Mike Walker
Doesn't pull punches
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2001
- Posts
- 541
- Likes
- 14
I'm a radio lover. I collect radios like others collect, er, headphones (ok, I collect them too!)
After 30 years behind the microphone, I KNOW that fm radio has far more fidelity potential than the average audiophile gives it credit for. In fact, before the adoption of the noisy Zenith system for fm stereo, fm radio was probably the highest fidelity medium available to American music lovers...with 20khz frequency response, vanishingly low distortion, and a potential signal to noise ratio well into the range of today's digital sources.
FM stereo made things noisier, of course...especially "in the fringes" (areas distant from the tower, where signal levels and multipath interference degrade quality). But the distance vs. noise level equation isn't an absolute (thank God!). That's a lesson the best designers of fm products have taught us through the years. Better fm tuners can be extremely noise-free in areas where most lesser designs "hiss away". But with the advent of home theater, multimedia pcs, and the internet, top design engineers who once-upon-a-time would have focused their talents on improving fm, now mostly concentrate them elsewhere.
But there are exceptions! Occasionally a remarkably good fm tuner makes it to market, even today. One such product has just been introduced. And remarkably enough, it's both cheap, and PORTABLE! The device of which I speak is the Tivoli Audio PAL (which stands for 'Portable Audio Laboratory'), the last great design by the late Henry Kloss.
I just purchased a 'PAL' (129.95...available in a rainbow of colors!) last week from J&R Music World, and I've got to say "wow". When I first got the battery charged (which will take a while! Don't get impatient, and don't worry that the battery-charge light doesn't begin blinking for a LONG time. This is NORMAL. It's also normal for the battery to be so completely discharged when you receive the unit that it is completely silent when turned on sans ac power.)
Once plugged into the ac, I began scanning the fm dial. WOW! Even in my rural area, the fm band was FULL of noise-free signals from one end of the dial to the other. And the sound, through the singal 2 1/2" speaker (laugh if you will...you won't once you've heard it!) was surprisingly "full", thanks to the special speaker eq that Kloss designed into the unit. "What, a single speaker?" you ask. "Is this thing MONO?" NO IT ISN'T! Well, of course it is when listened to through the speaker. But so what! It's time to admit that placing two speakers a couple of inches apart on a portable audio device and calling it "stereo" is SILLY! You're not getting ANY separation! The PAL is stereo where it counts, THROUGH THE HEADPHONE JACK!
And is it ever stereo! Using the built-in whip antenna this thing pulls in stations with rich, full sound quality and shockingly low noise...even on distant stations, BETTER than my Pioneer receiver connected to a roof antenna with rotor! And the Pioneer has a better fm than most receivers these days (not saying much! It's certainly no match for the "super-tuners" of the 70s and 80s, although the PAL IS in many ways!) That's right, the PAL ON IT"S OWN (without a roof antenna) matches the subjective performance of many super tuners of the past. Hell, I don't blame you if you don't believe that. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't heard the thing!
This thing is truly a radio lover's radio. It plays for up to 16 hours on the built-in Nimh rechargable (and replacable) battery (charges completely in about 3 hours). It's small enough to carry in one hand (think small brick), rugged, weather resistant (a splash at the pool, or a sudden rain shower won't hurt it...just don't leave it out in the rain!), has an almost world-class fm section, a surprisingly good headphone amp! (how 'bout that, guys!), and even a pleasant sounding (though certainly not overly sensitive) am section! It's a fantastic portable radio when you listen through the built-in speaker, and a true audiophile super-tuner through headphones. Can you tell I like it?
A couple of things bother me a bit. The geared analog tuning knob is a tiny bit "loose"...i.e. there's a tiny bit of "play". But that's something I can live with at this price. Oh, and the tuning dial is not a model of accurate calibration, although it's alot better than many in this respect. That's it. Those are my only complaints!
BUY THIS DAMN THING!
After 30 years behind the microphone, I KNOW that fm radio has far more fidelity potential than the average audiophile gives it credit for. In fact, before the adoption of the noisy Zenith system for fm stereo, fm radio was probably the highest fidelity medium available to American music lovers...with 20khz frequency response, vanishingly low distortion, and a potential signal to noise ratio well into the range of today's digital sources.
FM stereo made things noisier, of course...especially "in the fringes" (areas distant from the tower, where signal levels and multipath interference degrade quality). But the distance vs. noise level equation isn't an absolute (thank God!). That's a lesson the best designers of fm products have taught us through the years. Better fm tuners can be extremely noise-free in areas where most lesser designs "hiss away". But with the advent of home theater, multimedia pcs, and the internet, top design engineers who once-upon-a-time would have focused their talents on improving fm, now mostly concentrate them elsewhere.
But there are exceptions! Occasionally a remarkably good fm tuner makes it to market, even today. One such product has just been introduced. And remarkably enough, it's both cheap, and PORTABLE! The device of which I speak is the Tivoli Audio PAL (which stands for 'Portable Audio Laboratory'), the last great design by the late Henry Kloss.
I just purchased a 'PAL' (129.95...available in a rainbow of colors!) last week from J&R Music World, and I've got to say "wow". When I first got the battery charged (which will take a while! Don't get impatient, and don't worry that the battery-charge light doesn't begin blinking for a LONG time. This is NORMAL. It's also normal for the battery to be so completely discharged when you receive the unit that it is completely silent when turned on sans ac power.)
Once plugged into the ac, I began scanning the fm dial. WOW! Even in my rural area, the fm band was FULL of noise-free signals from one end of the dial to the other. And the sound, through the singal 2 1/2" speaker (laugh if you will...you won't once you've heard it!) was surprisingly "full", thanks to the special speaker eq that Kloss designed into the unit. "What, a single speaker?" you ask. "Is this thing MONO?" NO IT ISN'T! Well, of course it is when listened to through the speaker. But so what! It's time to admit that placing two speakers a couple of inches apart on a portable audio device and calling it "stereo" is SILLY! You're not getting ANY separation! The PAL is stereo where it counts, THROUGH THE HEADPHONE JACK!
And is it ever stereo! Using the built-in whip antenna this thing pulls in stations with rich, full sound quality and shockingly low noise...even on distant stations, BETTER than my Pioneer receiver connected to a roof antenna with rotor! And the Pioneer has a better fm than most receivers these days (not saying much! It's certainly no match for the "super-tuners" of the 70s and 80s, although the PAL IS in many ways!) That's right, the PAL ON IT"S OWN (without a roof antenna) matches the subjective performance of many super tuners of the past. Hell, I don't blame you if you don't believe that. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't heard the thing!
This thing is truly a radio lover's radio. It plays for up to 16 hours on the built-in Nimh rechargable (and replacable) battery (charges completely in about 3 hours). It's small enough to carry in one hand (think small brick), rugged, weather resistant (a splash at the pool, or a sudden rain shower won't hurt it...just don't leave it out in the rain!), has an almost world-class fm section, a surprisingly good headphone amp! (how 'bout that, guys!), and even a pleasant sounding (though certainly not overly sensitive) am section! It's a fantastic portable radio when you listen through the built-in speaker, and a true audiophile super-tuner through headphones. Can you tell I like it?
A couple of things bother me a bit. The geared analog tuning knob is a tiny bit "loose"...i.e. there's a tiny bit of "play". But that's something I can live with at this price. Oh, and the tuning dial is not a model of accurate calibration, although it's alot better than many in this respect. That's it. Those are my only complaints!
BUY THIS DAMN THING!
