Burmester 931 Tuner

[bart]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

I agree.

I am certain the Burmester tuner ( $25K ? ) will demonstrate, with crystal clarity how BAD present day FM radio sound is. Radio station personnel have absolutely no regard for how their stuff sounds. They want it loud and compressed so their signal, now only 200 KHz center to center, with supposedly a clear 50 KHz between stations, so their signal over powers the adjacent channel. In the old days, stations were 400 KHz between stations with a clear 250 KHz between channels, their often, but not categorically poor signals did not overlap or interact the way they do today.

With all the available musical media and sources available, if I didn't already have a tuner, I would not buy one. (I use my tuner to listen to the NPR show "Car Talk.") For the audiophile, FM is really a dead issue. The only reason to own a tuner like that is to have a complete set of Burmester. I doubt that it will be listened to after the initial novelty and DX-ing has been done.

I would like to see more high quality XM / Sirius tuners, although their qualities are also much less than the claimed "CD" quality sound.

Gary, I'm a classical and jazz music lover.
We have several stations here that broadcast in very high quality.
The Burmester tuner is on my list too therefore. It costs 5.3K € here.

[GaryProtein]

Bart, I would bet you have much better radio programming than we presently do in the United States. Commercial classical radio is dead in New York. We have ZERO commercial stations playing classical presently. Chicago has one, Philadelphia has one, a few other cities have one. That's it. Some of the NPR (National Public Radio--educational stations) have some classical programming, but not much.

After a day at the office, I can't imagine myself getting home, having dinner and relaxing by listening to FM radio, when I can listen to whatever I want on a CD. In the past, FM was primarily relegated to background music, but now it is hardly ever used.

[Masterlu]

I enjoy a great tuner every once in a while.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

I agree.

I am certain the Burmester tuner ( $25K ? ) will demonstrate, with crystal clarity how BAD present day FM radio sound is. Radio station personnel have absolutely no regard for how their stuff sounds. They want it loud and compressed so their signal, now only 200 KHz center to center, with supposedly a clear 50 KHz between stations, so their signal over powers the adjacent channel. In the old days, stations were 400 KHz between stations with a clear 250 KHz between channels, their often, but not categorically poor signals did not overlap or interact the way they do today.

With all the available musical media and sources available, if I didn't already have a tuner, I would not buy one. (I use my tuner to listen to the NPR show "Car Talk.") For the audiophile, FM is really a dead issue. The only reason to own a tuner like that is to have a complete set of Burmester. I doubt that it will be listened to after the initial novelty and DX-ing has been done.

I would like to see more high quality XM / Sirius tuners, although their qualities are also much less than the claimed "CD" quality sound.

I agree with Gary. I have thought several times about selling my MR85, but for the pidling amount it would bring, I'll keep it. The only time I listen to FM is at Christmas, about 2 weeks out of the whole year.

[bart]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

Bart, I would bet you have much better radio programming than we presently do in the United States. Commercial classical radio is dead in New York. We have ZERO commercial stations playing classical presently. Chicago has one, Philadelphia has one, a few other cities have one. That's it. Some of the NPR (National Public Radio--educational stations) have some classical programming, but not much.

After a day at the office, I can't imagine myself getting home, having dinner and relaxing by listening to FM radio, when I can listen to whatever I want on a CD. In the past, FM was primarily relegated to background music, but now it is hardly ever used.

Hi Gary,
The stations I mentioned are not even commercial, thank God.
They are sponsored by the government and you only get music and some (often very interesting) information about the music and performers.
This way I already discovered lots of hidden pearls!
So no noisy commercials!

[RSGarwood]

I don't understand why FM is supposedly so bad. I have a McIntosh MR 88. Around here there's a radio station 88.5WXPN that plays a show Echoes. I heard a song the other night that I also have on CD and really it didn't seem like that much of a difference. Maybe they have less compression than most other stations. If anybody is familiar with the station and the compression you can me know. I might call the station and ask them

[radio times]

I used my Sony monitor over ear bestest phones with my £22 Sony fm walkman and was amazed at the quality. Only i would say 2% THD on the weak signal from classical R3, and none on the rock/pop stations. I was bopping to it in the supermarket even.

Long live FM; I'm getting one ( with a spot of dab too) as my first Hi Fi separate.

[bradleyc]

FM in Central Iowa, especially 5 of the major local stations that play music I want to hear sound pretty darn good on my analog tuners. There's something about FM air waves that sweetens up the digital edge. Almost all of the HD stations are pop rotation, but we do have a classical/jazz station 30 miles away at ISU that comes in real clear on HD and analog. That Burmester tuner looks really nice, hope you like yours Ivan!

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by bradleyc

FM in Central Iowa, especially 5 of the major local stations that play music I want to hear sound pretty darn good on my analog tuners. There's something about FM air waves that sweetens up the digital edge. Almost all of the HD stations are pop rotation, but we do have a classical/jazz station 30 miles away at ISU that comes in real clear on HD and analog. That Burmester tuner looks really nice, hope you like yours Ivan!

Brad... It wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought, and I keep hearing how great it is; thanks.

I can post the manual if anyone is interested.

[Mountainslover]

This is the story: I am about to assemble an all- Burmester system, mostly Classical Line, I started with a 911 MK3, 935 Pre,.. and it was time to replace my old and faithful McIntosh Tuner, not defining myself as a typical audiophile, I use to listen extensively to Fm long hours every day, so I would hate to go wrong on this one,.. but somehow the cards turned like this for me: My McIntosh Tuner sold three days before the arriving of my new 931 RDS, in the beginning I was extremely pleased about the looks of the 931, and the RDS display is nothing but gorgeous , and practical too, FM reception is very good too, ( I bought the new Godar DXR-1000 antenna). Also, the convenience about having 60 preselected stations makes it very easy, and fast, to go through your favorite ones. Now the bad news: Somehow the music sounds very sterile, maybe too bright and compressed through the 931,... my old McIntosh had trounced the Burmie 931 in the musical department. Still, I am keeping my 931. Makes sense in an all-Burmester rig, and it is a no brainer,! ..right Joeinid ?