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Hello,

I am about to become an owner of an SAE Mk, VI tuner.
Are there any recommended modifications or upgrades
to this tuner to improve performace or reliability (especially
to protect the scope and nixies)?

Does anyone have schematics or service information?

How does this tuner perform against the other "heavyweight"
tuners -- McIntohsh MR-78, Fisher FM-1000, Marantz 10B,
SUMO Charlie, Accuphase T-100, Yamaha CT-7000, etc.

I would reallly appreciate any thoughts or opinions on this
tuner!

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

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Hello James,

Thank you for the response! I'm not paying an arm AND a leg for the Mark
VI
(just an arm) $600 -- too much? It is in EXCELLENT condition.

As far are the performance goes is your evaluation based on sound quality
or RF performance or a mix of both? I may consider your offer for a
refurbish.
Based upon past experience what does a refurbish entail and how long
does it take?

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

James Bongiorno <sstinc@...> on 04/20/2000 12:28:53 pm

Please respond to SAE_Talk@...

To: SAE_Talk@...
cc:
Subject: Re: [SAE_Talk] SAE Mk VI Tuner

Dear Paul,
I will tryto answer your questions. Please understand that I do NOT
recommend having anyone but the highest professional engineer work on a
tuner. Trust me when I say that not only most technicians but also most
engineers really don't have a clue as to what's going on in an FM tuner.
And
if that's not bad enough, hardly any of them have a truly sophisticated
laboratory with ALL of the proper test equipment.
As far as the Mark VI SAE tuner goes, it is a decent performer
however,
it is not in the league of the Marantz 10B or my Charlie or the Sequerra
Tuner (the original one that is). I would place its performance in the area
of the MR78. Please understand that more so than any other piece of audio
equipment, tuners steadily degrade over time for a lot of reasons which I
will not get into here. A tuner this old desperately needs to be
refurbished
and if nothing else, properly realigned. The scope tube probably will last
a
long, long time. The nixies do go out on occasion of which I have a small
supply. My strong recommendation is that you send this unit to me for
refubishing. Please let me know if you are so inclined and we can discuss
this further. If you aren't paying an arm and a leg, the SAE Mark VI can be
a very nice tuner again.
James Bongiorno

pbigelow@... wrote:

Hello,

I am about to become an owner of an SAE Mk, VI tuner.
Are there any recommended modifications or upgrades
to this tuner to improve performace or reliability (especially
to protect the scope and nixies)?

Does anyone have schematics or service information?

How does this tuner perform against the other "heavyweight"
tuners -- McIntohsh MR-78, Fisher FM-1000, Marantz 10B,
SUMO Charlie, Accuphase T-100, Yamaha CT-7000, etc.

I would reallly appreciate any thoughts or opinions on this
tuner!

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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already registered at Classmates.com, there's a good chance you'll
find her here. Visit your online high school class reunion at:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Hello James,

Thank you for the feedback and advise. You're right,
$600 isn't cheap -- but I havn't seen one for less than
that. I tried looking for a Marantz 10b and couldn't find
one for less than $2000. Add refurbishment and tubes
and now it's up to $2500+. Somehow, I just cannot justify
to myself spending $2500 for an FM sound source. The
10b has crossed the threshold into "valuable collectible" so
the price is just going up, up, up. Even though *I* know that
hundreds of dollars more will be needed to bring the 10b up
to spec, the sellers do not consider this factor because of
market demand.

Unless you have a "sleeper" tube tuner recommendation,
that leaves solid-state. Tried looking for a SUMO Charlie --
t would go great with the Thaedra -- couldn't find one. The
solid-state McIntosh tuners are getting pricey -- the MR-73
go for about $400-500 and the MR-80 goes for around $1000
or more.

My wants:
1. Great RF
2. Great Sound
3. Scope display

RF and Sound:
The McIntosh's have pretty good RF performace but the
sound doesn't impress me. I hear that the 70's Marantz
scope tuners are not particularly good either RF-wise or
sound wise but I have no experience except for a Marantz
2110 picked up REAL cheap ($25) just to have fun with
(DREADFUL RF, but the sound isn't too bad after audio
path capacitors have been replaced).

I have heard that even the 10b has problems with close
spaced signal dynamic range causing images throughout
the tuning range. Austin, TX has a lot of strong local FM
broadcasters and images are are a problem.

Scope:
I do have a McIntosh MI-3 so that is why McIntosh tuners
(or any tuner with scope outputs -- which the Charlie has,
I believe) The Theadra preamp has scope outputs (thank you)
as does my Yamaha T2. The SAE Mk. VI fits the bill here as
do several Marantz solid state tuners.

What's left? The SAE Mark VI? Although it doesn't do
everything BEST, it, at least, does everything (my wants)
pretty good and better than the solid state Marantz's.

Any thoughts to add? Maybe I need to approach all this
from another angle?

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

James Bongiorno <sstinc@...> on 04/20/2000 06:30:04 pm

Please respond to SAE_Talk@...

To: SAE_Talk@...
cc:
Subject: Re: [SAE_Talk] SAE Mk VI Tuner

Dear Paul,
I do believe that $600 is a bit much for the SAE Mark VI tuner. It doesn't
matter what condition its in because it will need to be refurbished or at
the
least completely realigned. Use your best judgemnent but don't spend that
much.
As far as performance goes, my assessments are ALWAYS with both performance
AND
sound quality. I have a rule that I follow. If it isn't working right, it
can't
possible sound right. I know that I'll hear it from all of the single ended
tube fanatics on this one but I CAN hear the difference.
A refurbish involves generally major surgery on most or a least a lot of
parts
bringing them up to todays high parts quality standards. I take my time and
you
should allow at least a month. Tuners are harder to work on than amps and
preamps because it is imperative that they remain stable and don't drift.
James Bongiorno
P.S. I am speculating but I think that you should look forward to spending
at
least another $400 to $500 bucks on the tuner. That's why you shouldn't pay
that much for it in the first place.

pbigelow@... wrote:

Hello James,

Thank you for the response! I'm not paying an arm AND a leg for the Mark
VI
(just an arm) $600 -- too much? It is in EXCELLENT condition.

As far are the performance goes is your evaluation based on sound quality
or RF performance or a mix of both? I may consider your offer for a
refurbish.
Based upon past experience what does a refurbish entail and how long
does it take?

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

James Bongiorno <sstinc@...> on 04/20/2000 12:28:53 pm

Please respond to SAE_Talk@...

To: SAE_Talk@...
cc:
Subject: Re: [SAE_Talk] SAE Mk VI Tuner

Dear Paul,
I will tryto answer your questions. Please understand that I do NOT
recommend having anyone but the highest professional engineer work on a
tuner. Trust me when I say that not only most technicians but also most
engineers really don't have a clue as to what's going on in an FM tuner.
And
if that's not bad enough, hardly any of them have a truly sophisticated
laboratory with ALL of the proper test equipment.
As far as the Mark VI SAE tuner goes, it is a decent performer
however,
it is not in the league of the Marantz 10B or my Charlie or the Sequerra
Tuner (the original one that is). I would place its performance in the

area

of the MR78. Please understand that more so than any other piece of audio
equipment, tuners steadily degrade over time for a lot of reasons which I
will not get into here. A tuner this old desperately needs to be
refurbished
and if nothing else, properly realigned. The scope tube probably will

last

a
long, long time. The nixies do go out on occasion of which I have a small
supply. My strong recommendation is that you send this unit to me for
refubishing. Please let me know if you are so inclined and we can discuss
this further. If you aren't paying an arm and a leg, the SAE Mark VI can

be

a very nice tuner again.
James Bongiorno

pbigelow@... wrote:

Hello,

I am about to become an owner of an SAE Mk, VI tuner.
Are there any recommended modifications or upgrades
to this tuner to improve performace or reliability (especially
to protect the scope and nixies)?

Does anyone have schematics or service information?

How does this tuner perform against the other "heavyweight"
tuners -- McIntohsh MR-78, Fisher FM-1000, Marantz 10B,
SUMO Charlie, Accuphase T-100, Yamaha CT-7000, etc.

I would reallly appreciate any thoughts or opinions on this
tuner!

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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already registered at Classmates.com, there's a good chance you'll
find her here. Visit your online high school class reunion at:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Subscribe: SAE_Talk-subscribe@...
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Hello James,

I have no first hand knowledge of image problems with
the 10b, I have just encountered reports of problems with
the close spaced signals. The 10b's reported on, of course,
may have needed work or alignment. If I had a properly
restored one, I could answer my own question pretty
quickly.

Anybody out there want to sell me a working Marantz 10b
for $1000? :-)

Paul Bigelow

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Dear James,

Those performance specs for the 10b are remarkable (especially
the adjacent figure)! Would the SAE Mk. VI have similar performance
in this regard? Doesn't the SAE make use of Butterworth filters
in the IF as does the Marantz? Maybe the filters are used in
a scaled down fashion placing the Mk. 6 performace around that
of the Marantz 20b?

My offer to anyone of $1000 for a working Marantz 10b still
stands! (and probably will remain standing for a long time!) :-)

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
Most people, make that virtually no one, understands the design of

the 10B

and this is a fact. Even though the stability of the tuner is quite
remarkable over time, it is very critical in its alignment

proceedures.

There are not 5 people in this country who could properly align

this unit.

If you knew the IF characteristics of the design you would

understand that

closely spaced station interference is practically impossible with

this

tuner. Correctly aligned, the ADJACENT channel selectivity is a

whopping 38

dB's and the alternate channel selectivity is over 100 dB's. AND

this is in

NARROW BAND which is the only mode that the 10B operates under.

This is

truly remarkable considering that the 10B makes better specs and

performance

in its "narrow" band mode than virtually all other tuners in their

wide band

mode.
James Bongiorno

pbigelow@u... wrote:

Hello James,

I have no first hand knowledge of image problems with
the 10b, I have just encountered reports of problems with
the close spaced signals. The 10b's reported on, of course,
may have needed work or alignment. If I had a properly
restored one, I could answer my own question pretty
quickly.

Anybody out there want to sell me a working Marantz 10b
for $1000? :-)

Paul Bigelow

---------------------------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Dear James,

Thank you for the information regarding the "Butterworth"
filters! It's always nice to set things straight. In the
book "Vintage Hi-Fi Spotter's Guide Vol 1" there is a copy
of a Marantz advertisement with an "interview" of Saul
Marantz where he states: "we've developed the first commercial
application of the "Butterworth" or phase-linear filter."
Perhaps this is were the misconception came from.

Several references have been made to a SAE VIB. Is that the
SAE VI with the LED readout? Any other changes? How does a
SAE VI compare with an SAE VIB?

What more can you tell us about the Charlie Tuner? I've only
seen a few fuzzy picures. There seems to be nothing on the
internet about it. What are its specifications and abilities?
Does it have similar or better performance specs when compared
to the 10b?

As you may tell, I really like RF and have restored
Collins R-390a and R-392 series of military HF
receivers.

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
Probably the biggest misconception about the 10B was the term

coined by some

idiot in Marantz marketing. The 10B (and subsequently the 20 DID

NOT use the

"butterworth" configuration for the IF. Many people have been very

confused

about this over the decades. The 10B used 'LINEAR PHASE FILTERS'

which are

much better. For the uninitiated, the alignment proceedure is a

nightmare.

You must remember that there was an original "10" of which there

were about

100 units made and Marantz would like to forget about that as it

was a sort

of botch. It used torroid ferrites in the IF instead of the pot

cores that

went into the 10B. Anyway, no RF engineer in his right mind would

use the

"butterworth" configuration for the IF as the phase can never be

right.

Unfortunately, the SAE used filters (linear phase) but were sealed

units

from Filtech. Since they were sealed, there were no IF adjustments.
Fortunately the filters were barely acceptable and held up pretty

good over

time. However, they were no match for the 10B.Please bear the

following in

mind. There have been only 3 tuners ever made in this world that

had 18

poles of linear phase filters in the IF: the 10B, the original

Sequerra, and

my "Charlie". This is one of the elements that separates these

three tuners

from all of the rest.
James Bongiorno

Paul Anthony Bigelow wrote:

Dear James,

Those performance specs for the 10b are remarkable (especially
the adjacent figure)! Would the SAE Mk. VI have similar

performance

in this regard? Doesn't the SAE make use of Butterworth filters
in the IF as does the Marantz? Maybe the filters are used in
a scaled down fashion placing the Mk. 6 performace around that
of the Marantz 20b?

My offer to anyone of $1000 for a working Marantz 10b still
stands! (and probably will remain standing for a long time!) :-)

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
Most people, make that virtually no one, understands the design

of

the 10B

and this is a fact. Even though the stability of the tuner is

quite

remarkable over time, it is very critical in its alignment

proceedures.

There are not 5 people in this country who could properly align

this unit.

If you knew the IF characteristics of the design you would

understand that

closely spaced station interference is practically impossible

with

this

tuner. Correctly aligned, the ADJACENT channel selectivity is a

whopping 38

dB's and the alternate channel selectivity is over 100 dB's.

AND

this is in

NARROW BAND which is the only mode that the 10B operates under.

This is

truly remarkable considering that the 10B makes better specs

and

performance

in its "narrow" band mode than virtually all other tuners in

their

wide band

mode.
James Bongiorno

pbigelow@u... wrote:

Hello James,

I have no first hand knowledge of image problems with
the 10b, I have just encountered reports of problems with
the close spaced signals. The 10b's reported on, of course,
may have needed work or alignment. If I had a properly
restored one, I could answer my own question pretty
quickly.

Anybody out there want to sell me a working Marantz 10b
for $1000? :-)

Paul Bigelow

---------------------------------------------------------------------

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------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Dear James,

Thank you for the information you have been very generous
with you time! My eye will definitely remain open for a Sumo
Charlie! When examining a Charlie for possible purchase is
there any failure to be on the lookout for -- especially
those that cannot be repaired (e.g. proprietary ICs or transistors)?

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
You are right about the photo with Saul Marantz. Now I remember

that it was

Saul himself that fed that controversy about the IF filters. Notice

that he

refered to the filters as Butterworth OR linear phase.

Unfortunately, Saul

was not an engineer but rather a commercial artist by trade. A case

of foot

in mouth disease for which on occasion, I've suffered from too. To

the best

of my recollection, there was no SAE Mark VI, but rather only a

VIB. When I

got to SAE, the VIB was in the process of being produced however,

they

didn't work. That's what I was originally hired for ie: to get them

fixed

and out the door.
As far as the "Charlie" is concerned, I made 5000 of them and as

far as

specs go, just use the 10B specs with the distortion lowered by a

factor of

5 or 10 times and the S/N ratio bettered by 10 to 15 dB's.
James Bongiorno

Paul Anthony Bigelow wrote:

Dear James,

Thank you for the information regarding the "Butterworth"
filters! It's always nice to set things straight. In the
book "Vintage Hi-Fi Spotter's Guide Vol 1" there is a copy
of a Marantz advertisement with an "interview" of Saul
Marantz where he states: "we've developed the first commercial
application of the "Butterworth" or phase-linear filter."
Perhaps this is were the misconception came from.

Several references have been made to a SAE VIB. Is that the
SAE VI with the LED readout? Any other changes? How does a
SAE VI compare with an SAE VIB?

What more can you tell us about the Charlie Tuner? I've only
seen a few fuzzy picures. There seems to be nothing on the
internet about it. What are its specifications and abilities?
Does it have similar or better performance specs when compared
to the 10b?

As you may tell, I really like RF and have restored
Collins R-390a and R-392 series of military HF
receivers.

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
Probably the biggest misconception about the 10B was the term

coined by some

idiot in Marantz marketing. The 10B (and subsequently the 20

DID

NOT use the

"butterworth" configuration for the IF. Many people have been

very

confused

about this over the decades. The 10B used 'LINEAR PHASE

FILTERS'

which are

much better. For the uninitiated, the alignment proceedure is a

nightmare.

You must remember that there was an original "10" of which

there

were about

100 units made and Marantz would like to forget about that as

it

was a sort

of botch. It used torroid ferrites in the IF instead of the pot

cores that

went into the 10B. Anyway, no RF engineer in his right mind

would

use the

"butterworth" configuration for the IF as the phase can never

be

right.

Unfortunately, the SAE used filters (linear phase) but were

sealed

units

from Filtech. Since they were sealed, there were no IF

adjustments.

Fortunately the filters were barely acceptable and held up

pretty

good over

time. However, they were no match for the 10B.Please bear the

following in

mind. There have been only 3 tuners ever made in this world

that

had 18

poles of linear phase filters in the IF: the 10B, the original

Sequerra, and

my "Charlie". This is one of the elements that separates these

three tuners

from all of the rest.
James Bongiorno

Paul Anthony Bigelow wrote:

Dear James,

Those performance specs for the 10b are remarkable

(especially

the adjacent figure)! Would the SAE Mk. VI have similar

performance

in this regard? Doesn't the SAE make use of Butterworth

filters

in the IF as does the Marantz? Maybe the filters are used in
a scaled down fashion placing the Mk. 6 performace around

that

of the Marantz 20b?

My offer to anyone of $1000 for a working Marantz 10b still
stands! (and probably will remain standing for a long time!)

:-)

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...>

wrote:

Dear Paul,
Most people, make that virtually no one, understands the

design

of

the 10B

and this is a fact. Even though the stability of the tuner

is

quite

remarkable over time, it is very critical in its alignment

proceedures.

There are not 5 people in this country who could properly

align

this unit.

If you knew the IF characteristics of the design you would

understand that

closely spaced station interference is practically

impossible

with

this

tuner. Correctly aligned, the ADJACENT channel selectivity

is a

whopping 38

dB's and the alternate channel selectivity is over 100

dB's.

AND

this is in

NARROW BAND which is the only mode that the 10B operates

under.

This is

truly remarkable considering that the 10B makes better

specs

and

performance

in its "narrow" band mode than virtually all other tuners

in

their

wide band

mode.
James Bongiorno

pbigelow@u... wrote:

Hello James,

I have no first hand knowledge of image problems with
the 10b, I have just encountered reports of problems with
the close spaced signals. The 10b's reported on, of

course,

may have needed work or alignment. If I had a properly
restored one, I could answer my own question pretty
quickly.

Anybody out there want to sell me a working Marantz 10b
for $1000? :-)

Paul Bigelow

---------------------------------------------------------------------

---

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site

that

lets

you see and manage all of your finances all in one place.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

---

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Subscribe: SAE_Talk-subscribe@...
Unsubscribe: SAE_Talk-unsubscribe@...
List owner: SAE_Talk-owner@...

Shortcut URL to this page:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Classmates.com,

your online high school class reunion. With 4.4 million

alumni

already registered, there's a good chance you'll find him

here:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Classmates.com,

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Dear James,

Thank you for the explanation! So, if I do come across a
Charlie without the rack handles, it's a later one, but
still the same circuit-wise. Right? The later ones just need
the final alignment which you provide along with other improvements.
What improvements would be result of your upgrades to the Charlie?
Do these changes put the Charlie right up there with the
10b (At least selectivity-wise)?

Since you mentioned Crown Radio -- didn't they do Marantz's
70's production?

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
Charlie's are hard to come by but on occasion one may be found. The

only

thing to look out for is whether one has handles or not. After I

sold SUMO,

there were about 1500 more units that were brought in. However, two

things

are of important note. The first is that the successor owners of

Sumo were

too cheap to continue to put on the very expensive front panel

handles.

Also, since all of the RF equipment used to do the final alignment

was my

personal gear, and I took it with me when I left, they chose not to

buy new

equipment to do the final alignment. A tribute to the design was

that it was

still pretty good WITHOUT this final alignment. I just couldn't get

the

factory in Japan to spend the "time" to do it according to my

instructions

even though I offered to pay for it. It was against their

manufacturing

"philosophy", to waste production time. Please understand that I

designed

this unit along with the "Electra" preamp but had them made in

Japan by

Crown Radio. If I were to have made them here, they would have cost

three or

four times more money. Also, I was the only one who did all the

alignment of

the Charlie's personally. Even though I wrote out the complete

procedure,

the new Sumo owners were to cheap or too lazy to do the proper job.

Also,

since this was my first total complete tuner, as opposed to working

on units

designed by others, it had a few minor shortcomings. This is what

my upgrade

modification remedies. The problem with RF design and modification

is that

it takes a whole lot longer to do than working on amps or preamps.
James Bongiorno

Paul Anthony Bigelow wrote:

Dear James,

Thank you for the information you have been very generous
with you time! My eye will definitely remain open for a Sumo
Charlie! When examining a Charlie for possible purchase is
there any failure to be on the lookout for -- especially
those that cannot be repaired (e.g. proprietary ICs or

transistors)?

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...> wrote:

Dear Paul,
You are right about the photo with Saul Marantz. Now I remember

that it was

Saul himself that fed that controversy about the IF filters.

Notice

that he

refered to the filters as Butterworth OR linear phase.

Unfortunately, Saul

was not an engineer but rather a commercial artist by trade. A

case

of foot

in mouth disease for which on occasion, I've suffered from too.

To

the best

of my recollection, there was no SAE Mark VI, but rather only a

VIB. When I

got to SAE, the VIB was in the process of being produced

however,

they

didn't work. That's what I was originally hired for ie: to get

them

fixed

and out the door.
As far as the "Charlie" is concerned, I made 5000 of them and

as

far as

specs go, just use the 10B specs with the distortion lowered by

a

factor of

5 or 10 times and the S/N ratio bettered by 10 to 15 dB's.
James Bongiorno

Paul Anthony Bigelow wrote:

Dear James,

Thank you for the information regarding the "Butterworth"
filters! It's always nice to set things straight. In the
book "Vintage Hi-Fi Spotter's Guide Vol 1" there is a copy
of a Marantz advertisement with an "interview" of Saul
Marantz where he states: "we've developed the first

commercial

application of the "Butterworth" or phase-linear filter."
Perhaps this is were the misconception came from.

Several references have been made to a SAE VIB. Is that the
SAE VI with the LED readout? Any other changes? How does a
SAE VI compare with an SAE VIB?

What more can you tell us about the Charlie Tuner? I've only
seen a few fuzzy picures. There seems to be nothing on the
internet about it. What are its specifications and

abilities?

Does it have similar or better performance specs when

compared

to the 10b?

As you may tell, I really like RF and have restored
Collins R-390a and R-392 series of military HF
receivers.

Best regards,

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno <sstinc@e...>

wrote:

Dear Paul,
Probably the biggest misconception about the 10B was the

term

coined by some

idiot in Marantz marketing. The 10B (and subsequently the

20

DID

NOT use the

"butterworth" configuration for the IF. Many people have

been

very

confused

about this over the decades. The 10B used 'LINEAR PHASE

FILTERS'

which are

much better. For the uninitiated, the alignment proceedure

is a

nightmare.

You must remember that there was an original "10" of which

there

were about

100 units made and Marantz would like to forget about that

as

it

was a sort

of botch. It used torroid ferrites in the IF instead of the

pot

cores that

went into the 10B. Anyway, no RF engineer in his right mind

would

use the

"butterworth" configuration for the IF as the phase can

never

be

right.

Unfortunately, the SAE used filters (linear phase) but were

sealed

units

from Filtech. Since they were sealed, there were no IF

adjustments.

Fortunately the filters were barely acceptable and held up

pretty

good over

time. However, they were no match for the 10B.Please bear

the

following in

mind. There have been only 3 tuners ever made in this world

that

had 18

poles of linear phase filters in the IF: the 10B, the

original

Sequerra, and

my "Charlie". This is one of the elements that separates

these

three tuners

from all of the rest.
James Bongiorno

Paul Anthony Bigelow wrote:

Dear James,

Those performance specs for the 10b are remarkable

(especially

the adjacent figure)! Would the SAE Mk. VI have similar

performance

in this regard? Doesn't the SAE make use of Butterworth

filters

in the IF as does the Marantz? Maybe the filters are

used in

a scaled down fashion placing the Mk. 6 performace around

that

of the Marantz 20b?

My offer to anyone of $1000 for a working Marantz 10b

still

stands! (and probably will remain standing for a long

time!)

:-)

Paul Bigelow

--- In SAE_Talk@..., James Bongiorno

<sstinc@e...>

wrote:

Dear Paul,
Most people, make that virtually no one, understands

the

design

of

the 10B

and this is a fact. Even though the stability of the

tuner

is

quite

remarkable over time, it is very critical in its

alignment

proceedures.

There are not 5 people in this country who could

properly

align

this unit.

If you knew the IF characteristics of the design you

would

understand that

closely spaced station interference is practically

impossible

with

this

tuner. Correctly aligned, the ADJACENT channel

selectivity

is a

whopping 38

dB's and the alternate channel selectivity is over 100

dB's.

AND

this is in

NARROW BAND which is the only mode that the 10B

operates

under.

This is

truly remarkable considering that the 10B makes better

specs

and

performance

in its "narrow" band mode than virtually all other

tuners

in

their

wide band

mode.
James Bongiorno

pbigelow@u... wrote:

Hello James,

I have no first hand knowledge of image problems with
the 10b, I have just encountered reports of problems

with

the close spaced signals. The 10b's reported on, of

course,

may have needed work or alignment. If I had a

properly

restored one, I could answer my own question pretty
quickly.

Anybody out there want to sell me a working Marantz

10b

for $1000? :-)

Paul Bigelow

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