inexpensive, compatible, attractive, simple to use, 40 presets.

Too many presets

What more do you need a tuner to do? Radio signals are the least pure signals of all. It tunes in radio stations great providing that you don't have local interference or household interference. I purchased this for about $175 CDN and you would be crazy to pay more for any tuner. Little improvements can be made by investing in good interconnects, but nothing outrageous. As for the negative reviews, maybe these people should take a look at their listening priorities. A tuner should be the least important component in your system. 40 Preset channel capability. Too many! I only listen to a couple of radio channels regularly. Why overkill? Buy this unit if you get a chance.

Nothing that jumps out at me. It worked fine.

Poor reception.

I lived with this tuner for a little over a year. It is a less than spectacular piece of gear. Let me say I don't think I had too high of expectations for a low priced tuner, but even a budget tuner should outperform my car radio right? Well you would think so, but not in this case. I bought an $80 Terk antennae to help pull in more stations, but the reception was still underwhelming. It pulled in fewer stations than my ancient KLH Model 8 table radio (even using only the KLH's built in antennae). Finally I got fed up, sold the Yamaha and bought a used NAD 4130 tuner (mide 80s vintage). What an improvement the NAD proved to be! Now I pull in signals strong and clear that were no more than a distant buzz on the Yamaha. The NAD has a robust, musical sound where the Yamaha was thin and tinny. The Yamaha TX-480 was one of the most disappointing pieces of audio gear I have ever owned.

Similar Products Used:

KLH Model 8, NAD 4130

Great reception, attractive styling

none

This is a great tuner, it pulls in a TON more stations than my old T-30. I installed a cheap $15 Radio Shack 360 degree FM antenna in my attic and I pull in dozens of stations all over Wisconsin and I live in the middle of nowhere. Before I could only get 4 (even with the antenna)
90% of the signals result in stereo reception as well. Too bad they discontinued the T-480. It is a great little unit!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha T-30, various reciever/tuners

I just bought a demo Yamaha TX-480 tuner in mint condition for $100. I've hooked it up to my Onkyo receiver to compare it with the receivers tuner. They sound about the same but the Onkyo receiver is very slightly more harsh sounding. (Or the Yamaha has a smoother sound). I have no problem picking up a lot of FM stations just using the wire antenna that comes with it. I live about 35 miles outside of Washington DC in a rural farm area. For someone just looking for a plain tuner this one would be a fine choice. I believe in this price range a tuner is a tuner is a tuner. The AM is lousy which usually seem the case with low priced tuner and receivers.

this is a well built product. It has also a jog instead of ugly +/- key to change frequency. It's cheap.

It lacks RDS functionalities.
It lacks precision at both spectrum extremities.

A good product for the price.