Accessories

Great Radio But Follow My Advice For Programming It
This radio is great. Check the other reviews for the features, which are wonderful and for a reasonable price. The biggest issue is learning to program the thing. It is difficult, but not imposssible. The instructions are not well written and the lack of illustrations on the same page for setting the alarm don't make it better.

Here's how to think about it and it actually makes some sort of sense if you do think about it this way, I think. You need to push the alarm 1 or alarm 2 button 2 button in the front to "indicate your interest." The screen will show you the "status" of the current settings. If you press the button on the extreme left of the top during the status display you have indicated that you want to actually change some settings. At this point, you can change the time with the rocker switch on top (pressing the button on the extreme left again moves the setting from hours to minutes and back). You can also press the day selections by pressing the other buttons on top. Then, push the alarm 1 or alarm 2 buttons again to lock in your new settings. Really, not too bad.

Now you have to actually turn the alarm on or off (you've only changed some settings so far), if you want to actually turn the alarm on or off, then after pushing the alarm 1 or alarm 2 buttons, you have to push the button on the top extreme left (or you may have already gone through this part as described above). Now, you have to push the button on the extreme right of the top to cycle through alarm off/on/radio positions. Then, push the alarm 1 or alarm 2 buttons again to lock in your new settings.

To set one of the alarms to a different station, just tune in that station (radio on) and hold in the alarm 1 or 2 button for a couple of seconds until the beep. That alarm now has a new radio station associated with it (again, it's just a setting for when the radio alarm is really turned on with the button on the upper right hand side on top).

To turn off the alarms when they are ringing, push the radio on/off button on the front face upper right.

I hope this helped more than hurt, but it really does work. I'm going to rate this a 5 star based on the fact that I think it is a great machine once you learn how to work it, but seriously if you don't like fairly complex interfaces, this is not the clock radio for you. Be honest with yourself, but if you don't mind a bit of a learning curve, this radio is great (price, features, performance).

Lastly, the analog clock is more readable than most clocks, but I secretly long for it to be even larger, as I have really bad eyes without my glasses. To be honest, if it had better instructions (and maybe a wi-fi enabled version for internet radio, I'd go bonkers and buy the new one, too! Well, maybe next year, but seriously, if you don't mind a learning curve, this is an amazing clock radio at a very good price. Have fun! :-)

best I've seen so far ...
this clock radio is pricey but worth it.

pros:
radio reception much better than my older timex clock radio.
sound is very 'full' and natural for music or voice.
analog clock is much easier to read at a glance than digital.
nap features surprisingly handy.
multitude adjustments for:
- radio volume on alarm/wake up/ vs day listening.
- display brightness at night.
- alarm set for 4am mon-fri with no alarm on weekend.
- alarm only goes off once a day not twice like most other analog clocks.
- second alarm for your other person.
- humane alarm (increasing alarm volume).
- limit to alarm volume.

cons:
complex controls (but needs to be, to get all the features I now seem to use).
atomic clock signal out of Denver not receivable (but that's ok, you set it just like any other clock and it works fine).

I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a configurable clock radio with features you can use or ignore depending on ones needs. I looked at the
Tivoli Audio M3TPE Model Three AM/FM Clock Radio, the design is simple and stylish, but the m3tpe having a battery operated clock and an alarm that goes off twice a day just didn't seem to fit with the $300 or so price.

On the other hand, compared to the m3tpe, this rcr-1 has features I didn't think I'd use or need; but now after using the rcr-1, I can't imagine myself doing without many of it's offerings.

the rcr-1 makes things simple on one little aspect of my life, in getting up in the morning ... rising in the morning is now done the way that works for me.

If and when I get another clock radio, the new one will have to have many of the features of this rcr-1 to get my interest.

Worth the price!
This is a great alarm clock. The "humane waking system" is fantastic. The alarm starts out low, gets a little louder, then changes sounds, then gets even louder. I love the fact that the face lighting changes color when the alarm goes off and stays that color when you hit snooze. Doesn't go back to the original color until you completely turn it off. Very good for us near-sighted folks.

My only complaint is that it is slightly complicated to program, but then again, I'm not a very technical person. My hubby has no problem at all.

Best clock radio for my needs but room for improvement
I've had this clock radio for a couple of weeks and overall have been very pleased with it. I especially like the adjustable dimmer control for the clock so that it is not keeping me awake at night and with the button that switches from the dimmer setting to full-bright, I can see what I need no matter the room lighting conditions. I also like the fact that I can listen to AM talk stations at night with low volume and still have my alarm wake me to my favorite FM station at its own preset.

I was not bothered by the multiple functions for the various controls. It may be confusing for some, but I am used to dealing with these kinds of multi-step processes. Also the fact that it sets for specific days means that I don't need to fuss with the settings as I am on a regular schedule that really doesn't change.

The analog clock is a nice feature as the digital face gives tuner information when the radio is on. I like this.

The radio quality is good for both AM and FM stations. The problem is that the speaker is on the back of the unit and provides more of a room filling sound and not the direct sound pointing at my face which I prefer (as does my girlfriend) for when the alarm goes off in the morning. I solved this with a set of inexpensive powered speakers but would prefer a speaker at the front of the unit.

As I live a few dozen miles from the atomic time clock broadcast center in Colorado, I have no problems whatsoever with the atomic clock finding a signal and syncing up.

I wish the snooze alarm was adjustable, instead of being fixed at five minutes. I already mentioned the speaker location issue I have.

I'm glad I bought it and am sure it will work well in the future.

Good, but not perfect...
I like it. It is a keeper.

However, I agree with other reviewers concerning the tricky nature of the controls. My solution: I kept the user manual on the night stand, by the radio, where it was easy to find and refer to. After several weeks, I found myself no longer looking at the manual, nor having to experiment, nor grumbling to myself about the poor design. It's all natural to me now. That said, for forcing me through such a training exercise, I down-graded the thing by one star.

I also agree with comments that the LCD's contrast could be better. However, back-lighting intensity is NOT a problem because it is fully adjustable with a small knob on the bottom of the radio, and switchable between bright and dim by a button on the front. Some reviewers may have not scoured the user manual sufficiently to find those tid-bits of info.

Another complaint I have seen in reviews concerns the presumptive lack of battery back-up and how that makes no sense on a higher-end clock radio. I consider that complaint to be misguided. In fact, it DOES retain settings in a power failure and it does it without requiring user-supplied batteries. I have not dis-assembled the thing to determine the exact method used, but I can guess. These types of electronic devices typically store a small amount of back-up power on an internal gizmo known as a "super capacitor". An alternative, sometimes used, is a very small internal NiCd cell. Whichever it is, this radio demonstrated its stuff during an 18 minute power failure that occurred a few weeks after my purchase. It retained all of the programming and the mechanical clock display spun itself around to the correct time within a minute or so of power being restored. On another occasion, I un-plugged the radio to move it to a different location and noticed that the LCD clock display continued running while un-plugged for that short time. For my money, that's good enough and preferable to having to pay attention to AAA cells that can go bad and leak.

Another complaint I have seen concerns the effectiveness of the "Atomic" aspect of the clock. That can be a problem because the Atomic clock signal is a radio signal that can be interfered with by household appliances, metalic materials in a building and atmospherics. However, of the three Atomic clocks in my house, this radio's clock is the only one that I have not seen get off track on the night of the switch to/from daylight savings time. I believe it is better than most because Sangean made the radio pick-up antenna separable from the radio itself (look at the back of the radio- see the detachable bar?). My antenna is detached and positioned away from 110V power cords and other electronic devices (such as cordless phone, cell phone charger, etc.) that can locally radiate interfering signals. That works for me.

Finally, I like the radio's sensitivity on both AM and FM. It's sound quality is a cut above others in its price range. The rear-firing speaker works better than I might have guessed- sound reflection off the wall works fine. The unique tone control seems to adjust nicely from wide response for decent high and low note rendition on music, to narrow response centered around voice tones. I find the latter to be useful when listening to talk-radio on distant, noisy, weak AM stations.

Summary: I don't think Sangean is very good at human factors engineering, nor are they good at english language technical communication, but I think they do an above average job of designing the innards of a radio.