1
1290wgli
Guest
Actually got a demo at work and have had it home. Have played with it a couple of nights but not yet had a chance to see it at home during the day to evaluate the AM HD.
First of all, my Grundig Majestic 1963 console, GE SuperRadio, Phillips Boom Box (even an Optimus portable) all put it to shame when you use the supplied FM "antenna".
My Grundig has a pseudo "T" strapped to the back of the console which has two barrier screws. Disconnecting the Grundig leads and using this with a 300-75 ohm converter yielded better results, but the Grundig still performed much better on its own antenna than the Acoustics. It was slightly better than the GE, noticeably better than the Optimus, but, believe it or not, the Philips Boom Box was still slightly better at sensitivity.
Selectivity on FM was hands down the best, with the Grundig a second. However, the noise floor on the Acoustics is troublesome. In blended mono, it was about as noisy as my Philips boom box in stereo on weak stations.
As for the HD, from Holbrook LI, using the Grundig "T", only WEZN triggered HD and even that would blend back to analog on occasion. None of the city stations triggered the HD at all (or the RDS).
I want to get this on an outside antenna, and will over the weekend, but have a few comments about indoor use.
1) The supplied antenna hardware is garbage
2) When hooked up to a semi-decent antenna, it performs well for an ANALOG tuner
3) It has a hard time recovering HD. You basically have to swamp the front end to get it to go to digital.
4) This really needs a good outdoor antenna for any realistic and reliable HD coverage. How many people (average people) are going to do that anymore? Most will want performance out of the supplied hardware. The Sangean table radio and Tivoli radio perform OK with the supplied hardware, this does not. It is quite deaf.
First of all, my Grundig Majestic 1963 console, GE SuperRadio, Phillips Boom Box (even an Optimus portable) all put it to shame when you use the supplied FM "antenna".
My Grundig has a pseudo "T" strapped to the back of the console which has two barrier screws. Disconnecting the Grundig leads and using this with a 300-75 ohm converter yielded better results, but the Grundig still performed much better on its own antenna than the Acoustics. It was slightly better than the GE, noticeably better than the Optimus, but, believe it or not, the Philips Boom Box was still slightly better at sensitivity.
Selectivity on FM was hands down the best, with the Grundig a second. However, the noise floor on the Acoustics is troublesome. In blended mono, it was about as noisy as my Philips boom box in stereo on weak stations.
As for the HD, from Holbrook LI, using the Grundig "T", only WEZN triggered HD and even that would blend back to analog on occasion. None of the city stations triggered the HD at all (or the RDS).
I want to get this on an outside antenna, and will over the weekend, but have a few comments about indoor use.
1) The supplied antenna hardware is garbage
2) When hooked up to a semi-decent antenna, it performs well for an ANALOG tuner
3) It has a hard time recovering HD. You basically have to swamp the front end to get it to go to digital.
4) This really needs a good outdoor antenna for any realistic and reliable HD coverage. How many people (average people) are going to do that anymore? Most will want performance out of the supplied hardware. The Sangean table radio and Tivoli radio perform OK with the supplied hardware, this does not. It is quite deaf.
