I notice that nobody is mentioning DaySequerra in their suggestions of good tuners. Any opinions on their line in comparison to magnum dynalab, accuphase, McIntosh, etc? Would the M4.2Si, for example, make a satisfying receiver of analog FM (as well as allowing me to try out HD)? -- Clark2

IMHO... When it comes to Tuners, nothing and I mean nothing comes close to the Accuphase T-1200.

I own two of them, they are outrageously good!

+1

Also what I forgot to say is that I have never heard HD1 sound better than the analog carrier when compared side by side with no blend.

At $9500 (I saw somewhere online), too rich for my budget.
I guess whatever I end up with is likely to be used/reconditioned, unless the DaySequerra M4.2Si at $1100 new looks good enough. I still haven't found a review of this one...
I suppose the Magnum Dynalab MD90 at $2200 new might also be an option; but to audition it, the nearest dealer is a few hours' drive away. (I'm waiting to hear from Jim Richards about used options, as suggested by Weirdcuba...) -- Clark2

Several sub-topics in this post -- it's gotten rather long I'm afraid:

1) In direct response to Weirdcuba, I haven't heard back from Richards yet; but it appears I can afford a new MD 90T, which has pretty impressive specs. Is it really worth looking at the fancier models, especially given that my amp. lacks balanced inputs?

2) I'm still dithering about the DaySequerra M4.2Si though. The audio quality is the big unknown, but there doesn't seem to be a practical way to audition it as the local dealer doesn't have one. Surprisingly, no audiophile appears to have reviewed it (designed primarily as a signal-quality monitor for broadcast engineers), and nobody on this forum seems to have tried it. (Yes???) It's much less expensive than the MDs, and it may have a better chance of pulling in the station I most want (although there's another good one that will be fairly easy to quiet). A side benefit is being able to experiment with HD, although that's not the main motivation.

3) Here's the reception problem I'm confronting: WBJC is a superb classical station in the NW suburbs of Baltimore, MD. I'm about 31 mi SSW of their transmitter in the NW suburbs of Washington, DC (not a major problem in itself) but also slightly behind a hill. Mike Pappas (DaySequerrra) ran his fancy reception analysis for me -- he's a really helpful guy! -- which shows a received signal level of -53 dBm, but also "1Edge path" (apparently means not line-of-sight).

4) My current step-wise plan of attack is as follows:

4A) I have already installed a 4-element yagi in my un-insulated attic. (An outdoor mast is not an option here.) Pointing it toward vs. away from WBJC does show a significant increase on the signal-level meter of the ancient Yamaha CT-800, but not enough to quiet the noise sufficiently, even in mono. (My car radio parked on the street about 30 ft below the antenna gets the signal fine.)

4B) I've ordered an MD-205 and plan to try inserting it between the antenna and the Yamaha. If that gets me a usable signal, I'm pretty sure it's worth buying a new tuner for this station. If not, maybe I have to stream...

4C) If (B) works out, buy either the DaySequerra or the best MD that I can afford and hope for the best.

Does this make sense? Any suggestions or modifications? -- Clark2

Another option would be to stream the station you're after. Surely they must have that option. That would save hunting down a super tuner and running cables for an antenna in the attic.

Clark,
Your current reception situation is not terribly difficult. -53 dBm 1Edge is actually a pretty strong signal. For example my favorite classical station is KSJN in Minneapolis and it comes in at around -75 dBm 2edge and it is full quieting in stereo on my MR-80 99% of the time. We live 80 miles away from the transmitter.

So if your current tuner is having trouble, there could be a strong adjacent channel or co channel signal. It will be worth figuring this out before dropping big bucks on a tuner.

To check, go to fmfool.com and follow the instructions on the site. It will tell you the received signal strength and if there are any adjacent or co-channel stations.

If there are adjacent channel stations you can point your yagi so they come in off the side of the antenna where attenuation is the greatest. If there are co-channel stations you can do the same but IMO you are pretty much out of luck.

This will also inform your tuner purchase - if there are no strong adjacent channel stations you have a wide choice of tuners. If there are strong adjacents, you'll need a selective tuner like the McIntosh MR 80.

Hope this helps,
Tom

P.S. I haven't listened to the current crop of Day-Sequerra tuners - the FM reference is outstanding but it has been a few years since I heard it.

The more distant classical station does not appear to stream directly (I have a question in to them). There are some of third-party services that seem to do it for them with unknown quality.

The stronger classical station does its own streaming, offering streams for "Windows Media, MP3, and iTunes." Again the quality is unknown to me, without a good way to input it to my amplifier, but I have a question in to them too. These options don't sound very encouraging to the audiophile though.

Maybe you were trying to tell me in a PM that I should be able to connect my smartphone to the amp. somehow? It's a new Yamaha A-S501 that has a either optical or RCA digital inputs, but the DAC is not spec'd. I didn't shell out for the A-S701 -- DAC also not spec'd -- because at the time I didn't expect to use digital inputs. -- Clark2

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll see if the MD 205 helps me... -- Clark2