 "Boston Accoustics HSOLOMDNT a hit!" | 2009-11-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1WE8J564W037Z |
I have a Tivoli Audio Model One - great radio - except for the scratchy tuning (The variable capacitor's rotor wiper needs spritzing with cleaner too often - tuning is difficult.) - which developed in the first year of use. I tried the B.A. 'Receptor' several years ago - from 'Circuit City', who thankfully had a great return policy. This radio seemed to work pretty well at the 'Target' store, but it was always $100 there. Here, it would be $80-$85 when on 'sale'. I decided I would grab one next time it dipped here - and it did - with free s/h - $78.17. I ordered it 11/11 - it arrived 11/17 - pretty good for free s/h!
Don't ask me about the alarm - my cerebral one works fine. Now, as a radio, it is super! AM is good horizontally or vertically, probably because the internal loop is wound with it's axis aligned front-back. Having the choice of H or V alignment of the controls is quite handy - as is the front panel headphone jack (1/8" stereo plug needed) - which appears to be stereo on FM stereo. I am most impressed with it's reception on FM, too.
I took the BA SOLO to my below grade workshop - and it works better there - even on AM - than any other mini-system - or the Model One. I was impressed. It's back at my desk - next to the Model One. It's audio is fine for talk radio as is - ie, flat. You can peak or cut the bass & treble, as desired. It is exactly what I wanted - a decent table radio. My comments re the rubberized covering are simple - I read the reviews and noted most of the comments, deciding that it was worth the trouble. Nice long detachable AC cord. The detachable internal AM loop and included external FM wire antenna work quite well. Get it here - on sale - watch it's price, I predict it will drop again! |
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| "Superb AM/FM Clock Radio, Compact, Outstanding Reception" | 2009-11-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: ARQ945F4OIWVI |
This radio and also a Boston Acoustic Horizon Duo Boston Acoustics HDUOMDNT Horizon Duo Speaker System (Midnight) are used in a split-level house located about 30 air miles from a major metropolitan area and in a valley. This is a challenging reception situation. More so due to the valley than the air miles.
The primary stations I listen to are NPR and another station that is an FCC Class B1 station near the top of the FM band. Class B1 stations are required to broadcast at a lower power level to avoid interfering with full-power stations.
The Duo pulls in NPR very well almost everywhere in the house. The B1 station has some hiss and static although at a low level. Some of this hiss and static can be mitigated by using a mono radio rather than the stereo Horizon Duo. This is because the process of combining the stereo signal into a mono one cancels out a lot of the background hiss/noise.
I needed another radio in a part of the house that gets noticeably worse reception than where the Duo is used. So I bought a Solo.
It is working very well. Very good reception. NPR has almost no noticeable noise. The B1 station has some but it is very listenable.
NOTE: I find that a TERK FM+ antenna helps in these situations Terk FM-2000 FM+ Indoor Passive FM Antenna. But I would only bother with it if you have really-difficult reception. The Solo and Duo with the provided external wire FM antenna does get superb reception in all but the worst situations.
Also note that antenna placement is really important with FM signals due to their short wavelength. A few inches one way or the other can make a huge difference.
I should also note that AM reception is also excellent. Of course, it may be necessary to rotate the radio so that its built-in antenna pulls in the best signal.
Now to the Solo itself. Great ergonomic and human engineering. It is compact and very attractive. The entire front dial rotates so the radio may be used horizontally or vertically. It has 20 presets each of which may be FM or AM. It can be put into a 'preset' mode where the tuning dial simply selects among the presets.
Sound quality is amazing for both the Solo and the Duo. Superb bass and adjustments for bass and treble.
The clock radio is simple to set and use. The display brightness is adjustable. It then automatically adjusts to ambient light level (e.g. dims in a dark room). I find it easiest to set the brightness in a dark room. Set for minimum brightness in the dark room and let it brighten when the lights come on. Otherwise, you may set a nice-looking brightness with the room lights on and then find it dims itself off when the lights go out.
The two alarms may be set independently for time and operating mode (music, buzzer, combined). Easy to do. The music is the last station tuned in at the last volume level setting.
Yes, I would buy it again and I recommend it. |
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 "Clock radio frustration" | 2009-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By oldschool |
Why is it so hard to find a good bedside clock radio? I'm not looking for anything special, just decent sound and a few simple, ergonomically designed functions, such as digital tuning with presets, a display that's not too bright at night, simple controls that I don't have to fumble with in the dark, alarms that are intuitive to set and use, and a battery backup. Is that asking too much?
In the past couple of weeks, I've tried three different radios: the Sony ICFC705, the Sangean RCR3, and now the Boston Acoustics Solo. None of these radios really meets my simple requirements.
The Sony ICFC705 has some positive qualities, but it's display is so bright that you could almost use it as a night light, even at the lowest setting. The sound is tinny, and the top is covered with a lot of identical buttons that make it very had to use without looking. Unlike the BA Solo, it has a dedicated Sleep button, but good luck finding it in the dark. Not a good for a bedside radio.
The Sangean RCR3 is just too complicated to use. The poorly written manual has more than seven steps just to set a radio alarm. Although you can dim its display to an acceptable level, the display goes back to maximum brightness for several seconds whenever you touch any of the buttons. Do you wake up in the middle of the night and want to listen to the radio? Get ready for a blast of maximum brightness whenever you touch the Sangean's controls. Also, the Sangean doesn't have a battery backup.
The BA Solo is probably my favorite of the this group, but it's frustrating too. As many others have said, its display is slightly too bright, the menu-driven Sleep function is not user friendly, and, when using the Mode knob, it's easy to select the wrong function. Still, the Solo has good sound, a sensitive tuner, and easy to use presets, so I'll probably keep it, I'll eventually use it someplace else in the house, and continue the search for a decent bedside radio.
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| "Couldn't be happier" | 2009-11-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3TG7DJ1P7T8NX |
| This is an extremely versatile little radio. It's powerful, attractive, and the faceplate turns so you can set the radio horizontal or vertical, depending on the space you have for it. It sounds great, the features are great, and I have no complaints! I'm tempted to buy another one for a different room in the house now that it's on sale! |
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 "Great Sound, Terrible User Interface" | 2009-11-13 |
| - Reviewed By rseuc_web |
I really like the sound quality on this radio, but unfortunately the product is really let down by it's user interface! I've become very frustrated with trying to use it and my wife just shouts at me because she can't figure out how to make it 'snooze'.
The product has very few buttons on the front, but at the same time tries to provide lots of features. As a result each button has to be overloaded with multiple operations. Pressing a button or turning it, or holding it down all do different things. For example, the left button is both the source select and the menu button. The snooze button isn't a button at all, you just touch the case, but there's no visual indication that you can do that, you have to find it by accident.
It's a real shame, I would love another of their radios for the bathroom, but I'm totally put off. Boston Acoustic tried to be cleaver and make the device clean, but they did it at the expense of usability. Just put some extra buttons on the next radio and make it usable!
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 "THERE'S NOTHING BETTER IN THE MARKET" | 2009-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A24T618VXKI2A6 |
I HAVE A PROTON CLOCK RADIO WHICH IS ALMOST 20 YEARS OLD. AFTER BEING SPOILED SO MANY YEARS WITH THE PROTON I STARTED TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING SIMILAR IN SOUND QUALITY AND FEATURES. I CAME ACROSS THIS CLOCK RADIO AT A LOCAL STORE IN MIAMI FLORIDA AND AFTER PLAYING WITH IT; WITHOUT HESITATION I BOUGHT IT !!!
THE SOUND EVEN IN MONO IS SUPERB. THE AUTO-DIMMING FEATURE IS VERY HANDY FOR PEOPLE WHO PREFER TO SLEEP IN TOTAL DARKNESS.. I ONLY HAD IT FOR A WEEK SO FAR; NO PROBLEMS.I DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL THE PEOPLE WRITING REVIEWS HERE AND COMPLAINING SO MUCH ABOUT EVERY LITTLE THING THE RADIO HAS OR HAS NOT. IT'S A CLOCK RADIO PLEASE!!
CAN'T BE ANY BETTER !!! |
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