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Best Buy's new HD Radio Shelf System

I wonder who's HD chipset that they're going to use? If they use Directed Electronics, I'll pass; if it's Sangean's chipset version B, then I'd go for it.
I wonder when it will be in the stores?

Should be lots of room for them at BestBuy as all NTSC analog TV sets got the boot from BB this week!
 
This is the type of product that smacks the "it's too expensive" argument 'upside the head! There is ZERO premium paid for the inclusion of HD as far as I can tell...150 bucks would be a low price for s shelf system with all these features (AM/FM, CD/MP3/WMA/DVD, plus two shelf speakers) if it didn't have HD. And it does!

THIS is what people have been saying all along. HD will begin to succeed when it's tossed in as a part of the overall package, not the only "star feature".

Now put it in a 200 dollar receiver, and toss in XM and (hell why not) internet radio as well. I'll take a couple of those!
 
Part of me is kicking myself at not having bought a Radiosophy HD-100 when they had the rebate that got the price down as low as $50. I just wasn't sure if the thing would work properly in my apartment, though. :-\ -[
 
Mike Walker said:
This is the type of product that smacks the "it's too expensive" argument 'upside the head! There is ZERO premium paid for the inclusion of HD as far as I can tell...150 bucks would be a low price for s shelf system with all these features (AM/FM, CD/MP3/WMA/DVD, plus two shelf speakers) if it didn't have HD. And it does!

THIS is what people have been saying all along. HD will begin to succeed when it's tossed in as a part of the overall package, not the only "star feature".

Now put it in a 200 dollar receiver, and toss in XM and (hell why not) internet radio as well. I'll take a couple of those!
Click to expand...

That is a really impressive price point!

With this and the $129 car stereo, it's safe to say HD is starting to make its way into populist devices.
 
Mike Walker said:
Brand spankin' new at Best Buy, an Insignia (their store brand) HD Radio Shelf system. Great price, considering that's what lots of us paid for table radios!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=product&tab=1&id=1184768163934#productdetail

And the hits just keep on comin'!
Click to expand...

While this is exactly the sort of set that people buy, did you see the AF spec's:

75W RMS power: 37.5W x 2, (10% THD RMS) Those aren't exactly hi-fi, those are hip-hop ghettoblaster with dying batteries, In the spirit of Reagan-era deregulation we're getting alot of "1000 watt" microsystems and home theater units that barely fill a living room. Junk. What ever happened to honest RMS ratings?

Also check the proclaimed response; 200Hz - 20kHz -what is this, power bandwidth, or hopefully a typo.

The absense of any RF spec is no surprise either.

Lino
 
LinoNYC said:
Mike Walker said:
Brand spankin' new at Best Buy, an Insignia (their store brand) HD Radio Shelf system. Great price, considering that's what lots of us paid for table radios!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=product&tab=1&id=1184768163934#productdetail

And the hits just keep on comin'!
Click to expand...

While this is exactly the sort of set that people buy, did you see the AF spec's:

75W RMS power: 37.5W x 2, (10% THD RMS) Those aren't exactly hi-fi, those are hip-hop ghettoblaster with dying batteries, In the spirit of Reagan-era deregulation we're getting alot of "1000 watt" microsystems and home theater units that barely fill a living room. Junk. What ever happened to honest RMS ratings?

Also check the proclaimed response; 200Hz - 20kHz -what is this, power bandwidth, or hopefully a typo.

The absense of any RF spec is no surprise either.

Lino
Click to expand...

Yeah, the 10% THD caught my eye. Not exactly the kind of thing I'd brag about.
 
75W RMS power: 37.5W x 2, (10% THD RMS) Those aren't exactly hi-fi, those are hip-hop ghettoblaster with dying batteries
Click to expand...

Yeah but remember that this system specializes in compressed audio (HD radio/MP3 playback) so audiophile specs would be pointless. I bet it would sound passable to 90% of the people its marketed too.

Want HI-FI Checkout the Thiel CS2.4 speakers and get a Outlaw Audio RR2150 amp/receiver (160 watts per channel, 20 Hz - 20kHz,<0.03% THD, both channels driven into 4 ohms
),good power and an excellent FM tuner, my analog FM setup of choice and good stuff there. :D
 
Yeah, the 10 percent THD isn't something to write home about. But ANY amplifier will produce 10 percent THD (or higher) if you push it too hard. I don't know why they didn't state something like 20watts RMS at something like .2 percent RMS (probably close to the truth). An honest 20 watts is plenty for this type of device. The FTC laws require the THD measurement to be icluded with power, precisely so we don't get exaggerated power claims. When will manufacturers learn that it's best to just tell the truth! The thing probably can produce more than 30 watts per channel for very short periods of time on peaks, so there IS some validity to power ratings in excess of the rms reading. I don't know about you, but I don't listen to test tones. Music is transient, not continuous, in nature. So there IS validity to a rating such as "20 watts RMS 20-20khz @ .5 percent THD (satisfying the FTC), 50 watts peak". But nobody does that.

And yes, I caught the "200hz" low frequency limit. I THINK it's a rating for the speakers (that's the way I read it), but with today's technology, with a 4" woofer in that sized box, it would actually be a challenge to produce a system to bad that it only went to 200hz, even using very cheap components. That HAS to be a typo.
 
Radioman100 said:
Yeah, the 10% THD caught my eye. Not exactly the kind of thing I'd brag about.
Click to expand...

I dare say that those of us with some semblance of hearing remaining would not be able to listen to 10% THD for very long without tearing our hair, eyes, or various other items out of our bodies. Stick a classical music fan in front of speakers reproducing 10% THD and you have a recipe for instant insanity. OTOH the hip-hop morons with subwoofers in their riced-out Honda Civics, which set off seismic detectors every time those subwoofers hit a low bass note, probably won't mind.
 
Mike Walker said:
And yes, I caught the "200hz" low frequency limit. I THINK it's a rating for the speakers (that's the way I read it), but with today's technology, with a 4" woofer in that sized box, it would actually be a challenge to produce a system to bad that it only went to 200hz, even using very cheap components. That HAS to be a typo.
Click to expand...

More likely, it can produce the claimed power levels at 10% THD down to 200 Hz, just like it says. I'll bet when you go below 200 Hz, the amplifier craps out and only does 5-10 watts at 10% THD, and they'd rather not publish that little quirk. It is low frequency response that requires the most power. Mids and highs are pretty easy. 10 watts at 1 KHz will drive you out of most rooms, even through very inefficient speakers. Letting your imagination think "200 Hz" is a typo may be slick marketing. In any case, 10% THD is hardly something you could vaguely consider to be “high fidelity.”

Just looking at it's specs, I'd have to put this thing in the same gut-less wonder category as the "all in one" DVD players, amps, tuners and speaker systems you see in Wal-Mart for $99-129.00. Amazingly they boldly claim 100 watts per channel running through five speakers that would vaporize if they ever saw a real 100 watts RMS signal. I'll bet this comes from a similar lineage.
 
Guys, EVERY emplifier can be pushed to 10 percent THD! They should have rated it conservatively, but saying that it has 10 percent THD at the rated power is not the same thing as saying the THD will be 10 percent when you put on a cd (or the radio) to listen to while you read a book. Geez!
 
Chuck if you're right, and it drops to "only" 5-10 honest watts below 200hz, 5-10 HONEST watts is FAR more power than most inexpensive shelf system or the table radios that it's priced beneath.

Somebody with some test gear and a tone generator test this puppy a.s.a.p.!

By the way, it wasn't that long ago (when I was in high school) that 20 watts per channel rms was typical for a good component receiver or amplifier, and 50 watts rms was considered high power. Not long before that, 10 watts rms (50s and 60s) was pretty high power. And if the amp has 10 watts rms, and is connected to speakers with an efficiency of, say, 93db, then it will play louder through them than a 100 watt rms amplifier paired with speakers rated at 83db! There's more to loudness than watts. Ask Klipsch (Altec, Cerwin Vega, etc.)
 
They had a model of this at the Best Buy in Daytona Beach, along with the new Sony tabletop HD receiver.

From the looks of it, seems to be an ok bookcase system for $149.95. I did had difficulty figuring out how to change radio frequencies at the time without the instructional manual, you probably have to use the remote to toggle up / down frequencies.

While I was there, however, I did see the new JVC HDP-1, it works sort of like a small satellite radio as you can use it in your car or home:

http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028210&pathId=149&page=1
 
Mike Walker said:
Guys, EVERY emplifier can be pushed to 10 percent THD! They should have rated it conservatively, but saying that it has 10 percent THD at the rated power is not the same thing as saying the THD will be 10 percent when you put on a cd (or the radio) to listen to while you read a book. Geez!
Click to expand...

Yeah, but REAL amplifiers rate themselves at 20Hz -20 KHz at distortion levels like .01 THD or less. It isn't rocket science. This thing may be no worse than any other similarly priced bookshelf type system. It may even be "pleasant" to listen to, but it is not a piece of Hi-Fi equipment. It is just a table radio. The source makes little or no difference.

You all know better.
 
KE4KLS_Radio said:
They had a model of this at the Best Buy in Daytona Beach, along with the new Sony tabletop HD receiver.

From the looks of it, seems to be an ok bookcase system for $149.95. I did had difficulty figuring out how to change radio frequencies at the time without the instructional manual, you probably have to use the remote to toggle up / down frequencies.

While I was there, however, I did see the new JVC HDP-1, it works sort of like a small satellite radio as you can use it in your car or home:

http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028210&pathId=149&page=1
Click to expand...

That JVC looks like it may be right up my alley. No HD in my personal ride because I have no desire to lose some of the features it integrates with my car. Kick ass... Looks like Best Buy is hopping on the HD bandwagon!
 
Chuck of course it's not a high-end audio component! Who here was arguing that it is? It's a very convenient piece of inexpensive gear, the kind that real people buy. And the amplifier is almost certainly good enough, with low enough noise and distortion for anybody but a head-banger to listen to in a small room, or on a desktop. After all, the desktop, just a couple of feet from the speakers, is where these "executive"-type systems are designed to be heard.

You guys seem to be under the impression that Insignia/Best Buy claimed there was a Krell under the hood. In actuality, they actually made the amplifier seem to be WORSE than it probably is.
 
StephanieNYC lamented:

Part of me is kicking myself at not having bought a Radiosophy HD-100 when they had the rebate that got the price down as low as $50. I just wasn't sure if the thing would work properly in my apartment, though. Undecided -[
Click to expand...

Receiving AM clearly in NYC apartments is problematical at best and decoding HD is nearly impossible except for only the strongest of stations where you happen to live. The location and orientation of your apartment (both geographically and within your building) will also affect your reception.
 
"Looks like Best Buy is hopping on the HD bandwagon!"

"The HD bandwagon." Sounds to me like a plastic harmonica, a kazoo, one cymbal (couldn't find the other one) and some guy buzzing out a tune with a piece of paper on a comb. Proceeding blindfolded, on foot.

Over and over: "hear no interference, see no interference, know no interference. And where's your annual iBiquity royalty check??"
 
And the price? $149. A GE shelf system, which I got for my father in the early 1980's, cost me $49 - it is still working today, with a dipole attached it gets FM stations 100 miles away and the built in AM antenna gets stations from 250 miles away, and the unit sounds absolutely GREAT without HD. I don't think I'll be replacing it any time soon because - even if this new system could equal the GE in sensitivity, I am still 50 miles away from local FM's, and listeners only 10 to 12 miles away complain they cannot receive HD.

HD radio? Yawn - wake me up when you have something interesting to talk about.
 
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