Personal computing discussed
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morphine wrote:Wow, that was some major Google-fu.
Also, SS, if you hadn't bought speakers yet and wanted to save space further, you could go with powered studio monitors + a separate FM receiver.
SecretSquirrel wrote:You know how hard it is to find a separate FM receiver these days? Cost damn near as much as a low end AVR and in many cases are more expensive than a low end stereo receiver. Being involved in the manufacture of equipment, I understand why, but it still seems wrong...
SecretSquirrel wrote:morphine wrote:Wow, that was some major Google-fu.
Also, SS, if you hadn't bought speakers yet and wanted to save space further, you could go with powered studio monitors + a separate FM receiver.
You know how hard it is to find a separate FM receiver these days? Cost damn near as much as a low end AVR and in many cases are more expensive than a low end stereo receiver. Being involved in the manufacture of equipment, I understand why, but it still seems wrong...
I may still go the powered monitor route. At some point I need to upgrade the speakers in the master bedroom from 1995 vintage Yamaha two-ways to something a bit better. I may move the Fluance's into the bedroom and replace them with powered monitors in the office, especially if radio reception is moved to the computer.
--SS
Frugal wrote:SecretSquirrel wrote:morphine wrote:Wow, that was some major Google-fu.
Also, SS, if you hadn't bought speakers yet and wanted to save space further, you could go with powered studio monitors + a separate FM receiver.
You know how hard it is to find a separate FM receiver these days? Cost damn near as much as a low end AVR and in many cases are more expensive than a low end stereo receiver. Being involved in the manufacture of equipment, I understand why, but it still seems wrong...
I may still go the powered monitor route. At some point I need to upgrade the speakers in the master bedroom from 1995 vintage Yamaha two-ways to something a bit better. I may move the Fluance's into the bedroom and replace them with powered monitors in the office, especially if radio reception is moved to the computer.
--SS
I see separate FM tuners all the time. I have an old Sansui that I keep around but don't currently use. I have seen 3-4 more I wanted to buy for under $20 but the Sansui works and I don't need more. The problem is that old stuff doesn't have new features like RDS or HD radio because they are old. The new stuff with all the features is $$$ and I fear it will never get cheap because people generally don't buy fancy radios any more.
What is worse is AM radios, I think the chip receivers have gotten worse and it's a race to the bottom. You have to spend to get good reception which seems silly for AM.
Of course most of my stereo gear is bought from garage sales and surplus stores because I don't like to spend the money for new and good. That doesn't always mean ancient or bad, my last two purchases were a set of NAD separates for $60 (given to a friend) and a fairly recent low end Yamaha AV receiver for $80 (for HDMI switching and to remove the rat's nest of RCAs behind my parent's TV).
Redocbew wrote:You get serious nerd cred for having books on VB5.0 and Excel 2003.
Frugal wrote:I think you need a book on speaker placement.
Redocbew wrote:You get serious nerd cred for having books on VB5.0 and Excel 2003.
SecretSquirrel wrote:
Does such a unicorn exist?
--SS
CScottG wrote:..and if you really like FM why cheap-out on the tuner?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnum-Dynalab- ... id%3D22635
-this thing was over 3 grand when new.
SecretSquirrel wrote:The point was to reclaim some space and get rid of some heat.
just brew it! wrote:CScottG wrote:..and if you really like FM why cheap-out on the tuner?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnum-Dynalab- ... id%3D22635
-this thing was over 3 grand when new.
Well, there was this bit:SecretSquirrel wrote:The point was to reclaim some space and get rid of some heat.
Somehow, I think adding a discrete rack mount tuner to the mix may be missing the point.
just brew it! wrote:CScottG wrote:..and if you really like FM why cheap-out on the tuner?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnum-Dynalab- ... id%3D22635
-this thing was over 3 grand when new.
Well, there was this bit:SecretSquirrel wrote:The point was to reclaim some space and get rid of some heat.
Somehow, I think adding a discrete rack mount tuner to the mix may be missing the point.
SecretSquirrel wrote:CScottG wrote:..and if you really like FM why cheap-out on the tuner?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnum-Dynalab- ... id%3D22635
-this thing was over 3 grand when new.
It's actually a pretty sweet receiver.
CScottG wrote:SecretSquirrel wrote:CScottG wrote:..and if you really like FM why cheap-out on the tuner?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnum-Dynalab- ... id%3D22635
-this thing was over 3 grand when new.
It's actually a pretty sweet receiver.
It's just a tuner, but quite likely in the top 10 of all tuners (ever produced for consumers) - sound-wise. (..I've heard it, it's *very* good).
CScottG wrote:You could then add an integrated amp that also sounds good and meets most of your requirements (..with a long run of RCA cables from the tuner to your efficient integrated amp). The result would be in completely different category sound-wise.
SecretSquirrel wrote:CScottG wrote:SecretSquirrel wrote:
It's actually a pretty sweet receiver.
It's just a tuner, but quite likely in the top 10 of all tuners (ever produced for consumers) - sound-wise. (..I've heard it, it's *very* good).
*sigh* Only in the audio world is a receiver an amplifier. Everywhere else a receiver is the thing that receives, in this case, radio waves.
--SS
DPete27 wrote:If the main purpose is for playing back FM radio, I'd consider it MUCH more important to get a tuner capable of HD radio than worrying about the quality of said tuner/amp. Just wondering if your new setup has HD radio capability?
DPete27 wrote:Good to know. I was just speaking from experience with car audio. Many newer cars have HD radio and a growing number of aftermarket decks have it also. I wanna say this Kenwood deck was what I installed in my last car. When it kicked from analog FM to HD radio it was a night-and-day difference.
ludi wrote:DPete27 wrote:Good to know. I was just speaking from experience with car audio. Many newer cars have HD radio and a growing number of aftermarket decks have it also. I wanna say this Kenwood deck was what I installed in my last car. When it kicked from analog FM to HD radio it was a night-and-day difference.
That's pretty close to the one I had in my last car, too. Subjectively, I found that HD-FM was just a bit below CD quality and HD-AM was pretty close to traditional FM quality.