SANGEAN WR-11 AM/FM, Excellent sound from a tiny..
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Excellent sound from a tiny package!
In my small kitchen, I have only a tiny space for a radio between one cabinet and a microwave oven, and I wanted to find the best sound I could reasonably afford to put there. I also wanted to avoid anything powered by a “vampire” wall-wart transformer; when I turn off the radio, I want it to stop drawing any power. The Sangean WR-11 fills both those needs admirably.
When I first plugged it in, I tuned it to a local traditional-jazz station (WBGO-FM) playing a Brubeck quartet, and I was amazed by how much integrity its little speaker gave the sound of a plucked upright bass! Some had complained about this radio’s predecessor, the WR-1, that its bass was too boomy. I don’t find any evidence of that at all with the WR-11, except on the one or two FM rock stations that really do a sloppy job of boosting the bass in their equalization; and even in those cases, the WR-11 never really loses control of the sound.
As I primarily use this radio as a receiver for my own home FM transmitter (broadcasting whatever audio stream or MP3 that my computer is playing) these stations aren’t much of an issue for me, nor is the fairly pedestrian AM section. On both FM and AM, reception and selectivity are strong, and the tuning dial (with a tuning “eye” LED) is both pleasant to use and accurate in feel.
The only drawback this radio has displayed so far (and the only reason I gave it four stars instead of five, after about half a day’s use) is a range on the lower end of the volume control where it seems unable to stick at a particular volume, slipping randomly up and down a bit in volume even though I’m not touching the knob. If I were using this radio in a bedroom, I might be concerned about this — but in the relatively noisy environs of the kitchen, I’m not likely to have the volume knob in this particular position often.
All in all, at $100, this radio is every bit a match for the Tivoli Model One in a slightly shorter package. At $50 (what I paid for it) it’s an absolute steal.
Update (5/19/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.
The featured review for this product, SANGEAN WR-11 AM/FM Table Top Radio Electronics, was written by T. Betz.
The average rating for this item is out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.
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Tags: am radio, fm radio, office radio, radio, radios, sangean radio, sangean wr 11 radio, small radio, small table radio, table top radio, tabletop radio
Posted on: March 22, 2010
Filed under: Reviews
Reviews (2)
Steve Fullenkamp
February 27th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Where oh where has the tone knob gone
I bought this radio for my 84 year old understandably technophobic Mother. Simplicity was the order of the day. Old fashioned knobs and station indicator fit the bill perfectly. The receiver section is pretty good. My Mother lives in a rural area where most major markets are 60+ miles away. FM stations from as far away as 35-45 miles pulled in with simple wire antenna that is include and all of the AM stations that were tradionally available in her area were received with good quality.
Speaking for myself, the audio has too much bass. Combine that with the absence of a simple tone knob to allow the user to change the bass/treble balance leaves me scratching my head and wondering what the people of Sangean were thinking when they decided a tone knob wasn’t necessary. I might be tempted to plug the bass port on the back of the radio with something to see if that cuts down the amount of bass output if I had bought it for myself. It’s not for critical music listening but isn’t bad for background music and listening to the news.
But it made my Mom happy to have a radio that she knows how to use. And the audio quality deficiency doesn’t bother her. When she was a kid audio quality from electronics was crappy. For this purchase, the 3 star rating reflects my Mother’s positive comments minus my critical remarks about audio quality.
Surely they can find a spot for a tone knob.
T. Betz
March 17th, 2010 at 4:17 am
Excellent sound from a tiny package!
Rated 4 stars.
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