I finally received my T-100 almost 2 weeks ago but I have been preoccupied with programming a commercial job so did not open the box until today. I will be playing with it today and testing the the Crestron module I began low these many months ago.

It is a 2 piece system --though you might choose not to use the second piece. The T-100 is designed to be remote located wherever RF performance is best, for example, in an attic. You would then run a CAT5 cable that would bring balanced audio and communications back to the second piece, a breakout box for the audio and com link to your equipment location. Some of the suggestions we CI's made have been incorporated into the unit. The infamous Kangis is responsible for the breakout box and I confess that my suggestion to include using headphones to set the tuner remotely has also been incorportated with a Stereo RCA to stereo 1/8 female adaptor cable. This can be plugged into the RCA outputs on the T-100 ( which means you do not have to use the breakout box. There is also a 1/8 mini jack on the T-100 for IR and the CAT5 cable for serial and balanced audio ) and you can use this to find the best location for RF performance. There are both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA audio connections on the breakout box. There is a db9 female for serial and 1/8 mono jack for IR. The T-100 comes with a Wall Wart for power, so in theory, given the proper gage of wire, one could remote locate power for the Tuner rather then connect it to a local power supply. This is how I would power the unit were I to locate it in an attic. The breakout box is passive and requires no power.

There is a supplied T-antenna for FM but the connection is an F-female so one could use any antenna one desired so long as it had a F-male termination. The usual AM induction antenna is supplied but with a much longer cord then I have ever seen. The T-100 is not intended to be rack mounted. It is small, 6"w x 10"h and has holes on its back for wall mounting. I have not yet hooked it up so no word on performance. Hopefully that will happen today but I have a busy schedule due to the amount of time I have spent making that commercial job work. I am also travelling tomorrow for the Memorial Day weekend so if it is not done by today then it will have to wait till next week. Ultimately it will come down to performance. If the AM section is as good as Sherbourn has touted then, given its price, it will be a winner. If the FM section is passable it will still be a winner. Of course, I could take the T-100 with me to the Great White North and test it this weekend.

Spend time with my brother or test electronics?......................................................

I have no connection with Sherbourn nor any financial interest in their products. I intend to supply a Crestron macro to Sherbourn for descemination without charge. I like their products and think that anyone playing here who is not QQQ ( in other words, is not partner in one of the top 20 CI firms in the country ) may wish to look at Sherbourn's products. They make very good CI amps that also sound good. Assuming this tuner works as advertised it will be a welcome addition to my stable of products. I will be able to offer a bidirectional tuner that has a working AM section. Since FM sucks many of my clients prefer AM, even if for no other reason than to listen to sports or sports talk. For the most part, no porduct heretofore has has AM performance that made this possible.

Alan

I was just told that the T-100 won't ship until the end of June.

Ron was by my office a few weeks ago with a prototype and we ordered one... looks very cool. I second Sherbourn... gotta love these guys.

Sherbourn told me yesterday to look for my order at the end of June. Alan, no doubt you have connections (with Ron Fone, not your published parts box).

I look forward with great interest to your macro, and plan to make this tuner a part of every distributed a/v system I do. Thanks for the exhaustive post; you'll need a vacation after that.

Wow that seems liike an awful lot of trouble to go to for FM and AM. Not too many of my customers gives a rat's arse about AM or FM. I am also of that persuassion.

That pendulum has swung for me. I've had no end of clients bugging me recently about AM tuning performance, literally chasing my tech around the house with a clock radio saying "if I can get the sports talk station on this, why can't I tune it on my jillion dollar system?" I've heard this same thing from other CI people.

ugh.... i second that statement!

Mike

That brings up a good point. I have some customers who are still waiting for AM to die, and they INSIST that their $4.99 clock radio from WalMart gets better reception then their $4,999.99 system. I asked Frank White about this once, and his answer was "take one of my classes, and I'll answer your question." Little disappointed in that, considering it was WHILE I WAS TAKING HIS CEDIA PREP CLASS....yeah, still a little hacked off about that one, but oh well...

Fred

There are certainly still tons of AM radio listeners out there, and yes, the $4.99 clock radios typically do work better then the $5K systems. I've been hearing this for 20 years.

I can most certainly explain why an automobile will provide better AM performance than a (relatively) expensive AM/FM tuner or one built into a receiver. But a clock radio? I am hardly arguing againt the fact that it is true. I am suggesting that the reason for this escapes me.

I am bringing the T-100 to the Great White North and will use a pair of headphones as a test.

Alan

I had a way to explain this to customers way back when I was retail salesperson guy at United Audio on Michigan Ave in Chicago. This made sense to me and so I was able to convince customers of why this worked. I can't verify if it's true or not, but you can use it at your own risk (remember, I made it up on the fly).

I would explain that the reason why clock radios worked better than their gazillion dollar hi-fi system wasn't because the clock radio had a better tuner. Rather, the problem was that AM was so oversatured in the area and only very weak tuners (like in a clock radio) could pick it up. The sophisiticated tuners built into their audio system would just get swamped by the conflicting signals bouncing around the downtown area. I then explained to them that AM still sounded horrible - even with the best systems - and that clock radios are really the appropriate choice to tune it in. They were ok with this when I pointed out the wealth of broadcast material available on satellite or cable that they could hear on their systems.
The key to making this point is to bring it up before you sell them the system. Let them know that AM is a clock radio/car stereo medium and it just doesn't work with higher end systems - don't let them discover this after you've installed it all. My watchword in sales was always QUALIFY your customers.

Or just make up your own story...

Jeff

Most problems with AM reception come from AC line/power cords. We use 18/2 shielded cable to run between the tuner and the cheap loop antenna. Tie the two condutors of the wire to the input on the tuner and tie the shielding onto the ground screw on an amp or tuner. Twist one conductor onto one wire from the loop antenna. Do the same for the other conductor. Then take the shielding and touch it to one of the conductors you twisted to the antenna. If that doesn't help the reception, move it to the other conductor. (I have no Idea why switching this would matter, but it does) We will usually run the 18/2 shielded to the attic and it works great.

Mike

I live in an area where AM is not over saturated and still most clock radios work better than most receivers. I believe that companies spend the money where they think they get the best return on investment as well as perceived value. In a lot of cases AM is not it and I'll even include FM.

Proof in point, why is it that an old AM/FM receiver from Radio Shack (i.e. realistic brand) gets better reception than a Yamaha, Denon ...etc. It's simple in the 70's/80's AM/FM mattered. Hell there's even a company that refurbs old FM tuners.

http://www.antennaperformance.com/

The point being AM/FM reception not where the money has been going and really doesn't make for good press, XM and MP3 is sexy. So, when the only features of a product you make is AM/FM it better work well. Obviously, it's not difficult to design a good AM reception circuit when the only other thing in the box is a reception circuit. Part of the problem is that there is probably a significant amount of EMI noise inside a receiver chassis (i.e. on the tracks) which diminishes the reception performance. That's why a dedicated AM/FM chassis works better. You can still buy a quality AM/FM tuner from Magnum Dynalab for only $995.00 (US)

[Link: magnumdynalab.com]

Funny thing it probably works because it's dedicated and so is the Sherbourn product.

Or to use Jeff Wagner's suggestion

That's my story and I'm sticking with it