[Weirdcuba]

Well, for all of my bravado, I broke down and did it. I started with the little Sony (just to check things out) and then moved to the FT101A, and now I have the MD108T on order via Magnum Dynalab. I'm totally excited about it. Of course, I blame it all on Dan for having posted pictures of the darn thing in related threads.

The FT101A reminded me of the joys of listening to great radio and the even greater joy of analog radio. I'm in the middle of Atlanta so my furthest station away is about six miles - in fact, I think I might suffer from channels tromping on one another. Rather than the interim step of a Signal Sleuth to work on those issues, I gave in to the demons and just did it. We'll see if the 108T helps with those channel issues. The sound of the FT101A is great, but I think there's lots more to be had out of the 108T.

I have a "mostly" McIntosh system, but the aesthetics of the MR88 did not speak to me like the 108T. I also tried the HD channels when I started this experiment with the Sony XDR-F1HD, but found the signal compressed and not enough additional programming on there to justify it for my personal listening habits/location/etc. Yes, I would rather the MD had the flexibility offered by the MR88, but at the end of the day, I just preferred the 108T.

This whole process has led me to think about some of MD's offerings for internet tuners - at the right price point, I might give that a whirl, just for the thousands of channels that it makes available (without a subscription). Of course, adding the ability to drive Tidal or another higher quality subscription service through that device would really help with the value ratio. I worry that of those thousands of free internet channels, there would be just four or five that I could stand to listen to on my system. But, that's an investigation for a subsequent year after I've replenished the audio budget. Appreciate everyone's thoughts (except for Dan, as he's done enough damage) on internet tuners and sound quality in better systems (i.e., my system is better than most found in basements and not nearly as nice as many found on this board).

Thanks to everyone, particularly Dan, for helping with this journey. I'll give a read out after I've gotten the unit and let it burn in for a bit.

WeirdCuba.