Customer Reviews

Sangean PR-D2 AM/FM/TV Stereo Digital Q-Radio (Gold)

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

 

 

Excellent designed FM-AM-TV receiver.
Its sensitivity by far surpases more expensive units like the Bose Wave Radio.
Its features are user friendly and very well defined: rotary tunning knob, direct access buttons, up and down tunning buttons, and tone control that mostly emphasizes treble.
Bass seems to be contoured electronically in some kind of loudness emphasis that it's not switchable.
Overall the sound is very good, well defined, solid and powerful, filling a room easily.
The 5" full range speakers includes a center mounted 1.5" twetter that is evident when adjusting the tone control.
The minus point is that the sound quality does not match that of the Wave Radio, but it cost nearly a quarter of its price!
I also own a Tivoli PAL, but the Q Radio sounds a lot better and has a best defined soundstage, with no fatigue at all after hours of hearing.
At last, the looks: it's the most beautiful piece of equipment I've seen in a long time, the quality inside reflects in the outside.
Overall, you can't go wrong with this radio. It's real value for money.

I purchased the Sangean Q for use primarily as a clock radio. The problem is that when the radio comes on to wake me up, the time does not display, just the station frequency. To see the time, you must turn off the radio. I'm in the habit of listening to the radio for a while before getting out of bed, and I don't want to have to keep reaching over to turn the radio off and on to check on the time. Another problem is that the display is angled up so that it can only be read from above. Therefore, if the radio is located next to the bed on a nightstand, it cannot be read by someone lying in bed.

On the positive side, it has excellent tone and station holding properties and looks nice, although the wood panels on the sides of the gray version (comes in gold or gray)don't appear to have any finish, making me wonder if they will becomed soiled too easily.

My experience with the supplier was not good. The first Sangean Q I received did not work correctly, and it took two telephone calls, a trip to the UPS dropoff center, and three weeks to get a replacement.

I have had this radio for over a year, and I like it a lot. But it did have the problem described in an earlier review, in that the LCD display failed after a year and the radio became unusable. Sangean USA replaced the radio even though it was out of warranty, which was great, but was also a indication that the radio has a recurrent problem. I am planning to buy another one, but wanted to assure that the problem would not recur. I emailed Sangean, and they acknowledged the problem in earlier production units. They say it has been fixed for later production units, so according to Sangean the design problem has been resolved.

This is a very nice radio! It pulls in the weak stations well, is easy to tune (including a knob and digital pointer, for those that like the retro effect). Clock and alarm functions are easy to set, and the Sangean humane wake up is less jarring than most alarms. It sounds good, runs for a long time on D cells, and has an attractive, and eye-catching design. I like it a lot, and even bought a second one to give as a gift!
But what did Sangean have in mind for this high performance portable? As some have pointed out the angle of the display is not optimum for use as a nightstand clock radio. I worry that the cloth grille cloth may be easily damaged by use while one is gardening, or working in the garage. Most customers would be more likely to buy a compact stereo system for use in a den.
My answer : PERFECT for deck/patio use!

UPDATE 7/15/06 :
The display on one of the two that I purchased just before Christmas is starting to fade/miss segments. BUMMER! Radio is now 1 star or less in my book.

Update April 16 2008:
As a result of the switch from analog to digital TV in the US, the analog channels will be turned off Feb 19, 2009... The TV Audio band of this radio, and others like it will no longer receive TV audio!

I purchased this radio to replace a GE product that sounded very good. I needed an FM radio for the bedroom that would look nice and perform well. My favorite station is a low powered one that is difficult to receive and my priority was for a sensitive enough tuner to receive that station. The PR-D2 does an admirable job of receiving all the FM stations in this area that are possible to receive. The sound is quite good for a relatively small radio. Very clear and well balanced. A little more bass response would be nice but not required. The appearance is very nice. Kind of an Art Deco look that would fit in with a Poirot set very nicely. You can't go wrong with this radio for the price. Sangean is not an unknown brand and in fact makes the products for many better known brands.

I like this radio a lot. It has good sound, maybe even a bit too rich for when I'm trying to doze off. It doesn't take up a lot of space on the bedside table. It looks quite "now-tro" (see "A Mighty Wind" if you don't know what I mean) with its wood sides and aero shape. It makes a lovely yellow glow. And I love the "humane" alarm that gets gradually louder.

My 2 quibbles:

1. It's hard to tell the buttons apart by feel, so it takes me longer than I'd like to turn off the alarm.

2. After the radio has been on for a few seconds, I'd really like it if the display changed from the tuner to the clock. I don't like having to look somewhere else for the time. But I'm getting used to it. I'll be OK, don't worry.

Update: About 2 years after my original review... and the display is gradually winking out on me, too. Since I rarely change the alarm setting or radio station, and there's a button to go back and forth to Daylight Savings Time, I can still use it fine. But if I needed to do more than listen to that one station and wake up at the same time each day, I'd be in trouble.

This radio is solid. The controls feel precise. The 1960-retro vertical styling makes it unusually handy to carry around as a portable. It has sound quality at least as good as any mono portable radio I've ever heard, and it provides stereo FM although, of course, only when you use headphones.

Unusually, it also has selectivity and sensitivity to match its other strengths. It picks up weak and distant stations as it should (and as most radios unfortunately don't), making it useful in rural areas, while camping, and so on. It might not be quite as good as the GE Superadio III in this regard, but it's close, has some good features the GE doesn't, and it tunes much more easily. On the other hand, if you're REALLY out in the boonies, external antennas can help you catch the weakest signals; and while the GE has terminals for both AM and FM external antennas, the Q Radio has AM antenna jacks only.

This is a radio with a clock, not a clock radio. If you want to use it as a clock radio only, its display will disappoint you; it is angled upward, making it hard to see when it's at eye level as on a bedside table, and it can't show the radio frequency and the time at once. However, it does sound far better than any clock radio I've ever had. In special circumstances, the fact that the Q Radio will still wake you on time even if power fails, or is not available at all, may lead you to prefer it to the more usual clock radios.

Although easy to operate, many of its controls have multiple functions. This can be slightly confusing at first. However, they're pretty thoroughly labeled, so you shouldn't have any trouble figuring them out.

I had to get a replacement for my first one when the display ran into problems. In researching online I saw that Sangean had display issues on the first lot of these radios. The design is cool, but the audio is nothing to write about, and I would expect better from the 2-way speaker design.

I was very happy with this radio until after a year. The display started to fade & now it's totally gone. I contacted Sangean (via Email) I was told to send it in but never did. I use it now in my basement. If it wasn't for this problem, I would give it a very high rating. Excellent sound & reception. The batteries also lasted a long time.

I purchased the radio after reading the reviews that the there were problems with the display thinking that the company had corrected the issue. Sadly, brand new, right out of the box, the display was faded and hard to read. I contacted Sangean and they offered to exchange it. I also asked would the TV function work in 2009 when broadcasts went digital and they said no. That pretty much sealed the deal for me and I returned the radio for a refund.