what's the best clock radio? vintage, modern? post pics when possible....

Other: Kenwood KR-1000 Galaxy Commander (http://www.ckopfell.com/KenwoodKR1000.htm)

- JP

thats ugly, kabuki, and yet somehow awesome...

As VintageStereo, the first owner to bring attention to this model, says, it's "distinctive." Still, I do believe it qualifies as the best clock radio -- separate adjustable times for each day of the week, excellent tuner, and 125 wpc. I'd like to see a Tivoli with 700 watts of power consumption.

- JP

The new Adcom SOLO and the speakers of your choice.

Nice, very reminiscent of the Tivoli..

Eico HFT90
Eico HF12
Zenith timer
Goodmans 12" in HB box

Eico HFT90
Eico HF12
Zenith timer
Goodmans 12" in HB box
That ought to get you out of bed! :thmbsp:

I'll second Urizen's vote for the Boston Recepter (even with that badly misspelled name). Meantime, I plug along with my trusty 1993-vintage Optimus stereo clock radio with detachable speaker.

Sony MagiCube, baby. :yes:

Rich P

If I had it, I'd say a CSW Model 88 with a CD player but since I only have the 88 without the CD player (and that's by choice) I had to go with a reliable 4x4x2 1/2" Sony Dream Machine (with battery backup) on top of it with the Uniden wireless phone alongside of it.

So, technically it's a clock/radio but I only use the clock function.

Between these and a lamp, I'm outta space, but I've been known to plug my walkman into the 88 on occasion. I can squeeze that in.

I am really pleased with my Cambridge SoundWorks
Radio CD 740. :thmbsp:
http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/category.cgi?category=aud_radio&item=c174rczzz
Awesome sounding little unit. Beats the hell out of the Bose Wave Radio my wife HAD to have. :sigh:
Ron

I love the Proton 320 great reception and very nice sound. Nakamichi and Sharper image re-label the proton so it cant be that bad right? But this one makes me believe there is a god http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59968

Does it matter?
I only listen to mine for like 5 seconds a day. If I want good sound, the Pioneer SX-737, Kyocera CD palyer and BA 100s are just an arm's reach away! :yes:

Mine's a Pioneer DT-510 timer, NAD 7250PE receiver and a pair of Allison Two's :) - Mark

Those Zenith "Circle Of Sound" series were pretty good. Pricey by 1970's standards.

I have a mid-60s Zenith (not sure of the model number right now) AM/FM. I found it in the trash, I have never so much as had to replace a single capacitor or tube (I did have to clean out some dead spiders though), and I have been using it for 4 years now with no problems.

How about KLH this I just got. Remote speaker, fantastic sound, made c.1985.

I haven't heard all of the ones listed, so i won't vote. The Wave radio is nice for this purpose - decent sound at low volume. The alarm comes on softly and eventually kicks your ass if you don't get up.

Drawback is no headphone jack. I listen to Phil Hendrie at night in bed. The Mrs. hates his dumb show and doesn't want to hear him, whereas I laugh my ass off sometimes.

Actually, I also have a GE stereo clock radio that's pretty good. Decent sound, 2 alarms and great AM reception. It can DX pretty well at night.

I love the Proton 320 great reception and very nice sound. Nakamichi and Sharper image re-label the proton so it cant be that bad right? But this one makes me believe there is a god http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59968


I second that! I have had mine for probably 20 years now and it almost makes me like being waken up in the morning! I especially like the way the volume gently ramps up, that was a nice touch. Separate bass and treble controls like a real piece of audio equipment. A friend house sat for us and liked it so much he bought one.

Eico HFT90
Eico HF12
Zenith timer
Goodmans 12" in HB box

I had one of those Eico tuners in the early 70's with a multiplex adaptor, Great sounding tuner! :thmbsp:

BTW I have a Zenith Model K472W in my church office sounds OK

I just got a Sangean WR-2, and absolutely love it. Mine has the walnut finish case and is really attractive. The sound is also warm and rich with plenty of bass. This is really a new model but there is plenty of info on the web. These retail for around $160.00 but can usually be had for around $140.00.

I just wish they'd figger out how to make one of th' damthings that would reset itself when the electricity goes out...Don't tell me it can't be done-WWV sends out a 60 cycle signal thruout the national grid. I hate to walk in & see 'em flashing "12:00" at you like a mad idiot, & then I invariably screw it up somehow when trying to reset it...-Sandy G.

I just wish they'd figger out how to make one of th' damthings that would reset itself when the electricity goes out...Don't tell me it can't be done-WWV sends out a 60 cycle signal thruout the national grid. I hate to walk in & see 'em flashing "12:00" at you like a mad idiot, & then I invariably screw it up somehow when trying to reset it...-Sandy G.

I have one - made by Emerson Research. I've never once set the dang thing. Out of the box, plug it in, it sets itself, that's it. Pretty cool. - Mark

I just wish they'd figger out how to make one of th' damthings that would reset itself when the electricity goes out...Don't tell me it can't be done-WWV sends out a 60 cycle signal thruout the national grid. I hate to walk in & see 'em flashing "12:00" at you like a mad idiot, & then I invariably screw it up somehow when trying to reset it...-Sandy G.My $15 Sony has one of those and a 9v alkaline is good for a few hours down time.

Anything cool and space age looking from 70s, digital a Plus.

JBL- Harmony. My choice.

Zenith R733

http://homepage.mac.com/brameika/firebottles/cabinets/Zenith/Zenith-AMFM-Clock-Radio-Bla.jpg

what's the best clock radio? vintage, modern? post pics when possible....

The best clock radios I believe are the ones that are quick to set the wake-up time. Most mechanical ones require turning a hand and approximating the selected time. Most digital ones require pushing a button and waiting for the fast-forwarding time to be selected. Either method seems tedious to me.

That is why I prefer and use the Sony Dream Machine EZ series, from the 70's/80's. I have the EZ-2, EZ-4 and the EZ-7 models. Each of them has 2 front dials, one for the hour, and one for the minute. All you have to do to set the alarm time is rotate each dial to the hour and minute you want. Quick and easy ... like an alarm clock for dummies! It also has an AM/FM radio, and battery backup. Sony EZ-7 and EZ-2 are shown in the pics.

I like maxm's Zenith. My '50s vintage Zenith AM clock radio sits on top of my fridge and is used practically every morning as I eat breakfast just before going to work. After my dad restored this classic several years ago, I've never had a single problem with it; not only does it keep excellent time, but it's about the only vintage tube radio I own that locks its stations dead-on and hardly ever fades out, requiring constant retuning like so many of my other radios.

It's a keeper for sure! :thmbsp:

available used for about $50 the digital versions of these (with insides by LG but designed by zenith) are as good sounding as any clock radio I've ever heard.

My clock radio is a 1972 no-name stereo music center with radio, cassettes and a built in electric clock

Works very well and wakes you up in stereo!

45053

A Proton 320 alarm clock. The radio sound so nice and dials a station in well with FM tuner circuitry designed by Larry Shotz. Bought it in 1982 and its still in service today. I guess I got my money out of that one.

Happy Listening! :thmbsp:

My nightstand is a Mahogany Zenith 12H090 AM-FM console that's hooked up to a Telechron alarm clock that has an AC outlet in the back. Getting woke up by a radio using push-pull 6V6's is about as good as you can do. However, I retired 2 weeks ago and I've only had to use the alarm once since then, that's even better.:D

I have an old Australian Transistor Company timer switch. It was originally intended to switch on a VCR back before they had built in clocks. I used to use it to switch on my main system at the time, but I found I kept going back to sleep listening to the radio.

So then I hooked the timer switch up to a cheap boom box tuned to a station I hated and turned all the way up. The distorted sound of a morning DJ I can't stand got me up most of the time, but it got me up in a bad mood.

I've since replaced the cheap boom box with a car alarm siren. It's less annoying than the bad morning DJ, but I can still sleep through it sometimes.

I like the Sony Dream Machine a lot, bought mine used at GW for $10 or so.
Big green numbers, easy to set up.

Two things I don't care for, 1. it's louder than hell! 2. the Snooze cycle is only 7 minutes.

I hate to admit but we own a Bose Wave Radio CD - it's a one note POS. The only good thing about it is that with the OBAM it'll fetch nearly what we paid for it on eBay. We plan to use the proceeds to puchase a Tivoli Audio Music System.

Martin

If the Tivoli alarm clock uses the same oddball "loudness" curve that Mr. Kloss built into the Tivoli Model One, then I would vote for it.

My Model One baffles me. I can pick apart the unnatural sound of the neat little box in a bunch of negative ways, but when I just listen to it at conversational levels I catch myself admiring little details that I could never hear on my other small radios. It sounds so wrong but also sounds so right.

Plus, the way it looks just pushes the right buttons for me.

I was going to buy one of those Bose radios, but the do not sound as good at lower levels as the Tivoli. Cranked up they do beat it, but who listens to a table radio/clock radio cranked up?

I like my Nakamichi clock radio.

These are the best clock radios I have ever used.Not the best musicly all though after a upgrade cap replacement in the power supply the Sangean 818 sounds pretty good for a clock radio.It has been all over the world and never let me down and long wave and SW proved useful to me in the middle east.


The Zenith wake up minder is cool to because you can record on it and wake up to what ever you want mine has a very loud rooster right now but the Sangein is my favorite due to baterys last almost 300 hours at mid volume and the back up batterys useing lithum will keep it programed for 6 years!
It has been the most reliable radio ever and has been bounced around in a conroled crash.Thanks Pakistan International for the scary landing and brining me closer to God! So I love my Sangean 818 best.:yes:

My wife got one for Christmas a few years ago that our son bought for her at Radio Shack. Knowing my son, it wasn't too pricey, but it has three features that make it Top Notch in my book:

1) The volume of the alarm starts softly and gets progressively louder until you shut it off
2) It sets its clock automatically using something that radio stations transit (never really looked into the technology). Even takes care of DST and all that carp.
3) It shows the time on the ceiling (or not, depending on your choice).

I think those three features should be on EVERY clock radio made today (but they aren't, of course).

Couldn't tell you what the radio sounds like, I can't recall ever hearing it. When the alarm goes off, I get up. I know that's a radical idea, but it works for me ;)

The very best!! Sony Digimatic 1970. You would have to come up with something un-pucking-believable to beat this unit!!

my iPhone:rockon:

Lessee,

Proton 320 is what I'm using now.

If not for worry for the lifetime of the nixies, I'd rather be using my GE digital from 1974 - first thing I ever bought with my own significant dollars (IIRC, it was somewhere north of $150 then!). Model C4690, I think. Cool, 70's 'the future will be digital' look. I believe this was the second digital clock radio, being preceeded in 1972 by the C4390, with essentially the same design.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58143&d=1187575332

The GE 4885 is a cool one too - first digital with a keypad for direct time and frequency input. 1978 or so, IIRC.

Finally, when away from home, my Blackberry, using the 'crystal' chime sound - repeats three cycles, each one progressively louder. Nice.

How about KLH this I just got. Remote speaker, fantastic sound, made c.1985.

Manufactured by Kyocera in the mid-1980s. I bought mine used in 2000. It has been in continuous use, on average 2 hours per day, for the past 9 years. :thmbsp:

More on KLH and Henry Kloss -designed and -inspired table top radios http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4914

The Burk remote control calling me at 4 am with Alarm Conditions Pending please enter password! That's always guaranteed to wake me when little else does!

I'm using a Squeezebox boom.
Get's it's time from NTP (Naval Observatory Cesium Clock).
Plays internet radio and your digital library.
Ethernet or WIFI.
Sounds as good as my Boston Receptor, has an AUX in and SUB out, remote.
No internal battery though.

My wife has an Emerson cube with a CD, two alarms and a nap timer. The sound isn't too offensive, but the clock loses a minute a week somehow.

I use a PioneerDT-510 with a TX-6800 and a SA-5800 plugged into it, pushing a pair of Fisher SM-330s. It gets me out of bed.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/Bogframe/Audio/bedroomstack003.jpg

I'm using a 1963 Admiral AM/FM clock radio. I've been using it since 1997 and have only had to change two tubes, all caps are original. I think it's a pretty damn reliable radio that gets used every day. Oh, I did find a solder bridge from a factory mistake on the selector switch that made it play fm in the background on am, I repaired that when I discovered it during the first tube change in 1998 or 9. Great bass (from a clock radio) from the 6" speaker and strong tuner, I often DX with it at night.

Here is the clock radio that I want...

Ferrari F80 by Meridian
http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/05/meridianf80-thumb.jpg

Does it matter?
I only listen to mine for like 5 seconds a day........

Ugh..... morning people :D

......I've since replaced the cheap boom box with a car alarm siren. It's less annoying than the bad morning DJ, but I can still sleep through it sometimes.

When I was a kid, I thought about hooking up a car battery and a horn to my alarm clock, but never followed through with it. My mother didn't think it was such a good idea, either.

I use an old Panasonic...... I think it's from the late 60's or early 70's. It's solid state, but does have plywood in the case. Before that, I used a 78/79 Sears special (made in Hong Kong)...... it had been my mothers and I remember my parents buying it onsale. The funny thing is that I remember it as being kind of a big purchase :D I finally threw it out (or maybe recycled it) as it was a pain in the butt to set, and I was kind of rough on it in high school...... it was just time. I think my dad still has the paperwork for it.

My favorite is a Marantz AT-5 Digital Audio Timer, with your choice (in my case, an Esotec SC-4000 cassette deck through an Esotec M4 Amp) of vintage stereo system plugged into it.

However, I don't use it as an alarm clock. I don't need an external alarm clock at all: if I tell my brain to wake me at a given time, it will do it accurately to within +/- a few seconds, literally. If I'm way too exhausted, I risk falling back to sleep again soon after, but I will always wake up at the time I've told myself to. I have no idea how; if you ask me what time it is during the day, I'm not very accurate, but some part of my brain sure is, when I'm asleep. I'm always concerned it might not work, so sometimes I use an obnoxious funky little Japanese clock that wakes you up with the loud sound of machine gun fire and a bomb falling and exploding, but actually my natural "built-in alarm clock" has never failed me, yet. It's more accurate than the little Japanese clock, so usually I'll wake up a few minutes before the alarm goes off, allowing me to turn it off before it goes off, and thus to avoid that noise.

Zenith R733

http://homepage.mac.com/brameika/firebottles/cabinets/Zenith/Zenith-AMFM-Clock-Radio-Bla.jpg

That Zenith looks REALLY COOL! I LOVE the look of it! :thmbsp:

SQUEEZEBOX BOOM

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm165/Hwirt/Radios/DSC02373.jpg

My Squeezebox Boom tunes in thousands of internet radio stations including BBC, VOA, etc. Also steams my music collection from my PC and has multiple programmable alarms. I can wake to a music selection, radio station or regular beep alarm. The music wake up can be set to fade in gradually which is what I prefer. The Boom also serves as my bedroom music system, the sound quality is excellent.

Here is a link which describes engineering behind the audio system:

http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/attachments/download/26/Logitech_Squeezebox_Boom_Audio_Design

Maybe not the best, but my favorite ... re-capped, cleaned up and re-commissioned :D

I'm going to use it to start my electric percolator in the morning ;)

Maybe not the best, but my favorite ... re-capped, cleaned up and re-commissioned :D

I'm going to use it to start my electric percolator in the morning ;)

Nice! I love the ones with the timed outlet on the back.

I just got a Sangean WR-2, and absolutely love it. Mine has the walnut finish case and is really attractive. The sound is also warm and rich with plenty of bass. This is really a new model but there is plenty of info on the web. These retail for around $160.00 but can usually be had for around $140.00.

Now, isn't that an HD radio? I know Sangean is of the few who make stand alone HD tuners.

Lessee,

Proton 320 is what I'm using now.

If not for worry for the lifetime of the nixies, I'd rather be using my GE digital from 1974 - first thing I ever bought with my own significant dollars (IIRC, it was somewhere north of $150 then!). Model C4690, I think. Cool, 70's 'the future will be digital' look. I believe this was the second digital clock radio, being preceeded in 1972 by the C4390, with essentially the same design.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=58143&d=1187575332

The GE 4885 is a cool one too - first digital with a keypad for direct time and frequency input. 1978 or so, IIRC.

Finally, when away from home, my Blackberry, using the 'crystal' chime sound - repeats three cycles, each one progressively louder. Nice.

And the follow-on model, which I purchased in 1984 and still have, is the GE Small Wonder.