build quality

no signal meter

First about TEAC...the company. Can you belive that there are actual people at TEAC who....hold your breath...actually pick up the phone and talk to customers? What a concept! Seriously, my first experience with TEAC was great. I had a tech question about the r670 tuner before buying it and was able to reach "Jimmy" from their consumer audio group who was very helpful and knew exactly what I was talking about with respect to my specific tech question (re: RDS function on this tuner). It's rare these days to deal with a company who doesnt seemingly outsource customer service straight away. Such a pleasure to deal with!

Now for the tuner itself. While I am new to component tuners, I still
appreciate good gear being an Adcom system owner for years. Sure, it's not super hi-fi, but it's still worlds above the basic junk out there. Only a few consumer level companies make higher level components these days (Pioneer Elite, Onkyo Integra, etc.) and TEAC seems to be on par with these players. Once again, they're not Krells or Mark Levinson's but still pretty good. First, right out the box, the tuner felt substantial. Solid face plate, simple design, nice buttons etc.,. The packing makes it suspended in the box away from all sides so there's little chance for anything to dent/damage the chassis during shipping. Of course, hooking up a tuner is very easy...antenna tuning/placement aside. I got it up and running and while I was skeptical that "a tuner is a tuner", this thing was impressive. Sure, radio technology is quite mature but most people are used to car radio, handheld radio or radios integrated into their receivers. What a difference a dedicated component makes. It's not CD/SACD/Vinyl audio quality but what can you expect. For radio, it's darn good.

Also, the manual that comes with it is...hold your breath again...printed on nice glossy, card-stock 8.5 x 11 paper written in perfect english. No flimsy untra-thin copier paper here. The instructions are clear and there are supporting pictures for setting the clock, timers, presets etc.

Unlike the Denon TU1500 that I was considering, this TEAC comes with a remote. The Denon does not come with one...how strange. Also, the Denon looks/feels like a $79, plastic component. While it may be technically superior (just a guess based on price) I wouldnt go near it for what it costs (look it up..it ain't cheap).

The only thing missing from the TEAC r670 (IMHO), is a singal strength meter. That would be a nice addition. Oh, and perhaps to have the technical manual available in PDF on their website. Aside from that, this unit is top class and sits well in a system full of dedicated components (amp, DAC, CD transport etc.)

It's so nice to take a break from CDs and Vinyl and listen to hassle-free music.

Customer Service

see summary. TEAC is outstanding when it comes to customer service

Similar Products Used:

integrated tuners - unfortunately