Portable radio recommendations

Thanks, Austin. I have a PR-D5 and really like it but wish it had a tone control. Pulls in the stations, though.

I'm too much of an audio nerd to ever go back to listening to the am audio of sangean radios. CCrane is my go to radio brand now. The pr-d15 used to kill on fm. But my 2e is right there if not better than that radio.

I think Sangean make a great product. The ATS-505 has a good sound on the AM band, especially through headphones.

I would wager the PR-D5 would sound good on the AM band if they'd have chosen a wider bandwidth -- 6 or 8 khz. It's a case of the way the radio was programmed at the factory. There must have been a reason for them to program the PR-D5 & PRD15 with a 4khz bandwidth on the AM band. Maybe it was to reduce noise, which often peaks at higher audio frequencies. Maybe when they produced the radio they were figuring with talk being the main draw on AM, a wider bandwidth wasn't really needed, but a narrower bandwidth would cut the effects of noise (they also included a chip in the audio chain that is designed to cut pops).

Maybe they figured most people would use the radio for FM, and it's great on FM -- almost sounds like a mini-boombox.

It reminds me of my Realistic DX-350, RS's version of the Sangean 700L, which I sometimes use for MW DXing and listening, mostly through headphones. Great little radio. Nice, lush sound.

It has a Toshiba TA8122 chip, which is a hot IF chip with a stereo demodulator built in. But the radio itself is a mono radio. What they did was cut costs by putting in one AF power chip instead of two, and they ran the radio in mono.

For SW aficionados, no big deal. Same thing with MW or LW listeners. But people usually want to hear FM in stereo. Considering the radio sounds decent on its speaker (esp. for such a small radio), the folks at Sangean probably made a trade off. How many people are going to listen to a small SW portable with headphones? Probably not that many. Which makes stereo superfluous. So many of the decisions obviously are made with cost cutting, general consumer uses in mind.

All that said, thanks Austin for your input. Glad you're getting enjoyment out of your CCrane. I may get a PR-D15 sometime this year and see how it works. But then I need another radio like I need another hole in my head.... So I may not.

That was my main problem with the pr-d15. I was not aware sangean made ccrane's radios. I listen to the Orlando Magic games on espn 580 in Orlando and I need to have a radio that has a high bandwidth setting for am. The e2 sounds pretty good on AM but I think the EP still sounds the best. If they had a higher setting on the 2e for higher bandwidth on am that would be cool. But I still love the 2e.

I have both the CCrane EP and the PR D15. The CCrane does sound better, but I use both. I like the PRD15 for the presets, digital tuning and the stereo. Both are great radios. If only the superior sound of the EP could be combined with the PRD15 you would have the perfect portable radio.

I have a question for those that have the Sangean PR-D15. I have a PR-D5 and really am impressed with it's superior AM sensitivity. Though it's FM performance is rather run-of-the-mill, mediocre. SO, I bought a PR-D15 after reading of it's greatly improved FM performance, and, yes, the FM reception was great. But, the AM side was dismal! What happened? (I sent it back) I live in a metro area quite close to some AM transmitters which causes overload on lesser radios. Not a problem on the PR-D5. Did I get a defective unit? Did I get a unit with early software that by now should've been upgraded? That's my suspicion and hope. I really would like to get a PR-D15 with it's excellent FM performance AND the great AM performance that the PR-D5 had. Can anyone offer any hope that newer 15s have an improved AM section over earlier shipments? Is there a software v.2 on these?

I remember the am on the pr-d15 I had was nothing too special to me. I'd say the best am radios I have ever owned are the ep and the 2e. A close second was the pl-380 Then the grundig g5. I still miss that radio. ahha That was the first higher end radio I owned.

This guy says the PR-D15 should pull in stations, maybe you got a bum one.
http://radiojayallen.com/sangean-pr-d15-amfm-stereo-radio/

I found a few positive PR-D15 reviews here on RD's DX forum, after doing a Google search on the PR-D15:

http://radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?654304-Sangean-PR-D15-Anyone-have-one

It seems the main deficit the PR-D15 has is the loudness may make the AM band sound bad (quoting a post by RD poster danak6jq here:

"I have both a PR-D5 and PR-D15 (Amazon.com, $78, free-shipping). First impression of the D15 after a couple of hours of tuning around is that the D15's AM reception is indistinguishable from the D5 - which is to say excellent in both cases (I certainly did not notice reduced sensitivity as others have commented on).

After turning the Loudness boost off, audio from the D15 is relatively crisp, particularly in side-by-side comparison with the D5, and increases intelligibility of AM reception. My subjective comparison with the D5 was initially with Loudness in the default On setting; turning it off gave the D15 a notable advantage over the D5."

I found a similar sounding review on Herculodge, maybe by the same poster.

So, who knows.

Hello to all. I had to return my cc 2e last week because there was a hiss in the left headphone channel that was super annoying. You could hear it during talk radio. I'm really considering getting a replacement of that radio. I loved it. The reception and selectivity was awesome. plus the audio quality on FM was incredible. So do I stick with it or should I go a bit higher end? I don't mind going in the 200 dollar range if I have to. My thoughts on this radio's am audio is well documented on this topic. So would it be worth my while to buy it again? I'm thinking so. Basically if you can tell me a radio that has the reception, selectivity and fm audio of the 2e and has the am reception and audio of the EP I'd be interested. If not, then it's back to the 2e I go. The reason I like the clearer AM audio is because I listen to a lot of sports on AM and I hate radios that have very muddy AM on them. Perfect examples of radios that have very muddy AM are the sangean pr-d9 and the pr-d15.

Hello to all. I just found about the cc skywave radio. Should I get that one or the 2e? Or I may just splurge and get both. ahhaha I'm such a radio nerd and I can't help it. Thanks a lot.

Well guys my cc 2e is back and better than ever!!!!!! I'm actually switching out my ep for the cc skywave. If you want to hear my thoughts then throw this topic in your rss readers. I heard the cc skywave actually have clearer am audio than the EP. I don't feel the need to have 2 big radios around right now. So I'll get some AM audio from the EP tonight before I ship it off and record the audio output. Ccrane is such an awesome company. I got my ep towards the end of January and they are going to switch out my ep for the skywave. I'd say the 2e is the best radio ccrane offers. The EP does have it's place but I actually think the 2e has slightly better am reception than the EP. The fm kills on the 2e compared to the ep as well.

Hello to all. Just a fast update. My cc skywave should be here in 2 weeks or so. I'll be leaving town on Thursday and I'll be back sun the 22. I hope my skywave is here by that time. I'm super excited to put this radio through it's paces.

Well guys, I'm happy to report that the cc skywave is extremely clear on AM. I think it is the best sounding am radio I have heard as well. The reception is almost cc 2e range as well. Definitely one of the most powerful portables you can get right now. Plus the fm side is really awesome for this size of radio. Not as clear as the 2e but I knew that going in. The fm reception is really good for this class of radio. I definitely recommend it. So for those of you keeping track, i have the skywave, the cc pocket with weather, the sony srf59 and cc 2e in my collection right now. I had the ep but swapped it for the skywave which was a worthwhile swap to me.

Hello to all. I'm loving the cc skywave so much. It's such an awesome radio. It's almost as sensitive as the 2e. I'm amazed how powerful this little radio really is. Plus the am audio is incredible.

The PRD5 & PRD15 do not use AA's. They use C cells. They use the larger batteries because of the power drainage -- they put out a lot of sound and if they used AA's you'd be changing batteries every 5 hours or so. They probably run 9 volts to get the volume the speakers (and AF power chip) require.

MarioMania said:

But they have like 6 C Cells not 4

I would like to get one if I find a deal on it, But the both PRD5 & PRD15 doesn't have Ext. Antanna to hook a better one up for DXing

Click to expand...

6 C cells = 9 volts. The PRD5 probably uses 9 volts to get more power to the speakers -- the AF power chip probably needs it to get all the power to the speakers without distorting. It's probably rated to run 800 MW at 9 volts.

The PRD5 is rated at just under a watt (about 800 mW, I think, if memory serves). I think the PRD15 puts out a hair more power through the speakers, maybe a watt on AC and 700-800 MW on batteries (I don't remember the specs).

You don't need an external antenna hookup with a PRD5 to DX.

It pulls in everything even without a Select-A-Tenna or similar loop. With a loop you only get maybe 1 DB or so gain over what the radio already pulls in.

I have a PRD5. I sometimes use an external loop with it (you have to keep the radio about 5-6 inches away from the loop to peak the loop for some reason) -- but lately I just DX without an external loop, and only use the loop if the signals way down in the mud -- but that's usually when DX conditions are so crappy you might as well turn off the radio.