MPX Decoder ICs

Don writes, "I have always wanted to see a list of tuners which have certain MPX decoder ICs. The 'big 3' I would like to see are the Sanyo LA3450 and National LM4500 (because of their unique decode waveforms), and the Hitachi HA11223 (near universal praise as capable of excellent sound). I have compiled my own list, but I can't be sure it's completely correct." We've since added more tuners to Don's lists with help from Don and our panelists JohnC and Ray, and many other contributors . If you can give us a hand and help us expand the lists further, let us know.

Tuners with Sanyo LA3450:
Classé CT-10 and Tuner-1
Denon TU-800
Harman/Kardon TU9600
JVC FX-1010TN and FX-1100BK
Kenwood KT-6040 and KT-6050
Marantz ST-50
NEC T-710
Onkyo T-4670 and T-4700
Parasound Halo T3
Sansui TU-X701 and TU-X711
Sony ST-S333ESG, ST-S333ESXII, ST-S700ES, ST-S730ES, ST-S770ES and ST-SA5ES
TEAC T-R670
Yamaha TX-900, TX-930 and TX-950

Tuners with National LM4500:
B&K TS-108
Fanfare FT-1
Hafler Iris
Magnum Dynalab FT-11 and FT-101A (some versions of each)
McIntosh MR 80
Meridian 504
Quad FM4*

*Our contributor Esmond says the Quad FM4 uses the Philips TCA4500, which appears to be identical to the LM4500. He believes that later Quad tuners also use it.

Our contributor Paul Baptista says the Arcam Delta 80 and Telefunken RT200 (whatever those are) use the TCA4500A, the Motorola and Siemens part number for the LM4500A.

Tuners with Hitachi HA11223 or HA11223W:
Accuphase T-105
Aiwa AT-9700U
Crown FM2
Denon TU-600, TU-630, TU-767, TU-850 and TU-900
Heathkit AJ-1600
Hitachi FT-8000
Kenwood KT-9X and KT-9XG, KT-727, KT-815, KT-917, L-01T and L-07TII
Kenwood KT-1000 (has chip, but discrete implementation?)
Kenwood L-07T (we have a discrepancy: HA11223 or HA1156?)
Luxman T-12
NEC/Curtis Mathes AUT-8300E
Nikko Gamma I and Gamma V
Onkyo T-909
Optonica ST-7405
Rotel RT-2100
Sansui TU-519, TU-719, TU-919, TU-S9 and TU-X1
Sony ST-J75 and ST-J88B
Sumo Charlie
TEAC TX-500

The above are Don's original "Big 3" MPX decoder ICs. Below are lists of tuners with others, by manufacturer and in numerical order.

Hitachi HA1156:
Hitachi FT-920
Kenwood 600T, KT-5300 and KT-8007 (but Don notes that the KT-8007 has a discrete MPX decoder and uses the HA1156 only to generate 38k switching signals)
Kenwood L-07T (we have a discrepancy: HA1156 or HA11223?)
Optonica ST-3535
Pioneer TX-5500, TX-7500 and TX-9500
Sony ST-5950SD and ST-A7

Hitachi HA1196:
Amber 7
Hitachi FT-5000
Kenwood KT-7500
Mitsubishi DA-F20
Nakamichi 430
Onkyo T-4057
Pioneer TX-6500II
Sansui TU-217, TU-317, TU-417, TU-517, TU-717, TU-5900 and TU-X301
Sanyo Plus T55

Hitachi HA12016:
Hafler DH-330
Kenwood KT-80
Onkyo T-4017 and T-9060

Hitachi HA12031:
Kyocera T-910

NEC uPC1161C:
Onkyo T-4120
Sansui T-60 and T-80
Technics ST-S6, ST-S7 and ST-S8

NEC uPC1223:
Hitachi FT-007 and FT-5500MKII
JVC T-X900
Kenwood Basic T2
Onkyo T-4087 and T-9090II
Sony ST-S555ES

Panasonic AN363:
Technics ST-8044, ST-8077, ST-8080, ST-9030, ST-9038 and ST-C03

Panasonic AN7470:
Onkyo T-401, T-4040 (we have a discrepancy: AN7470 or LA3350?), T-4310R

Pioneer PA1001-A:
Paul Baptista tells us that this chip was also known as the Toko KB4437.:

Harman/Kardon HK-715, TU615 and 680i receiver
Marantz ST-54
Mitsubishi DA-F30 and DA-R20 receiver
Philips AH180
Pioneer TX-6800, TX-9500II and TX-9800, and SX-580, SX-1080 and SX-1280 receivers
Sony ST-J55 and ST-J60

Sanyo LA3350:
Akai AT-2600
Fisher FM-2310 Studio Standard
Kenwood Basic T1
Onkyo T-4040 (we have a discrepancy: LA3350 or AN7470?)
Toshiba ST-420
Yamaha T-2
Yamaha CR-840 receiver

Sanyo LA3380:
Akai AT-S55 and AT-V04
Yamaha T-70

Sanyo LA3401:
Accuphase T-109
AMC T7 and T7A
Carver TX-11a and TX-11b
Denon TU-380RD, TU-460, TU-650RD and TU-660
Harman/Kardon Citation 23
Kenwood KT-880D, KT-3050 and KT-5020
Marantz ST6000
NAD 4300
Onkyo T-407, T-450RDS and T-4500
Sony ST-S550ES and ST-SA50ES
Soundstream T1
Yamaha TX-350, TX-480, TX-492 and TX-550

Sanyo LA3410:
Harman/Kardon TU911 and TU912
Marantz ST-17
Marantz ST-53
Proton AT-670
Sansui TU-X501

PLL tuners with oscilloscope outputs

Our contributor Peter provides the start of this Eurocentric list, which obviously needs to be more fully populated:

ASC AS3100 - 1980 or 1981
Crown FM1 - 1979
Kenwood KT-1100SD - 1985
Kenwood KT-3300D - 1987
Kenwood L-1000T - 1991
Kucke KST22 - 1980 or 1981 (same as ASC AS3100)
Nikko Gamma V - 1978
Onkyo T-909 - 1979
Onkyo T-9900 (T-9090) - 1984
Onkyo T-9990 (T-9090II) - 1988
Optonica ST-9100 - 1980
Revox B760 - 1977
Scott 433 - 1970
Scott T33S - 1972
Technics ST-9038 - 1979

Tuners with remote controls

Don's back with the start of another list. We've made some additions but there are surely many more.

Accuphase T-1000
Burmester 978
Carver TX-8R and TX-12
Denon TU-680NAB and TU-1500RD
Harman/Kardon Citation 23
Kenwood L-1000T
Marantz ST-17
Meridian 504
Mission Cyrus T (second generation)
Myryad Z130
NAD S400
Onkyo T-4700, T-4711 and T-9090II
Parasound TDQ-150 and T/DQ-1600
Revox B160, B260 and B261
Roksan Caspian
Rotel RHT-10 and RT-990BX
Sony ST-SA5ES and ST-SA50ES
Sony XDR-F1HD
Tandberg TPT 4031
Technics ST-G90 (some versions)
Yamaha TX-930, TX-950, TX-1000 and TX-2000

Tuners with three or more IF bandwidths

Here's another good list suggestion from Don. The benefits of having wide and narrow IF bandwidths in a tuner are fairly basic: wider filters tend to produce the best audio quality, while narrower filters improve rejection of adjacent-channel interference. Three bandwidth settings, with intelligently chosen filters, can provide even greater flexibility for audiophiles and DXers alike. Only the T-85, to our knowledge, has four IF bandwidths.

Denon TU-800
Kenwood 600T and KT-917
McIntosh MR 78
Onkyo Grand Integra T-G10, T-9090 and T-9090II
Tandberg 3001 and 3001A
Yamaha T-85 and TX-900

Tuners that have MPX implemented using discrete transistors (solid state) instead of an integrated circuit

Thanks to our contributor Paul for the idea. There should be other tuners in this list, but here are a few to start with:

Kenwood 600T
Kenwood KT-7000, KT-7001, KT-8005, KT-8007 and KT-8300
Sansui TU-9900
Tandberg 3001 and 3001A
Yamaha CT-7000, T-70 and T-80(?)

Don notes: "Here's the tricky part: Some tuner designs have a MPX chip that is used to generate a 38 kHz clock locked to the 19 kHz pilot tone. The actual MPX decoding is then done by external circuitry. (At least that is my understanding.) My impression is that the T-70 falls into this category. Bob says: 'The KT-8007 uses an outboard MPX switching scheme very similar to the KT-8300. If working correctly, you should see 38 kHz square waves coming out of pins 4 and 5 when a 19 kHz pilot is present on the input.' I take this to mean that both these Kenwoods do the MPX decoding in discrete circuitry outside of the MPX chip."

Our panelist Bob confirms: "That's right, you can have:
1) Fully discrete, no chips - older tube and solid-state tuners, mostly designed before 1975
2) Hybrid - MPX chip with outboard switching
3) Dedicated single MPX chip does all decoding - most solid-state tuners
4) MPX decoding using multiple chips and or discrete components together in an advanced modern design, in many (but not all) cases using pure sine wave decoding

In category 2 are many high-end tuners, including the KT-8007, KT-8300, 600T, TU-9900, T-70, and I think the Yamaha T-80 also. In category 4 you have the Yamaha T-85 and TX-1000/2000, Rotel RHT-10, most high-end digital Pioneers like the F-9, F-90 and F-99X, the Sansui TU-D99X, and most top-model digital Kenwoods."

Tuners with Post-Detection Filters

Our contributor Brian Beezley points out that tuners with post-detection filters should be immune to HD Radio self-noise. Here are a few:

ADS T2 Atelier
Aiwa AT-9700
Akai AT-93, AT-K03, AT-S55, AT-V04
AMC T7
Arcam Alpha 5 Plus, Alpha 7, Alpha 8, T21, T51
Audiolab 8000T
Carver TX-11
Day Sequerra FMR 25
Denon TU-600, TU-650RD, TU-660, TU-680NAB, TU-767, TU-800, TU-1500RD, UTU-F10
Dynaco AF-6
Heathkit AJ-15
Hitachi FT-007, FT-3500, FT-4400, FT-5500MKII, FT-8000
Kenwood 600T, Basic T2, KT-9XG, KT-80, KT-615, KT-770, KT-815, KT-880D, KT-900, KT-917, KT-1000, KT-1100, KT-3050, KT-5020, KT-6040, KT-6050, L-01T, L-02T, L-07TII
Klein + Hummel FM 2002
KLH Eighteen
Luxman T-117, T-230, T-240, T-400, TX-101
Marantz 2130, ST-8, ST-17, ST551
McIntosh MR 71, MR 73, MR74, MR 77, MR 78
NAD 4155, 4300
Onkyo T-35, T-407, T-450RDS, T-909, T-4017, T-4057, T-4087, T-4150, T-4500, T-4700, T-4711, T-9060, T-9090, T-9090II, T-G10
Phase Linear T 5200
Philips AH180, FT930
Pioneer F-9, F-X700, TX-05, TX-950, TX-8500II, TX-9100
Quad FM3
Revox B160, B260, B260-S, B261, B760, H6
Rotel RHT10, RT-830A, RT-850, RT-850A, RT-870, RT-940AX, RT-950BX, RT-955, RT-970BX, RT-990BX, RT-1080
Sansui TU-517, TU-717, TU-719, TU-919, TU-7900, TU-S5, TU-S9, TU-S55X, TU-X1
Sony ST-J55, ST-J75, ST-S555ES
Sumo Charlie
TAG McLaren T32R
Technics ST-G7

Tuners with FM deviation meters

Here's a new list idea from our contributor Eli. We've just started this one so please post in our FMtuners group if you have any additions to the list.

Accuphase T-105
Akai AT-2600
Fisher FM-2310
Kenwood 600T, 650T, KT-917, KT-6007, KT-8007 and KT-8300