Sangean PR-D15: Anyone have one?

cyberdad said:

I'm in the market for a new radio to replace my DX-375 (also made by Sangean), which finally died earlier this year. The price and the performance of the PRD 15 seem to be about what I'm looking for. I'm seriously considering it. But given that I'm a frequent traveler, I'd like to find something that's a little smaller to pack in a suitcase or briefcase.

So what do you guys think about the PRD 7 AND 9 as alternatives? I'm not all that interested in FM (for DX) and I do most of my listening with stereo headphones.

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I've looked at both and couldn't find any information on the internal AM antennas used in these receivers. I'm guessing it is not the 200 mm used in the larger receivers, and it's the antennas that make the D5 and D15 great MW DX receivers.

You might look at the Tecsun PL-606 or the PL-390 (although I hate the tuning system of the PL-390). Buy a Tecsun AN-200 or Terk loop, and you have a potent MW DX combination.

To avoid discussions with the TSA, I put my AN-200 loop in my checked baggage.

rfry said:

I recently bought a PR-D15 and think it is generally well-designed. The minor annoyances (to me) are that the LCD display is rather dim when it is viewed head on when the backlight is active. The display is fine when viewed from higher angles, and when the backlight switches off. When the backlight switches off it generates a noise spike in the output audio, if listening to a weak AM signal.

For one operational data point -- it provides a noisy, but listenable signal from a 530 kHz TIS station about 35 miles from my location. If that TIS station exactly meets its FCC requirement for a groundwave field intensity of 2 mV/m at a distance of 1.5 km, then for the earth conductivity along the path to me it would produce a field of about 36 µV/m at my location. That performance is quite good for a radio receiver using only an on-board loopstick antenna.

I have three other portable AM receivers: a Sony ICF-2001, a Sony ICF-SW7600GR, and a Tecsun PL-310. None of those produces a listenable signal from that TIS station. This comparison was made from the same location, and within a time interval of less than 5 minutes. Never bought the PR-D5 so I can't compare those two.

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I strongly suspect the PR-D5 and PR-D15 use the same SiLabs receiver and loopstick antenna, and are thus likely to be identical in terms of sensitivity.

danak6jq said:

I strongly suspect the PR-D5 and PR-D15 use the same SiLabs receiver and loopstick antenna, and are thus likely to be identical in terms of sensitivity.

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FWIW, I can say for a fact that the new PR-D5's have a SiLabs chip in them. They may have been PLL IF chipped in the past (Sangean's PR-D5 web page says "PLL Tuned", unless they've changed it in the past month), but the one I have has a SiLabs DSP chip, and dual coil 200 mm antenna as opposed to the single coil 200 mm antenna I've seen in at least one internal photo online.

My suspicion is that the PR-D15 is a PR-D5 with different firmware (1 khz capability, tone controls, etc.) and the click volume control to adjust the tone.

I forgot to mention that my PRD5 says «PLL Synthesized Receiver» on the front, even though Sangean told me it's got a SiLabs DSP chip. They may have altered the design when they made the PRD15 to cut manufacturing costs for the two radios.

I've thought about getting a PRD15 for the tone control but just can't justify the cost.

Boombox - Does your PR-D5 with the SiLabs chip mute somewhat or max out on volume with very weak signals line the PR-D15 is known to do?

Hi Jim,

No. It doesn't soft mute.

The AGC is slow compared to a Superadio, which some may interpret as "soft muting", but it isn't soft muting. Just slow AGC.

When signals come up, you notice it, yes. And when they dip, you'll notice it more than on a Superadio. But no soft muting. My Radio Shack Pocket Radio (also with a SiLabs chip) does soft mute when signals get below a certain threshold. But the PR-D5 does nothing like that.

When there is a sharp noise spike, the PR-D5's extra audio chip will mute the sound momentarily, like a tenth of a second or so. That's the only muting in the radio.

But the AGC is soft compared to most other DX AM radios I have.

If you're using headphones, you will notice the soft AGC even more, as they have drop down resistors in the chain. I bypassed mine by wiring a mono jack in parallel with one of the speakers for AM DX if I want to use headphones.

RE: PR-D5: I use mine every night. It is more sensitive or selective than my GE SRs. The only issue I've had is after it has been powered up for a long time (AC power or batteries), it needs to be re-set/re-booted, otherwise the buttons begin to act funky after a month or so -- in my case it was the power button had a lag, and sometimes when pressing it the radio thought I pressed the alarm button. The button always worked -- it always powered on the radio. Just that sometimes I had to press it twice, and there was more of a lag than usual. Everything else was normal. A re-set fixed it instantly.

There is nothing wrong with the buttons themselves: it is probably the microprocessor needs its registers cleared from time to time. Just unplug the AC power, pull one battery, wait for 30 seconds or so; the radio resets and everything is perfect again. The station memories seem to remain OK. At least mine does.

My guess is some of the other Sangean-made radios could use the re-set from time to time. They've got two 'brains' in them (at least the PR-D5's made after 2015, when I got mine -- which have SiLabs chips in them; earlier PR-D5's were apparently analog IF chip equipped); you've got the microprocessor that controls the radio and the SiLabs DSP chip itself, which is firmware equipped. Stands to reason that a reset is a good thing now and then.

I'd still recommend the radio to anyone who wants a MWDX miniboombox that is AUX IN capable. Excellent radio.