Good Quality Clock Radio?!

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#525000 23-Sep-2011 12:51

davidcole: Oh oh, you poor sod/ I got a philips, and never again....WTH was wrong with the old fashion Red on black lighting. My philips (an older model) uses a black on white screen, that has 3 levels of brightness, light up the room, light up the room a little less, and off FFS!! And being blind (as in needing glasses) the writing is too smaller and the colouring hard to look at without getting fairly close.

The old fashioned Red lit ones were perfect and much easier to read.

Yeah Buyers remorse. The radio & bits work fine, but it is just way too bright. I basically just have the lights turned off. Else I would need to wear sunglasses to sleep.

jonherries

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#525001 23-Sep-2011 12:52

I am on the end-run of a smallish project to rehouse a set of Logitech 2.1 speakers and amplifier in a custom Rimu box (refashioned from an old kitchen drawer), with a 3.5mm cable connected to my iphone dock.

I have considered this proposition for some time, and came to the conclusion that my iphone does the alarm stuff in a way that no other "alarm clock" or "micro stereo" can manage (ie. internet radio, fade in/out, sleep timer, wake up to different songs/radio stations, different alarms for different days.

The key things I decided when I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do this myself were how you keep your iphone charged and oriented correctly so you can see it and how you make the sound work.

I thought about just buying a speaker with dock connected , except they are really quite expensive for what they are. I also noticed when I got a cheaper one, that you need to consider the angle of your iphone on the dock, and direction the dock faces relative to the bed (ie. most are in the middle facing down the bed - ie. not to where your head is). Also in the one I got the viewing angle of the lcd screen on the dock was so terrible I couldn't actually see the time when I was lying in bed (I think it was a philips one and it went on trade me in less than two weeks).

Thought about connecting to the speakers wirelessly (bluetooth or airplay - using a airport express) then I could put the speaker on the other side of the room, but that adds significantly to the costs and to the complexity to the power supply (removes the warranty for the bluetooth and airport express).

So in the end I will use relatively cheap amp and speakers, dressed up to match the best of Tivoli !

Will add a post to describe my project when it is done.

Jon

trig42

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#525002 23-Sep-2011 12:59

jonherries: I am on the end-run of a smallish project to rehouse a set of Logitech 2.1 speakers and amplifier in a custom Rimu box (refashioned from an old kitchen drawer), with a 3.5mm cable connected to my iphone dock.

I have considered this proposition for some time, and came to the conclusion that my iphone does the alarm stuff in a way that no other "alarm clock" or "micro stereo" can manage (ie. internet radio, fade in/out, sleep timer, wake up to different songs/radio stations, different alarms for different days.

The key things I decided when I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do this myself were how you keep your iphone charged and oriented correctly so you can see it and how you make the sound work.

I thought about just buying a speaker with dock connected , except they are really quite expensive for what they are. I also noticed when I got a cheaper one, that you need to consider the angle of your iphone on the dock, and direction the dock faces relative to the bed (ie. most are in the middle facing down the bed - ie. not to where your head is). Also in the one I got the viewing angle of the lcd screen on the dock was so terrible I couldn't actually see the time when I was lying in bed (I think it was a philips one and it went on trade me in less than two weeks).

Thought about connecting to the speakers wirelessly (bluetooth or airplay - using a airport express) then I could put the speaker on the other side of the room, but that adds significantly to the costs and to the complexity to the power supply (removes the warranty for the bluetooth and airport express).

So in the end I will use relatively cheap amp and speakers, dressed up to match the best of Tivoli !

Will add a post to describe my project when it is done.

Jon

Nice, looking forward to you posting the finished result.

beforenightfalls

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#525006 23-Sep-2011 13:24

sounds cool Jon. i'm sure it'll be every bit as good as a Tivoli!

perhaps i should have mentioned before that this is a birthday present for my other half. he's very much into his music and hates it when music sounds bad due to speakers etc. we stayed at a nice hotel many months ago and they had a bose clock radio and he was impressed and said he wanted one. this is what i am trying to imitate but forking out $500-600 just in not an option.

alasta

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#525020 23-Sep-2011 14:03

By 'Bose clock radio' I'm assuming that you're referring to the Wave radio. I have used one and whilst it performs well considering it's size it's still nowhere near good enough to justify it's price, especially when you consider that you need an expensive accessory to connect an iPod.

You need to accept that you're going to have to either accept the size of a micro system, the price of a Bose/Tivoli radio, or the poor sound quality of cheaper options. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

coffeebaron

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#525022 23-Sep-2011 14:08

A mobile phone? :)

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beforenightfalls

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#525023 23-Sep-2011 14:09

you are right. has anyone heard of boston acoustics? their radio's seem to be more affordable than that of bose etc. maybe a mid-range option?

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alasta

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#525026 23-Sep-2011 14:15

beforenightfalls: you are right. has anyone heard of boston acoustics? their radio's seem to be more affordable than that of bose etc. maybe a mid-range option?

They seem to be reasonably highly regarded from what I've seen.

oxnsox

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#525048 23-Sep-2011 14:45

Since you appear to be stuck in a place where your budget won't let you get what you'd like (Bose/Tivoli) but your requirement is for good audio then here's some basic 'rules-of-thumb' you could apply if you're down at Harvey Noels looking.

- The larger the speakers, the better it should sound
- The heavier it is, the better it should sound
- Listen to it in the shop. Does it sound clear (crisp) or sharp (too much treble) or muffled (over bassey)
(none will sound good in a shop, and they won't be very load in such a big space either)

These are simple generalisations, but may help you in the right direction.

beforenightfalls

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#525049 23-Sep-2011 14:47

thank you :O)

xzdyahoo

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#525139 23-Sep-2011 18:00

You just need a good speaker, 4.1 or 7.1 put them around in your room. ^_^

mattwnz

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#525148 23-Sep-2011 18:20

I've got of couple of tivoli ones. The clock radio is a bit annoying, as the clock has a led light lighting the analogue clock that is on the entire time. One of them also has developed a dodgy volume control, where it crackles when you turn it. However it does have excellent sound, and good bass.

beforenightfalls

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#525150 23-Sep-2011 18:25

thanks everyone. there would not be room in our room for lots of speakers! very small room hence why i'd like a little clock radio.

gregmcc

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#525162 23-Sep-2011 18:47

I got my wife a Sony ICFCL75IPICFCL75IP

A great unit, only niggling problem is that it occasonally locks up (just like a computer) and requires a power off althought the battery backup keeps the time etc it usually locks up during the night and guess what.....no alarm

Skolink

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#525319 24-Sep-2011 13:21

You could always just get him a clock. I have an irox magma projector clock and I love it. It has temperature too which I like.

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