Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater FM Reception In Basement

My home theater is in the basement. The stereo components are in a cabinet. Is there a way I can get FM reception on my reciever? I tried the antenna that came with the Yammi RX-V1300 but it did no good - all I heard was static. I do have a window near the cabinet but would prefer not to run a wire between the two. Is there a wireless solution I can use? Who makes good antennas? I'm a newbie to all this. Thanks.

Hello avian
I have a system in my garage - the back wall of my garage and my place is in an area notorious for lousy FM reception.

I picked up an amplified FM antena from Radio Shack and now my reception is great!

Talking about the FM radio, one unexpected "side-product" of my recent plunge into the multi-channel world was my re-recognition of how good the FM broadcast can sound. To be honest, until I bought the Pioneer receiver this time, I had never had a radio tuner hooked up to "decent" amps/speakers.

Yeah I know that the audio bandwidth of the FM broadcast only goes up to 15kHz or so, but I found that, to my 42-year-old ears, the local classical station could sound very very good on my Hales/Axiom/Hsu system. It also seems that the DPL II handles the FM materials very well. Now I always play the FM as background music, whenever I am at home. It was quite a nice bonus...

FM can sound very, very good! I picked up a Kenwood KT8005 vintage tuner in mint condition, had it aligned, bench tested it and hooked it up with my tube amplifier with M50 type Michaura speakers. Sounds terrific!

http://img.audioasylum.com/cgi/i.pl?u=users/11308&f=P4230043.JPG

Wow, 2x6, that tuner really looks "vintage"!!!

Ah, Sushi, you must expand your mind, weedhopper. The KT8005 is one of the great tuners of all time.

I thought the word "vintage" had a connotation of a supreme homage.

Oh, btw, did you know that until early '70, Kenwood was an electronics parts maker, mainly specializing in RF coils, RF transformers, and other RF parts? (at that time they did not have the brand name Kenwood yet; the company was called "Trio.") When they eventually started to manufacure completed audio gears, the first thing they made was, not surprisingly, Hi-Fi FM tuners.

Oh, then I am the weedhopper and you ... wise, good vintage is good.

Hi Avian,

Good FM reception is always related to the antenna, its height above ground, its directional characteristics and its "gain". Nor can you compensate for a bad antenna with a tuner of super sensitivity. You likely tried the crummy T-shaped dipole wire antenna that comes with most receivers--adequate (barely) for local FM reception with little rejection of noise off its two reception axes.

Get a couple of those little 300-ohm/75-ohm antenna transformers so you can run a 75-ohm shielded coax cable over to the basement window to a simple dipole "rabbit ears"-type antenna that you can place inside next to the window. It should offer much improved reception. Get the kind with telescoping rods that you can tune (slide them in and out for the best reception of a given station) and rotate the antenna for the clearest signal and best rejection of interference.

You might still have to go to an outdoor antenna. But even a 1/4-wave dipole vertical "whip" (like a car radio antenna) outside the window should make a huge difference.

Regards,

2x6spds, where did you have your tuner serviced? I have a KT7xxx series that I picked up for $35 but the stereo reception is intermittant. Other than that it really is a great tuner, picking up distant stations cleanly and with a nice warm sound.
Let me know if you have any recomendations.
thanks,
jd

Talking about the integrated FM tuner in today's AV receivers... Browsing through various receivers in my local Ultimate Electronics the other day, I noticed that there are fairly significant differences among brands in the RF "sensitivity" of the tuner. Although I bought the Elite 45TX sight unseen with respect to tuner reception (I wasn't at all interested, although now I am), the Pioneer seems to have a very decent FM tuner. Even with the included "single stretch of wire" antenna (Alan, even the T-antenna wasn't included -- just a wire), the reception is very audibly better than all other "tuners" in my house. I guess I was just luckey.

Hi JD

If you are in Southern California I may be able to help. PM me and I'll ask superradiogeek to get in touch with you.

G'luck.

It seems that Pioneer does have a decent tuner compared to alot of other late model units. I have a very low end 209 model that gets station that some of the latest Yamaha's couldn't even touch. I am running a Denon now that seems to be comparable to the Pioneer in terms of reception. I wonder if Pioneer uses the same "SuperTuner" technology that that impliment in their car stereos?

Hi sushi and jazz drummer,

Yes, Pioneer generally has very good FM tuners in their receivers and their car units. You have to read the specs on home FM tuners very carefully. They often play fast and loose with S/N ratios (quoting the mono figure, which is always at least 10 dB quieter than stereo FM; likwise distortion). Plus the "30 dB quieting sensitvity" figure is nonsense. With noise just 30 dB down, an FM signal is barely listenable. Look for the "50 dB Quieting" in stereo.

Regards,