good FM specs, handsome, lots of presets, easy to use

even at this pricepoint fine tuning should be included, thin bright sound, terrible AM

TX 492

I was in the market for a tuner and was going to hold out for a nice T-85 or something similar but saw this at the pawn shop for only $30 so I snatched it right up.

During my research I had compiled a short-list and the TX-492 was at the bottom of the list. But it did make the cut (something most of the HKs couldn't do).

I have no problem with its FM performance. I have a yagi in the attic and it pulls in the low-power college station from 25 miles away in listenable mono. Pulls another university station in from 60 miles away.

When I got it it was replacing an older low-end Marantz digital receiver. I A/B'd them and the Yamaha had slightly better overall FM performance. The Marantz did better on a couple of stations and it had a fine tuning feature, but the Yamaha was just slightly superior on average.

The sound quality is rather thin, however. This has been mentioned by other reviewers. I am using Monster Interlink 400 and it is still really bright. Maybe will try different cables as one of the previous reviewers suggests.

No AM performance to speak of. Can only get the 1 local station.

One FM caveat: has trouble with a high-powered top-40 station only 35 miles away, but I think geographically it is located in the null of my antenna so I do not blame the tuner for this.

Of course I would like fine tuning, adjustable selectivity, bandwidth, sens, etc., but this is an entry level tuner.

Overall: It is a decent little tuner and sets the bar for the absolute minimum level of performance an enthusiast would accept from a separate tuner.

Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon 220A, Marantz SR-560

Superb engineering for the money. Excellent sound.

Cabinet somewhat flimsy

This is a superb unit FOR THE PRICE.Compare its important specifications to units costing many times, and you will see little difference,in some cases. And, you won't necessarily hear the difference, unless you live in an area that has audiophile quality FM stations----and are few of those around folks. Today's FM programming is largely computer generated, highly compressed, mediocrity in most areas of the country. I agree with the reviewer who stated that digital FM is just around the corner, so why waste your money. If you want a finely machined cabinet, elegant switches, and pretty dials, go elsewhere and spend a thousand dollars or more. The Yahama is a superbly engineered product AT ITS PRICE POINT.

Low price, easy to configure, clean sound

A little flimsy on the build side , but only $260 Canadian eh?

Please Note: This review is for a < $300 Tuner! I am not a huge listener of radio, however after being pressured by my wife to provide our sound system with a tuner, I purchased this admittedly low end tuner to satisfy her need for radio background during the day. I read the other reviews about this product, and frankly, I have to position myself on the side of thos who qualify this as " a3 great little tuner for the price". I connnected it to my sound system (Clements Ribbon speakers Mark II, Rotell 991 Amp and Rotel 995 pre-amp) and was very surprised by the clean, crisp sound of the radio stations within programming distance. It is very enjoyable to listen to and easy to configure. N.B. I am using only the dinky little cable adapter antenna at the moment, and it still has great reception.

Sound quality for the price. Able to use my Sony universal remote to change stations on the tuner.

None.

I paid 260. cdn. for this tuner (175 US) new. It is a great sounding tuner and is worth every penny. With the eventuality of digital tuners in the near future, I don't see why anyone would pay more money. It might not receive the farthest stations without a fancy antenna but most tuners don't either.

Similar Products Used:

Cyrus FM7 and Denon TU400.

The 40 presets, used by both AM and FM stations, in banks of 10 provides flexibility for organizing stations.

Not the best at pulling in med and weak signals. I have to use use a Terk Pi to boost those stations.

Out of the box it is light and plasticky. A thin metal casing and the facia is that cheap brittle black plastic. On the back, Coax FM only, AM clip connectors and basic RCA sockets that are not gold plated. Setup is a doddle with an auto-program function: The unit scans FM and AM for stations and then programs the presets with the strongest signal in order of frequency. Quite smart. Moving stations between presets is a doddle after that. Listening, I''d have to say it seems more at home with classical and talk radio, capturing the details. Rock/Pop sounds ''edgey'' and is probably not suitable for a bright amp. Cabling this unit I have used the detail friendly coax interconnects. Despite the signal pulling limitaions this tuner is very capable and undoubtedly includes the appreciable Yamaha know-how though bang-for-buck is low.

Similar Products Used:

Denon TU 260L, Akai

Basic functions, slew of memory locations for AM/FM, good sound when stations come in strong.

A little pricey

This Yamaha tuner, though pricey, matched nicely with the rest of my equipment. I just wanted a basic tuner to handle music off the radio. With the antenna set up right, this little unit actually sounds really good.

If you want a reliable, good sounding unit, and you can fork over a little extra, than this unit is what you could be looking for.

Similar Products Used:

None

Quick tuning, simple.

This is a good basic tuner. I can't imagine needing anything more from a tuner, FM signals are quite limited. For the price ($200 Canadian), its a good buy.

Overall good features, fast tuning.

A bit pricey at $200

Overall, this is a really good tuner. It picks up stations much better than my old ($400)Pioneer reciever. Its searches very quickly and shows the signal strength. I got it to go with my NAD seperates(i only wanted a cheap tuner) and am not expecting it to sound like a cd.

I give it 5* for preformance sense almost everyone here has given it low marks(it's a budget tuner for christs sake what do you expect?) and 3*(average) for price.

Moderately low price, very good performance, very good quieting.

Interconnect sensitive, not a load tolerant output stage.

I don't know the causes for the comments on this unit being noisy, but mine is very quiet working off a Radio Shack powered indoor antenna. It turned out to be too bright sounding working into my NAD C350, until I realized it was more than normally sensitive to the interconnects being used, threw away the ones that came with it (yes, actually threw them away) and tried a 1/2 meter length of goood quality low capacitance (34 pF) interconnect. Amazing difference. Our local good music station recently played a CD I own, so I popped it into my Sony XA1ES, and found it sounded EXACTLY like the tuner. I've never had that happen before! So how much better do you want your tuner to be for $200?

This is not an expensive tuner, but the FM specs are quite good; so I expect Yamaha did not knock themselves out in designing the output stage. Pity. But feed it into an easy to drive load (the NAD is 50 k ohms and low capacitance) and take the time to find some low capacitance cables, and it will reward you with excellent sound. Above all, DO NOT use the el cheapo interconnects that come with it. Absolutely incompatible. (very dumb, Yamaha, very dumb)

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo and Sony receivers, Adcom GTP-450

A Good Solid Tuner that works well

A very basic no Frills package

I bought it, hooked it up with a nice set on Monster Cables (Tossed the Cheapies it came with). Hooked it up to cable, ran Auto tune and added my stations to memory. Then I just listened and it worked very well. This unit is somewhat lacking on the Features Department but I could have purchased a more expensive model if I was after more features. I am very satisified with this excellent unit that performs as it should and as it claims. For the record I am a Yamaha fan and run this tuner through a Yamaha AX-592 Amplifier/Pre-Amp and out put to a pair of Cerwin Vega E-712's.

Similar Products Used:

None, previously only used Receivers