Nikko NT-790 Tuners

Nikko NT-790 Tuners 

DESCRIPTION

AM-FM tuner

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-1 of 1  
[Jan 24, 2016]
Zed Schmidt
AudioPhile

This is simply a fun piece of kit from the 1970's. It has that unusual blend of both looking vintage yet somehow still post modern. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but this little unit seems to pull it off. The green backlighting, is in particular very pleasant, and invokes a mellow relaxing mood as it glows in a dimly lit room.

It's tuning performance is reasonable. Not great. I've owned some outstanding tuners such as those by Luxman and it can't compare in regards to sheer reception capabilities. But when it does lock on a station, it sounds very clean and nice. The strongest point is the sonic quality of it's output, which is much better than one would expect from a piece of gear of this vintage. In particular, the high frequencies don't exhibit excessive sibilance like most tuners of similar original price point. I had an older Denon unit that I compared it with and much preferred the sound of the Nikko.

The dial doesn't feel like it's on freshly lubed ball bearings like some more expensive units, but is smooth enough and works well. The green-red-green LEDs replaced the needle gauge in the older models as a means to determine how close one is to locking on to a station. Although, I prefer the gauges, these LEDs work well enough. It would have been nice if they would have inverted the color scheme so when they're locked on the LED would have been green to match the backlighting on the tuner dial. But alas, it's a minor issue.

These can be had for low prices in the aftermarket (relative to other tuners) and are somewhat of a hidden gem at this point. In particular, the black units with the white dial is a nice aesthetic (did they make a silver face?), and worth their going rate even if you just had the unit on and unconnected. It seems that Nikko gear is just starting to catch on with the vintage collectors and accumulators ;>) so if you can pick one up in nice shape at a reasonable price... go for it!



OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-1 of 1  

(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