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A site reader sent me last nigh a link to a Yahoo newsgroup where a guy posted at feedback about Accuphase T-1100

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/message/66682

Here is the  content of the newsgroup post:

David "Anonymous" responds

Paul - It worked! David "A"'s reply is below. -Eric

"Hi Eric,

It was nice to hear that people still enjoy/value some of my thoughts about
tuners. It was an interesting voyage from 2 tuners to 67 and back down to a
more manageable 5 that I plan to die with ;-)

I did crawl out from under my "tuner retirement" rock to look at,
listen to and enjoy what I believe is the new king of tuners. Here are my
thoughts...

I am just back from 2011 CES in Las Vegas. Some great new
components have been unveiled or further improved. It is possible to build a
system that was unimaginable just a few years ago. From speakers like the
breathtaking MBL101Xtreme and 101E/2, to more conventional speakers like the
Magico V3 and V2, there are speakers breaking new ground on the sonic excellence
front independent of your listening preferences. In the area of preamps and
amps, things are perhaps even better with units like the unbelievably complex
Soulution 700/710/720 to the simpler, but no less spectacular, Spectral
DMC-15SS, Spectral DMC30SS, DMA360S2, and DMA260. Exceptional CD players, DACs
and/or music servers from Boulder (1021) MSB (CD IV and DACs), Resolution
(Cantata) and others keep the digital arena very interesting. Turntables,
Cartridges and other components have been joined by truly superb new components.
So as I asked during my last voyage out of "the tuner retirement village", where
does that leave the FM Stereo enthusiast? As I said before, HDFM, Internet/4G
radio, Sirius and XM are all still challenges to traditional FM Stereo.
Personally, I hope that FM Stereo fights a long fight and eventually finds a
resurgence much akin to what happened with vinyl as many rediscovered what a
great record could sound like on a top drawer turntable and tonearm with a MC
cartridge.

I have helped to build systems for myself, and others, that resolve
differences that I could not appreciate a couple of years ago. While components
like those listed above are impressive, so too are advancements in affordable
headphone-based audio for those with more modest budgets. Plug your favorite
tuner (or CD player) into a Schiit Asgard headphone amp (yes that really is
their name, they are really nice people who design great gear, but have a sense
of humor that is refreshing in the audio business) and select the 250 ohm Beyer
DT-880 Pro version headphone or the AKG K701 (if you are more of a midrange
junky) and be prepared to hear things that you didn't used to be able to hear at
any sane price. If you use the web to buy the phones and the amp, they will set
you back about $500 plus shipping, and I defy someone to find better sound for
the money. I did the only rational thing, I bought several of each!

So while prowling the Las Vegas Convention Center (The Zoo for show
veterans), the Venetian, and assorted other venues, what news for the dedicated
FM Stereo fan? Well, thankfully in spite of Pioneer, Kenwood, and many other
once great brands nearly or completely disappearing from the audio scene,
Accuphase is back with a new super tuner (the T-1100) for the bleeding edge of
FM Stereo. Accuphase may have read my review of the T-1000 because a
significant part of the improvement comes in the IF department. However, the
already amazing performance of the stereo decoder was also improved and not just
by a little. Try 60+ dB separation from 20 Hz to 15 kHz and nearly 80 dB at its
maximum. I am quite certain that this is substantially better than most
stations and better than any tuner that I have ever seen or measured! In fact,
it is nearly a 20 dB improvement at the top end and sounds that way on great
stations.

I find that the new T-1100 tuner is more attractive (at least to my
sensibilities) by placing the display on top and controls underneath making it
appear more balanced. It still has the massive champagne-gold colored, aluminum
faceplate and spectacular Accuphase build quality. Is it worth the substantial
increase in price? Well it depends on you, the stations that you have access
to, and the depth of your wallet for audio toys. Given the shift in the value
of the dollar to the yen, the performance, and the quality of construction, the
$6,500 price that I was told about at CES does not seem totally out of line.
However, one must realize that we are way, and I mean WAY, up the diminishing
returns curve here! We are talking about an assault by some excellent engineers
at the limits of what is possible in an FM Stereo tuner. A quick look at the
guts shows more than a few design, parts and layout changes. Power supplies
have been improved, more DSP wizardry is obvious, and every technical
specification of the prior T-1000 was maintained and some improved dramatically.
I did not have time to analyze the circuit in detail. Such an effort may have
been frustrating if I tried because of the amount of processing going on inside
the TI and AD DSPs and other VLSI devices.

So for you hard core RF guys, is this the "end all" tuner for
downtown multipath or extreme fringe areas? Well I am not sure is the honest
answer. Since I only had the tuner in two locations with two antennas, all I
can say that selectivity is definitely improved with six Finite Impulse
Response, DSP implemented, Digital IF Filter, bandwidths of 50 kHz, 75, 100,
150, 250 and 500 kHz. It performed flawlessly in both locations and with both
antennas that I was able to use it with. So unlike the T-1000 where even in my
location I could see that the old RF greats still had an edge for tough
reception problems, they didn't have the same edge against the T-1100. Will
this hold true for downtown NYC, or 200 miles from a station with a huge array
antenna on a rotor? Well one answer is I hope so, but perhaps someone in one
or both of those types of locations can report in and let us know.

For the sound quality junkies, this tuner further adds to
Accuphase's considerable reputation by once again pushing back the limits of
what I thought was possible. They maintained both single-ended and balanced
analog outputs, added a nice polarity switch capability for the balanced
outputs, and thankfully maintained the ability to output the digital stream into
a reference-grade external DAC. I continue to believe that reference-grade
outboard DACs are still the way to go rather than using the internal DACs. The
sound, which was spooky clear before in the T-1000, had even more authority on
the bottom and in terms of dynamics, while maintaining the delicacy and imaging
that so astounded me in the T-1000. The separation appeared to me to further
improve sound staging compared with the T-1000. Meanwhile, the noise floor
appears to be even quieter. I would guess that this is likely as a result of
being able to balance audio and RF performance in the IF and further abating
stereo decoder artifacts. The T-1100 is simply in every audio parameter the
best sounding tuner that I have heard by a large margin. Listening to a great
station, on headphones, at significant volume, the quieting of this tuner when
there is no content is really pretty amazing. Using a good headphone set-up
also reveals important sonic cues that are not always apparent in speaker/room
based systems even if the system is really exceptional. This tuner also has
better attack and decay of notes and proper harmonic structure than any other
than I have heard. You think a Kenwood or a Sansui can do violins? Then you
better listen to this tuner! If the violins don't sound spooky real, then it is
probably a bad recording and/or playback system at the station. If you have a
really great classical station, then you are in for a treat. The sound quality
is what one friend described as "otherworldly". What's more, given the parts
and the amount of work being done with Digital Signal Processing, I imagine that
this tuner will hold its performance longer than many, if not all, of the old
greats.

So for those who already own the T-1000, should they sell their
tuner and trade up or just outright buy a T-1100? Well again that depends on
you, your wallet, and the stations/reception situation that you are in. If you
have the money, love FM Stereo, and have enough great stations within reception
range to make the investment worthwhile, my answer would be an overwhelming
ABSOLUTELY! However, at this price range, while not unreasonable given currency
fluctuations as I said above, the user is within reason to expect the best tuner
ever made for their situation. If you live in an extreme fringe or deep urban
area, I would recommend borrowing one from a dealer, to determine whether it is
state of the art in your location. I strongly encourage you to do so if you are
REALLY serious about FM. I have already told several friends with deep pockets
and/or large tuner collections that they should tee up, or at least sell part of
their aging collection to get a T-1100. Should people with a stack of L-02T,
TU-X1, CT-7000, et al tuners get one? They must if they want to say that they
have all of the greatest tuners of all time. Going back to the T-109 and the
T-109V, is illustrative of the level of improvement for these last two great
Accuphase tuners. While the T-109 and the T-109V are both excellent tuners,
they pale in comparison to the sound of the T-1100 when listened to into a great
DAC. I know some enthusiasts who have bought a LOT of tuners, Really Large
Collections, and now have an Accuphase T-1100 or T-1000 paired with a Kenwood
L-02T or a TU-X1 and NO other tuners. They are also very happy with what they
hear.

As another listener so poignantly stated, "Imagine if we had this
tuner back in the 1970s when there were so many great stations!"...

Whether you are personally an Accuphase fan or not, tuner
enthusiasts owe this firm a debt of gratitude because they are nearly the only
company left who has displayed any interest in furthering the format. Most of
the so called separate tuners are the same cheap junk put into most current
surround receivers with a separate box and supply. Accuphase has invested some
real time and money here and I wish them success with this tuner.

That's it folks, the old King is dead, long live the new King!

Best regards,
David"

I give to this post a publicity of my site as there is not a lot of told about Accuphase T-1100, in fact with current state of economy and FM generally they would sell one unit per hear in US. At least when I contacted US rep year back and inquired about new at that time Accuphase T-1000 he gave me that volume.

So, the guy looks like got T-1100 and it looks like he likes it. That is a good sign but it is hardly a motivation or reference of any kind for me. The fact the a person elegantly express his opinion about tuner and use right keyword in right places is not necessary that he use right reference points in his judgments. In fact some of his comments made me feel that his reference points are not where I would like them to be. His admiration of Magico loudspeakers and Spectral electronics is kind of conspicuous. His comment that a headphone reveals more important sonic cues then speaker is in indication that he is not familiar with serious loudspeakers. He treats Kenwood L-02T and Sansui TU-X1 as they are tuners of the same sonic caliber. There are a few more things that make me not comfortable. The most important is he is trying “strongly encourage” somebody in something. It turns me off instantaneously as I do not like anything expressed in audio for “sake of others”. Talk about yourself, no one need your recommendation; Morons need it and if you are target Morons then you are target Morons.

Unquestionably the new T-1100 is an interesting tuner. I like the Dave comments about noise but he failed to mention with witch IF. The IF bandwidths in  T-1100  is 50k, 75k, 100k, 150k, 250k and 500k. The noise floor of tuners has to be compared with identical IF bandwidths, if 150k on T-1100 sounds less noisy then 550K on Rohde & Schwarz then it is the way how it shall be. The sonic quality degradation with IF bandwidths narrowing looks like left behind the picture in all those comments.  The presence of digital out is a great feature but do they output a full 24 bit 48K signal? This is not clear and usually companies would not do it. Also, if the internal Accuphase DAC is compromised as Dave implies then what does it say about the rest Accuphase DSP? Something is fishy… The internal DAC is hard-wired to Accuphase, ruining from the same clock, why would it be bad? Anyhow, sure the new T-1100 needs to be heart and I am sure pretty much sure no one will have a chance.

I do not mind to come up with 6K for a tuner that that deliver better results then what I have but I did not see Dave appoint specific sonic problems with the tuners I know and present a description how a new T-1100 address those problems. That would be something that attracts my attention, other it is just internet chatter. If one goes to Macintosh or Day-Sequerra, or Marantz forum then you will see a lot of people who claim that something is best, the actual Sound that they have in this listening room is an indication that they operate light miles away from “the best” that even this tuner can do. I have made a mistake and bought in my past the “best ever” Kenwood L-02T that turner out to be very mediocre sounding and the “best ever” REL President that time out to be hardly usable in comparing. I do not use the FM wisdom of others as my orienteer. I do appreciate David for expressing his views but I did not get any motivation from it.

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