table radios

1. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 22 2008

   I bought this radio for my kitchen, which is a high traffic, high use area. It has great sound but the features are the real sell. I was frustrated because most everything out there was focused on the iPod which I will never own. Also, most of the CD players will play mp3s but not wma format. My collection of thousands of songs are wma. This radio plays mp3 and wma formats from 3 different sources (USB drive, SD card or CD). It also has an aux jack so I can plug my (non-iPod) player in. Now, my kids and I can each have our own music on whatever media we like and just plug it in. On top of all this, it has RDS (Radio Data System) that tells you the names of songs and groups from radio stations that participate. I have always loved this feature on my car radio. Now for the downside. All the functionality is on the remote. All you can do from the radio is power and volume. I would have liked a little more functionality available on the radio. Also, there does not seem to be a way to make it so the RDS display is the default. I have to hit the mode button when I switch to a station that supplies RDS. This radio is a little pricey but well worth it and much less expensive than the Bose Wave radio that has nowhere near the features.

2. Posted: May 7 2008

   This is one sharp looking radio...it has a beautiful symetry about it....& yes, it sounds as good as it looks....so good it seems there is only one thing this Sangean cannot do that full size stereo systems can....& that is produce sound at levels that will distort your perception of time & space....& you know what?....i have outgrown the need for such things & am perfectly content to listen to music at decible levels that are comfortable to hear....in this Sangean, less is truely more....the WR-3 is packed with features i may never use, but it is great to have them anyway....love the blue info display....& how it "says" hello when you boot it up....i have parked this under the wide screen on the wall in my modestly sized living room, & it is accusticly & astheticly perfectly suited for the room, it looks so good it competes with the tv at being a focal point of attention....reception in both AM & FM is excellent & the remote is nice too, one glance is all you need to get it set up in seconds...the cabinet is heavy & sports an excellent finish....one complaint i have though.....is that stupid sticker they put on the FRONT of the unit...which, if they were considerate enough to have used a label that does not leave behind glue residue....would not have been a problem....but they were not considerate, & it is a problem, as it does leave behind a sticky, hard to clean mess right on the front of your new radio....how freaking lame!.....a minor point but worth noting non-the less.....the WR-3 is a unique peice of sophisticated, fine fidelity furniture that i highly recommend to all in need of such.

3. ( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 14 2008

   After much deliberation, and as much research as the Internet would afford me, I decided to buy this radio and try it firsthand. As always, I felt safer buying from Amazon because of their fair return policy and outstanding reputation. I knew I was going into this somewhat blindly because there are precious few reviews of this piece anywhere online, and even fewer by real folks like me. Anyway, I got the product yesterday and test drove it in depth last night. Its first impression is an excellent one. The substantial heft and gorgeous "piano" finish would probably sell a ton of these radios if they were more readily available in stores. Set up was expectedly simple, and the user's manual wasn't needed until later on. Personally, I liked the metal, telescoping antenna mounted on the rear of the unit (where, by the way, you'll find a clean array of additional I/O plugs and the "3-D" sound selector. From every angle, this is a beautiful radio. The first thing I did after plugging it in, was check a few local FM stations. They all came in very well, which was no surprise given Sangean's radio heritage. Be certain of one thing about this unit: it is a radio first, and then a CD player, audio file player, etc. The RDS feature was a novelty, but not as intuitive or lavish as I was hoping for. I'm not entirely familiar with what RDS normally provides on most equipment, though, and I don't fault this unit for anything in that respect. It wasn't until I put in the first CD (a standard "red book" audio CD) that I experienced that all-too-familiar consumer electronics letdown. It didn't play. The unit acknowledged that it read the CD and recognized how many tracks were on it, etc. But I could not get it to play any of it. The CD was not suspect; in fact, I deliberately started with a CD that was playable on every piece of CD equipment I've owned. Subsequent discs, however, did work, and apparently with no further problems. It was while I was waiting for the first CD to play that I removed a promotional sticker the factory had stuck on the front of the unit (advertising what types of media it can play). Where every other manufacturer I've seen has used a static-cling or no-residue adhesive to make sure the sticker comes off cleanly, such was not the case on this radio. The sticker came off with much effort and left behind quite a bit of very stubborn adhesive. This might've been negligible had this radio not been so beautifully finished, and the sticker not been put in so prominent a spot on the front. While this had no bearing on the player's performance, this was pretty disappointing to me. In playing with the sound options--the part of this unit I had the most interest in and curiosity about--I ultimately realized that even the fine design and speaker capabilities of this radio/CD player are limited by the direction of the speakers and bass firing. In a very specific listening zone, this sounds pretty good. And by specific, I found that directly facing the speakers from a distance of about 6 feet, with some peripheral area to either side, was idea. Step much further outside this cone of sound, and the overall listening experience is compromised significantly (though the 3-D sound effect lessens the degradation a bit). This is more a limitation imposed by the direction of the speakers, and not by the design or components. But it's reason enough in my opinion to consider a radio/CD player with detachable speakers, unless you're using this on a nightstand or a very small room. The USB and SD card input options are really fun novelties, and I wish more manufacturers would get hip to this simple technology. But in the end, when you have a unit that already plays MP3 CDs, these additional formats aren't as needed. In the end, after only a day, I'm sending it back for a refund because of the fickle CD player issue. I'd rather not take my chances on this one. In a nutshell: Pros: -product feel and look -simple set-up and easily moved -excellent radio capability -clean inputs and outputs on the back -telescoping FM antenna -full function remote -SD card and USB drive options Cons: -Small "ideal listening zone" -Unnecessarily bright display Too bad these aren't in your local store where you can play around with them in advance. Hope this helps.

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1. Posted: Jul 8 2008

   The Good Sound quality is very good for a fairly small single speaker radio. There's plenty of base, etc. The quality and workmanship appear to be very good. It has a stereo headphone jack on the front (and the input jack on the back) to allow you to listen to late night radio w/o disturbing the significant other. The radio reception is very good with the internal antenna (I haven't tried the external connection to date). A was able to DX some distant AM stations - (Summer is not the ideal time for DX'ing).The RDS allows you to see the song titles, radio station name, etc. I haven't found a station in my large metro area that broadcasts the RDS time - an atomic clock feature would have been much more useful. The Bad It has a single alarm setting (vs dual alarms). Setting the alarm is initially complicated (not intuitive - you would have a hard time initially w/o the manual). The display is not that easy to see from any distance (LCD vs. LED) day or night. It has three back light level settings. The backlight lights up the room at night, so you end up turning it off. Then if you wake up and try to look at the time, the back light is off, so you can't see it. It has separate backlight settings for radio on and radio off and retains the settings (ie the backlight would come on with the alarm if you had it set that way). The Ugly The illuminated blue LED power light is way too bright - It lights up the room at night and you have to point it away from you to avoid the light in your eyes. I purchased the "Walnut" version - it was more like light pine in color. I bought a stain/finish at HD and refinished the radio to a walnut color (another $7 and two coats of stain-finish).

2. Posted: Jun 25 2008

   This looks like an excellent product, but I've had a terrible time trying to get an factory new one from sangean through amazon. The speaker was dented on the first; the case was dinged up on the second and third, clearly the result of prior use. When paying $140 for a glorified clock radio, I think it's fair to expect mint condition!

3. Posted: Apr 21 2008

   I bought this for my wife, as a kitchen radio. It works and sounds better than I expected. Reception is good without external antenna. I would recommend this radio to anyone who wants a compact stationary radio. I'm planning to hook-up my wife mp3 player to this radio also, but have not gotten around to it yet.

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1. Posted: May 9 2008

   This radio is ok and it sounds fine. It is kind of a pain that you have to do most things with the remote. Once you get use to using the remote it works fine. But if I ever loose the remote, the only thing I will be able to listen to on the radio will be FM. I also have a the Sony HD radio, it is head and shoulders above this radio, but it does cost about double what I paid for this radio. The reason I got this radio is because it was on sale on Amazon for $114. And it works fine, but the Sony HD radio blows this one away in every way.

2. Posted: Apr 15 2008

   I purchased this as a HD Radio Alarm Clock Radio. I returned it for credit since it lost it's settings and lost the time if it lost power.

3. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 9 2007

   Great looks and exceptional sound quality just aren't enough. I've had this unit for 10 months. My biggest nits are: 1. HD reception is terrible: side by side to my neighbor's Boston Acoustics Receptor showed that I could marginally receive half the stations the BA was receiving. Maybe I have a bad receiver. 2. quality: - this is my 2nd unit. The first had a defective AC jack on the back that wouldn't accept the power plug. - The replacement has a shorted/open AM antenna connector that only works when held in place. - the clock won't hold time...loses minutes every day. 3. User Interface: the remote works fine...simple to use but setup is a chore and I'm the only one in the house who can figure it out. Adding new stations to memory, setting the time and date are too painful. I'm returning this to Sangean for warranty...I hope they get it right. Great form factor, sound quality and I don't mind the remote and it looks great on the kitchen counter but they just didn't get the rest right.

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1. Posted: Oct 3 2007

   I want to buy this product and have followed it from Amazon to Country Home Products to the Crosely website. On the Crosley website instead of vague information regarding the "antenna" it explains the necessity of purchasing either an XM mini tuner to play XM (as well as getting a subscription to XM) or ordering another product an XM Mini Tuner and Home Dock. This explicit information should added to both this website and the Country Home Products website. Otherwise purchasers will not get what they think they paid for. All of these items are on back order according to the Crosley website and no date is given as to when it should be available. I am disappointed but want to order this item. No it is not portable and light. I want something that I don't have to build but can simply attach a tuner and go after getting the subscription. This looks like it.

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1. Posted: Jul 5 2008

   I love listening to NPR in my Kitchen and have been searching for a radio that will pull in the two NPR stations that are available to me here in Charleston. My first try was the Tivoli Model 1 from Henry Kloss. It was very attractive and worked fairly well for a short period of time. One day (after the warranty ran out) it just stopped and it still is dead. Piece of junk..... Anyway, I digress. I have had this WR-2 now for 3 months and let me tell you, it is flawless. Great sound (better than the Tivoli), allows me to play my Ipod and it pull all of the available stations in if I use the auxiliary antenna. All in all, a great radio for a killer price. I cannot rate this as a clock radio but I don't think that this is it's primary purpose. Love this radio!

2. Posted: Jun 11 2008

   I did a lot of research, both online and in stores. This little baby by far has the best sound, and a really good AM tuner. I love it. Bought a white one. Then I bought another as an xmas gift for my sister. Then I bought a black one for my bedside. Obviously, I love this radio. You will, too.

3. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 31 2008

   This is a decent radio, but it doesn't belong on the night stand for 2 reasons: 1. The display is back lit instead of just illuminating the lettering. That means there's a lot more light coming from this unit than is necessary. I have to turn off the display entirely at night and can't read the time if I wake up in the middle of the night. 2. There is only 1 alarm setting and it takes a 3 key strokes of little buttons all next to each other to turn off the alarm. So, if you wake up early and want to turn off the alarm to spare your significant other, you have to fumble in the dark with a cryptic interface. It's too bad they didn't do enough user interface studies because the unit has a good radio and a nice look and feel. I'll keep it but move it to another room.

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1. Posted: Feb 6 2008

   This will be just a brief review, and only of the Sirius part of the radio - I haven't used the AM/FM part. The radio is small, and beautiful, and has absolutely terrific mono sound. (For a bedside/bedtime radio I see no need to buy the extra speaker for stereo sound.) With Sirius of course you get whatever music/news/talk you'd like. I'm using it exclusively for the 3 classical channels (and maybe the 24/7 All Elvis All The Time channel every once in awhile). (XM also has 3 classical channels, later on when Sirius & XM merge there will probably still be 3 classical channels). The programming is very good. However, there are a few flaws to be aware of with this radio. The biggest flaw is a direct result of the design - internally this is a digital satellite radio bolted on to Tivoli's standard analog radio: The remote control doesn't control volume! Amazing limitation! The remote does have a mute function. Also, it has a very limited "sleep" mode - only 20 minutes, and to get it into that mode you have to traverse the menu system - impossible to do from across the room with the remote because you can't see the menus from that distance. Also worth noting: I am using an external antenna (the "SIRIUS Outdoor Home Antenna", bought from [...], very easy install) and the signal cuts out once in awhile - this may be due to some large trees in the line-of-site to the satellite sometimes block the satellite. Yet the signal strength meter shows "3 bars" (of 9) for the terrestrial signal - I live in Seattle where Sirius apparently has ground repeaters - so why should it ever cut out due to not seeing the satellite? Still, I'm very happy with the radio. 5 stars for sound + looks, then subtract one star for the annoying lack of volume control on the remote.

2. Posted: Aug 9 2007

   great if you have line of sight to the north otherwise you wont get a signal.

3. ( 5 of 5 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 24 2007

   I have no doubt that one reason for the slow adoption of Satellite Radio by consumers is the lousy hardware. I mean, what are they thinking? The collection of products for both Sirius and XM looks like the over-designed, comic book props in Star Wars movies. They're totally dysfunctional. Nothing as elegant as an iPod, with the possible exception of Pioneer's portable radios for XM. Even the car radio's are clunky. The Tivoli Model Satellite is the one exception to the ugly, under-performing Satellite Radio rule. The sound is about as good as it gets. Indeed, almost too good since it really points up the excessive compression used by both satellite and commercial FM broadcasters. You won't notice this difference until you play an uncompressed CD or MP3 file from your iPod through the AUX port on the Tivoli. Wow! What an amazing sound out of such small speakers. And I don't even have the subwoofer speaker accessory. The Sirius section works great. It's easy to program. It's got a great "Memo" feature to capture the name and artist of 20 songs you'd like to look up later. I did invest in a serious outdoor Sirius Antenna prior to the arrival of the Tivoli, so it was just a matter of plugging it in. The FM and AM sections worked fine without any external antennas. It's impressive that they include a serious external AM antenna - something I haven't seen packaged with table radios since the 1970s, and then only expensive "audiophile" models. As noted by others, the Satellite and AM/FM functions aren't at all integrated. This is basically the Tivoli Model 1 with a Satellite function tacked on as an afterthought. The huge, bright, multi-line display is awesome at providing all of the information you want at a glance, with a minimal amount of annoying left-to-right scrolling. While the display does automatically adjust to ambient light (a feature that can be turned off and on) it may be too bright for the bedside table for some people. The Tivoli Model Satellite is to radio what a beautiful 52" flat panel plasma display is to HDTV. It's the best audio you can get for satellite, possibly short of a console deck connected to studio monitors. But, again, given the various compression artifacts on Satellite radio (and the compression is often horrible on talk-only channels) this may be about as good as you dare get. Unless you have space limitations, it's kind of a waste to spend so much money on a radio only to have mono sound, so plan on buying the (right channel) speaker for stereo. I have no problem that they didn't include a CD player. An integrated mechanical device would only shorten the useful life of the unit. As just a radio it should last 10-20 years if you're trying to justify the high price tag. Will Sirius be around in 10-20 years? I don't know. We also hear talk of HD radio coming to AM/FM (but then we've heard about HDTV for 20 years too and it's still not here). At this price point, it would have been nice if there's been a time-shift feature, sort of a digital VCR (DVR) feature to record shows you want to hear later. The remote is pretty awful for such an expensive radio, it's just a cheap "membrane" type remote. Inexplicably I got a real remote with my Kenwood Sirius car radio (what good a remote does in the car is beyond me). Let's hope with the merger of the two satellite services they make more of an effort to create better looking, more functional hardware AND clean up their sound quality. I'd rather they have half as many channels with better sound and produce better programs that are re-run several times a day.

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