Denon TU-260L

[plastic penguin]

Anyone got this tuner? if so what is it like? Seen them on ebay for about £30 - i know they were a budget tuner (and well thought of I believe).

My old Marantz looks as if it has finally given up the ghost.

 

[plastic penguin]

...Or does anyone know whether it is signal-hungry? It's important, because signal reception in my area is notoriously hit 'n' miss.

 

[Torres09]

PP, i had one of these for approx 15 years, they were out in the early 90's IIRC, just sold it last year for ?25-aaahhhhh

Served me well and never had any trouble with it, god, i just remember now in the days before SKY and the Premer League i'd bring me can of coke and mars bar to my room and listen to BBC Radio 5 Live......those were the days

Sorry PP, cant upload pics of mine-doh

 

[John Duncan]

I have the MK2, and it's fantastic. Chebby had the Mk1 recently (and got it for 10 quid if I recall)

 

[John Duncan]

Though tbh, for the price of them you might as well just buy one and find out - if it's not what you want, sell it again...

EDIT - especially if it's the one that went for 99p recently. Look at the recent sales, they range from 99p to 30 quid. Time it right and you'll get a cheap one. If you don't get that one, try the next one.

 

[blakenhall]

I also have the MK2 and agree with JohnDuncan in saying that it is fantastic. It was purchased from ebay for £34 about 12 months ago, it had been well looked after and was in mint condition. I live in North Staffordshire and have a large 5 element FM aerial in the loft pointing towards Sutton Coldfield, it is connected directly to the plug/tuner, no wall sockets, using Satellite grade cable - signal quality is superb on the majority of stations. Go For It!

 

[plastic penguin]

JohnDuncan:Though tbh, for the price of them you might as well just buy one and find out - if it's not what you want, sell it again... EDIT - especially if it's the one that went for 99p recently. Look at the recent sales, they range from 99p to 30 quid. Time it right and you'll get a cheap one. If you don't get that one, try the next one.

Understandable, however, we have hi-fi components and bits 'n' bobs crawling out of the woodwork....

 

[Anonymous]

I had the Denon TU-260L MK2 and it was a brilliant tuner. Highly recommended.

 

[plastic penguin]

ValianTX:I had the Denon TU-260L MK2 and it was a brilliant tuner. Highly recommended.

Cool! nice one, Valian

 

[JoelSim]

I can honestly say in 20+ years I've never heard a bad word about them.

 

[chebby]

 

[Andrew Everard]

See, even Chebby doesn't have a bad word for the tuner...

 

[Anonymous]

hahahaha...that was funny!

 

[chebby]

Sorry. The system 'ate' my text when I pressed 'post' and I did not get around to re-typing it.

Anyway.... the Denon TU-260L was ok. For a tenner it was very good.

I gave it away (when I bought my present tuner) so even better value for the new owner

I am not sure I would bother with an FM tuner at all if reception was not so good and I did not have a good rooftop aerial. (It is and I do.)

With reception like PP describes ("notoriously hit 'n' miss") I would use Freeview radio and/or internet radio. (Or radio from Sky or Virgin cable, or Freesat, or whatever if your TV reception is bad too.)

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:
Sorry. The system 'ate' my text when I pressed 'post' and I did not get around to re-typing it.

Anyway.... the Denon TU-260L was ok. For a tenner it was very good.

I gave it away (when I bought my present tuner) so even better value for the new owner

I am not sure I would bother with an FM tuner at all if reception was not so good and I did not have a good rooftop aerial. (It is and I do.)

With reception like PP describes ("notoriously hit 'n' miss") I would use Freeview radio and/or internet radio. (Or radio from Sky or Virgin cable, or Freesat, or whatever if your TV reception is bad too.)

A simple YES or NO would have sufficed!

Hahahaha...just kidding chee bai.

 

[plastic penguin]

chebby:

Sorry. The system 'ate' my text when I pressed 'post' and I did not get around to re-typing it.

Anyway.... the Denon TU-260L was ok. For a tenner it was very good.

I gave it away (when I bought my present tuner) so even better value for the new owner

I am not sure I would bother with an FM tuner at all if reception was not so good and I did not have a good rooftop aerial. (It is and I do.)

With reception like PP describes ("notoriously hit 'n' miss") I would use Freeview radio and/or internet radio. (Or radio from Sky or Virgin cable, or Freesat, or whatever if your TV reception is bad too.)

Your probably right. I have mentioned in other threads (yonks ago) that I may not replace the tuner. However good the sound quality is with digital radio, most of the stations I like (X-FM or Absolute Radio) are either rubbish reception or cannot be picked up at all. So my hand maybe forced....

 

[Anonymous]

A matter of 'life and death' then Plastic Penguin?

 

[chebby]

Garland Genoho:A matter of 'life and death' then Plastic Penguin?

"Oh Peter, do you think cables really can make a difference?"

 

[plastic penguin]

Garland Genoho:A matter of 'life and death' then Plastic Penguin?

Nope - a matter of maximising the family musical enjoyment.

 

[plastic penguin]

Just phoned someone about prices to repair the Marantz. He has asked for a £20.00 deposite and if he can repair it will set me back in the region £40.00 per day plus parts. Add on the carrier costs and it isn't worth even looking at a repair.

Denon 260 for around 10-20 quid.....

 

[chebby]

Don't skimp on the aerial though. (Given the 'iffy' reception you described.) And don't get talked into one of those ubiquitous, round 'omni' FM aerials.

 

[plastic penguin]

chebby:Don't skimp on the aerial though. (Given the 'iffy' reception you described.) And don't get talked into one of those ubiquitous, round 'omni' FM aerials.

I have a loft aerial at the mo. Got a quote a year or so back (we don't have a chimney) and he said because we live in a strange area we would need a twenty foot aerial stuck on the side of the bungalow (quoted £200 plus aerial). Don't think the neighbours would be best pleased either. Mmm, tricky one this....

 

[Anonymous]

plastic penguin:
Just phoned someone about prices to repair the Marantz. He has asked for a £20.00 deposite and if he can repair it will set me back in the region £40.00 per day plus parts. Add on the carrier costs and it isn't worth even looking at a repair.

Denon 260 for around 10-20 quid.....

That REALLY is a no-brainer question, PP!

 

[plastic penguin]

ValianTX:plastic penguin:

Just phoned someone about prices to repair the Marantz. He has asked for a £20.00 deposite and if he can repair it will set me back in the region £40.00 per day plus parts. Add on the carrier costs and it isn't worth even looking at a repair.

Denon 260 for around 10-20 quid.....

That REALLY is a no-brainer question, PP!

Absolutely. I was pretty shocked that businesses could actually get away with a service. They certainly won't be getting any money from me (right, where's the wheelie bin?).

 

[chebby]

plastic penguin:Got a quote a year or so back (we don't have a chimney) and he said because we live in a strange area we would need a twenty foot aerial stuck on the side of the bungalow (quoted £200 plus aerial). Don't think the neighbours would be best pleased either.

The height of the mast would not be unusual. Our house is about 28 feet to the top of the roof, then the chimney is another couple of feet, and the mast yet another few feet so I guess the FM aerial is about 32 feet above ground level. However, I can see your point that a tall mast would look obtrusive on the side of a bungalow. Also, if your favourite stations come from different transmitters, and from different directions, and with varying signal strength/quality, then you are going to need some type of rotating, directional aerial which is out of the question in your situation (and v expensive).

Our city is flat and there are no significantly taller buildings between our house and the transmitter, so (on a clear day) it would be possible to see the transmitter - with binoculars - from the roof. It is also a very powerful transmitter so signal strength is excellent. (There is our transmitter, just to the left of centre foreground in the pic.)

I honestly think you are going to be better off with radio from Freeview/Sky/Cable connected via optical digital (into a DAC) and with internet radio & BBC iPlayer etc from your computer (or something like a squeezebox).

The main reason to use FM is for it's quality. But if the signal is not there in sufficient strength/quality, then it is not worth bothering about no matter how good the tuner is.