Hi audioguru,
I've been making radios since I was 14 or so, I am 48 now
You can look at some of the radios I've made throughout the years here:
http://www.midcenturyradios.com/Radios-HM.html
I built my first superregenerative circuit years ago from a kit I got in France. Learned a lot from it and beat it to death trying to improve it... then I made more superregens until I had my fill.. they are nice circuits, sensitive, low selectivity, with a very annoying squeal if the station is transmitting in stereo. I tried Patrick's superregen, but I added an audio preamp trany and a power amp IC (LM386).. on par with most superregens.. slope detection, and it overloads badly on strong stations, so I collapse the telescopic antenna!
It's an understatement to say the TEA5711 is better than a one trany radio. I am not claiming it is the best FM IC around, but I tested it thoroughly, and it deserves more credit than you have given it in your text above.. I don't work for Philips
but the chip really performs well for its intended purpose.. take it from me, high selectivity with the right choice of filters, very good sensitivity (am listening to stations 150 miles away), and it doesn't overload on strong stations (must be a limiter circuit inside!), very good AFC and stereo separation also. I was skeptical the radio would perform so well, but it did, and am using it quite a lot and plan to make a more compact version.
Thanks for all your feedback.. let me know what you think of my work at the above link. Cheers.