Hefty 19 LB build with high quality parts. Gryo tuning is great. If you want high quality FM sound this is the best buy. Near CD Quality from a good player.Godar 1 Indoor antenna brings in 3 College,and an alternative radio station in stereo as well as others locals completely noise free.Distant Stations drop to mono because of indoor antenna, but come in clear.

None

The ST-17U is the updated 2003 model that improves Stereo decoder and overall sound improvement.A card remote control is added also.Beautiful velvet tubelike Marantz sound. Life like sound on live FM broadcasts. 55db Stereo seperation and deep soundstage. Deep bass and twinkling highs. Took over a week of constant use to fully break in. Best sound I have ever heard from a FM Tuner. Close to a good CD.

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Yamaha,Nad,Sony 550ES

Heavy, good build quality

Fair sound, no strenght meter, design flaw with presents - will lose the settings unless used frequently.

The tuner is very heavy and has good build quality, that is about all it has going for it. On the down side, the tuner lacks a signal strength meter and it sounds only fair in FM. The AM reception is terrible (they should not even include it). Even worse, the Marantz has a major design flaw. It offers 60 channel presets, however, if you do not use the tuner frequently it can and will lose all the present settings (every 6-10 weeks). This has happened on two ST-17 tuners and Marantz will not acknowledge they have a problem - they will not do anything to correct it. Beware; Marantz customer service is very poor. I purchased the Marantz ST-17 to replace a 20-year-old Sony ST-J75. It turns out the old Sony sounds better and still works perfectly – I kept it and sold the Marantz.

Similar Products Used:

Sony ST-J75 and Fanfare FT-1A.

- Design and construction are first rate - Gorgeous,look and feel - Marantz sexy « gyro- wheel », - Available features and settings more than sufficient.

abscence of a strenght meter which could help when setting the wired antenna position

When I decided to replace my ageing tuner which just stopped to work, the ST17 was the obvious match for my PM 17 mk2, and not just for styling reason. It also shares the PM17 fundamental sonic qualities allied with an impressivelly strong and clean signal reception : transparent, neutral yet warm sound rendition from every good radio station your location would allow you to pickup. The slight tendency of the sound to be cold/ bright due to poor rejection of the 19Khz pilot tone(as reported by Hifi Choice)is not obvious to me and this might depend on the local broadcast policy and rules of each country. On the other hand , I can easily hear the tricks applied by some radio station technicians who « blow » rather than broadcast their musical program such as enhanced unatural stereo effect, heavy compression, EQ, ect… but if the radio station and program are good enough , the ST17 would easilly recreate live concert condition in your listening room. I currently use the supplied T shape wire antenna taped directly on the window glass and hidden behind curtains (WAF) and this works fine for me, even better than « state of the art » so-called indoor antenna ST2 Magnum Dybalab ! And while I reckon this is not perfect, I wish someday I could try the ST17 with proper outdoor aerial set up in order to give this excellent tuner its full justice. But for the time being, at least , I can now really enjoy the sound quality available from good FM broadcast.

Similar Products Used:

Various Kenwood, Vintage Marantz, Magnum Dynalab

None. In this price category this tuner is a poor choice

Many FM stations swirch to mono mode or mute out because the recption is poor. Sound quality is poor also

I auditioned this product in my home. The reception was even worse than one my 15 year old Kenwood rack system. The sound quality was just ok. Many stereo stations only cam in in mono. I really wanted to get a tuner with a remote and presents but when I auditioned the Magnum dynalab I never knew that radio could sound that good. The Marantz was terrible! The worst!

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Now own a Magnum Dynalab 101 which is awesome

Great sound, refined design, quality construction

None

This is one marvelous tuner and a bargain at $600 (I'm told it sells for the equivalent of $1000US in Europe). It's beautifully built, looks great, picks up fringe stations cleanly, and sounds almost as good as my CD player, but only on FM. Its AM performance is only average. Other tuners I've tried - Luxman T117, Sumo Charlie, Yamaha TX950 - do not come close in sound quality. I might add that the Yamaha T2 sound just as good, but it's an older design that has a tendency to drift on FM. I also checked out the Magnum Dynalab FT101 (at more money) but didn't see any major advantage over the ST17.

I particularly like the programmable A/B antenna feature. It allows me to optimize the antenna setting for each preset. I have not seen the feature on any other tuner. The station ID feature is also a plus! The classic Marantz horizontal tuning knob has a smooth feel.

Similar Products Used:

Magnum Dynalab FT101; McIntosh MR78

This tuner compliments the PM-17 and CD-17 perfectly. It picks-up even relatively weak signals with great clarity. I have connected a TERK FM-Pro antenna which may be helping that cause as well. 60 presets is more than ample. The station naming feature is also handy, allowing you to display up to 8 position descriptions or call letters as opposed to the numeric frequency. I'm not sure if the price has recently gone up, as I paid 100.00 less than what's listed here.

Very good sounding FM section. I thought I wouldn't listen much to FM radio when I bought it, but I was wrong. Though the sound is not up to my CD player (Audiolab 8000CD), it is in the same class. The sound is smooth and natural, not hash at all. The gyro control is neat. Build quality is excellent.
I live 20 miles (or more) away from most local stations. Use Fanfare FM-2G(?) omni antenna inside mounted. It's a great antenna.

The down side: poor AM section; for FM, it gets a few stations with very good clarity instead of a lot with poor sound; cannot turn off the bluish LED display.

Great design.High quality.Unique Gyro Touch tuning.

No remote control.

Great sounding tuner . Very warm and musical sound quality.
It is very good builded , and looks very good.
The gyro touch tuning system is very pleasant to use . I'm
very happy with this tuner and wouldn't think of using/or
bying an other.

Similar Products Used:

Luxman. Sansui.