My new (old) £10 Denon TU-260L FM tuner...

[chebby]

... arrived a couple of hours ago.

I gave it a good clean and buff and lopped off the old mains plug and popped a new MK Tough-plug on it with the correct 3A fuse. (Previous user had a 13A on it!)

I found a pair of old 1m Gotham GAC1 cables (to be replaced soon with 0.75m Chord Crimson) and plugged in the roof aerial.

Sounds great to have 'real' FM stereo back again. I have been without since April when I packed up the Arcam Solo-Mini.

Freeview radio via my DAC is good - and better than DAB for sure - but this morning's listening to the Denon tuner has shown who is 'boss' in sheer quality. (At least on BBC R1, R2, R3, R4).

No 'wall of sound' style compression effects when the material gets 'busy' so now instruments that are a little 'shy' in the mix remain audible right through a track, unlike Freeview and internet (sometimes) or DAB (all the time) where fainter instruments can get lost in denser/more dynamic moments only to reappear when the track becomes quieter.

Radio 4 has resumed it's 'authority' again and R3 was sounding especially good earlier. (I am looking forward to some live stuff.)

I have gained BBC Radio Solent and Classic FM again but will need to use Freeview for R7 and daytime World Service.

I guess the tuner has not been used in quite a while so I will be interested in what it sounds like all warmed through by tonight.

All-in-all, great VFM for a tenner! (Ok P&P cost £15).

If the Gov decide soon to delay FM switch-off significantly longer than 2015 then I may upgrade to a more 'ambitious' tuner but not until I know for sure.

 

[d_a_n1979]

I've always been a HUGE fan of thus tuner; such a fan that mine is sat upstair in the study still waiting to join my new system (when I get round to sorting the damn thing)!

The sound has always been brilliant and the clarity is hard to beat IMO

 

[chebby]

Ooh, the Archers in it's full 'Archeriness'. (My wife will love this.) I can even place where the teaspoons are rattling. When a bathroom door was opened it sounded like someone was coming into the room!

This is 'hairs rising on the back of the neck' type detail. I can clearly hear distant traffic 'swishing' and birdsong and change being sorted into compartments in the village shop's till. (Can almost hear the different size of the coins). I am not normally a detail freak but I am enjoying this.

Over 3 months since I had FM and never realised how much I was missing it. This Denon (through the Nait) sounds much fuller than the FM tuner I had in the Solo-Mini.

 

[roger06]

Can't recall what my Denon tuner is (one is on holiday in the Apls at the mo !!

) but mine cost me about thrupence on eB@y and it's plugged into my Naim system and sounds fab.

I did get sparky to mount a high gain antenna on the chinmey which I'm sure helps - I live on the south coast and can just about pick up Capital FM (not that I'd want to...) - but Classic FM sounds sweet.

Given the Naim FM tuner to match my system is a grand I don't reckon it would be money that well spent...

 

[Anonymous]

Been meaning to get one of these for ages and never got around to it...... been watching a couple on Ebay, reading this jogged my memory and so I went and had a bid........

.... and won a Mk II for a tenner.

Thanks Chebby...... cheap stereo, you cannot beat it.

 

[Anonymous]

I was obviously ripped off - I paid £12 on evil bay! Have to agree on the sound quality though, even without a proper aerial. Only problem is I don't have a manual - anyone got a photocopy or pdf they could let me have?

 

[chebby]

I have no manual but it is very easy to tune.

TU-260L (not Mk II)....

If you want to program a station just tune to the correct frequency then press 'memory' and then - quickly - press the numbered button you want to allot to it. (1 - 10 or 'shift' to get 11 - 20)

Press 'band' to toggle through FM-MW-LW.

'Tuning <up - down>' self explanatory.

Auto/Manual. Try it in 'manual' for weak/distant stations, It switches to mono and reduces noise/hiss on marginal stations making them more listenable. 'Auto' for all your strong stations.

You really, really will benefit from a professionally installed FM roof aerial of the correct type for your area/transmitter.

 

[plastic penguin]

Where we live we have 'orrible signal for tv and FM radio. Paradoxically, even though the area isn't the greatest for reception, my old tuner seems to be 'easy' on the signal. And I've only got a loft ariel.