|
I use the alarm clock every day and my favorite feature is plugging my ipod/dvd player/cpu into it and hearing this little radio really rock. This radio fills a room up like units that costs hundreds of dollars more. Amazing Radio. Crystal clear highs and lows in a compact unit that will leave any music lover satisfied. Simply amazing.
These speakers need to breathe. Great sound if you position it one foot from a bare wall, squarely. Crisp high notes, particularly any Classical music or vintage Rock N' Roll.
This product had one of the highest standby power consumptions: about 6 W. That's when the radio and CD player are off. It's hard to find information on the power consumption of many products, even though the cost of energy can sometimes add up to be more than the purchase price. It's much higher than it needs to be just to run the clock--typical clock radios are 1 to 3 W. I ended up getting the Sony ICF-CD831 instead, which consumes around 1.5 W. I found a report on the web from someone who had surveyed "stanby" power consumption of all the electronics in his house. Of course, the sound quality (and the price) are much lower so it isn't directly comparable.
Worth $500. I look atour clock radio every morning and night, and if it looks like a transformer robot or a leftover from a karaoke bar, it isn't worth the "good deal". Nowhere near as goodas a $500 bookshelf stereo, but of course the stereo simply isn't a clock radio at all.Features are well-done compared to a $40 GE or Sonyclock radio: two alarms, radio/cd/alarm wakeup, ramped alarmvolume, auto-dimmer, battery backup, readable (but notobnoxious) display, remote control. No, but the soundis fantastic compared to most clock radios.Overall, it is a darn expensive clock radio. No. That matches up with our experience.However, in the bedroom, styling is important. No, but better than most$200+ "executive" clock radios, few of which are nice looking,or have the true clock-radio features. You can turnit up loud enough to hear clearly down the hall, and the soundis still OK (in fact, pretty good).
It is hard tojustify the price, but there's nothing exactly like it inthe market (the clone CSW 740 comes close, but, in my opinion, issignificantly uglier, and the older CSW 88 has a lot of harsh reviews concerning reliability and support). Not quite what Bose wouldhave you believe, but good. Typical reviews putthe Wave Radio ahead in styling and behind in sound qualityand price. But I won't buy an ugly box, even for $20.In terms of sound quality, this is a Bose: no highs, no lows.Well, it does have lows, but is quite boomy. No TV sound or weatherradio. Worth $500.
Controls are intuituve. There are no tone controls. I've seen the Wave Radio compared to products from Kloss,Cambridge Sound Works, Sony, etc. This is reducedby the "aux" stand that Bose is giving away with the radio.The highs are muted. The Bose is one of only a few I've seen that is understated, with elegant lines and no chrome. Is stylingworth $500.
If you're lookingfor the combination of a good clock radio with very good soundand understated lines, this is about all there is so far.
It does have a credit card size remote that I'm afraid to put down because it's so easy to lose. I should have just put it back in the box and returned it. If I could do it over again, I would take that $1200 and shop for some really excellent compact componants. I can't imagine the littler version of the CD/Wave radio is any better quality. Oh, and did I mention that it was so poorly packed at the factory that it arrived with the CD lid sprung open. When I called the company to complain, they couldn't have cared less. I'm writing my review on the compact model wave radio/CD player because I couldn't find the "bigger" one I bought, and I wanted to save people by being SNOOKERED BY THE HYPE, LIKE I WAS.
And, it doesn't have any front display, so you have to get up to see what's what. I paid $1200 for something that was FAR FROM SUPERB. CD's sounded about like they did on my inexpensive AIWA system, and I couldn't get decent FM reception with the flimsy stick antenna that comes with the set. All I can say is BEWARE.
|
