Yamaha TX-950 Tuners

Yamaha TX-950 Tuners 

DESCRIPTION

Tuner FM sens 15.1 dBf, alt-ch sel 85dB, 40 presets

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 39  
[Dec 02, 2005]
jygeqq
AudioPhile

Strength:

sounds very good, useful signal quality meter. 2 antenna input, blend , informative display . Well built power supply. Up to date circuits .

Weakness:

could be better built, but has larger power suppy,much better than old yami t-1020, despite smaller power transformer.

Purchased one owner tx-950 on ebay. Compared it to my t-1020 which was also bought used on ebay for $30 and recently aligned. tx-950 blew it away in a/b test. Deeper bass. higher highs, expansive sound stage. Picks up distant stations clearly in stereo. Rem ote station change is a plus. Nice tuner

Similar Products Used:

yamaha cr-1020 receiver, yamaha t-1020 freshly aligned.AR receiver

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 17, 2003]
Derek
AudioPhile

Strength:

Your 'date' will think you put on a CD. Build quality is ok, though admittedly not of the caliber of the tx-1000 it is not bad either. Yes yes the lightweight tuning knob is plastic feeling, but really folks, once the thrill of playing with this unit wears off, isn't 40 presets enough for you? Click up or down on your RS remote, get to the business of listening to music, not playing with buttons all your life. Remember that 'date'?

Weakness:

None - Except that the price range of the unit puts it in reach of the green marker crowd :-O

Interesting. Either there is a wide variance in quality of parts used in the tx-950 (not likely) or people are applying "speaker comparison" type descriptions. One person's great speaker is another's junk and so on. Well, so it seems to go with this tuner. At the very least, one could hardly argue the attention garnered by this model. Now then, folks, lets get rational here and state some facts. There are no receiver built-in tuner units that match this unit, PERIOD. This alone makes it high end. Next, all reception conditions being reasonably good, this unit will produce very very near CD quality sound, both measured and heard, PERIOD. This also makes it high end. I have heard many of the tuners mentioned by previous reviews. Each one exceptional in their own right. The question one has to ask one self is, "what the hell am I trying to accomplish by buying and listening to this unit?". Well, whether you are an ordinary consumer, or a self-described audiophile, there is no way you can go wrong buying this unit. Tons of features, 40 presets, dual signal inputs, works fine with ANY Yamaha RS remote control with tuner buttons. The folks here that get into stuff about 'sounds musical' or 'lacks bass' or 'has great soundstage' or 'needs better separation', well need their head read, and please throw out your green markers. Good or bad as some may think, this unit will MEASURABLY produce very fine output signal characteristics that will impress 99% of the listeners out there. What you DO with this fine signal after it leaves the phono jacks is important. Please leave the sonic descriptions out, sonics are a matter of speaker influence, placement, and attitude of the reviewer going into the testing of the equipment. A true audiophile knows to eliminate the other influential links in a complete system ie: preamp, amp or speaker. I won't even go into things such as room construction. I have been a self-described audiophile for over 30 years folks, this tx-950 is a fine unit. Orange was my favorite color growing up as a kid, so I am ok with the display :-o

Similar Products Used:

Company A-Z. Pick a tuner from any review before this one, I have heard it. Fine units also. We live in the age of solid state, the previous mentioned tuners including this one will hardly disappoint

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 20, 2003]
wa3ktz
AudioPhile

Strength:

Weak signal capture and high-quality audio, perhaps a bit thin in bass extension. Great 3-D 'air' in the soundstage.

Weakness:

Have yet to find a true weakness. It's thin size allowed me to stack the 950 onto the Adcom inside an already tight cabinet.

When my bedroom system tuner (a weak performing GTP-400 tuner/preamp) took a lightening strike, I decided to look for a replacement tuner (used) to hook up to the functional Adcom preamp. I had always admired the yamaha tuners from the 1970's, so when I went into Barracks in Trenton NJ and saw the 950 for about $50, I couldn't turn it down. My main system still uses a McIntosh MX-113 tuner/preamp, and in a heads up comparison, the 950 beats the 113 in DX and overall signal capture. The audio has a biyt thinner bottom end on the 950 (but this could be the fault of the Adcom preamp), but the rest of the sound coming out of the 950 is amazing (Musical Fidelity speakers and Stax electrostatic headphones). As an amateur radio operator, I know all about weighted tuning knobs and love them. However, I truly enjoy the way the 950 feels during station tuning. It is light, yet very precise feeling. Overall, the best $50 I've spent in a long time.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GTP-400, McIntosh MX-113

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 15, 2002]
keithwm
AudioPhile

Strength:

Sound quality. Separates stations well.

Weakness:

Build quality leaves a little to be desired.

I have been surprised at some of the silly negative reviews of this tuner. Exaggeration does not warrant stupidity in response. This is a very good tuner - the best I have heard in my system.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz ST48 NAD 4020A Creek CAS 3040

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 10, 2002]
Jason Noel
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Features, features, features. Tuning ability, channel separation, display, I HAVE ONE AND YOU DON'T.

Weakness:

Indeed, was a little overpriced, I guess, but I would have payed even more if I knew it was going to be discontinued and I would have run the risk of not getting my hands on one.

I got one! When I was just about to get out of the Navy I decided to put together a better-than-average stereo system, no video switching of any kind. Separates were a little steep in the budget. I ended up with an AX-570, TX-950, CDC-845, EQ-550, NHT Super Zero's and a Definitive Technology PF-15. All Monster interconnects and speaker cable. I know, not exactly an audiophile system, but at the time was top-of-the-line non-separates non-video switching Yamaha gear. As far as the TX-950 goes, I love it. I am glad I got it. A year later the CDC-845 and TX-950 got hacked and man, oh man, am I glad I got them both! The TX-950 may not be an audiophile-grade tuner, but let's face it: if you want to impress the general public, spending more than what the general public spends will do the trick. This tuner is much better than any built-into-the-receiver tuner that a regular joe would buy. It sounds fantastic, has outstanding tuning ability, and about every bell and whistle you could imagine. Many people complain about the cheap tuning knob. Well, I never even considered it to be cheap; I think it is very high-tech and accurate to use. I have also read that the output stage is a little underpowered; if you have a decent amplifier it will more than make up for that.

Similar Products Used:

Tivoli Audio Henry Kloss Model One table radio, RX-495 receiver tuner. By the way: Model One is great for the office!!!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
3
[Jun 22, 2002]
Mike Good
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Very good adjacient channel seperation when narrow is selected. Fine tuning reception is cool. Nice looking tuner

Weakness:

Hard to pick up stations in stereo. Momentarily mutes when weak stations' strength is fading borderline stereo/mono. IT mutes the sound even when you keep mono selected. The signal level meter is really a farce. No stations will ever reach a full 100% Mostly all stay below 30%

I bought this tuner to replace my Yamaha T-60 Tuner. Im going to hold on to my T-60. This tuner is all talk and hype folks. It has a lot of features but they are really not that effective when it comes to enjoying FM. The actual quality of the features could be better. First of all if an FM station is weak its extremely hard to get it in stereo. The signal must be really strong for stereo reception. And if its borderline strength the tuner will momentarily mute the sound when its fading in and out of stereo/mono. THis is really annoying especially when your recording a program from a far away station. It even does it when you keep mono selected. Very bad!!! The A/B dual antenna inputs are really notindependent from each other. Heres an example: I have my roof antenna hooked up to one input (ant A) and no antenna connected to the B input. However if i selcet the B input, i can still receive stations which proves that they are bleeding over from the A antenna input. When i disconnect the A input the stations are gone on B too. So if you connect a second antenna, the stations will not be as clear as they could be. Not very good yamaha! Also the sound leans toward midrange instead of a leveled smooth sound all across the eq. I feel for anyone who paid over 200 for it

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha T-60 I tested them side by side and the T-60 is way more sensetive to picking up weak stations in stereo. The only advantage the Tx-950 has is that it is more selective.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
2
[Mar 22, 2002]
Michael Goodwin
Casual Listener

Strength:

good sound quality, a lot of controls to play with, nice looking tuner

Weakness:

Stations have to be sufficently strong to come in with stereo sound. This can be annoying because a station that is fairly good can be constantly changing between stereo and mono. Does not include remote control, but it can be ordered. It is remote control ready and will work with yamaha receiver remotes.

The Yamaha tx-950 tuner has overall good sound, not as great as i expected but great for getting it for 50 bucks. This tuner is good if you have an external roof antenna or live in an area between 2 cities and want to use two antennas to grab all stations without them interfering with each other. So if your thinking about buying it dont pay over 100 bucks for it.

Similar Products Used:

I also have the yamaha t-60 tuner, The tx-950 is a replacement for my old yamaha tuner which was not bad at all compared to this one.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
4
[Feb 20, 2002]
Helge Gabert
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Excellent reception, good sounding

Weakness:

AM section is not that great, but who cares! Somewhat light-weight.

The Yamaha TX-950 tuner is an exceptional tuner, at any price! It can pull in far away FM stations, no hiss, no glare. You can dial in fine increments (0.01 MHz for FM), which, for some stations, can make a difference. The sound is neutral to warm. It''s a keeper. Count yourself lucky if you can still find one!

Similar Products Used:

Mcintosh MR-67

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 31, 2001]
mike
Audiophile

Strength:

Reception sensitivity and noise rejection

Weakness:

sound quality

While the sensitivity and channel selection on this
unit is good, the high resolution audiophile
quality is not there. A quick look inside the box
reveals a questionable output stage and component quality
too.

Bass response is not bad, high frequencies seem to
be muted, not open.
This is something I found to be true on
several high end tuners. In order to reject noise
(which is a fact of life with FM) they end up loosing
openness on the high-end.

While the specs are hard to beat, if you are not living
in a reception impaired area, you can find better sound
quality.

Similar Products Used:

Magnum 101, Fanfare FT1a

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
2
[Nov 18, 1999]
Thomas L
Audiophile

Strength:

Good sensitivity, reception and stereo separation.

Weakness:

Lean bass.

Very good tuner for the price. Excellent for places where strong reception is required. Try using different interconnects to smooth out the highs and give it a fuller sound.

Similar Products Used:

Creek T43, Cambridge Audio T500, Jolida 601, Magnum Dynalab FT11.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 39  

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