I am not a person who understands a lot about tuners. I understand a lot about sound and in the tuner world I am just a user of the things. If I need comprehension of the things I ask questions, I have very limited ability to extrapolate the sound of the tuner based upon the study the circuitry of the tuner. At this mater I do not think that anyone else can do it as well. Others can judge about selectivity, sensitivity, noise and many other things looking at a tuner circuitry but no one can say anything useful about the sound of the thing.

Over the years, getting from one tuner to another I paid the side station to what the guys at Tuner Information Center were saying.

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

Agree I disagree with many of their point of view but they obviously have more familiarity with the field and I had a certain respect of what they say. Well, any of all know that women with whom you did not slept yet has an aura of attractiveness, the aura that might not be there after you spent a few nights with her. The same is with the Tuner guys. A few month ago what one of the site owner begin to ask like a retarget psycho it too mach reminded me personalities of many other audio morons that I am so much was exposed in past and so much hate. So, I demoted my respect that crowed and decided to try my own experiment with “better tuner”.

The Tuner Information Center guys dedicated a half space of their shutout section to glorify the Kenwood L-02T tuner. I was wondering if is any rational behind it besides the normal hysteria of the hobbyists. I asked my technical who specialties on tuner and he felt that Kenwood L-02T is a much compromised tuner that should not be consider seriously. I show the Kenwood seriously to Dima. I have to note that FM transmission is the Dima’s original specialties as he built the commercial FM equipment himself.  Dima feel that any generic tuner is a compromise as the right tuner should be custom-built for each radio station, taking under the consideration the specifics of the given station and the given reception. So, Dima, after looking at the Kenwood L-02T circuit informed me that some of the solutions that Kenwood implemented, partially in front end make it very interesting from operation stand point.  Surly he had no idea how the tuner would sound…

So, I bought Kenwood L-02T and spend a couple weeks with it. Because the Tuner Information Center’s cheerleading of the Kenwood L-02T the price for this unit went astronomical: nowadays it being sold for 3K-4K. My technician informed me that it was foolishness and if the price should have any relativity to the tuner performance then the price for Kenwood L-02T should be $300. After listening the Kenwood L-02T I testify that he was absolutely correct.

I would not call that sound of Kenwood L-02T as a horror.  It has OK sound in relation to any tuner that you might buy toad in Circuit City for $65. I call the Kenwood L-02T’s sound as table radio. The sound of Kenwood L-02T’s has no class, no class at all. The tuner has very good selectivity and less noise and work better with some “complex” stations. The advances in the Kenwood L-02T’s frond end are very obvious. However, those advances of reception do not manifest itself into better sound - L-02T, even at the best and noise-free reception, sounds quite primitive and uninteresting.

No matter how dreary Kenwood L-02T sound, it is nothing compare how this tuner sound what I switched in “Narrow” mode. In the Narrow Mode the Kenwood literally dies from a perspective of sound quality. Sound loosing the last residue of its intellectual and artistic value and become just air-shaking irritation.  Dima explains it with deepening use of the PLL circuitry that he feels is not suitable for sound at all…

Anyhow, I sold the Kenwood L-02T and I am making this post as a public warring. The Kenwood L-02T is not a serious and interning mashie as was promoted by Tuner Information Center. Yamaha T2, the $300 easily sounds way superior then Kenwood. The hype and the sensation of “forbidden misery” that the boys from the Tuner Information Center injected into this tuner are turned out to the subject of their imagination or perhaps ignorance. I do not know who those people are (I know that one of them is an idiot) but properly the guys with a pair of bookshelf speakers, PA amplifiers should not put themselves in position of tuner evaluations.   I am wringing it in response to numerous emails I got while I was selling my Kenwood L-02T. I go near 80 emails and many of them expressed admiration Kenwood L-02T, admitting that they never had a chance to hear this tuner. My collective response to all of them – the Kenwood L-02T is not a noble subject of a tuner wet dream. In some ways it is just a crappy sound tuner that was glorified and hyped by specific people at Tuner Information Center. Nothing more or less.