Sony ST-5130

Stepping in between the "5000" trio (ST-5000, ST-5130, ST-5150) the 5130 is an excellent 4-gang unit which sold very well absolutely everywhere even if Its STC-7000 "pre-ceiver" version didn't.
However, if people nowadays gradually "wake up" to the Sony quality in preamplifiers, amplifiers or even loudspeakers, a lot remains to be done regarding classic 1970s Sony tuners...

5-gang / 8 ceramic filters, MOS-FETs in both rf and mixer stages, five-stage limiting and three symmetrical dual-diode in the IF section, FETs in the MPX section, Pulse-sensing discriminator (called INS circuit by Sony) ; triple-tuned IF amp, high-overload RF section and AGC for the AM section ; oscilloscope terminals (V and H), fixed and variable output terminals.

The ST-5130 is however no ST-A7B (what is ?) or even an ST-A6B but it remains one solid and reliable FM tuner.
Of course, the days of frequency modulation are now numbered and this will soon turn the search for the ultimate FM reception machine into a somewhat useless (and sometimes expensive) quest.

Crappy DAB will soon be it : lowly 32Khz sampling rate to allow for a thousand and one stations all displaying the hour, the minute, the song, the announcer's mood, the studio's temp and even the record covers.
Silly : that thing called TV can do such things much better. Or even this internet.

Between the limitless imagination the radio medium allows and the flat reality of constant visual advertising, I choose the old ST-5130.