FM radio delay

splodge

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Mar 5, 2015
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I mostly listen to FM radio - mainly BBC Radio 2, 3 & 4, and Classic FM. I do enjoy listening to FM radio in good sound quality in the living room. However, it's long been my habit to have two or three radios on around the house, often carrying a small radio from the bedroom to the bathroom, say, while the main one in the living room stays on.

I've stuck with FM, because DAB radios have a built-in delay and different ones won't 'play in sync'.

Last week I bought a new basic system (Denon DM39, Wharfedale 220) and was dismayed to find that even the FM section of this Denon system has a delay, to the extent that it's unlistenable when other radios are on in the house. The echo effect is so bad.

Why is this, and is it possible to get a tuner/unit that will play in sync with other radios? I'm not looking for something extravagant, just cheap and simple but happy with basic speakers like the Wharfedale 220s (which are fine).

A 'multi-room' system (e.g. Sonos) isn't the answer, I'm afraid (too expensive, complicated, and other or reasons I won't go into here)

One problem is that I can't get demos from dealers for FM - they all bleat that they can't get FM signals.

I'd really like to know why even FM tuners now have signal processing delays built in. I've had several tuners since the 1970s, my last one was about 15 years old, and never did they have delays on FM.

Thanks.
 

iMark

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I have noticed the same thing in delays. Basically I have 3 radios in the house that I listen to: the stereo receiver in the living room, the radio in a Sony mini system in the bedroom and the FM tuner in my iPod nano. Furthermore I have tested the FM-tuner in an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid with my computer.

The tuner in the living room and the one in the bedroom (and the EyeTV Hybrid) are connected to a radio outlet on wall sockets connected to cable TV. Our cable TV company rebroadcasts around 35 radio stations via FM. The iPod nano picks up FM radio from an FM transmitter.

When all radios are tuned to the same station (I have tested this with the Dutch station NPO Radio 1) none of the radios is exactly in sync with any other. The iPod Nano is first to get signal. Seems reasonable because this doesn't come from the cable company. But even the 3 radios connected to cable are not in sync. The Yamaha receiver in the living room sounds great but seems to use a bit of processing and is later than the old Sony mini system in the bedroom or the EyeTV.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't tried the Yamaha nor the Sony with signals over the air but I'm sure there would be the same difference. The delay in the Yamaha is slightly noticable when the Sony is on at the same time. But the big difference here is between over the air signals and cable. That's a delay of over a second.

My suggestion is to look for an old fashioned FM tuner without any processing on the second hand market and connect it to your Denon system to get rid of the delay.

The only reason for delays that I can think of is RDS and that modern tuners take a bit of time to process the RDS signal. But I'm problably wrong about this.
 

MajorFubar

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I don't know how you're finding that FM radios tuned into the exact same frequency of the exact same station are giving you any delay, other than the delay caused by the time it's taking for the soudwaves to reach your ears from the speakers you're most distant from. My radio is an original Cyrus FM tuner from the 90s, which is in perfect sync with the FM radio in the kitchen of a similar age, and most probably will be in sync with the equally ancient clock-radio in my bedroom. But hey maybe I've just solved your question: new FM radios have a digital delay. But I can't even begin to imagine what the point of that would be.
 

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