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What boomboxes or tabletop HD radios are available that have good audio quality?

All are discontinued. HD is a failure in the consumer marketplace. If you want HD in the home, the best thing to do is buy an aftermarket car radio, a 12V power supply, an antenna, and kludge a system together. You can probably find one that has a line level out to connect to a home stereo system. It might not be the most sightly thing around, but it should work. If you are good with woodwork, you might be able to make an attractive cabinet to house the HD car radio, power supply, and have the antenna coming out of the top. I did that with a late 60's Delco AM car radio - it was amazing!
 
Both discontinued but the XDR-S3HD or XDR-S10HDIP would be really good tabletop tuners (they have the same super sensitive and selective tuner found in the XDR-F1HD) and have HD. But these go for quite a bit on ebay because of how nice the analog tuner is in them, much better than anything you'd find in an Insignia.
 
What could be a good example of how to set up a car HD radio on a shelf or tabletop using the currently available equipment?

rbrucecarter5 said:
All are discontinued. HD is a failure in the consumer marketplace. If you want HD in the home, the best thing to do is buy an aftermarket car radio, a 12V power supply, an antenna, and kludge a system together. You can probably find one that has a line level out to connect to a home stereo system. It might not be the most sightly thing around, but it should work. If you are good with woodwork, you might be able to make an attractive cabinet to house the HD car radio, power supply, and have the antenna coming out of the top. I did that with a late 60's Delco AM car radio - it was amazing!
Click to expand...
 
Setting HD aside, what boom boxes have "good audio quality" anymore, anyway?

Years ago I got my hands on a JVC Kaboom, I think it was the last of the good quality boom boxes. I doubt anything modern comes anywhere close. (Of course, it weighed about 30 pounds and wouldn't last a day on a fistfull of D cells, but it sounded fantastic and had an AUX IN).
 
I wonder how the Superradio does against newer Silicon Labs DSP based radios? I imagine the Superradio sounds better on AM, older analog tuning radios always seem to. I'm looking to see if anybody has made a DSP based radio that has decent sized stereo speakers like a boombox. My Tecsun PL-390 is great as a DX radio but as a boombox the speakers are just too darn small.
 
The Sony XDRF1HD with Bose speakers will sound great...in analog mode. HD sounds terrible for audiophiles.
 
spunker88 said:
I wonder how the Superradio does against newer Silicon Labs DSP based radios? I imagine the Superradio sounds better on AM, older analog tuning radios always seem to. I'm looking to see if anybody has made a DSP based radio that has decent sized stereo speakers like a boombox. My Tecsun PL-390 is great as a DX radio but as a boombox the speakers are just too darn small.
Click to expand...

The Superadio is set to put out a lot of volume. In fact, I saw one used at a beach in a TV show or commercial several years ago. Overcoming wave and other ambient beach noises is hard - the Superadios are really good at being heard. The older models are better than the 3, but even it will be heard easily.

Silabs parts are primarily aimed at the "radio too" market - some piece of gear that contains a radio as an afterthought. I have one of their eval USB sticks, pretty decent reception on locals, but no champ on selectivity. Since it is a USB stick - it is vulnerable to computer interference so I haven't gotten a read on sensitivity. I'd probably need a USB extender cable for that. Your question was about good sound anyway - that would have more to do with the amp and speakers than the radio chip. Radio chips aren't generally used with tuned RF stages - that would be an external transistor. But I put one of those single chip radios into a bigger box with decent antennas and IF filters (no tuned RF however):

http://earmark.net/gesr/the_fake_sr.htm

And there you have it - good antennas and good IF filters are 90% of the battle. A large boom box can also hold a decent sized ferrite bar (if they care to).

The only single chip radio that I am aware of that does justice to the IC by putting a tuned RF stage in front of it and has decent filters is the CCrane EP:

http://earmark.net/gesr/ccep.htm

I got photos inside CCrane, but I wouldn't call it a "boom box" although I've used it outdoors and it at least is louder than wind and neighborhood noise.
 
spunker88 said:
I wonder how the Superradio does against newer Silicon Labs DSP based radios? I imagine the Superradio sounds better on AM, older analog tuning radios always seem to. I'm looking to see if anybody has made a DSP based radio that has decent sized stereo speakers like a boombox. My Tecsun PL-390 is great as a DX radio but as a boombox the speakers are just too darn small.
Click to expand...

Have you considered buying a good pair of amplified speakers to pair up with the Tecsun? It's not the least bit practical if you're constantly tugging the radio around but if it's in a stationary position, having a separate pair of decent computer speakers might be a viable alternative to buying a boom box.
 
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