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radio recommendations

A

austingrace

Hello to all. I'm in the market for a good portable radio. How is the sony 7600 or whatever it's called? I have the sangean pr-d5. I love it except for the super bassy am audio. I listen to the Orlando Magic on 580 am here in Orlando and I need a good radio with good am audio. Are all sangeans known for that bassy am audio? As of right now, the sony radio is number one on my list. Unless you all tell me different I need a good radio that has really good am and fm reception. I don't care if it has short wave. I think it would be hard for me to locate a radio with just am/fm that has good reception and decent am audio. I really appreciate all the help. :) Do the texen radios still do that stupid tuning step? Like going from 104.1 fm to 104.12 fm? If so they are out of the question to me. I used to hate DXing on my pl-390
 
If you don't mind an analog radio, the CCrane EP is excellent. Separate bass and treble controls and excellent reception on both AM and FM. The Sangean PR D15 is good,as well. It has bass and treble controls to eliminate that bassy audio and a loud on and off switch to help. Like the D5, great AM reception and FM reception. The FM reception is better on the D15. It has DSP tuning and will pick up fringe signals next to a strong signal. The D5's FM reception was not as good...and as far as I know the Tecsuns still have that .1 step tuning on AM.
 
Hello. I actually have the pr-d9. I had the ccrane pocket and that radio sucked sucked. So I take it the EP is waaaaay better. I think I will get the d15. I really like sangean. I may just get both the ep and the prd15 just for the heck of it and see what happens. Thanks for those recommendations. I appreciate it.
 
Hello. How portable is the pr-d15? It seems a little bigger than the pr-d9 I have right now. Also i heard you had to access a menu to change certain settings. I'm blind so would this be easy for me to do? Thanks for all of your help.
 
Austin, the PRD15 has a handle. Otherwise it is the same as the PRD5 with bass and treble controls and the option to fine tune in .1 increments. It is bigger than the PR D9. I like the fact the PR D5 and the 15 have five direct presets for AM and FM. The PR D9 is a good small radio,but recalling presets is a little more cumbersome. I have the CCrane EP, the PR D15, the PR D9 and the CCrane Pocket Radio..not the one with shortwave that you are referring to. The pocket radio has good AM and great FM and direct tuning presets.

Getting the CCrane EP and the PRD15 is a good idea. The EP has a mono speaker,but the FM through headphones is stereo. The speaker is very good, better than the PRD5/15 speakers, while in stereo are not as powerful as the EP. However, the bass and treble on the 15 will customize your listening.
 
austingrace said:
Do the texen radios still do that stupid tuning step? Like going from 104.1 fm to 104.12 fm? If so they are out of the question to me. I used to hate DXing on my pl-390
Click to expand...

FYI what I did on my PL390 was add each FM station as a preset. It stores 100 FM presets which is just enough to do 88.1 to 107.9. I can then press the VM button and the tuning wheel goes through the presets. Its a lot more usable for me on FM since I did this.
 
Hello benale. Thanks for your help. I have actually never owned the pr-d5. That was a typo on my part. I'm defanatly getting my hands on a pr-d15 for sure. The EP may come eventually. I don't like to have too many radios laying around. This pr-d15 seems like it can be my all in one radio. I'll post as soon as I get and let you know how I like it. I like that AUX input idea as well.
 
Hello benale. I have ordered the radio from amazon. I can't find any pdf manuals. I'm blind so I can't read the paper manual. I have a few questions for you. How do you preset stations? Also I purchased some rechargeable c batteries to go in the radio. Do you have to hit any buttons for the batteries to charge or will it charge automatically? I understand you can push in the volume knob and access audio settings. I'm actually thinking of purchasing the cc pocket eventually as well. My pr-d9 is on the way out. My volume and station buttons are very problematic. Like i turn up the volume or turn it down and the stupid thing switches to weather band or am or whatever. It's really annoying. I'm really excited for this pr-d15. So another question. Why should I even consider the CC EP radio? From my understanding it's just like the pr-d15. The only reason I can think of is if the EP has an edge on AM reception over the pr-d15.
 
Hello to all. I have the radio. I love it so far. No bassy am audio here. The am audio is really good. So is fm. Reception on both bands seems really good as well. I just plugged it in to try to charge the batteries but I have no idea if they are charging. Can you turn the charging on and off? I found out the bottom 5 buttons are the presets. The first button on the left is power and next is band. I have no idea what the next button is but I think the last one is the clock button. I found holding in the power button gives a beep and does something but I have no idea what it is. If anyone here knows what the buttons do can you please tell me? that includes holding them down.
 
Hello to all. I love this radio. It's even better and easier to use than the pr-d9. I wished it had 10 presets on each band but it's all good. I love how the speakers sound. It's like a mini stereo system. It seems to have really good AM and FM reception. The AM audio sounds good to me on this end. It defanatly sounds better than the pr-d9.
 
Austin, I'm glad you like the PR D15. It's been getting mixed reviews,but I really like it. When you put in rechargeables, you have to turn the switch inside the battery compartment to the recharge position. The button next to the band is the alarm. The furthest to the right is info, like the time,day,month,year and RDS info the FM station is putting out.I do like the direct presets. The PRD9 was a bit complex. I recall you were glowing about the D9 several months ago. I have the D9,as well. I like the size,but the FM is not as good as other Sangeans. Also the volume differs greatly going from AM to FM in the preset mode.
 
Yes benale. I was indeed glowing about the pr-d9 at the beginning of this year. At that time it was the best radio I had owned. I'll admit. FM was not the greatest on that thing. I have no idea why the AM was so muddy on that thing. The pr-d15 is not car radio audio quality on am but it's good enough for me. I have found out something else about the pr-d15. If you hold down the info button you can access a menu where you can mess with the loudness control setting and the 9/10 khz steps for am tuning. I really appreciate all of your help on the radio.
 
Dude!!!!!!!!! Just found my prd9 and my god this radio is amazing!!!!!!!! I forgot how good it was. This thing has amazing co-channel separation. I think it's even better than my cc2e. LOL Love this radio. the AM audio could be better the the reception on all bands kills on this thing. If this thing goes I'd buy a replacement no problem.
 
austingrace said:
...or whatever it's called?
Click to expand...
This covers a LOT of radios, as it could be called anything.
If you mean this one, it was a great radio in it's day, but it lacks FM and finding replacement tubes could be a chore?
On the other hand, selectivity goes down to several hundred hertz.
 
Last edited:
ai4i said:
This covers a LOT of radios, as it could be called anything.
If you mean this one, it was a great radio in it's day, but it lacks FM and finding replacement tubes could be a chore?
On the other hand, selectivity goes down to a few hundred hertz.
Click to expand...
Plus, there are jacks for five crystals for your five favorite frequencies and a second, external VFO so you can quickly switch between up to seven frequencies.
 
I use the CCrane CCRadio 2E for most of my radio listening and it is an exceptional radio with just a few minor shortcomings (in my opinion). It's digital so if you prefer analog it may not be the best fit. It has great reception though...better than any radio I have owned previous.
 
Well guys just an update for you all. I returned the 2e back to amazon and got the CC eP again. That is definitely my favorite radio. I found my pr-d9 but some of the buttons are not working properly. I'm thinking of buying a replacement radio. I think the EP and the pr-d9 have some of the best fm reception i have ever heard. I also have the cc skywave. I like that radio as well. I still have my srf59 but it's back in altamonte. I forgot to grab it the last time I was up there.
 
Well guys, i have had the EP for a few days now. I forgot just how good of audio the EP has. The AM audio is amazing on this thing. It beats most car radios. We have classic hip hop on WTMP 1150 in Tampa and that thing is almost FM sounding on this thing. Plus the FM and AM reception on the EP is good as well. Still debating to replace my pr-d9 or not.LOL
 
The CC EP is pretty good, however mine developed that dirty tuning pot issue that all 3 of my GE Super radios got. Kinda pissed me off. They are all in my "to be fixed" on my tech bench these days. I fix broadcast stuff for a living, and got tired of doing it at home for myself. I do have two of the PR-D5's, and I like them a lot. Taking one to Maui with me this week..

dave


austingrace said:
Well guys, i have had the EP for a few days now. I forgot just how good of audio the EP has. The AM audio is amazing on this thing. It beats most car radios. We have classic hip hop on WTMP 1150 in Tampa and that thing is almost FM sounding on this thing. Plus the FM and AM reception on the EP is good as well. Still debating to replace my pr-d9 or not.LOL
Click to expand...
 
I've been lucky in that my 1995 GESR3 works terrific, no tuning pot issue, and is probably a better performer than my SR2. I got one of the good ones, I guess.

I hadn't heard that CC Radio's can have tuning pot issues, that's a new one. Sad. They have a solid rep as a MW performer otherwise.
 
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