...but I digress

I may be a bit off Dyna topics here, but i so respect your opinions. You may recall I am assembling a system for my daughter and son in law in NYC. They want to go vinyl so for Christmas I dug out a very nice turntable and totally rebuilt my JBL Decade speakers. My plan was to give them my Advent Model 300 and a Dyna 70 to drive their system. But I think the Dyna is a bit out of their range...they do not appreciate tubes and the rig may be troublesome for people who are not knowledgeable and able to work on it, bias etc....plus I am 1300 miles away when something goes bloooey.

So..I am putting it all in the vehicle and driving it out to them in a few weeks. My problem is the tuner/amp section. The Advent is a very nice vintage piece with great preamps etc. but has only 15w RMS per-side from a modest, built-in power amp. I began looking for an old-school Pioneer or Marantz tuner/amp like we had in the 70's and after trying to link up with various boobs, incompetents, meth addicts etc. on Craigslist I have just given up...they don't show, they are full of BS, whatever...bottom feeders, and I have had it. Plus, many recommend new caps etc. on the older stuff...much like we do with the Dynas.

The Advent puts out good sound, probably enough for a NYC apartment, but i really want to know what your guys think about the old tuners we loved in the 70's and 80's. Should I continue to try and get a solid Pioneer, Marantz, Sony etc....or do you think the Advent will suffice for their listening? I wish it had a few more watts, but is conservatively rated and is pretty punchy. I could also get a solid state Class D standalone amp to bump it up a little...or should i go back to the swamp and find someone who has their act together on Craigslist??? It is maddening to deal with these people!

I thini I'm going with the Advent and they can add a power amp or get another tuner/amp on their own if they want it....but I'm looking for affirmation, or other ideas...thanks! IA.

A few things:

a) Go with the Advent. As it happen, NYC is rife with all sorts of FM issues, and (from personal experience) the front end of the Advent is remarkably adaptable to that. Many other tuners will fail miserably. The entire FM band is pretty much full from top to bottom, add high buildings, steel frames, high iron-content glass (reflective) and more and you can foresee the issues. As it happens, FM-tuned rabbit-ears do wonders in that environment.

b) They can always find an amp somewhere. I keep a quantity of Dynaco SS examples, all pretty much rebuilt to "TIP-Mod" standards, as good examples of small-but-powerful amps for the purpose. What they will not find easily is a tuner that can handle NYC conditions.

You are doing a very good thing!

IA, Peter has great advice on the Dynaco SS stuff. A PAT- with the phono section and a ST150 is a very solid starter sys.

besides my tube gear, I have a Pioneer SX650 in the garage with deck spkrs. Phono section and tuner / amp all in one. Some of the folks here probably have this stuff if you post on the WANTED here. Also, Think I saw all this on Ebay so availability is there. Dale

Thanks to all...I had not considered the FM aspect as I live in rural America and good FM over the air is not really available. This is nice to know about the NYC environment. When i got the Advent it had excellent reviews on the preamp stuff, especially the phono section, and was intended to push a power amp of some sort. But they did include a pretty good little power section that can drive the JBLs. I'm giving the kids enough stuff they can add an amp if they want.Trouble is, I am losing my preamp. May be time to look at a quality tube kit for myself. Thanks again....

Can't go wrong with KLH/Advent stuff.
Another tuner consideration is the Oakes (sp?) tuner section of the old Heathkit AR-15, which could be bought separately. It's a bitch to align but, set up right, selectivity is excellent.

wildiowa wrote:Thanks to all...I had not considered the FM aspect as I live in rural America and good FM over the air is not really available. This is nice to know about the NYC environment. When i got the Advent it had excellent reviews on the preamp stuff, especially the phono section, and was intended to push a power amp of some sort. But they did include a pretty good little power section that can drive the JBLs. I'm giving the kids enough stuff they can add an amp if they want.Trouble is, I am losing my preamp. May be time to look at a quality tube kit for myself. Thanks again....

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/999267/RCA-ANT111-Thompson-Basic-Indoor-Antenna/?cm_mmc=PLA-_-Google-_-TVs_Home_Theater-_-999267-VQ6-51194819276-VQ16-c-VQ17-pla-VQ18-online-VQ19-999267-VQ20-101648134916-VQ21--VQ22-624117322-VQ27-10575894356&adpos=1o4&creative=51194819276&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQjw76jGBRDm1K-X_LnrmuEBEiQA8RXYZx5IG2yu5WvEZnDIoURhVBBSxiCC50_97B44TBqxHToaAtKJ8P8HAQ  

Sorry for the very long URL, but this will do fine. The trick is the length of each antenna to get to the FM sweet-spot for the particular range desired. They can experiment and get that 'retro' feeling to go with the gear.

These little Dayton class T thingies are awesome for, well, less than a single NOS Mullard (or $80 US).  Wall wart power supply and some RCA inputs on back - super small and very portable.  Not at all vintage or cool, but cheap and actually sounds very musical - I don't think you can touch it for the money.

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dta-120-class-t-mini-amplifier-60-wpc--300-3800?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

I have one that lives in my bedroom system, but have hooked it up to my preamp during initial testing and also used to check out rebuilt x-overs on low efficiency speakers.  It punches above it's class for 40WPC, but it will get hot if pushed too hard. Mine does distort when pushed but with pleasant, not harsh harmonics.

I recall Bob posted a while back about a little class T he has in garage or somewhere with a similar "how can it be this good for so little" sentiment

Excellent feedback on the Dayton...thank you! I happened to have my Parts Express catalog sitting right here beside me when I got your response!! I have seen those amps but just wasn't sure of the audio quality. Also, so much of their stuff requires you to also buy the external power supply and that always kind of baffled me, but I see it includes a computer-type transformer and plug in. Not bad for the $$...and oh dear, we are now up to Class T amps....I will show this to the kids, they can spend the $80. Thanks again. IA.

Do they actually listen to the radio? I'm curious why you didn't just recommend a modern receiver with phono input as they are out there. Crutchfield sells a simple Yamaha receiver with phono input for $279.

Or is the point of this to "give" them your old gear?

Guys and gals: Most "simple" FM tuners/receivers actually have quite a hard time in NYC. When I saw that the OP was sending an Advent 300, I was pleased, as this is one of the few receivers - legacy or present-production - that will do well in NYC. And why I pointed to rabbit-ears as an antenna.

There are 44+ FM stations within 45 miles of NYC, not including LPFM, repeaters or similar. They cover the entire band from 88.3 too 107.9. and with only a few tiny gaps, go in 0.4 steps all the way down. NYC apartments are tiny. Our library at nearly 400 s.f. is bigger than many. So fancy antennas are not typically a good option. Rabbit ears can be 'tuned' and don't take up much space, so an ideal use. So, y'all need to start thinking outside the box as audio (and tuners) applies to NYC.

Probably a little legacy involved here. I dug out the old JBLs and spent hours redoing them...stupid? Probably...but i got a real hoot out of it and they work great! Also the Advent...I got it in the 70's and it has a lot of funk to it and soul...and no, I don't think they will even use the FM but it was great to hear views and info on the NYC situation. I am 65 and Lord help them when I keel over...live here alone, they will walk into a mess, and a bit of a goldmine...but they have to have the sense to know what is here. Maybe it's...deal with it now, or deal with it later! I did look at the Crutchfield etc. just couldn't pull the trigger on a newer tuner/amp....but I hear ya! IA.

I built a tube amp for my brother so I kinda know the feeling. And it doesn't sound stupid to me if you get a hoot out of it and they sound great.