Customer Reviews

Philips AJ3980 AM FM CD Clock Radio

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I spent ALOT of time looking at different models of radio alarms, and none of them had all of the features I wanted, so it seems like there is always a compromise. Since this slick little model was philips latest offering, I assumed it would have all the features of the previous models, it did not. It also has problems with the speakers, both were fuzzy and distorted on different operation modes, cd, tuner... I believe this to be a defect, not a by-design issue.

The Pros: The sound, when it did function correctly, was crisp and had a nice full range of reproduction. It wont replace a bookshelf system, but works quite well for bed side, although the opposite firing speakers do not reproduce stereo sound, it does have a standard mini-headphone jack. The display was large and quite readable from many angles. The touch screen display added some coolness value but you dont really want to have to look at a bedside alarm to operate it, you want to go by feel, fuhgetaboutit with the onscreen controls.

The Cons: Brightness control, why dont they make a light that you can turn off entirely and just press a button for momentary illumination? Even at its lowest brighntess setting which is about 30 or 40 percent dimmer then normal, its still not all that dim and could cause some annoyance at night, although the amber display is less obtrusive than the previous model's electrolumenescent blue. It only has five fm presets. no adjustable snooze, no weekend alarm defeat option, three minute internal power failure back-up, pathetic when my four year old laptop keeps better time when it has no power for a month. Those are my biggest complaints.

Overall it is a well constructed item with the obvious caveat for the defective sound ouput. I should also mention that I wasnt pleased with the cd latching mechanism. It uses a cheap plastic push down lock connector that doesn't seem to inspire longevity. Overall a well built item but I'm disappointed with the lack of certain features and ended up returning it due to the defective sound output, I ordered the previous model and am waiting for delivery now...

First, I needed to get a new clock radio that had a headphone jack. I have tinnitus (rining ears) and I have a small pillow speaker that is just enough of talk radio which helps me drown out the humming noise in my head so I can get to sleep. The jack works great, and the digital tuner is excellent in pulling in AM stations, even from distant cities. I've been getting about an additional 40 minutes of sleep with the new clock radio, which is Platinum for me!!

All the complaints I've read about the bright orange screen are true, and I can't just turn the radio around, as I have the jack cord coming out of the side, but I figured out a neat trick. I went to an auto parts store (Pep Boys, Auto Zone, Advanced, etc., or any well stocked accessorizing type parts store) and bought a $5 roll of plastic window tint. This stuff is like "colorforms" I remember when I was a kid. It just sticks on any flat surface, there is no glue, etc. and you call peel it off. The roll I bought is about 4" wide and designed to put a strip of tint on the top few inches of an automobile windshield to reduce glare.

A pair of scissors and an exacto knife on a bunch of newspapers, and I had cut out of the roll a tint insert to fit right over and stick on the screen. The touch screen still works, and the glare is all together gone!

One complaint I have is the fact that there are only 5 AM and 5 PM presets. This tuner works so good and pulls in so many stations, I could easily use another 5 presets on each band. I do not use the speakers that often, but when I do, I am surprised how well the separation works and the music fills the room without being loud or brassy.

Not really a complaint, but if I need to use the alarm, I have to remove the jack in order for the alarm to be loud. I rarely have to use the alarm though, as my problem is not getting enough sleep from the tinnitus instead of oversleeping.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this clock radio.

I was looking for a really good alarm clock (with radio and CD secondary), but found little that did not have some kind of problem or reviews with reservations. After reading the reviews I was worried that this unit would be a problem but took the plunge anyway.

To my surprise, this clock works very very well. The touch screen makes it the easiest to setup of any clock I had tried. The controls were intuitive enough to make reading the instructions not a requirement.

Hits...

- Beep type alarm (as opposed to just radio or CD). This works well, ramps up from barely audible to very loud over about a 30 seconds to a minute. Likely no one would wake up to the first beep but also no one could sleep through the loudest volume.

- Easy settings and alarm display. While you can only see one alarm at a time it does show the alarm time and the setting is stupid simple.

- Snooze. 9 minute snooze with the easy to reach bar in front.

- Good dimming control to not "light the room" by the alarm clock. The dimmer too a minute to figure out (well labeled but not quite obvious how to get it to the dimmest setting), but once that was figured out it was very very simple to get the orange back light to a very very low level that is not intrusive at all. BTW, the light ramps up when you activate the touch screen and then dims nicely when you are done.

Bonuses...

- Really quiet CD start up, no big click. In fact the first thing I heard was the CD music vice the alarm clock operating.

- Headphone out. The sound is pretty mediocre (this is not what I was buying it for) but the head phone out allows connection to an external set of speakers if one wants higher fidelity.

- Big display so it is easy to read for those without perfect night vision.

Misses...

- Relatively poor sound quality, but I expect this is in-line with other clock radios.

- Not great FM reception.

So overall this alarm clock radio CD player does exactly what i was looking for and does it intuitively and well. Recommended.

Well, I read and read reviews here. Looked at many web sites, multiple models and brands, but kept coming back to this one. This is one awesome machine. I'm surprised why so many people complain. If it's deffective - one thing, but sound, functions and features are very good. Display is superb. Touch screen - awsome. Sound very good, far better than Sony dream machine. Keep in mind - this is an alarm clock not a full size stereo. Even Bose one in the store didn't seem to sound better. And at x10 the price? 2 alarms are great. Fact that u see the next alarm setting while in a clock mode - brilliant. Very easy to set and adjust. Some say that it doesn't play CD-Rs - not true. I burn CDs using several programs and each one works on this cd player. No problem at all. No skipping, no noise. I wish it had a remote, a battery back up, and repeat function for CD, but can't have it all. But compared to what else is out there - it's the best IMO. So, I'm very happy with this purchase. And it looks very modern and stylish, unlike most other alarm clocks. Screen brightness when low - no problem to sleep at all. It's right next to my bed. Gentle wake - while u can't pre set levels - starts very low and goes all the way up, but gradually, so it's pretty "gentle". So, I'd say - if u like the way it looks on a picture - get it. Or at least go play with it at the local store - I think you'll love it.

After having been frustrated finding a CD clock radio that was:
A. Easy to read the time
B. Sensitive digital tuner
C. Friendly to use
D. Decent sounding
This model was my last resort, given many negative reviews. After having owned, used and disposed of three other models that failed in the above criteria (Sony Liv853, JVC, Philips AJ3965) this has been a pleasant and welcome surprise. The tuner is v sensitive on FM, the display is large, not too bright and easy to read from various angles and distances, the touch screen interface is simple to use and the sound is clean and full ranged. It has a small footprint and is handsomely styled. The only drawbacks I've found are that the sound quality suffers over #25 on the volume control and the CD player has no shuffle, replay options. It isn't a shelf stereo, but it is a very compentent clock radio!

After having completely remodeled my room, I decided to look for a clock to match my new nightstand (and overall style of the room). I also wanted something small enough that it wouldn't clutter up my tiny nightstand. After extensive research, I decided on the Philips AJ3980, mainly because it had a large display for the time, and it was the ONLY clock that allowed you to fall asleep to a CD and wake up to a buzzer. 99.99999% of the other clocks will only allow you to wake up to a CD, not a buzzer or even radio, if you fall asleep to it. I don't get it. If you fall asleep to a CD made specifically for inducing sleep, which is what I do every night, how the heck is that same CD supposed to wake you up in the morning?!

Anyway, despite the horrid speaker reviews this model has gotten, I purchased it figuring the good features outweighed the bad.

I've had the clock for over 3 months now, and I have to say it is quite possibly the best clock radio I've ever owned or even seen! It's greatly surpassed all my expectations and I've never had a problem with it.

First off, setup is a snap. I don't even know what my instruction manual looks like 'cos the touchscreen buttons are so easy to follow. I had my time and alarm set within 2 minutes of plugging it in.

The radio reception is decent, and although I programmed some preset stations (also a snap), I can't really judge this too much because I rarely use the radio feature 'cos nobody plays music anymore, just commercials. But the few times I used it to preset the stations and play around with other features, the clarity was fine--hardly any static or anything.

CD player is great. The on-screen menu changes when a CD is inserted allowing you to skip tracks (back and forward), fast-forward and rewind, and stop. There's no repeat or shuffle feature, which would have been nice, but it's certainly not a deal-breaker.

As for the speakers themselves...I was expecting atrocious, horrid audio when I opened the box, having read the damning reviews about them here, but I have no idea what any of these people are talking about. I have a rather large bedroom, so I have a digital surround sound system hooked up for quality sound whenever I'm working in my room. However, sometimes I don't feel like getting off the bed and plopping a CD into the sound system across the room, so I just go ahead and use the Philips. Even at high volumes, this little thing is pretty powerful AND consistently clear! I mean, it's no surround sound system obviously, but it definitely gets the job done better than expected! I've never experienced any distortion or clipping or any other speaker issues when listening to various CDs at various volume levels. I could only assume that the units these other reviewers received were damaged somehow and that would explain their terrible speaker experiences. Otherwise, it sounds pretty great.

The unit itself is small, although slightly longer (from the display to the back) than most clock radios, but it still doesn't take up much space.

The display is great--nice big and clear numbers--and the light from the back has never bothered me. Though I could see how some people may be bothered by even the dimmest setting if they sleep closer to it.

I only have two minor complaints about the unit:

1) The alarm will only go off for for an hour before it disables itself. I like to snooze for a good 45 minutes when my alarm goes off, but with this system I have to be careful not to go over, otherwise, I'll just keep on sleeping after the hour's up.

2) The dual-alarm feature works well, however, keep in mind that if you're like me, and like to fall asleep to a CD, you can only wake up to a buzzer (or radio) by setting the SECOND alarm. The first alarm is SOLELY for waking up to a CD. So, while I thought it would be nice to have 2 separate alarms, I really only have 1, which I have to keep resetting depending on the day, because only the second alarm allows waking up to a buzzer or radio. It's slightly annoying, but again, not a deal-breaker.

So if you're in the market for a small, good-looking, and incredibly well-designed and functional clock radio, definitely check this one out.

This is the best radio ever made!!!!!! The dual 2" speakers are trash, yes trash, but hear me out. The headphone inputs can be attached to computer speakers and they are simply the sweetest sounding house pounding mofo to hit my neighborhood. CRYSTAL CLEAR. I have a logitech Z-560 4 chanel THX surround sound hooked up to this baby and with its 8" sub it is insane! Its my Clock Radio! my cdplayer! my Radio! and when the alarm goes off it starts up slowly until it gets to medium level. I can wake up to a cd and its extremely easy to do so also. Its freekin sweet looking too. The touch screen face changes its buttons for each mode, and when you press a button it will get bright and wait a second, then sloly get dim again. So when you want to change something its bright but then fades so your not looking at headlights trying to sleep. It has DIGITAL scanning, A very powerful and clear reception, and setting the alarms I can do blindfolded. The alarm is one of my favorite features. It has a seperate smaller clock that tells you exactly when the next alarm is. There is no way you will ever mis-set this clock. Even if you set it to CD, and when it goes off and you dont have a CD in it, it automatically switches to buzzer! Idiot proof! Also there is a seperate button to push that will reset the alarm for the next day in one button, I love that. I used to miss classes because i would forget to reset it some mornings. Now that I have sold all of my other audio equipment, I dont know what I would do with out this little thing. Buy some computer speakers! It's freekin awesome!

This alarm has some good features to it, I'll admit. But one of the main uses I have for it is its "gentle wake" feature, and it is most disappointing here. The alarm volume starts at their volume level of 10, which is loud enough to wake me up immediately, unless maybe it was in the next room. But don't most people have their alarm clock roughly within arm's reach? Why wouldn't they make it start at 0 or 1?

I REALLY wanted to keep this radio. The design is clean and the touchscreen controls are ingenious and simple to use.

But the sound quality was just unacceptable. There was a buzzy, fuzzy distortion that I just couldn't put up with. The cheap discount store analog mono unit it was going to replace by comparison has a much clearer tone (if somewhat less bass).

If you usually play rock at medium to high levels, it actually sounds better that way, so some may like this radio more than I did. But classical at low volume sounded like someone playing a comb and tissue paper. Philips - nice try but next time go for the two dollar speakers instead of fifty cent ones.

UPDATE: I own a boutique hotel in midtown Phoenix and use these radios in about 50 of my guest rooms. The sound quality it fantastic, the readouts are nice, you can control the brightness, and it's one of the easiest alarm clocks in the world to set.

So, what's the problem? Several of them have arrived not working, straight out of the box. Many of them have stopped working - either the volume control button or the touch-screen controls stop working.

What could be a 5 star product is now 1 star due to the fact that many no longer work. When attempting to return them, the process is so time consuming that I'd rather just throw the unit out and lose the money.

Until the next version comes out, skip it.

OLD REVIEW

I have 37 of these in my hotel in midtown Phoenix - this is quite simply the easiest alarm clock to set, has gentle wake, touch screen controls and GREAT sound - we get a lot of guests asking where we got these, we've researched the heck out of alarm clocks to provide the best for the rooms at the lowest price possible. We put a price of $125 on these in our in room menu, since some guests were taking them home and now some actually buy one when they check out. I wish two things: 1) it auto set via the atomic clock and 2) had a ceiling time projection, guests seem to love that.