[Echopac]

Function wise they should be the same, one is portable, one is not, Model One I think has a line out, not sure about the Pal, anyone played with both of these, portablility not a deal maker, but would be nice, but do want line out to feed amp.

 

[tattoou2]

I had the Model One for a year or more and gave it away. The FM reception in my locale was mediocre, AM wasn't much better. Also had a lot of drift and it wouldn't lock on to stations. Sound in stereo broadcasting was fairly good but not at all stunning.

I recently received a Boston Acoustics Receptor and I'm very pleased with it. It has much better reception and the sound is superb.

 

[averydonovan]

I got a Model Two for Christmas and love it. It does have a "recording out" which serves as a line output. I don't know about the PAL. From what I have read, the Model One only has a mono output, even through the headphone out, while the PAL and Model Two do put out stereo. My Model Two does not have the drifting issue I have seen a few people describe and performs quite well and sounds great. I can leave it set on a station before I go to bed and the next day it has not drifted at all.

From what I have read, the biggest notable difference, other than the obvious portability of the PAL, is that the PAL has a slightly smaller speaker than the Model One. Most reviews don't seem to point to a vast difference between the two. Given that radio receivers tend to perform better on battery power than on AC power due to power supply noise issues, assuming the attached antenna and the receiver portion of the radios are the same, the PAL may perform better reception-wise compared to the Model One.

Given that quality-control issues do seem to surface in more than a handful of these radios, whether you get a PAL or a Model One it's probably best to get one from a local retailer with a good return policy just in case. Hopefully you'll get a good one as I did, and if not, at least it'd be easy enough to exchange it for another one.

 

[dura]

I got a model one for 5 years now, in the kitchen.
I love it; gives a nice big full and musical sound, not high fidelity neutral, but very enjoyable.

 

[sgrossklass]

Another alternative might be the Sangean WR-1, or even the more fancy WR-2. But honestly, if you want to feed an amp for hi-fi sound on FM, nothing beats a decent FM tuner. It needn't be a TU-X1 or such, mind you, but something at least 4-gang with 3 IF filters and decent sound couldn't hurt.

 

[Rezoon]

I know its an old thread - but it shows up pretty early if you search for the Model 1 vs PAL.
 
Just tried both speakers out side by side and there is no comparison - model One blows the PAL away in terms of sound quality. Also tried it versus the BOSE Soundlink. Bose has a better low end response at high volume, but I like the sound of the Model One much more, especially if you are not listening directly in front of the speaker. 
 
Cheers!
 
josh.resnick