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In Reply to: Fisher FM-1000 posted by Badger on July 7, 2001 at 00:22:04:
Hi:Been following the thread a bit here.
I own two Fisher FM-1000 tuners. One sort of work properly, but considering its foibles and such, that is a generous statement. As found in the "rough", almost every example I have ever seen or heard of has problems. For starters, the meters, which were made in Japan, did not survive the years without significant structural and mechanical problems. They either do not work properly or stick due to poor lubrication or dried up lubricant. Most often, they just do not work at all. The sets need complete electronic updating before you can begin to compare them with ANYTHING. So, to state that the FM-1000 is categorically SUPERIOR to say an example of an MR-71 or 10-B is no way to judge ALL of them. There are exceptions, of couse to any of these pieces.
The FMR-1 is identical except for a fancier 19" dress front panel and the optional plug in "crystal front end module", which essentially fixes the front end to tune in a designated, selected frequency. Big deal. A friend of mine over in SF has one in his rack and he NEVER uses it at all, which sort of irks me a lot. Not that I would not want to own the thing, mind you!
The other FM-1000 I have was monstrously mistreated by someone who should have been locked up and forbidden access to a soldering iron--forever!
It looks great in the original cabinet and folks who come over always "ooh and ahhh" over it. That is about all it is worth at the moment, and it is not for sale, incidentally.
I have many of the other classic tuners in the house. The Marantz 10-B's I own will wipe any Fisher FM-1000 (stock ones, that is). So, in all, a nice looking box, lights up neat and clean and sometimes sounds decent, but not THAT remarkable. A Yamaha CT-7000 would put it to shame.
The MR-71 is still competition for it, too and at least the McIntosh sort of stays on and runs properly longer than these fancy-schmantzy Fisher "stretch limo" tuners. In my opinion, the Fisher FM-200-B is just about as good as the FM-1000 and costs significantly LESS. It will also oftentimes sound and perform BETTER than the run-of-the-mill OVERPRICED FM-1000's out there.
A few stiff words here or there, but you need to know.
Thanks and good luck to those who bid on eBay for such things. Did it ever occur to someone that tubed FM tuners more than 40 years old are really not meant to be shipped across the country in a shoebox with the hope that (1) they will sort of stay in whatever alignment they began their journey with? I was always told that when I drove a tuner home from a shop after an alignment to be extra careful not to hit the bumps or ruts in the road or it would not stay in alignment very long. That was when these things were NEW!
Please don't think that I am in any way "anti-tube" or "anti-Fisher".Al Pugliese and I are friendly and even he will probably tell you that these things need professional assistance to assure proper performance. It's just that the FM-1000 is a bit over-rated in my little opinion.
Rich Links
Berkeley
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Follow Ups
- Re: Fisher FM-1000 Vs XYZ tuner? - marantzguy 18:12:27 08/22/01 (0)
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