'Hiiiiiye! It's Fran. In the Lab- Actually coming back into the lab with a very lucky and high-ly collectible find! This is- um- a radio tuner, a very unusual one at that, in that it has some capabilities a great many other tuners and stereo receivers do not have. This is the much-sought after TX-11a by Carver. Not ot be confused with Carver's own TX-11, which by the way is NOT stereo capable. The TX-11-a is indeed stereo capable, in that it's special feature is that it can decode analogue C-quam stereo when tuned to a station that is actually broadcasting in stereo over the air. This day and age there are very few stations in the United States actually broadcasting IN stereo, no, most stations these days are mono and I can tell you that NONE of the radio stations here in Philadelphia broadcast in stereo, at least that is to the best of my knowledge and I am familiar with every radio station around the Metro Philly area. Who the heck knows and with C-quam actually making a comeback these days, there might even be a station or two around town who've been giving it a try recently. Well, once I get this tuner set up with a good antenna and ground system I am most certainly going to scan the band and see what's happening out there. Plus no doubt this tuner will be pulling in all sorts of signals form other, more distant cities like New York, the Carolinas, even the Midwest! Umm... C-quam is not digital, it is analogue but I myself have actually heard a station broadcasting in C-quam stereo and all I gotta say is it is phenomenal, the quality and the clarity, better thany DAB or as we have here in the States, HD radio. HD is a flop and for good reason but we'll get into the aspects of DAB & HD in another discussion. But mark my words, the first time I heard C-quam stereo back when I was a teenager the clarity and amazing detail of the audio along with beautiful stereo separation blew me away that an AM radio signal was capable of that high level of performance. Best way I can describe it is it's much like FM stereo but with even better stereo separation, more detail and without the multipath artifacts found in FM stereo. The other great thing that this tuner can do is wideband reception. Offers much better fidelity on even mono stations. In fact the quality this tuner can reproduce is only as good as the quality any given broadcaster is putting out. Well, up onto the bench this tuner goes, we'll see what it can do. I'll be checking back in with you all on this shortly so you stay tuned. I'm Fran. Stay safe. Be well. Byyyyyeeeee!'