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I am lucky to be within fair reception distance of KCNV in Vegas. Close enough to get good stereo from my Pioneer F-90 but the Marantz ST-551 will only offer mono so far (using just an indoor 300ohm dipole).
I have an outdoor dipole on the way, and am restoring a Dynaco FM-3 so we'll see.
But of course high quality FM stations are now few and far between, sadly. My FM listening years in Boston were some of the best audio years of my life...
Well outdoor dipole did not help for receving KCNV is fringe area for that broadcast (North Las Vegas).
From what I have been reading I think a homemade rhombic if done correctly would do the job nicely; supposedly 6db of gain... I would plan to tack the rhombic to the living room ceiling - since I gave the wifey the heave-ho I no longer have to deal with WAF :)
In the meantime while working to restore the FM-3 (and a Pioneer F-90) I will be listening to two Sony ST-J75s I just picked up from the bay for $100 shipped each. The idea is to have both on in different rooms so I can move around and have seamless listening.
I get excellent stereo signal and sound from the J75s - if I get the Crane dipole in just the right orientation. But if signal is even slightly weak, the J75s distort on low bass when it is strong. It's a known issue for the J75s, with a fairly easy corrective tweak I will eventually do.
There is a lot to be said for over the air FM if you are near enough to a good broadcaster.
I remember years ago when a roommate's choral ensemble performed on WBUR in Beantown. I taped the broadcast on an RT-707 from my heathkit tuner. Being a performer in the chorus, she knew well how the performance should sound. When I played back the recording for her, her jaw dropped. She could not believe how good it sounded.
But she was married at the time so it did not translate to any benefits :(
~!
The Mind has No Firewall~ U.S. Army War College.
Arizona public radio streams their classical station in lossless flac. google...
Some locations may have a good sounding FM broadcast station or usually a non-processed audio college station. FM internet radio is available everywhere. Sold my quality tube tuners long ago.
I have two college stations, one all jazz, the other all classical, 3 public stations two of which used to be college licenses that now cover news and other interests along with the main station that has a variety of music programming throughout the day and evening and a community station run by a non-profit. They all sound very good to superb. This is all in a smaller market in the inland northwest. What it takes is interest from the public and financial support. radioparadise.com offers a cd-quality stream and has an incredible curated selection by real djs and it sounds very good. But my local college jazz station kills it in sound quality though my accuphase t-1000 tuner and it isn't even close. Commercial fm has always sounded terrible, since the use of high compression is used to increase signal reach farther from the antenna has gone on for decades now. Hit the left end of the dial for the good sounding, non-commercial stations. That's where the magic is...
PaulN, I do not have any college FM stations in my area, my post still stands.
Some locations have one or possibly two non-processed college FM broadcast stations. Internet has many 320mps stations. No brainer, FM broadcast is dead. $1000 vintage FM tuners are not worth $100 now IMO.
Edits: 06/17/23
I have a good DAC, but I listen to KBAQ over the air from Phoenix with a Scott 310e. KBAQ is a very good classical station, but I believe it is mainly the sound of the tuner that I like. There are aspects of lossless classical that I do like, but I still prefer the Scott tuner.
Would I spend $1,000 for the Scott to listen to KBAQ? Absolutely. I went through about a dozen tuners before settling on the 310E. Some of the others, like the Accuphase I also believe is worth what they are currently going for. I know it doesn't make much sense, I think you would just have to hear it.
...a SiriusXM trial and am starting to like it although i have only found about six or so channels that I would listen to. Classical, 50s gold, 60s gold, and Bluegrass Junction. There will be a few more (probably), we'll see.
Later Gator,
Dave
Totally agree - local stations (only) play a continuing "mix" of maybe 30 songs.
Realized one only transmits in mono - when asked, they said that their multiplex generator has been broken for years. I was the first person who called to ask.
Internet radio has some great Jazz stations
I use an Ocean WR10 tuner with better outboard DAC although internal DAC is good. I have about 12 channels in memory.
Later Gator,
Dave
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