Tommy Tootles wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote:

When I was a kid I used to hook up a high fidelity amplifier and
speakers to a crystal set. With no limit on the bandwidth local
stations sounded great.

I tried that, as well. I didn't have a standalone stereo, or high
fidelity mono, system. But I did have a portable phonograph by
Travler. I put the headphone output of the crystal set into the top of
the volume pot on the phonograph. The impedances were close enough
that it worked pretty well.

Of course that was when stations were required to maintain a pretty
high standard of performance, and bandwith was 50-15k. That made a
huge difference.


Now THAT was some fine listening.

I discovered the same thing when I was restoring a loose coupler crystal
set from the early teens.

Even using some hi-Z magnetic headphones, I was startled by how
"transparent" the sound was.

I guess this is why Heathkit offered a "hi-fi" AM tuner that was a
crystal set (albeit a crystal set with a bit of selectivity).



If you can keep the batteries up, or power from one of the fairly
readily avialable battery recharger/replacement supplies, you can get
the benefits of wideband with selectivity using a TRF like an
A****er-Kent, Freshman, Sun or similar. Takes come careful matching, and
you have to keep the tubes fresh, but it sounds REAL good into a decent amp.

There is a chip...I forget the designator...but it replaces the ZN414
family....an AM TRF on a single chip, running off a single AA cell. It
will run a month, non stop, on a single cell.

A GREAT tuner for AM listening. If you can find an AM station that's
not covered up with digital hash these days.