Purchased the TU-260L MK2 as second hand early this year as my trusty Pioneer died of old age. Reception is brilliant, however it suffers some high frequency distortion, present on choral and percussion. Having called in a local aerial man to check it out and finding no external problems, my attention was drawn to the previously unnoticed fact that the DENON has a higher line output level, notably 1.1V whereas the input sensitivity of my Marantz amp is 150mV/20k.
This is probably the mismatch causing the distortion due to overloading the input. This would be no problem to sort with an attenuator (6dB) however calculating correct values is difficult due to no load impedance published for the DENON, which has scant technical info on instruction manual. This appears to be the norm for Denon products so prospective purchasers need to take this into account!

Bought used both the TU-260 (€50) and the TU-460 (€90) Denon tuners because of the hype around them. They do live up to the myth! Very nice detailed sound with excellent clarity and transparency. But both need good signal stations, with poor signal they don't sound good. So I would very highly recomment both as they are true high end sounding tuners for very little money! And particularly the TU-460 which is a little better sounding is very hard to beat! It is very important to get them alligned and have all potentiometers properly set for voltage at test points, even if your tuner appears to work well. You will be amazed with the result.

Could not believe the price, excellent condition, what more could you ask for in a non RDS tuner.

Very simple and clear to use, good coverage very clear and easyt to read screen. There are more than enough storage channels avialable. 20 channels.

No signal meater digital or analoug would be nice. There is just a little logo which flashs on to tell you wether or not there is a strong signal or not.

A very nice, neat unit. Simple and straght foward to use. With a clear read out.

I have no idea what year this roducts model year is, so the above year is wrong.

Similar Products Used:

None

This tuner has great sound, picks up stations very easily with a very ordinary aerial and is easy to use. It doesn't seem to have very many features, but I usually only listen to one station so that doesn't bother me.
And it doesn't cost much!

Elegance and simplicity
Great, airy sound quality
Extremely sensitive

No signal strength meter
Nothing else at this price

Were it not for the lack of signal metering, I would almost question the wisdom of spending any more on a tuner.

Living in very flat, built up London, using a roof aerial, I can pick up local FM radio stations all over Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire in crisp, uninterrupted stereo. Voices have a sense of space, and music is engaging with good separation. Of the tuners I've listened to, only the gorgeous Audiolab 8000T was appreciably better, with a cleaner, more tonally neutral sound. Bearing in mind that the Denon sold for £129, and the Audiolab for £799, this would be something of a disgrace on Audiolab's part if this were not the case.

If they added a signal strength meter and cleaned up the front panel a bit, they could shift these things for £400 a pop and nobody would complain.

Similar Products Used:

Audiolab 8000T
Auditioned various £150-£250 alternatives

Quality, Price, Build

To short length ways - has to go on top of my system all the time

Excellent build and sound and reception. I use the standard ariel it comes with and its great, i sometimes even get faint french & spanish radio!! Oh ya, good for listening to pirate radio stations aswell. Good radio text function. Good jog dial thing to scan through stations.

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Little clock radio!

Good sound, clean faceplate

The non-remote version, not only doesn't come with a remote, but cannot be operated with Denon's IS remotes

The sound quality off of broadcast is very good. The depth of the unit, as indicated by previous reviewers can be problematic. It necessitates longer interconnects because of its shallow depth, and the outputs being on the opposite side (as compared to my other units--all of which have the rca-jacks on the rear right). There is no signal strength meter, and no remote functionality. Other than these physical design shortcomings, it does everything I would want a tuner to do--receive broadcasts with good selection and sound quality. It is a bargain at the price I paid, and overall I am very pleased with it. It compares favorably with pricier offerings from Denon (e.g. TU-1500) for sound and reception if you don't need RDS (which I do not), but the build quality is not the same. Overall 3.5 stars, with 1.5 take off for build and design. 4.5 stars for value.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Yamaha, Sony receivers

The Denon TU260L is a charming and simple tuner. On FM it has a clean, clear sound without obvious vices. I use it with an external FM aerial to listen to BBC Radio Three and enjoy a feeling of space with live broadcasts which is a genuine delight.
The only moan is there's no signal strength meter, but that's all pretty minor in the end. If you have a tightish budget there is none better.

i have the 280 model, i don't know the difference between the two but my tuner is o.k. i have it hooked up to the cable and it pulls in a number of staions, all with good sound, associated equipment is as follows:

NAD 314 amp
PSB alphas w/ the alpha "sub-woofer", soon to be B&W 602's
Kimber Kables and ultralink interconnects

this tuner does what i want it to do, has enough presets (30), and i only paid $75 cdn. for it at a pawn shop.