The subject line sums this radio up and in many ways its unfortunate. First the good, this radio is a "Killer" on the FM band, the FM is about the most sensitive I've seen on a portable at this price, truly amazing! only radio I know of which comes close to this one as far as sensitivity and selectivity on FM is the Sangean ATS909X multi band world radio and the Tivoli iPla radio, both of which cost significantly more than the PRD15.
And now to the bad, AM reception is very average and that's a huge disappointment I have to admit - given that the PRD15 was the much touted upgrade to the PRD5 you'd think AM reception would have at least remained the same between the 2 models? This is not the case, the PRD5 has far better AM characteristics but its not so good on FM. There is 1 big cosmetic change on the PRD15, whilst the cabinet looks the same the PRD15 has a fold-out handle on the back, the handle is strong and the "Fold-Away" idea makes it a neat and plush addition to the radio, apart from this both the PRD5 and PRD15 cabinets are exactly the same, made out of very strong scratch resistent AVS plastic. Like the PRD5 the PRD15 has stereo 2.5 inch speaker drivers mounted on either side on the front, these speakers - sound okay but not incredible. Sangean have followed a different line with this radio, gone is the simple analogue volume pot and in its place is a jog-dial which can be turned and then pushed in to make a selection, by default the dial controls the volume of the radio, if pushed in a menu appears which allows you to select from loudness, bass and treble adjustments, once the selection is made you can use the dial to make the adjustment of the selected setting. Note that bass and treble adjustments are very fine and I doubt most people will notice any difference to the overall sound of the radio. More menus and more features and I doubt most people will consider some of these practical on a radio, such features as a calendar for example, if the trend is to add inpractical features for radios then I think we can safely assume that the world of good radios may be a world of the past, I'd prefer to see a good sounding and good performing set - which performs well on both bands and is pleasant to listen to - rather than extra gimics such as a calendar. The PRD15 - unlike the PRD5 - has a built in battery charger circuit which can be activated by using a switch in the battery compartment. You can power the set from either AC mains with the supplied AC mains adapter or from 6 C cell batteries. ********** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org
