Whether it's the tuner in my 950 (main HT) or that in a Yamaha receiver (family room HT) I'm very happy with the selection and quality of stations available in my area. I also have the ability to listen to a host of channels through cable boxes in either set-up. It's a toss-up as to which I would use for background / non-critical listening.

If I were shopping for a stand-alone tuner I'd do a little research on units that were made / available in the 80s (or so) and choose one of the better ones and try to hunt it down off eBay. For example the Carver TX-11 was a good unit - and can be had for peanuts nowadays. NAD made some good ones as well - like the 4155.

Jeff Mackwood