Hi guys! Just got my stereo tuner and it seems to me that is out of alignment. I am not getting too many stations tuned but one I got was supposed to be 89.5 but the tuner reads out 78.5 I guess. There is a huge difference on the numbers. Is it possible?

I remember back in the 50's and 60's if you had said this, I would have said, "It must of been made in Japan."

i would have said the string that moves the needle is slipping on the pulley. simple to adjust...

Ichigo,

How "vintage" is your Marantz tuner? Is it an analog model, with manual tuning? Is it vacuum-tube or solid-state? And if solid-state, does it have a digital readout with pre-sets?

If it has a manual tuner with a horizontal tuning dial and manual pointer, then J. Bellemare is correct. The pulley may be slipping and the pointer has become dislodged.

If it's a vacuum-tube model, then tubes drift all the time and deteriorate, and it wouldn't be worth having it realigned unless you simply like the idea of a retro analog tuner.

In theory, digital tuners should not go out of alignment, although I owned one in the early 1980s that did malfunction.

One other factor: the FM band in Japan is different than in North America, but such a degree of error that you cite would not occur.

Regards,
Alan

Quote: "In theory, digital tuners should not go out of alignment, although I owned one in the early 1980s that did malfunction."

i used to have a very good tuner: Technics ST-G7, and it happened one time i phoned the CBC to tell them their FM transmitter was slowly slipping off frequency.
they asked "how do you know that?"
i said: my tuner is a Technics STG7.
they said: ah, ok.

Ha, ha. Doesn't surprise me. I remember the Technics ST-G7. Many of the Technics products were first-rate (not their loudspeakers) and I owned several myself over the years.

It's too bad that the parent company (Matsushita, now Panasonic) discontinued the Technics line.

Alan

That's awesome.

"awesome"

talking about me? thanks. ;-)

Yeah!

That was a good story! I agree, Ken--awesome.

Thanks, J.

Hi Alan,

Thanks for clarifying. Do you think it is easy to fix it? Otherwise I will just return it to the previous owner.

I bought that because it was cheap, maybe a mistake since not very good things have I heard about this model. At least it looks nice IMO and it is in mint condition.

Originally Posted By: St_PatGuy

That was a good story! I agree, Ken--awesome.

Thanks, J.

+1

Ichigo, if the Japanese FM band runs 76-90 MHz, then it wouldn't seem that receiving 89.5 at 78.5 would be within any conceivable degree of misalignment. Almost nothing could be received since it would fall below the 76 MHz limit. Are you sure that the station in question doesn't simply also transmit at 78.5? Many U.S. FM stations use several frequencies at alternate transmitter sites.

Hi Ichigo,

Before you start fiddling around with the pulleys and string and tuning pointer, why don't you get a list of FM stations in your area with their broadcast frequencies and test the Marantz on other stations. If indeed, the pointer and string have become dislodges or are slipping, it isn't "easy" to fix. It's kind of tricky and you have to be able to get at the pulley system and pointer.

Yes, I love the look of those old vintage tuners. It appears your Marantz is similar to a huge old Pioneer unit I had (it was a stereo receiver) that used a manual tuning condenser (top left corner of your picture) with pulleys and string. If memory serves, mine had a Phase-Lock-Loop tuning circuit that would optimally lock in the station frequency. Your Marantz at least is solid-state, so you don't have to worry about wonky tube vagaries causing the erratic performance.

Alan