Naimuniti FM Signal Strength

Posted by: mdunton on 08 September 2009

Hi all

New to this forum and Naim and have a brand new uniti.

Setup was a breeze once I had got round some issues with streaming with the ReadyNAS that I bought for the purpose.

One question. The FM signal strength on the Uniti seems to read very low. I don't have a fantastic aerial, omnidirectional, in the loft and going through a distribution unit that multiplexes it with other signals in the loft and then demuxes it in on the wall plate before it hits the Uniti.

However, even local radio stations seem very weak. The only radio I can compare it to is a Pure 3, and this gives full strength on all local stations with the same cable from the wall plate that only gives 2 or 3 bars on the Uniti. The signal also sounds better on the Pure (less hiss and distortion) although I completely understand that this could be due to different squelching being applied etc. etc.

So my question is, is the signal strength meter on the Uniti inherently more 'truthful' than that on other tuners, or is there specifically something wrong with my Uniti?

Thanks
Mark
Posted on: 09 September 2009 by pcstockton
Mark,

Seeing that no one with a uniti is offering up any advice, i figured I wouldn't leave your question unanswered.

Past Naim tuner models are described notoriously finicky about signal strength, and yes this appears to be different than most tuners. If it wasn't a very strong signal source, the tuner wouldn't lock on.

I am not sure if this sensitivity applies to the tuner section of the uniti as well.

It would be best to talk with your dealer about this.

-Patrick
Posted on: 10 September 2009 by Paul Stephenson
words from Naimtest!

The signal strength meter was very carefully calibrated and you need 6 or more bars to get the best performance.

If you have an omni aerial in the loft its not good unless you are right next to the transmitter, they're are not good. You'll be picking up any and all interference there is in the area, and then making it worse by combining it with the tv. The combiner/splitter will be taking some of the signal level and (if it's a cheap one) probably won't have the correct impedance either.

By Pure 3 we assume Evoke-3. If so then it won't do L-band,so the front end will filter all the tv stuff out.The naimuniti won't because it's got to work up to 1.3GHz.Could be that's the issue. The only way to tell is to take the unit into the loft and connect it straight to the aerial
Posted on: 12 September 2009 by silent tim
possibly no help to you, as its probably due to location differences, but I've connected a bog standard 2 metre long flat ribbon aerial to my uniti (after a trip to the local maplins to get the right adaptor) and it seems to work pretty well, despite the aerial being indoors draped on the shelf above

dab and fm are at least 60-70% signal strength