Tuner Primare T23
Despite the fact that every year an increasing number of stations and signal quality can not be compared with the past century, a separate FM-tuner is rarely seen in the home audio system. Indeed, most broadcasters now focus on the audience, whiling away the hours in traffic jams, but if you rummage around in the air, you can find a lot of very informative programs for serious music lovers.
It is on these and designed tuner T23 Swedish company Primare Systems AG. This is a complete (and quite heavy, it must be said) component in the standard 430-millimeter case. Design typically - Marked forward faceplate, concise display with green backlight and a number of convex shiny buttons. The device is made by audiophile ideology - the shortest signal path, the output stage transistors MOSFET with a resistive load and a power supply transformer R-Core. Digital frequency synthesizer circuit and controller powered by individual windings to minimize their mutual influence. Yes, and in the source are cut filter high frequency noise coming from the network.
I must say, at once: the most advanced digital circuit with PCM1738 DACs and converters, current/voltage on the OPA2134 in demand will not, unless you are going to take the tuner in any European country. A separate section under the cover is reserved for DAB-tuner. Moreover, as the system ground, trying to catch a petal European satellite, setting into our territory, such as television DVBS, useless. By the way, in Europe covered by DAB-broadcast by almost 100% over the past couple of years, enthusiasm for this format noticeably subsided. To put the band several stations. In a fairly narrow package, at the transmitting end has to much to compress the signal. As a result, instead of the promised "CD-quality" turns mp3 low bit rate. Therefore, in England, for example, has recently become increasingly popular direct FM-broadcast of the concert halls. In this case, in a very short path there is no treatment, but the simplest limiters, and, according to music lovers on the authenticity of the sound such programs even surpass the CD, even though the limited frequency range of 30 - 15,000 Hz. We do stations with a decent signal once or twice and a handful. But I would like to hope that much if we had flown with the figure, it is possible that over time there will be more decent stations on FM.
But back to the T23. It is a very useful option that allows you to manage the remote tuner all components Primare. To do this, they must be connected by RS232. As it can also include the tuner itself and select any of the previously captured stations. In the FM-band provided 40 such presets DAB - 10. Common customizations better with the remote because the buttons on the front panel are used only to perform basic operations.
Matrix display, two lines. It displays the frequency of the received station mode (mono/stereo), the current time, as well as all information is transmitted in RDS. The last mode is supported PTY (Program Type), ie search for a station on a particular subject. Of course, this is possible if the broadcaster establishes the appropriate codes in the main signal.
Connecting the FM-antenna tuned to. Conveniently, that in addition to the preset provided and thin, with 0.05 MHz steps. Scanning silent, and only after a secure grip on the carrier signal is output output jacks. After going through most of the stations listed in the table, I realized that really give a quality signal on the air a few of them. A typical problem of a good source that he mercilessly exposes all the flaws of the recording (in this case - translation), because of what is necessary to more carefully select the material for listening.
T23 on the music makes an excellent signal/noise (though to improve this indicator should put the antenna on the street), a clear separation between the channels and the correct tonal balance. The latter circumstance is mainly due to the purity of the high range and the lack of it audible distortion.
Generally speaking, with such an abundance of music formats is not difficult to find a station to taste, so this tuner can replace CD-player. And the discs do not have to fuss.
