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Appliance du jour: FM receivers

We have a stereo FM receiver that's (gasp!) old and getting tired. It drives speakers in two rooms
  • A pair of Bose 101 Music Monitors (4 Ohm, 60 watts max)
  • A pair of KLH 4 bookshelf speakers (16 Ohm).
I use a coaxial feed from a rooftop antenna. We tend to listen to music at low volumes.

The shelf that the receiver occupies is shallow, 10" deep, so I'm looking for a unit that's, say, 8" front to back, so as to allow room for cabling in back.

I'm pleased to see that receivers are still being manufactured and am starting the process of figuring out what's what. Please feel free to offer recommendations and general abuse.
 
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Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
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I think your 10" depth requirement will nix any standard component level amp. There are compact units out there but I do not see any that would have an external antenna input.

How do you feel about using a car stereo with a 12V power supply? :) It would meet your requirements and would be aesthetically hacktastic.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
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Why are you looking for a Tube amp?
Right now I have nothing driving my sweet speakers from my previous setup. I had never really put much thought into them until I used some tube amps in a truck I build some years ago. The combo of clean power well processed through well places quality speakers made for one of the best sounding systems I'd ever done.

The Planet Audio tubes were bad ass.





McIntosh...



:drool:
 
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jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
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Toobs are awesome.
Prone to shock and arbitrary heat related failure. But tubes can be replaced unless they implode all the inline circuit components after the fried tube. Or fry the board due to heat related tube or socket failure. The flavor that a tube amp imparts is because of the inefficiency of the tubes of which were designed in the fifties. EQ or effects are a much better way to impart the flavor of a tube amp or clean it up as I consider it to be superfluous, and a expensive indulgence.
 
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Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
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Prone to shock and arbitrary heat related failure. But tubes can be replaced unless they implode all the inline circuit components after the fried tube. Or fry the board due to heat related tube or socket failure. The flavor that a tube amp imparts is because of the inefficiency of the tubes of which were designed in the fifties. EQ or effects are a much better way to impart the flavor of a tube amp or clean it up as I consider it to be superfluous, and a expensive indulgence.
A tube is much more linear over normal acoustic frequencies than a solid state drive. To compensate for this a solid state amp is way oversized for what is actually necessary and various filters are applied to get a similarly flat frequency response. The problem with filters is that they impart a phase shift that adversely affects actual waveform duplication. Probably not to a point that I could tell, but I like the one knob operation of the tube amp and the fact that I understand what every little component in the system is doing.
 

jdcamb

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Feb 17, 2002
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A tube is much more linear over normal acoustic frequencies than a solid state drive. To compensate for this a solid state amp is way oversized for what is actually necessary and various filters are applied to get a similarly flat frequency response. The problem with filters is that they impart a phase shift that adversely affects actual waveform duplication. Probably not to a point that I could tell, but I like the one knob operation of the tube amp and the fact that I understand what every little component in the system is doing.
I have never plugged or pushed through the sound generated from a tube amp directly into a PA with out having to process that one component with some sort of delay or effect. DBX made a fortune trying to address fallible nature of Tube Amps and their use in Professional Sound Applications. What is the Bus speed of a tube amp board as compared to a SS processor controlled board? 66hz or as fast as the bus speed to the PC you are using to read this. The Human ear cannot hear or differentiate the difference between a processor/filter enhanced flat signal or Tube degraded signal. I would put forth that the Tube degraded signal has no protection from clipping as it is not as clearly defined as what a processor based boards signal can reproduce. That last part is my theory to qualify. A HD Audio Bus is nearly sonically perfect in most applications. It can only report what the media (source) supplies it.
 
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Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
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Sleazattle
. What is the Bus speed of a tube amp board as compared to a SS processor controlled board? 66hz or as fast as the bus speed to the PC you are using to read this
Uhh. I don't think anyone here is talking about full on pro level equipment, my tube amp is a kitschy bit of awesomeness that I build myself. The tube amp I have sitting next to me is a 100% analog device, not a single processor to be seen, just a pile of resistors, inductors, capacitors, diodes and tooobz.
 

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
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This place is no Crutchfield.

NAD is my casa. Stoked.
McIntosh makes dandy goods.

Break your wall. Extend the shelf. Stack receiver at an angle.

Teac has a few that are close to 10" but not quite 8.
 

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
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Uhh. I don't think anyone here is talking about full on pro level equipment, my tube amp is a kitschy bit of awesomeness that I build myself. The tube amp I have sitting next to me is a 100% analog device, not a single processor to be seen, just a pile of resistors, inductors, capacitors, diodes and tooobz.
I have never built a piece of Audio Equipment. Ever. I think it is awesome that you built a functioning piece of Equipment yourself. Sorry for going all Syadasti on your ass. I was bored....
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
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I'm just curious as to which ancient piece of hardware jdcamb is running such that bus speed is 66 MHz.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
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66Hz isn't even close. Low E on a standard bass is 41Hz.
That is just the primary frequency with out the higher nodes. Though not the brown note, a pure 66 Hz is pretty intense. Actually any purely sinusodal sound is rather powerful. Wider spectrum noises spread their energy out. You can try this by down loading a signal generator app on your phone. Just do it at low volumes. Single frequency noise can cause hearing damage quickly.
 

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
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Uhh. I don't think anyone here is talking about full on pro level equipment, my tube amp is a kitschy bit of awesomeness that I build myself. The tube amp I have sitting next to me is a 100% analog device, not a single processor to be seen, just a pile of resistors, inductors, capacitors, diodes and tooobz.
I have never built a piece of Audio Equipment. Ever. I think it is awesome that you built a functioning piece of Equipment yourself. Sorry for going all Syadasti on your ass. I was bored....
Actually that was 66Hz.

Brown note generator?
I was wrong system board processors in most consumer Electronics only utilise the old 33mhz standard and not PCI/FSB 66mhz standard as it is cheaper to use the old tech. It depends on the manufacturer.
 
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jdcamb

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66Hz isn't even close. Low E on a standard bass is 41Hz.
Buss Speed of a Processor or controller has almost nothing to do with source/input or output signal frequency. 66mhz notes the speed at which processor communicates along the Buss.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
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Bus speed controls rate of data transfer between components on that bus. I don't get why this would affect response across the frequency spectrum of an individual component.
 

jdcamb

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Bus speed controls rate of data transfer between components on that bus. I don't get why this would affect response across the frequency spectrum of an individual component.
It doesn't. PLL circuits usually match the input and the output since the 70's. I don't understand phase shifting or VFO's and can't wrap my head around Synthesis Processing or any of that stuff.
 
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mandown

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That is just the primary frequency with out the higher nodes. Though not the brown note, a pure 66 Hz is pretty intense. Actually any purely sinusodal sound is rather powerful. Wider spectrum noises spread their energy out. You can try this by down loading a signal generator app on your phone. Just do it at low volumes. Single frequency noise can cause hearing damage quickly.
Right. Low B on a 5 string is roughly 30Hz so the first overtime would be closer to the suggested brown 66Hz. If that was the case, most nu-metal fans would poop their jeans at every show.
 

jdcamb

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Right. Low B on a 5 string is roughly 30Hz so the first overtime would be closer to the suggested brown 66Hz. If that was the case, most nu-metal fans would poop their jeans at every show.
From the source to the output the speed at which that data travels through the system and all it devices is measured MHZ not HZ. That data has a frequency measured in HZ. 20 - 20K hz is audible range for most Humans.
 

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
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From the source to the output the speed at which that data travels through the system and all it devices is measured MHZ not HZ. That data has a frequency measured in HZ. 20 - 20K hz is audible range for most Humans.
I get it. The teste made reference to Hz and brown notes, above. I'm simply poking at that.

Stop being relevant and topical.
 

jdcamb

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My question is that since Processors generate heat and are closer to the board then say a tube which projects heat away from the board. Heat equals inefficiency in most cases? Shouldn't processors be isolated from the main boards of most electronics? I can assure you they are not...
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
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This thread seems to have a weird conflation of sampling rates, data fidelity, bus transfer rates, and poop-inducing dulcet tones going on.