selled by the dozen, but out of curiousity: what components values can drift with age? Mark Z. Per. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
"Per Stromgren" wrote in message ... On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 05:01:01 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote: Many radio's suffer from alignment problems as they get older. This applies to digital models also, but not so much, since they have fewer adjustments and are somewhat self-compensating. Station frequency, for example, won't drift, but component values do somewhat, meaning VCO and discriminator alignments may need to be re-done. I probably won't do that, these sets are selled by the dozen, but out of curiousity: what components values can drift with age? All component values drift with age. Your problem seems to be temperature sensitivity or voltage sensitivity. For example, if the supply voltage to the local oscillator drifts then the frequency will be affected. When you are listening to an FM station at 100 on the dial, the local oscillator is running at 110.7 MHz and a drift of only 0.1 % will throw the tuning way off. That's why older receivers used AFC and newer ones use PLL frequency synthesizers for the local oscillator. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 09:06:46 -0400, "Charles Schuler"
wrote: All component values drift with age. Your problem seems to be temperature sensitivity or voltage sensitivity. For example, if the supply voltage to the local oscillator drifts then the frequency will be affected. When you are listening to an FM station at 100 on the dial, the local oscillator is running at 110.7 MHz and a drift of only 0.1 % will throw the tuning way off. That's why older receivers used AFC and newer ones use PLL frequency synthesizers for the local oscillator. Thanks. PLL synthesized tuners was probably what I meant when I said I would look for "digital" radios. I'm a lot wiser know, thanks! One last one, while I have I have you guys on the line: will the drift "amplitude" of component values grow with age as well? Otherwise, it would just be a matter of re-tuning, but that does not seem to help in the normal case. These radio set drift away happily while listeing. Per. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
"Charles Schuler" ) writes: "Per Stromgren" wrote in message ... On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 05:01:01 -0500, "Mark D. Zacharias" wrote: Many radio's suffer from alignment problems as they get older. This applies to digital models also, but not so much, since they have fewer adjustments and are somewhat self-compensating. Station frequency, for example, won't drift, but component values do somewhat, meaning VCO and discriminator alignments may need to be re-done. I probably won't do that, these sets are selled by the dozen, but out of curiousity: what components values can drift with age? All component values drift with age. Your problem seems to be temperature sensitivity or voltage sensitivity. For example, if the supply voltage to the local oscillator drifts then the frequency will be affected. When you are listening to an FM station at 100 on the dial, the local oscillator is running at 110.7 MHz and a drift of only 0.1 % will throw the tuning way off. That's why older receivers used AFC and newer ones use PLL frequency synthesizers for the local oscillator. I pulled an analog AM/FM portable out of the garbage, and it had the inability to stay on the station it was last on when I turned it on. Cleaning the am/fm switch fixed the problem. I can't remember if the issue was on both am and fm, or just FM. Michael |
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What happens to old FM radios?
"Per Stromgren" wrote in message ... One last one, while I have I have you guys on the line: will the drift "amplitude" of component values grow with age as well? Otherwise, it would just be a matter of re-tuning, but that does not seem to help in the normal case. These radio set drift away happily while listeing. Yes, probably. Also, a more serious problem is that the parts are drifting away from each other. Thus, initially the radio had everything right in the center of the desired range, and there was lots of tolerance for drift. Now, parts have already drifted apart so that the working range is very narrow. That is, if one IF stage goes up in frequency and the other one goes down, the range where they overlap is much smaller than before -- so if something else then drifts, it will be much more likely to have a noticeable effect. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
As far as i`m concerned all commecial FM radios can go in the garbage
because they have a problem playing 50% commercials . I now have XM satalite radio and finally away from constant car commercials and war news every 10 minutes :-) |
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What happens to old FM radios?
Hi!
As far as i`m concerned all commecial FM radios can go in the garbage because they have a problem playing 50% commercials . I now have XM satalite radio and finally away from constant car commercials and war news every 10 minutes :-) I don't know about that...there are plenty of other uses for these radios. If you don't like the programming you find, make your own. There exist very low power devices to transmit any line level signal into the average FM radio. I think I've even see a few that did both AM and FM. Or take it a step further and maybe get a license for LPFM? There are still a few good radio stations in this area, but some have died recently. Usually the commercials aren't the problem...the programming I like to hear just isn't very popular any longer. William |
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What happens to old FM radios?
"William R. Walsh" m wrote in message news:ZCWSc.296954$XM6.111241@attbi_s53... Hi! As far as i`m concerned all commecial FM radios can go in the garbage because they have a problem playing 50% commercials . I now have XM satalite radio and finally away from constant car commercials and war news every 10 minutes :-) I don't know about that...there are plenty of other uses for these radios. If you don't like the programming you find, make your own. There exist very low power devices to transmit any line level signal into the average FM radio. I think I've even see a few that did both AM and FM. Or take it a step further and maybe get a license for LPFM? There are still a few good radio stations in this area, but some have died recently. Usually the commercials aren't the problem...the programming I like to hear just isn't very popular any longer. William Yeah that's what I do, transmitter in the house on the computer, can play CD's, MP3's, etc and pick them up in the garage on the radio out there, on my walkman for mowing the lawn, and anywhere else. |
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What happens to old FM radios?
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#13
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What happens to old FM radios?
Enjoy commercial-free while it lasts. Soon it will be just like regular
cable tv, commercials and all. You'll have to pay extra for the commercial-free content, just like HBO and the like on cable tv. Mark Z. -- Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam have rendered my regular e-mail address useless. "Ken G." wrote in message ... As far as i`m concerned all commecial FM radios can go in the garbage because they have a problem playing 50% commercials . I now have XM satalite radio and finally away from constant car commercials and war news every 10 minutes :-) |
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Per Stromgren wrote:
Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... Anyone knows what typically happens to (ordinary) FM radios with age? Would I have better luck with a digitally tuned device? Per. OLD FM-radios just got better ( because new ones going worse). Dont think its because the new ones are from far away( from Asia), but the constuction of the electronic circuits is bad (read cheap). Dont know what happened to your Philips.Perhaps its not your Philips but increased radio noise in your neighbourhood. Or the radiostation decreasing there output power (power cost). What type of Philips radio is it ? (I have schematic diagram of three types from late 60 to early 80th. Or try to ask at usenet "swnet.teknik.elektronik" ) Now a little bit "swedish". I am owner of at least 5 Philips "table top" FM-radios type Philetta from late 60-s early 70-th. All are pretuned (or "semi-pretuned"), made in Norrkoping Sweden. One of them I am using daily in 30-years now. Thats quality ! Have a look at a few of them here under "transistorapparater 1960-talet" or under "Radioapparater" to the left. http://samlaren.se-swed.net/ Power and frequency of swedish radio stations he http://www.teracom.se Try to keep that old Philips going Per ,because the DAB-radios are coming (I think). /Per-Ake NPR-listener -- Remove "extra" in my e-mail |
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Nice to hear that Philips ever made quality equipment.
I wouldn't buy their U.S. marketed product on a bet. Mark Z. -- Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam have rendered my regular e-mail address useless. "Per-Åke Andersson" wrote in message ... Per Stromgren wrote: Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... Anyone knows what typically happens to (ordinary) FM radios with age? Would I have better luck with a digitally tuned device? Per. OLD FM-radios just got better ( because new ones going worse). Dont think its because the new ones are from far away( from Asia), but the constuction of the electronic circuits is bad (read cheap). Dont know what happened to your Philips.Perhaps its not your Philips but increased radio noise in your neighbourhood. Or the radiostation decreasing there output power (power cost). What type of Philips radio is it ? (I have schematic diagram of three types from late 60 to early 80th. Or try to ask at usenet "swnet.teknik.elektronik" ) Now a little bit "swedish". I am owner of at least 5 Philips "table top" FM-radios type Philetta from late 60-s early 70-th. All are pretuned (or "semi-pretuned"), made in Norrkoping Sweden. One of them I am using daily in 30-years now. Thats quality ! Have a look at a few of them here under "transistorapparater 1960-talet" or under "Radioapparater" to the left. http://samlaren.se-swed.net/ Power and frequency of swedish radio stations he http://www.teracom.se Try to keep that old Philips going Per ,because the DAB-radios are coming (I think). /Per-Ake NPR-listener -- Remove "extra" in my e-mail |
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I dont have a big collection of cd`s to transmit and dont own a computer
.. XM provides almost every type of music for penneys a day with the name of the song and artist on the display.. no way could i own such an eclectic collection of cd`s for that cheap . they also have lots of talk radio and news for those who like that . I hope they dont go commercial .. i may dump it if they do . Regular radio around here is not totaly garbage but quite behind the times and very commercial . |
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I dont have a big collection of cd`s to transmit and dont own a computer
.. XM provides almost every type of music for penneys a day with the name of the song and artist on the display.. no way could i own such an eclectic collection of cd`s for that cheap . they also have lots of talk radio and news for those who like that . I hope they dont go commercial .. i may dump it if they do . Regular radio around here is not totaly garbage but quite behind the times and very commercial . |
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"Per-Åke Andersson" schreef in bericht ... Per Stromgren wrote: Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... Anyone knows what typically happens to (ordinary) FM radios with age? Would I have better luck with a digitally tuned device? Per. OLD FM-radios just got better ( because new ones going worse). Dont think its because the new ones are from far away( from Asia), but the constuction of the electronic circuits is bad (read cheap). Dont know what happened to your Philips.Perhaps its not your Philips but increased radio noise in your neighbourhood. Or the radiostation decreasing there output power (power cost). What type of Philips radio is it ? (I have schematic diagram of three types from late 60 to early 80th. Or try to ask at usenet "swnet.teknik.elektronik" ) Now a little bit "swedish". I am owner of at least 5 Philips "table top" FM-radios type Philetta from late 60-s early 70-th. All are pretuned (or "semi-pretuned"), made in Norrkoping Sweden. One of them I am using daily in 30-years now. Thats quality ! Have a look at a few of them here under "transistorapparater 1960-talet" or under "Radioapparater" to the left. http://samlaren.se-swed.net/ Power and frequency of swedish radio stations he http://www.teracom.se Try to keep that old Philips going Per ,because the DAB-radios are coming (I think). /Per-Ake NPR-listener -- Remove "extra" in my e-mail I expect it is a capacitor getting old. |
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Per Stromgren wrote in message . ..
Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... Anyone knows what typically happens to (ordinary) FM radios with age? Would I have better luck with a digitally tuned device? Per. Sorry not an answer but a comment inspired by yours. About 20 years ago I bought a NAD 3020B amplifier and a 4020 AM / FM tuner. Some years ago these got put away in the loft. More recently, I found a use for them and took them out again. The amplifier still sounds good and the only thing it lacks compared to a new one is remote control. I cannot detect much difference between it and my newer amplifiers. The tuner was very disappointing. It was tuned with an old style knob and a needle moving along a dial. I could cope with that since I don't change channels a lot. But the sound was very much poorer than my newer NAD 701 receiver. Both were fed from the same roof aerial via the same distribution box. I could not even give the thing away and it had to go to the dump. Did the tuner degrade much more than the amplifier or have my standards been raised by newer better tuners? It was replaced with a Denon receiver. I considered just a tuner to use with the 3020 but my wife wanted remote control and the receiver was not much more than just a tuner. There is a surprisingly poor choice of FM tuners these days. It seems that few people want them. I am currently very happy with this tuner. As well as a good sound, features such as remote control and RDS are attractive. So the 3020 is back in the loft but I am keeping it. If it can sound good after 20 years, it can last a few more and I may find another use for it. Seán O'Leathlóbhair |
#20
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"Sean O'Leathlobhair" wrote in message om... Per Stromgren wrote in message . .. Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... I have owned and used quite a number of ordinary table top (or portable) radios in my life. All of them tend to go bad in the same way after some 10 years or so: they do not "hold the station" and distort from mis-tuning. You try to adjust the tuning on them every day, although they have been tuned to your local station for a number of years without a problem. The audio section typically works fine, as I can conclude from the ones that has a line input. I usually throw them away and buy new ones, but I would like to know what age do to them. My radios all have had pre-selected tuning of the variable resistor type. My current Philips kitchen radio is a 1991 model that is on its way to the city dump... Anyone knows what typically happens to (ordinary) FM radios with age? Would I have better luck with a digitally tuned device? Per. Sorry not an answer but a comment inspired by yours. About 20 years ago I bought a NAD 3020B amplifier and a 4020 AM / FM tuner. Some years ago these got put away in the loft. More recently, I found a use for them and took them out again. The amplifier still sounds good and the only thing it lacks compared to a new one is remote control. I cannot detect much difference between it and my newer amplifiers. The tuner was very disappointing. It was tuned with an old style knob and a needle moving along a dial. I could cope with that since I don't change channels a lot. But the sound was very much poorer than my newer NAD 701 receiver. Both were fed from the same roof aerial via the same distribution box. I could not even give the thing away and it had to go to the dump. Did the tuner degrade much more than the amplifier or have my standards been raised by newer better tuners? It was replaced with a Denon receiver. I considered just a tuner to use with the 3020 but my wife wanted remote control and the receiver was not much more than just a tuner. There is a surprisingly poor choice of FM tuners these days. It seems that few people want them. I am currently very happy with this tuner. As well as a good sound, features such as remote control and RDS are attractive. So the 3020 is back in the loft but I am keeping it. If it can sound good after 20 years, it can last a few more and I may find another use for it. Seán O'Leathlóbhair Chances are the tuner was out of alignment, there's not much to go wrong with power amplifiers. |
#21
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"James Sweet" wrote in message news:xzUWc.2539$HY.2313@trnddc03...
"Sean O'Leathlobhair" wrote in message om... Per Stromgren wrote in message . .. Old FM radios never die, they just fade away... snip Sorry not an answer but a comment inspired by yours. About 20 years ago I bought a NAD 3020B amplifier and a 4020 AM / FM tuner. Some years ago these got put away in the loft. More recently, I found a use for them and took them out again. The amplifier still sounds good and the only thing it lacks compared to a new one is remote control. I cannot detect much difference between it and my newer amplifiers. The tuner was very disappointing. It was tuned with an old style knob and a needle moving along a dial. I could cope with that since I don't change channels a lot. But the sound was very much poorer than my newer NAD 701 receiver. Both were fed from the same roof aerial via the same distribution box. I could not even give the thing away and it had to go to the dump. Did the tuner degrade much more than the amplifier or have my standards been raised by newer better tuners? It was replaced with a Denon receiver. I considered just a tuner to use with the 3020 but my wife wanted remote control and the receiver was not much more than just a tuner. There is a surprisingly poor choice of FM tuners these days. It seems that few people want them. I am currently very happy with this tuner. As well as a good sound, features such as remote control and RDS are attractive. So the 3020 is back in the loft but I am keeping it. If it can sound good after 20 years, it can last a few more and I may find another use for it. Seán O'Leathlóbhair Chances are the tuner was out of alignment, there's not much to go wrong with power amplifiers. Thanks. Do you expect that is all or most of the reason? The difference in quality between this old tuner and the newer NAD 701 and the Denon that I just bought is huge. Or in other words, how much has the sound quality of FM tuners improved in the last 20 years? There have been considerable improvements in ease of use, I now have preset stations, RDS and remote control which are all very nice. But I wonder if the new one sounds much better than the old one did originally. On the other hand, the amplifier still sounds good by today's standards. If the quality has improved then it is beyond me to detect it though I have not done a very scientific side by side test. Seán O'Leathlóbhair |
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Sean O'Leathlobhair wrote:
(big ol' snip) Or in other words, how much has the sound quality of FM tuners improved in the last 20 years? There have been considerable improvements in ease of use, I now have preset stations, RDS and remote control which are all very nice. But I wonder if the new one sounds much better than the old one did originally. I would say that the sound quality of FM tuners has decreased steadily for about 15-20 years. There are a VERY VERY few high end tuners that can compete favorably to most higher-end tuners of two decades ago. While shopping for a Magnum Dynalab, I ended up getting an ancient Sansui TU-9900, and I'd argue that they're fairly comparable. (the Sansui after an alignment may be better) Nobody listens to music on FM anymore. Most of the stations are heavily compressed, which makes a good tuner pointless. Most of the stations compress because they can put out a higher apparent signal level, and besides--no one has good tuners anymore. It's a big vicious cycle. I'm lucky--including campus radio, I have three excellent stations locally that broadcast the highest quality signal possible. Now I just need to find someone to align this ol' tuner of mine. Colin |
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"Colin B." wrote in message ... Sean O'Leathlobhair wrote: (big ol' snip) Or in other words, how much has the sound quality of FM tuners improved in the last 20 years? There have been considerable improvements in ease of use, I now have preset stations, RDS and remote control which are all very nice. But I wonder if the new one sounds much better than the old one did originally. I would say that the sound quality of FM tuners has decreased steadily for about 15-20 years. There are a VERY VERY few high end tuners that can compete favorably to most higher-end tuners of two decades ago. While shopping for a Magnum Dynalab, I ended up getting an ancient Sansui TU-9900, and I'd argue that they're fairly comparable. (the Sansui after an alignment may be better) Nobody listens to music on FM anymore. Most of the stations are heavily compressed, which makes a good tuner pointless. Most of the stations compress because they can put out a higher apparent signal level, and besides--no one has good tuners anymore. It's a big vicious cycle. Most FM stations are flooded with advertisements and 90% crappy music too, that probably is the biggest reason for it's decline aside from the convenience of CD's. |
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Here in Tucson, we have a 24-hour Classical station from the University of
Arizona. I think it has excellent sound quality. Speaking of radios, I'm gonna start looking for some of those nice table radios Magnavox had in the 60s/70s. Beautiful cabinets and nice sound. BobbyB Tucson, AZ |
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"Charlie+" wrote in message news On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:47:29 GMT, "James Sweet" wrote as underneath my scribble : Might be worth your taking a listen to BBC Radio 3 (bbc.co.uk) which is mainly classical and I think available streamed on the web 24 hrs a day - no ads - and top quality as broadcast FM in the uk - however the BBC web quality will probably take a hit through compression but I have no idea how much - might be worth a try for you guys though!! Or BBC Radio 1 for modern music, or BBC Radio 2 for medium music and comedy or BBC Radio 4 for current affairs comedy and mainly voice or BBC Radio 7 for old rerun voice comedy etc. -- all with no commercial ads.! Shedules are all available on the same website though afraid youll' have to put up with Brit voices and humour etc!!. PS I have nothing to do with BBC! Charlie+ Web radio is great when you're home, but it kinda defeats the convenience of radio in the first place aside from that. |
#27
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"James Sweet" wrote in message news:s8RYc.1703$O85.1557@trnddc05...
"Charlie+" wrote in message news On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:47:29 GMT, "James Sweet" wrote as underneath my scribble : Might be worth your taking a listen to BBC Radio 3 (bbc.co.uk) which is mainly classical and I think available streamed on the web 24 hrs a day - no ads - and top quality as broadcast FM in the uk - however the BBC web quality will probably take a hit through compression but I have no idea how much - might be worth a try for you guys though!! Or BBC Radio 1 for modern music, or BBC Radio 2 for medium music and comedy or BBC Radio 4 for current affairs comedy and mainly voice or BBC Radio 7 for old rerun voice comedy etc. -- all with no commercial ads.! Shedules are all available on the same website though afraid youll' have to put up with Brit voices and humour etc!!. PS I have nothing to do with BBC! Charlie+ Web radio is great when you're home, but it kinda defeats the convenience of radio in the first place aside from that. Yes we are lucky here in the UK. The BBC, at least for some stations, maintains high standards. If you like classical music then it is worth getting a good quality tuner just for BBC Radio 3. It is also good for BBC Radio 4 even though it is primarily talk, some of the talk is drama. Classic FM, an independent classical network, also has quite good standards. Here, there are several ways to receive BBCR3. There is a national network of FM transmitters which cover almost all of the country. This is very good quality. It is available on the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). I have no personal experience of this. DAB gets a lot of criticism in the UK since it seems that the broadcasters have chosen to use high compression and lots of channels rather than fewer channels and higher quality. I have read that BBCR3 uses the highest rate and some, at least, think that the quality is good. DTTV (Digital Terrestrial TV) is also active here and carries some radio channels as well as TV. The bit rates of the radio stations are higher than DAB and if your reception and equipment are good then the quality is good. Whether it is better or worse than FM depends on reception conditions, your equipment and subjective factors. I know nothing at all about web radio. I normally use FM for BBC radio but DTTV is close and I use it for recording since I have this nice Humax PVR which makes recording of TV or radio from DTTV very easy. Seán O'Leathlóbhair |
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"James Sweet" wrote in message news:s8RYc.1703$O85.1557@trnddc05...
"Charlie+" wrote in message news On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:47:29 GMT, "James Sweet" wrote as underneath my scribble : Might be worth your taking a listen to BBC Radio 3 (bbc.co.uk) which is mainly classical and I think available streamed on the web 24 hrs a day - no ads - and top quality as broadcast FM in the uk - however the BBC web quality will probably take a hit through compression but I have no idea how much - might be worth a try for you guys though!! Or BBC Radio 1 for modern music, or BBC Radio 2 for medium music and comedy or BBC Radio 4 for current affairs comedy and mainly voice or BBC Radio 7 for old rerun voice comedy etc. -- all with no commercial ads.! Shedules are all available on the same website though afraid youll' have to put up with Brit voices and humour etc!!. PS I have nothing to do with BBC! Charlie+ Web radio is great when you're home, but it kinda defeats the convenience of radio in the first place aside from that. Yes we are lucky here in the UK. The BBC, at least for some stations, maintains high standards. If you like classical music then it is worth getting a good quality tuner just for BBC Radio 3. It is also good for BBC Radio 4 even though it is primarily talk, some of the talk is drama. Classic FM, an independent classical network, also has quite good standards. Here, there are several ways to receive BBCR3. There is a national network of FM transmitters which cover almost all of the country. This is very good quality. It is available on the DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). I have no personal experience of this. DAB gets a lot of criticism in the UK since it seems that the broadcasters have chosen to use high compression and lots of channels rather than fewer channels and higher quality. I have read that BBCR3 uses the highest rate and some, at least, think that the quality is good. DTTV (Digital Terrestrial TV) is also active here and carries some radio channels as well as TV. The bit rates of the radio stations are higher than DAB and if your reception and equipment are good then the quality is good. Whether it is better or worse than FM depends on reception conditions, your equipment and subjective factors. I know nothing at all about web radio. I normally use FM for BBC radio but DTTV is close and I use it for recording since I have this nice Humax PVR which makes recording of TV or radio from DTTV very easy. Seán O'Leathlóbhair |
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"Colin B." wrote in message ...
Sean O'Leathlobhair wrote: (big ol' snip) Or in other words, how much has the sound quality of FM tuners improved in the last 20 years? There have been considerable improvements in ease of use, I now have preset stations, RDS and remote control which are all very nice. But I wonder if the new one sounds much better than the old one did originally. I would say that the sound quality of FM tuners has decreased steadily for about 15-20 years. There are a VERY VERY few high end tuners that can compete favorably to most higher-end tuners of two decades ago. While shopping for a Magnum Dynalab, I ended up getting an ancient Sansui TU-9900, and I'd argue that they're fairly comparable. (the Sansui after an alignment may be better) Certainly there is much less choice than there used to be. 20 years ago a HiFi magazine would have many pages of tuners. Today there are just a few. I was looking at the bottom end of serious HiFi and had only a few tuners or receivers to consider. 20 years ago I would have had masses. Nobody listens to music on FM anymore. Most of the stations are heavily compressed, which makes a good tuner pointless. Most of the stations compress because they can put out a higher apparent signal level, and besides--no one has good tuners anymore. It's a big vicious cycle. We get that problem but maybe no so bad. See my other post to this thread today for some comments. Devices such as MP3 players seem to be killing radio. At home, people want pictures so they use TV and on the move MP3 players now are an easy and cheap way to get the music you want. In the car, you can use CD or MP3 again. But there are still some radio fans left here and I am one of them. I'm lucky--including campus radio, I have three excellent stations locally that broadcast the highest quality signal possible. Now I just need to find someone to align this ol' tuner of mine. I am also lucky with the BBC stations. See further down the thread. Colin Seán O'Leathlóbhair |
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"Karel Jansen" wrote in message .. .
I expect it is a capacitor getting old. This is what I was going to say, I just couldn't work out where in this tangled thread to say it! I have made several '70s tuners usable again by replacing aged electrolytic capacitors. These dry out over time, especially where there are lots of bulbs in the unit to light up the display. I have recently upgraded to digital preset tuning, on a lovely JVC FX-1010 I saw going cheap. Sensitive, low noise, two antennas, accurate signal readout, optically isolated gubbins, mmm... ALex |
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