[W1KNE]

When did Sony discontinue this?? (and why??)


Sucks they cut out such an excellent product.

 

[DragonLoaf]

Yeah, it does suck. I bought mine from Amazon last year on sale for $80-something. I love it. If you check Amazon now you will have a chuckle, someone is selling a new unit for the low, low price of $599.99!

It's a great component, but it's not THAT great. Heck, I'd be willing to cut that price by 60% and sell mine (albeit used) for the bargain basement remuneration of only $240!

That would beat out the used one on sale at Amazon for only $250 - what a deal!

I hate the short cycle turnaround in electronics products these days that dictates "constant improvements" and planned obsolescence, though I suppose it is a necessary evil for the manufacturers. There is barely enough time to determine if a product is of sufficient quality to justify investment before it disappears from the shelves.

 

[gnosys]

Best tuner out there - big problem is it has no digital outs.


Anyone figured out a fix to add one?? It would be perfect with coaxial/optical outs...

 

[W1KNE]

The two other big quirks in the radio were.


1) it doesn't hold the memory long enough on power loss.


2) the non ability to force it into analog only mode.


Hopefully Sony is developing something new.

 

[gnosys]

Brian, K6STI, has some nice mods on his site, ref'ed elsewhere in this thread, including a fix for (2). He's also modified that site to include some alternate procedures for flattening the treble roll-off problem by adding some feedback capacitance (vice removing some smallish surface mounts).

I've been investigating retrofitting a digital output - may have some news about this in the future. I wish Sony would put out a no-holds-barred tuner, based on this design, that incorporates digital outs and fixes all the warts, but I suspect they've (rightly?) concluded HD Radio is limited in terms of ROI.

 

[scowl]

Tuners in general are very limited in terms of ROI. Who the heck buys a separate tuner for their A/V system these days? Every receiver has acceptable AM and FM reception for the few people who listen to the radio at home.