Boston Acoustics HSOLOMIST Horizon Solo Am/Fm Radio Wtih Auxiliary Input (Mist)

by Boston Acoustics

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 7.5 inches ; 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0013BR6OS
• Item model number: Horizon Solo
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,457 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Color: Mist

Horizon solo mist AM/FM radio with auxiliary input.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

138 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best "Real" Clock Radio at Any Price Point, March 1, 2008

By 

M. JEFFREY MCMAHON "herculodge" (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boston Acoustics HSOLOMDNT Horizon Solo AM/FM Radio With Auxiliary Input (Midnight) (Electronics)

I've had my Horizon Solo for a week now and can say that it's a huge leap better than its older brother the Recepter and the Tivoli Songbook and the Sangean WR-2, which I sold and replaced with my Horizon Solo.

Here is where the Horizon Solo shines:

1. Its AM/FM tuner is on steroids. Most of the time I don't even have to elevate the FM wire antenna to get hard-to-get Los Angeles stations such as 89.3, 88.9, and 103.1. The FM blows away the more expensive Tivoli Songbook and Sangean WR-2.
2. The AM tuner sounds like stereo with no background noise. This is truly amazing. The AM is far better than my very good Sangean WR-2.

3. The speakers are bigger and fuller than the already good-sounding Recepter and bear in mind the Horizon Solo is fifty dollars less.

4. The interface is easy to use. Like the Recepter, you use a rotary dial to tune up or down while scrolling through the 20 presets.

5. The radio is relatively small and leaves a small footprint on your bedside table.

6. Unlike the more expensive Recepter, the Horizon Solo has a headphone jack in the front.

7. The AC cord is two-prong and small in size, not one of those big fat wall-warts that take up half your available outlets.

8. Holding the bezel dial, you can't "twist" the radio into the horizontal or vertical position.

9. Marketed as a "custom" radio, the front grill can be removed and replaced with loud vibrant colors though truth be told I'm happy the with the dark "midnight" color.

Yes, I do notice a couple of bugs in my new model. Twice after turning off the radio, the radio was still on so I had to turn it off a second time. Also the time display is five minutes slow while listening to the radio and then when you turn the radio off the time is accurate again. I don't know if this is a bug particular to my radio or a general problem.

Bottom-line: As a radio enthusiast, I own over 50 radios and I will go out on a limb and say this is the best AM/FM clock radio I have ever purchased. In a market where clock radios usually have substandard reception or where the better radios cost $150-200, the Horizon Solo is the new champion on the block.

Update: Bought another Horizon Solo for my work office, an environment hampered by electronic interference and the Horizon Solo is doing very well, picking up Los Angeles stations 88.1, 103.1, 89.9 91.5 and other FM stations with outstanding clarity. My officemates are so impressed, they want to get one also.

Another Update: After 3 months, my second Solo got frozen on the 17 increment of volume control. After much experimentation, I discovered that the only way to "unfreeze" the volume is to unplug the unit for several minutes and then plug it in again. I hope I don't have to do this again or at least not often.

Nine months later it continues to be my favorite radio. The volume control can also be de-activitated by holding lowering volume to ZERO; then you hold the on button until the radio beeps; then you increase the volume to full blast or whatever limit you want. Then you turn off radio and turn on again. Boston Acoustics sent me these instructions after I contacted them. Since I've done this, the problem is gone.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars good FM radio, but deaf on AM and has ergonomic issues, April 11, 2008

By 

Curt (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boston Acoustics HSOLOMDNT Horizon Solo AM/FM Radio With Auxiliary Input (Midnight) (Electronics)

The BA Horizon Solo is OK as an FM clock radio. The FM receiver has good sensitivity, and the speaker and rich sound quality are first rate. You can adjust both the bass and treble, which you couldn't do on the predecessor product (the BA Recepter).

I'm rating the BA Solo 2 stars as it's entirely deaf on AM (does not receive anything, including strong local AM stations) and has poor ergonomic design.

Regarding ergonomics, here is an excerpt from the user manual on how to use the Sleep function:
-------------
Sleep Function

You can set the Horizon Solo to play for up to 90 minutes. After the specified time the Solo shuts off. Select the source and set the volume level where you want it.
1 Use the Mode control to highlight the Sleep icon in the display.
2 Press the Mode control. The Sleep icon and "OFF" will flash in the display.
3 Turn the Mode control to set the number of minutes until the Solo turns off.
4 Press the Mode control. The brackets around the Sleep icon will flash a few times. The display will return to its previous state with the Sleep icon lit.
...
Notes:
* To cancel the Sleep delay before it has finished, follow steps 1 - 3. Turn the Mode control down until "Off" appears in the display. Then press the Mode control. Or press the Power/Volume control to turn off the Solo.
* Touch the metal rim around the Solo to display the remaining time of the Sleep delay.
-------

The Sleep function is a menu item instead of providing a dedicated "Sleep" button. They could have overloaded one of the existing control buttons to turn on the Sleep function. But on this radio the only way to turn on the Sleep function is through the menu.

If the menu screen were easy to read and navigate, this might be acceptable, but it isn't.

The radio has a small monochrome (blue with white letters) LCD screen, and when you turn the Menu knob with the radio on, you can navigate between the following:

- Presets/FM/AM/Aux
- Brightness/Info/Sleep/Bass/Treble
- Alarm 1/Time Set/Alarm 2

(The "Info" allows you to toggle between displaying the time or tuner frequency and mode.)

The menu has a sort-of "memory" function, i.e. it does not remember the last menu setting you last modified, but instead it starts from the current "mode" setting (the modes are the first 4 menu items, i.e. Presets/FM/AM/Aux).

To enable the Sleep function, you have to turn the Mode knob until the "Sleep" label is bracketed.

The other ergonomic issue is the lack of a "safeguard" switch to prevent accidental changing of the clock time or alarm settings. I have inadvertently changed the clock time, alarm settings, or alarm times -- either by accidentally selecting the clock time or alarm settings on the menu, or by unintentionally pressing either of the two alarm buttons on the front of the radio. They could have provided a "safeguard" switch that would have to be engaged in order to adjust the time or alarm settings, to prevent such accidental changes.

As another reviewer has mentioned, this radio runs hot some of the time, even when turned off! Something strange is going on with the power supply.

The brightness function seems flawed. It tries to adjust the brightness according to the brightness in the room. The adjustment you make affects the range of brightness that the display will range over. I have found that at night the lowest I can set it to is level 13 (the settings range from 1-20) in order to see the display reasonably well in the dark. So levels 1-12 are essentially useless (too low to be seen at night). Either my unit is defective or this is a flawed design.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Excellent clock radio - but just for so long, November 13, 2008

By 

MD (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boston Acoustics HSOLOMDNT Horizon Solo AM/FM Radio With Auxiliary Input (Midnight) (Electronics)

This is an update to my review from Nov 2008 below.

Turns out that after the original problem with the firmware, the clock has started losing time again (over an hour a day). This time, the Canadian service center tells me it's a hardware problem and repair would cost over over 100$, which even they say is not worth it. Tried complaining to Boston Acoustics directly but the National Service Manager for Canada responded, basically saying "tough luck". Really upset at having paid 150$ (the price here in Canada) for what I thought was a high end alarm clock and having it fail twice in 3 years and now pretty much useless as an alarm clock. You may want to consider the Logitech Squeezebox Radio, which does need a bit of effort to set up but offers access to quality Internet radio.

---------------------------------------------

I already own a Tivoli Ipal which I greatly enjoy, but didn't like Tivoli's offering for clock radios. So I bought the Solo.

Pros:

.Unmatched sound and overall quality at this price.
.Gradually increasing alarm.
.Two alarm settings
.Numeric sound level control, especially useful to set the exact volume you like for waking up.
.Dial tuning through preset stations, the best way to quickly scroll through your favourite stations.
.AM/PM or 24hr format.

Cons: As reported by others:

.If you change any setting (station, volume), the radio alarm will not automatically shut off as you would expect after an hour.
.Menus a bit difficult to make out depending on lighting conditions or your eyesight.

Comments regarding other reviews:

I did have the problem whereby the clock would lose time when in radio alarm mode. Also, some flickering of the display because of excessive sensitivity of the light sensor.

These turned out to be a firmware problem. You need to return the unit to have it updated. I was told that firmware versions 3.0 and over correct the problem. To find out which one is installed, press the Alarm 1 button while plugging the unit. I was able to check this in the store before buying a second unit for the office.

Would have given it 5 stars but better quality control should have picked up these problems. And since they know about the problem, how come some defective units are still in the stores? At least here in Canada.

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