Customer Reviews

Sangean WR-1 AM/FM Wooden Cabinet Radio, Walnut

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own this radio along with a bunch of other radios and clock radios (various Tivoli models, the Boston Acoustics Receptor Radio, an older Cambridge Soundworks CD clock radio, and a newer one as well) in this "high quality" category and the Sangean WR-1 is probably the best value for the dollar. It costs about $25 less than the Tivoli Model One but has reception and sound that's nearly as good. It also has a cooler look and is easier to use: that lighted dial is easier to see in a dark or dimly lit room and it's much cooler looking as well. If you want just a simple table radio, this is your best deal. If you want a clock radio, buy the Boston Acoustics Receptor Radio (somewhat better reception and sound but it costs twice as much). If you want one that plays CD's, your best best is to try to find one of the old Soundworks Model 88's (the newer Cambridge 740 models are junk and the Bose products are way overpriced) or to check out one of the newer Boston Acoustics models.

I love quality table radios and was attracted to the WR-1 because of its simplicity and positive reviews. The real wood veneer looks nice. The feel of the controls and the weight of the unit give the impression of quality. However, it does have a few flaws.

One minor design flaw is switching it from 'Off' to FM requires turning past the AM band, which can create a brief blast of noise. Copying the design of the Tivoli PAL would have easily resolved this where 'Off' is between FM and AM.

Another design flaw is the power cord is rigid where it plugs into the back of the radio, which restricts you from placing the radio any closer than 1.5" to the wall behind it.

The biggest flaw I discovered was the WR-1 produces too much bass when placed in a small room and there is no tone control to compensate for this. I primarily listen to talk radio and with the WR-1 in a small bathroom, there was so much bass I couldn't understand the announcer. Moving this radio to a larger room essentially solved the problem, but I really wanted this in a bathroom. I had the same problem with the Tivoli Model One, which I sold because of it.

I now have my eye on the new Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 705 since it has a tone control, but have no idea on the sound quality. I just wish they still made the Model 88's.

Beautifully tight controls, great rich sound, ability to easily tune stations in. With classical music, in spaces between movements, it's so quiet I think it's turned itself off. It fills the kitchen with sound, and even when cranked all the way up, I hear no distortion. Well worth the price.

This is the best radio I own. Words can't do justice to the sound that comes from this small box. Perhaps a bit too much bass on FM but for AM it adds that nice warm sound. The tuner is very selective and able to pull in distant stations even when there are nearby strong signals. The controls are simple and have zero slop. It's a great value!

I purchased this for the kitchen. I also own a Tivoli Ipal radio. I think the Sangean is as good or better. Clear crisp sound; good bass. A great sounding radio for a small space.

I LOVE this radio!! I am playing CDs thru a little Walkman and it sounds GREAT. The neat thing is you can play it at low levels,as background music, and you still hear EVERYTHING!! You just can't believe it has just one small speaker! This is perhaps the most satisfying item I have puschased in YEARS!! NO JOKE!!

I like the old school analog tuner, which is easy to use and pulls in stations really well. The audio quality would be great, except it has waaay to much bass. We have ours on the kitchen counter, and even at moderate volume, the junk on the counter resonates when somebody is just talking on the radio. A great radio should make it sound like people on the radio in the same room as you, not speaking over a PA system at the bottom of a well.

In fact, the bass was so objectionable, it was almost unlistenable. I took a piece of packing tape and put it over the resonance port in the back, which took enough of the edge of the bass to make it marginally acceptable. The only reason I kept this was that it's tuner is so good. I'd avoid this model, or any similar Sangean model unless it had a tone control.

Update: my wife found the bass so objectionable, she went out and bought a cheap clock radio to replace it. To see if the radio could be salvaged, I opened up the box. Aside from the compact transformer based power supply, the radio is contained on two circuit boards, one in front containing mostly radio stuff, one in back containing mostly power amp stuff and back connectors. Amplification duties are handled by a single, unmarked IC in a heatsinked, single inline package. This is possibly a TDA1010 or similar, which is mainly targeted at the car audio market.

There are two issues, I think, that cause the objectionable "boom" sound. The first is the speaker, which is a rather massive 3.5" unit similar to those used in car audio. Replacing this with a different unit might help, either a cheap unit with less bass capability, or a more expensive one with an aftermarket crossover.

The second issue is the cabinet, and some people might find this important for different reasons. The cabinet is not "wood" except by the most liberal definition of the word. It is a wood resin composite -- something like bakelite. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but the material is extremely dense and the cabinet is definitely resonating. Theoretically covering the resonsance port would make this worse, but it seems move the boom to a less objectionable frequency. It might be possible to add weight to the case to shift the resonance lower.

In any case, this case is certainly not "walnut", it is wrapped in tough synthetic sheeting with walnut grain printed onto it. She sheet is actually overlapped on the bottom of the cabinet, and if you actually look at the "wood grain" you see it twists around the corners in ways that wouldn't happen on a real wood cabinet.

That said, the fact that this is not actually wood isn't necessarily a problem, it's a high quality plastic cabinet. In this case it seems poorly matched to the speaker, which is perhaps too much speaker for a cabinet this small. The more I think about this, the more I am convinced the best course of action would be to replace the speaker with a more appropriate one. It's not that the speaker is bad, far from it. It's just too much for this cabinet.

Second update: I soldered in a 220 microfarad non-polarized capacitor in series with the speaker. Given that the speaker is 4 ohms, this should result in a low pass filter with a loss of 3db at 180Hz, 9db at 90Hz, 15db at 45Hz etc. The objectionable "boom" is actually subsonic; you can feel it in other parts of the house. Although the radio is still bass heavy, the boom seems somewhat attenuated. I've ordered a 7.0 mh inductor from Parts Express using Amazon. Putting this in parallel with the speaker should net no noticeable reduction above 200Hz, 3db at around 130 Hz, and 12db/octave thereafter, yielding a 15db reduction at 64Hz, a more dramatic reduction of subsonic boom.

I purchased the Sangean WR-1 radio for it's AM feature. I enjoy listening to Talk Radio. I am well pleased with the radio's total performance. The WR-1 has a great sound for it's size. I would recommend the addition of an exterior AM antenna for distant radio stations.

I purchased this radio in an attempt to receive a distant FM station. The transmitter is 76 miles from my house, and is in the noncommercial band (88-92 MHZ) which is rather crowded in my area. I am using a directional antenna in my attic, and the station comes in perfectly! This one does better than any FM radio I own. I do not find the bass to be excessive, but I have it about 4" away from the wall on my piano. This is one radio purchase that has proven to be better than expected!

Easy to use simple radio i purchased for my 85 yr old mother.
We liked it as well. Nice retro look.
Good quality sound, better than most single speaker systems.