Tuner has a glitch with FM reception

March 4, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Q. I have a problem with FM reception on my tuner. I have a Rotel RT-850 from 1986 that has given good sound and good service over many years.

FM worked fine for years, but now the signal can start off strong then degrade down to 0 or 1 indicators bars. The speakers then crackle and cut out. All of the other station buttons yield low signal indicators.

I took the tuner back to my local dealer who said they ran it for a week without any failures. But back in my house, it isn’t working right.

I’ve considered a better antenna, but reviews seem to be all over the map. How can I diagnose and cure this problem, and do you have any suggestions for a good antenna?

M.P., Minneapolis

A. Though the dealer was unable to replicate the problem, it sounds like you do have a problem with the tuner. We can try to get a better signal to the device to be certain, but it may be time to replace the tuner. More on that later.

If you have cable television, call your provider and see if they transmit FM over their lines. Many people are unaware that sometimes you can get good FM just by splitting your TV cable line and connecting it to your tuner. Fewer providers do this these days but I would contact them to find out.

One of my top low-cost and extremely effective tips is to use an ordinary $10 pair of unamplified TV rabbit ears as an FM antenna.

Just go to the department store and get the lowest-priced, most basic pair they have. I cannot overstate the improvement they make over the long wire (dipole) antenna that is included with most receivers.

I have found the simple rabbit ears often outperform much more expensive amplified antennas, so why pay more and have something else that needs to be plugged in?

If you do need a new tuner, I would try Craigslist or even thrift stores. I scored a really nice Kenwood tuner with an analog dial for $10 recently.

Speaking of which, don’t be afraid of analog tuners. Though you do not have the digital presets you can fine-tune stations better with an analog dial.

Finally, if you want to get what was probably the best tuner ever made, try and find a Sony XDR-F1HD on eBay. They were under $100 when new but now that the model is discontinued they can fetch up to $300.

Sony, please bring back the XDR-F1HD!

Contact Don Lindich at www.soundadviceblog.com and use the “submit question” link on that site.

2012, McClatchy-Tribune News Service