Hitachi FT-5500 mk2 Tuner...any good?

[gowiththeflow]

There's a few of these tuners on "the bay" at the moment.

They seem like rather good value if one in a decent condition can be won.

How good are they, sound and functionality wise?

There appears to be a near mint one advertised currently and it looks quite tempting.

Any thoughts?

 

[davidf]

Never heard one, but they were supposedly very good back in their day, pretty much a reference product at its price point, which was about £250, if I recall correctly.

 

[gowiththeflow]

Thanks for the replies.

I remember the FT5500 mark 2 being rated quite highly back in the day and wondered how it would stack up today.

I'm tempted to add one to a 2nd system if the price is right and I can get a good clean example.

Cheers.

 

[nopiano]

Thanks for the replies.

I remember the FT5500 mark 2 being rated quite highly back in the day and wondered how it would stack up today.

I'm tempted to add one to a 2nd system if the price is right and I can get a good clean example.

Cheers.

After that, with the possible exception of the high end Revox, Quad and Naim tuners, I’m not sure any real progress was made in design or sound. Aside from the wonderful and hideously costly Magnum Dynalab range I’m not sure the exotic ones are worth the bother/cost.

In the late 90s I was fairly flush and auditioned an Accuphase tuner versus my Mark 1. There was scarcely any difference and certainly not a big improvement. What I described to the kind dealer who loaned it to me, he thought was a perfect review of the interconnect he’d included!! Needless to say I kept my cash.

 

[jimmy1]

I remember having a few seperate tuners back in the day the hitachi fm i had sounded better than the sony cd player and pioneer dat deck i had at the time and there was hardly anything inside it so maybe simple sounds better sometimes

 

[plastic penguin]

The Hitachi comes with a good reputation, and I think for a tenner or thereabouts I would suggest it's a no brainer and worth a punt.

I've always been a fan of vintage Marantz tuners: I've owned the 2060 for nearly 40 years (still in the attic) and sounds and works beautifully. There are actually two on the 'Bay' at the moment. That's very unusual as the 2060 were made in limited numbers.

 

[gowiththeflow]

The Hitachi comes with a good reputation, and I think for a tenner or thereabouts I would suggest it's a no brainer and worth a punt.

I think you'd be very lucky to get one, at least an undamaged, decent condition and fully working example for a tenner. Particularly on ebay.

The currently advertised ones are priced north of £40 which has been the case when I've looked at this particular model in the past.

z

 

[jjbomber]

I think you'd be very lucky to get one, at least an undamaged, decent condition and fully working example for a tenner. Particularly on ebay.

The package and posting will be a tenner.

 

[nopiano]

I own the mark 1 and Mark 2. The mark one is at least 30 years old and is still 100%. The mark 2 I bought as a backup in case the original went pop! I don’t actually like the sound quite as much as it seems to have less stage depth. It’s a small difference though.

They both work on weak signals and can cope with adjacent channel interference well. The mark 2 seems to have an internal cell to memorise stations, and hence mine doesn’t! The original used a capacitor which works fine. You can leave it powered up permanently but if you listen to more than one channel regularly you might want to check that.

I’d not pay more than about £30 for one because they are simply not in demand, though FM has had another reprieve recently. My mark 2 was £15 a couple of years ago.

 

[nopiano]

I think you'd be very lucky to get one, at least an undamaged, decent condition and fully working example for a tenner. Particularly on ebay.

The package and posting will be a tenner.

I got one for £15 collected. Sale from estates (deceased owner) are one source.