We've had one of these threads for music and instruments for a long while, but not one for equipment until now.

As many here will know, I archive quite a deal of material off the radio, and since virtually giving up on DAB have been using a decent budget-end FM tuner (Cambridge T100) with very acceptable results, although I've always fancied something better. From time to time I peruse this site, in the hope that the tuner I always wanted, the Audiolab 8000T might turn up second hand at a decent price. On Sunday, one did, and for once, wasn't at the other end of the country, but somewhere in my own county.
I tried to phone a couple of times, but had no reply. Attempted again yesterday, and again no reply, so tried the e-mail instead, and had an almost immediate response. Turned out that the seller was just up the road in Arbroath, and had a few more items of interest as well.

Off went Ron to a house whose front room had more gear in it than many a dealer - Complete Linn and Naim systems, as well as masses of A/V gear. There was the Audiolab I'd always fancied, though sitting on top of it was the more modern incarnation, the T20, manufactured when Tag McLaren had taken Audiolab over. It has an excellent reputation as a top-notch contender, although it's just been replaced by a new model, which this enthusiast had already purchased. He was having problems with his aerial, so it was impossible to hear either in optimum circumstances, but even a brief listen to them both through a mist of hiss suggested that they were both excellent, though the T20 was audibly better. Since he was prepared to let it go for a very decent price, that's the one that came home yesterday.

It's not totally silent: at the moment there are traces of background noise, but for me it's as far ahead of my old FM tuner as that was of DAB, both in terms of definition and involving communication: it will probably take me several days to get the best out of it, but it has me listening to R3 before 10:00, and that in itself is almost unheard of.   

Looks like there are problems with atmospherics just now, anyway, t, since the normally quiet car radio was hissing and grumbling today, even when I was driving down the road at the side of the aerial. Looks from this useful site as if they're working on it intermittently at the moment, too: it's all boding well for even better things....

Hi Ron,

I did something similar a few weeks ago. I managed to find a Magnum Dynalab MD 102T on eBay. It was also at a good price. It really knocks spots off my previous Cyrus FM/DAB unit. I no longer have any hiss. I have a little sibilance with female voices. I am hoping its down to my uni directional fm aerial. I previously had a directional aerial, so I am going to reinstall this, when the weather is better.

Well, whatever was causing that interference seems to have gone away now (fingers crossed). It's sounding virtually as quiet as DAB, but with much more life, detail and involvement. Phase coherence is exemplary, too, so that on well-miked material it images wide and deep, with each voice and performer locked into position within a definable ambient space. Very impressive.