GE 7-2887 Superadio III Portable AM/FM Radio

Rating:
Summary: FM is Great for Talk, but poor-to-unacceptable for music
Review: I only use Superadio III for FM.

Plusses:
(1) Selectivity and sensitivity are excellent, and comparable to the Tivoli PAL (which costs over $100).
(2) The sound quality for the spoken word is quite adequate.

Minuses:
Note that to me the only significant Minus is #1.
(1) The III's reproduction of music is poor-to-unacceptable. I've even tried playing music through up to eight IIIs (yes, eight!) to see if the lack of musical sound quality was due to simple lack of amplification; it's not.
(2) Both IIIs that have stopped working for me did so because the on-off (silver) button while appearing to be in the down-on position in fact wasn't low enough to turn the III on. Fortunately one can solve this problem by wedging a dime between the button and the case.
(3) Should you try to tune to the same station using multiple IIIs at the same time (as I do), there's a noticeable variation between IIIs in where on the dial that same station appears.

Considerations:
(1) Sounds best when both bass and treble are at halfway on (that is, if the control were numbered from 1 to 10, it would be at 5).
(2) The bass control adds more distortion that bass.
(3) The headphone jack takes a stereo (mini) plug (even though not surprisingly the sound through the headphones is monaural), which I consider to preferable to a monaural jack, because effectively all headphones have stereo plugs.
(4) According the the User's Manual, that Normal-Wide button works only on AM, not FM.

Rating:
Summary: Best AM Reception At The Price
Review: This is an excellent radio especially for listeners who want to listen to AM. It is both portable and plug in. It is large enough to have quality speakers and small enough to be light in weight. I purchased this radio from Amazon in April 2000 for $39.99. Amazon is now offering it at a reduced price of $37.98. The radio is the best of its kind. It is durable. I have had mine for 4 1/2 years and it is still like new.

For persons who enjoy AM talk radio this radio is perfect with excellent AM reception. This radio is far superior to the typical clock radios that are being sold at a lower price.

Rating:
Summary: It's not sensitivity, it's bandwidth!
Review: I've also experienced lackluster AM sensitivity. However, the strength of this radio isn't sensitivity; it's AM RF bandwidth!

In North America, the AM signal has a maximum bandwidth of 20 kHz, yielding a possible audible frequency response up to 10 kHz. Yet, nearly all AM receivers sharply filter everything beyond 4-5 kHz (slightly better than the telephone). So while stations are broadcasting relatively wideband audio signals, most people never never get to hear it!

That changes with the Superradio III. It has a very wide RF section, so it can truly reproduce what the station is transmitting! The audio quality of this radio is on par with discontinued high-end AM receivers (Denon, Carver) and radio station "modulation monitors" that cost thousands of dollars. All that quality, for less than fifty dollars. It's a steal at this price!

The difference between 5 kHz and 10 kHz on AM is quite amazing. Voices sound far more natural, and music doesn't sound nearly as muffled. Even the most mundane radio jingles have a certain "pizazz" on a Superradio that you'd never, ever hear on your car or table radio. Because of it's superior audio quality, you just might enjoy listening to AM radio again!

The drawbacks include it's flimsy plastic construction; the weight goes up dramatically when all the batteries are installed; and as previously mentioned, it's lackluster AM sensitivity. This is *not* the radio to use for listening to distant AM radio stations.

But if you want to know what your local AM stations *really* sound like, get this radio now!

Rating:
Summary: Big Size, Big Sound, Small Price
Review: At night, this radio pulls in stations from the South and Midwest with nothing but its built-in antenna (I live in northern NJ). The sound quality for music is a bit boomy, but for voice alone I would rate the quality as a "5". I own two...one is downstairs in the basement and it still pulls in distant stations; the other is upstairs where I don't even have to extend the built-in antenna. One thing I hate about most radios, and I own about a dozen, is station drifting. But this Superadio does not drift. The only negative I can think of is the size and weight.