Crown FM 1 Digital Tuner - Classic FM Vibes

Crown Audio has long been known for its professional amplification.  Even since the 1960s, Crown equipment has been a common name in recording studios and concert venues. In 1947 an Elkhart, Indiana minister named Clarence C. Moore founded the International Radio and Electronics Corporation (IREC) which, over the years, has become better known as Crown Audio Inc. Moore started by building open-reel tape recorders out of a chicken coop but today, Crown Audio is an industry leader in amplified sound. Crown makes amps for cinema venues, installed sites, touring rigs, portable PA and commercial audio. With over 67 years of focus on innovation and providing the best user experience, Crown Audio is continually raising the bar in audio amplification.

So the Crown, FM 1 is a 6-gang tuner with 3 ceramic filters and one "SAW" (Surface Acoustic Wave) filter, like those used in some of the better Kenwood tuners of this era. It has variable outputs with independent controls for the left and right channels, and a mute adjustment on the back along with multi-path outputs. The ceramic filters are socketed rather than soldered, so it would be easy to swap them out for narrower ones. The FM 1 uses quadrature detection using the common CA/LM3189 IC compared to the pulse count detection (HA12401) in the FM2. The MPX board PCB layout has a very limited ground plane compared to the rest of the boards. The 7-segment display wires running directly on top of the MPX board's gain blocks. This could explain the not-so-good spec of -65 dB hum and noise.
Crown oddly enough also used non-audio grade CMOS bilateral switches (MC14016/CD4016) in the audio path for muting and MPX noise filter.
These can be upgraded to Sanyo's LC4966 if interested but not advised. The FM 1's controls and general build quality said military or laboratory spec so know, front to back, this is a very high quality Tuner.

So you say WBCN & WFNX are long off the air and well, ya just haven't been able to get into FM radio ever since. Well guess what, there are lots of amazing college radio stations up and pumping out the jams. This tuner is in very nice condition and locks onto all the Boston area frequencies and local stations, picks up a few even without an antenna.

Come give this awesome Crown Audio FM 1 a listen here at the Andover shop. 

Crown FM 1 Classic Digital FM Tuner: $729.00 plus tax and shipping when applicable