Magnum Dynalab FT-11 Tuners

Magnum Dynalab FT-11 Tuners 

DESCRIPTION

Analogue FM tuner

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-9 of 9  
[Jan 11, 2009]
trehane
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sound.

Weakness:

For me, none - but I was a bit surprised when I first got it to find it wandered all over the dial. Never seen that problem before.

Found this in a thrift shop and wasn't familiar with the name. Did a net search and realized it had great potential. Mine sounded great but drifted off station very badly. Sent it to MD for a $75 refurbishing and it's now as new.

I have vintage equipment, tube amps, tuners, turntables and cd players. This tuner is new by my standards. I listen to jazz, classical, New Age, easy listening. Some rock but that is less often. This tuner is definitely better than any of the tube tuners I have. I am fotunate to have strong local stations within easy reach. Not interested in looking for distant stations. I considered adding en exterior antenna but decided to try vintage rabbit ears mounted on top of an armoire in the living room, in among a display of dried bullrushes etc. The bunny ears definitely improve the clarity of the signal so I am sticking with that solution.

I can't compare this to high end tuners - this is as high end as I have ever gone. I consider myself a bottom feeder when it comes to audio. My objective is to find as good a system as possible without using paper money. My B system is a $100 package consisting of Eico HF81, Fisher 90B, Systemdek IIX, Dynaco A25XL, stands, Pioneer cd. A system is an HF81, Yamaha NS1000X, Thorens 126 II, Nak Music Bank and MD FT 11. Other than the speakers, all compoinents were $5 - $50 each.

This tuner exceeds anything else I have owned. I am very pleased with it. I was very pleased with the service MD offered. This tuner is much more like listening to cds than to radio. Nice soundstage, clear crisp sound. I may buy another even if I have to pay a normal price for it. I see ebay has had a couple in the $200 range again recently. Hmmmmm - that will mean paper money but.....!

Customer Service

Great. First class.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing similar. Vintage tube tuners.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 18, 2002]
beken
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good sound, backed by a company who stands behind their products.

Weakness:

Analog tuner and switches (buttons) need to be serviced after years of service.

How good this tuner sounds has already been stated by others (excellent) but I would like to mention the service from Magnum Dynalab. The tuner has been sounding rather fuzzy the last while and I felt either there was something wrong with the opamps or the tuner section was going off alignment. The tuner section and switches being the more obvious because they are the only actual moving parts in the unit. I emailed Magnum Dynalab for a schematic as my unit is out of warranty and they sent back that for $75 + shipping, they will fix it to good as new including re-aligning the tuner. I find this to be a very reasonable price. I found out that MD has a lifetime service policy on all their tuners. Good show, MD.

Similar Products Used:

Akai KT-11 tuner.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Feb 04, 2000]
Bill
Audiophile

Strength:

Excellent FM for the buck

Weakness:

Not the last word in detail and clarity, but close enough

I've lived with this tuner for a few years, and I'm was starting to take this level of performance for granted until recently. I picked up an Denon AVR-3300 for a home theater rig and thought, what the heck, let's do an A/B between the built-in tuner and the FT-11.

The Denon, BTW, is a fine piece, and it has a built-in DAC that creates a sweet, very-low-grain sound with CDs and DVDs. The tuner, however, is another matter. After 20-30 minutes it causes listening fatigue. But the FT-11 sure doesn't, and it's cleaner, more detailed and has more bass to boot.

If you're looking for a reasonably inexpensive tuner, this one appears from time to time on the used market for about $200. At that price, I think it's a steal.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 07, 2000]
Joe
Audiophile

Strength:

Simple design, good sound, good construction

Weakness:

Not many presets(3), no remote, not the quietest, mediocre RF performance

A very nice simple tuner, but not nearly as good as it's bigger sister, the 101. To disagree with Dixon, not a tuner for a $5000 system. Great for a 1K to 2K system however. A great tuner for areas with a few nearby clear stations, so that weak atations or interference is not a problem.

Similar Products Used:

Audiolabs 8000T

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Nov 01, 1999]
Irv
Audio Enthusiast

This is a wonderful tuner. It is not the last word in sensitivity, nor the last word in sweetness, but what it does give you is the sense of listening to music or voice, and not to "radio" with all the limitations that implies. I listen to it on Mission speakers and reasonably good Cambridge integrated amp, and when I listen to the radio I never think immediately that I'm listening to a poorer grade source. Even though obviously it does not sound like CD or LP, its sound is alive, clear and immediate. A wonderful buy for its price.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 31, 1999]
Dixon
an Audiophile

I just picked up this tuner. Although recently discontinued (still available in stores though), this ten year design is still an amazing piece of technology. This was the entry level tuner from Magnum Dynalab. Their bigger brother FT-101A or Etude were just way out of my price range. I did notice that the other two tuners were better but not that much. You had better have a system that takes advantage of the imporved dynamics of the better tuners. From a stereophile review in the early 90's, the reviewer mentioned that the FT-11 is about equivilant to the first FT-101 that won incredible praise in the 80's.
I pluged the FT-11 in two of my systems just to compare the improvement in the tuner quality. The first one was my work system. It's just a yamaha reciever and computer speakers. I never thought much of this set up becuase it's just to drown the computer humm. It was an instant light and day difference. The voices were instantly focused on the centre, the sound stage was dramatically improved and to my surprised the little subwoofer started to produce base and pound out clean tight notes. I never doubted the FT-11 to kick the cheap after thought of a tuner in the Yamaha, but the amount of improvement was startling.

I was extremely anxious to get home to plug it into my home system just to see if it would "kick" my existing home tuner. i have an analogue
SONY ST-5000FW. This is a 25 lb tuner from the 70's that has served me well, but I've always noticed that it was weak in bottom end and a little constained for a wide soundstage. After the initial A & B comparisons with the FT-11 I actually found it only marginally better (not as obvious as the work set up). Only after careful and extended listening did I find the improvement in the mid bass and lower end. Especially on pop stations. The better classical and jazz stations showed that this was a very clean tuner but the sony was always great with these channels too.

I'd still recommend this tuner if you can find one. GREAT VALUE. It'll open up a whole new world of FREE music. The tuner will NOT be the weak link in a system ranging from $5000-10000. I know my current 10 year amp and speakers if improved would make this tuner produce even better sound.

note: from what I've seen the tuner is $575US in the states and about $699 CDN in Canada (cheaper up here),

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
[May 17, 2001]
John
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

natural sound

Weakness:

compressed soundstage?

I am total suprised that the FM stations I've been listening to for so many years could sound this good. It wasn't unti tilI got some new Dunlavy speakers that I noticed how great this tuner sounds. The soundstage is pretty good depth-wise, but my speakers are placed about 10' apart and the side-to-side soundstage of the tuner is maybe 5' - but I bet this is an artifact of the stations I listen to (or the rather cheap interconnects I'm using) - not a problem caused by the tuner.

BTW, I never use the presets - its easy to remeber your favorite 5-10 radio station freqencies. I love this tuner!

Associated equipment:
- Dunlavy SC1
- Audiolab 8000S
- Audiolab 8000CD
- Rega Planer 3 with Rega Elys & Black Cube

Similar Products Used:

$200 Sony (don't remember model number)

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 09, 2000]
Eduard
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

sound is realistic, soft and not fatiguing

Weakness:

need a good antena with strong enough interference free signal

I own this tuner for four years now and I am very hapy with it. I did not want to buy MD FT-101 for financial reasons for I listen to CD's and LP's as major source. However, after purchasing this tuner I found myself quite often listening to live jazz broadcasting. Even it is not as sensitive as old Onkyo Integra tuner, it definitely sounds more realistic. Very pleasant product. Well done Magnum Dynalab!

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo Integra

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Apr 27, 2000]
Bob
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Build Quality. Has some presets.

Have had the pleasure of using the 11 for a while. Also had a 101 and a 101a in the house at the same time. I have to admit that MD makes some great tuners and I have enjoyed the 3 I had. IMO of the MD tuners the 101 101a and 11 are all pretty close in performance. Subsequently I have sold my 101 and 101a. Sound quality and features for the buck this is the best of the lot. Wow ... do not complain about not too many presets on this thing!!!!. For twice the price you can get a 101 or a 101a and get NONE. At least the 11 has 3 for your favorite stations. Alas to the contrary of a previous reviewer the 11 cannot be found for $200.00 anymore. Too many people have evidently found out what a great value this little MD is and they are usually around $300.00. Still a super tuner for the $$. Built to last also.

Similar Products Used:

FT-101
FT-101a
Luxman T-100

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-9 of 9  

(C) Copyright 1996-2018. All Rights Reserved.

audioreview.com and the ConsumerReview Network are business units of Invenda Corporation

Other Web Sites in the ConsumerReview Network:

mtbr.com | roadbikereview.com | carreview.com | photographyreview.com | audioreview.com