Customer Reviews

Cambridge SoundWorks 820 HD Radio [White]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Price paid: $180

I like this radio a lot. I am slightly--only slightly--disappointed that the sound is not more impressive. The sound is very good, but not as jaw-dropping as the Bose Wave or other tabletops I've heard. I have trouble finding the right bass/treble setting. But for this price I'm happy with the sound.

The 820HD looks great. It's very modern looking and is not over-buttoned. There are a lot of useful, easy to use functions. You can display the time, radio info or graphic EQ. There are separate bass, treble, and "loudness" controls to suit your taste, but I do have trouble finding the right balance. I use this in my office so I haven't used the alarms or sleep timer.

I haven't had too much trouble tuning in stations, but I'm right in the city so I expect that. The sound quality of HD Radio does vary from station to station--some stations sound thin. This is not a reflection of the radio itself. The HD2 programming is great because it's commercial free (for now).

Overall, I'm happy with this good looking radio. HD Radio is fun and the 820HD also sounds great with my iPod. For the money, it's great.

My main objective, in what turned into a fairly exhaustive search, was to buy a good sounding tabletop radio, with strong reception, that would also have excellent iPod capability.

I am very pleased to say that the Cambridge 820HD delivers on all counts.

I had some concerns about decent sound quality coming from my iPod, since the 820HD doesn't have a built-in dock. What it does have is that little round input hole in the back of the radio for a jack, sort of like an after thought, I reckoned, rather than a clearly designed radio/iPod system. How could a simple jack for my portable iDock possibly offer as clean a path for the sound signal to travel as a built-in dock, I wondered?

I had already listened, at the store, to the highly rated Altec-Lansing i600 radio with built-in dock, and was quite disappointed; to my ears, it sounded thin and tinny. Though it recieved a stong, clear FM (but not HD) signal, it just sounded a cut above mediocre. I couldn't imagine my iPod performing any better on the i600, given it's tiny speakers. There had to be something more aurally satisfying - for under $300 - though I knew I'd probably go higher if I had to.

I considered the $300 Tivoli stereo radio with no built-in iPod dock, but didn't care for it being in 2 units; I wanted something more portable. The new 4 speaker Polk i-sonic unit looked intriguing, but at $450, I'd buy one only if all else failed.

I wasn't able to listen to the Cambridge at the store, and became a bit dubious when scanning it's box for some in-depth information. There was no mention of it being iPod capable; only some small print somewhere that it has an input jack for accessories. I had an uneasy feeling that I was going to start talking myself into the expensive Polk unit. But I decided to take a chance anyway; I could always return it if I was in any way dissatisfied.

When I got the Cambridge home and turned it on, it was immediately apparent, radio-wise at least, that the sound qualiy was far superior to the Altec-Lansing. The 820 pulled in strong, clear signals on it's HD (which happens to always be a challenge out in the countryside where I live), and the classical music I often listen to had a wide frequency range, with no distortion. The rock stations, more bass included, sounded just as good.

The test, though, was whether it's simple input jack could deliver as rich and full a sound from the iPod as from the radio. I switched back and forth between the two quite a few times, intent on comparing every low and high, and I have to say that, at least to my ears, the quality and range of sound coming from the iPod is every bit as good as from the HD radio, and that's saying alot. It passed the critical test with flying colors.

This Cambridge is here to stay; it's exactly what I want in a portable, relatively inexpensive, tabletop system - very good speakers delivering quality sound from both my iPod and the radio.

I bought this radio a year ago and have had problems with it on and off ever since. The sound quality is ok for the size, but not $300 worth. There are very few knobs so it looks good, but I did not find the controls intuitive and had to refer to the manual every time I needed to do something. Someitmes it finds HD radio stations and sometimes it doesn't. It regularly freezes and the only fix is to unplug it and plug it in again. Which is ok unless you were relying on the alarm clock function to wake you up. I would not recommend it.

I got this radio for the office and was embarrassed at how poor is was. Replacing a very old am-fm radio with this new hd radio was intended to expand the number of channels that were available. However, only a couple of HD stations showed up that we could listen to due to the reception quality. No way to know that until you have an hd radio so this was the first for us. Live & learn. After fooling around with it for 9 months they decided to toss the radio because the screen was only intermittently showing the station information and so programming it and changing the station was a royal pain. In spite of the looks of it its very heavy and large for what it does but i decided to haul it back to my office and fool with it and also couldn't figure it our either. So the $250 waste of money is under a pile of papers under my desk. If you are thinking of HD radio really think about waiting until the technology comes around. If you want to be an early adopter then thing about another brand.

Be aware that this product is not as pictured, it is not a black display it is incandescent blue that is so bright it casts shadows. My husband can sleep through anything but this searchlight of a display bothered him. The big warning is that when I called about it they said others had complained about the misrepresentation in the photo on the web site and on the box (he volunteered that he had no idea where that pic came from since it was never an option) yet the company doesn't see it fit to change.

Then the worst part is, after all the time on the phone etc with customer service the emailed return shipping info states that if you want to return it they want you to pay for shipping and insurance. That's a great biz practice isn't it, misrepresent and then lay it on the customer to pay because they actually believed the product was as pictured. A study in bad customer care; I've purchased other things from them before but you can be sure this is the last time. And you know what people, the quality of the materials on this is certainly not on par with the price. My advice, avoid - I should have picked another brand deal that I now have missed out on.

I USE THIS UNIT THROUGH MY TV AND DVD PLAYER. AM ABOUT TO HOOK IT UP TO COMPUTER TO PLAY MUSIC. GREAT SOUND AND BASE, TREBLE, ETC. IS ADJUSTABLE. BEATS THE SPEAKERS IN MY SONY TV.

Sound is good, features are OK, HD audio is so-so. The killer is the IC2 Float error. I'm unable to play from my portable media player, as just when I go to sleep, the radio will give a load beep, and shut down. At this point, the display will indicate 'IC2 Float'. The radio must be unplugged and plugged back in to clear the fault. Sometimes this causes the presets to be erased. Recently, it is getting worse, affecting the radio too, almost every night. This is a serious design flaw, and Cambridge should be taken to task for producing such garbage. Don't buy it, at any price.

Perfect for the kitchen counter. Perfect to listen to the content on the Internet. Works for me.

Over the years, I have purchased the Henry Kloss Table Radio Model 88 and the Cambridge Soundworks Radio without CD. Then I saw the HD820 and thought I would get it.
The radio does't sound as good as the other radios I own. It doesn't have the built in sub woofer like the others. So, the bass isn't as strong. This doesn't mean it
doesn't have a good sound. It does sound better than most so called Clock Radios. There are several design problems. No clock back up. If the power goes out, you loose the
time... I called about this and was told that there wasn't enough room in the radio for this feature due to the two tuners...??????????? Well, if they designed the radio, why didn't
they allow enough room for a battery backup for the time. Also, the display is very bright at night and this is annoying to say the least.
It also appears that Cambridge Soundworks is no longer in the business of producing different models of radios. I emailed them and asked them if they were going out of
business, and I got no reply.Go to their website and you may find one or two radios listed. This model is not even listed as available. They also had a small mono radio that at one
time they sold for as little as $40.00 and it is no longer on the site.
The radio is heavy and the build quality seems good. I am disappointed that they no longer seem to offer the products as they once did. Perhaps the economy is to blame. I will keep the
radio and hope that they again build quality radio for us to enjoy...