SangeanWR-11SE AM/FM Table Top Radio 40th Anniversary Edition Walnut

I frequently use my laptop at my kitchen counter and I like to stream music while I work. I'd been plugging my computer into a JBL 200ID iPhone speaker dock, but I was getting tired of having almost no audible bass in my music. I wanted to get a better sound without spending a fortune, but there were few speakers for $100 or less that were an improvement over the JBL. (A 2.1 computer speaker system would probably have done the trick cheaply, but this is a kitchen counter, not an office desk.) I'd heard good things about Tivoli and Sangean radios, so I thought I'd try them out. They have aux-in jacks, so I could still connect my speaker, and having a radio would mean I could listen to basketball and football games while working or cooking.After some research I decided I couldn't afford the Tivoli, so I ended up with a Crosley CR221, and then a Sangean WR-11. Here's the comparison of those two radios:The Crosley CR221I got the Crosley first. I liked the retro look--kind of an art deco or old aviation theme. My wife liked it too. She wasn't a fan of the look of most speaker docks in the kitchen, but this is one she was actually happy to have. The Crosley is very compact, and can sit reasonably close to the wall, though plugs do stick out the back. The plug is a small A/C adapter. One nice feature that the Crosley has is a selector switch that can choose between "Off", "FM", "AM", AND "Aux". As other reviewers have said, the Crosley does have a surprising amount of bass for such a little unit.Unfortunately, as much as I liked the style of the radio, there were a few flaws which led me to try the Sangean WR-11 instead. First, the AM radio reception was not as good as I'd hoped. Our major local sports station does not come into my house very cleanly. My cheap stereo tuner in the living room can pick it up, but with a fair amount of static. I had hoped that the Crosley, designed first and foremost to be a radio, would do better. Unfortunately it did much worse. No matter where I put it in the house I could barely get the station. Secondly, despite having some bass, the Crosley just didn't sound very good with music. I was really disappointed because other reviewers had described it as having good sound. Maybe they were just surprised that such a small radio could reproduce bass notes. It did produce more bass than my old JBL speaker, but there's more to good sound than bass, and it just didn't have a pleasant overall sound that makes you want to listen. I was disappointed enough that I decided I needed to try something else. Enter the Sangean...The Sangean WR-11The Sangean, like the Crosley, looks good in a retro kind of way. I actually like the natural wood look of the Sangean better. The Sangean is a bit bigger than the Crosley, both in depth and width, but it's still small and looks good on a kitchen counter. It uses a regular power cord rather than the wall wart A/C adapter of the Crosley. This is both good and bad. The good side is that the plug takes up little space on your wall outlet, and it's not constantly sucking power even when turned off like A/C adapters do. The bad part is that the cord is thicker and sticks out further from the back of the radio, meaning you can't get it as close to the wall, and it's harder to hide on a countertop. Also, the selector switch doesn't have an "aux in" setting on it like the Crosley. When you plug an auxiliary cable into the back of the Sangean, it automatically switches to aux in. You then can't turn on the AM or FM radio without unplugging the auxiliary cable first. This would be a hassle if I were constantly switching between the radio and my computer, but since I don't switch back and forth too often it doesn't bother me.After the Crosley, the Sangean was a huge improvement. The first thing I noticed was the sound. It was everything the Crosley was missing. The sound is full, deep, rich, and just sounds great for music. It brought an involuntary smile to my face the first time I heard it. For it's size the Sangean has good, warm bass. It's not overwhelming, and it doesn't have the precision or the depth of a speaker system, but it just sounds good. The rest of the sound is very well balanced. It's shocking to hear such good sound coming from a 3 inch speaker in a small unit like this. Of course, it's not incredibly loud. It's great in my kitchen, but this is not a replacement for a stereo system, and it won't keep up volume-wise with more expensive speaker docks.The other big improvement over the Crosley is the AM reception. It does much better at pulling in that sports station.All in all, I highly recommend the Sangean WR-11. It actually costs less than the Crosley, but I would have chosen it even if it cost a bit more. At $80 it's just a great piece of equipment. I'm very satisfied with it.

This is one mighty fine radio!Yes you get what you pay for, and it's a good thing..... as this WR-11SE is worth every penny of it's price point, it is just that nice.Why?The combination of excellent design & quality components come together beautifully in this radio, so both form & function are simply outstanding.What I love about this radio.......1st, it looks fantastic... I love the wood cabinet & it's easy to read beautifully lit control panel.It sounds great! You get clean clear crisp full range modulation with the 7 watt speaker through the acoustically tune wood cabinet, and.... this radio has some real full bodied VOLUME to it, that does not distort when turned up.Ease of operation - IMO this old style radio is a breath of fresh air... it's simple control interface is as user friendly as it gets!Tuning - This is the kind of tuning I can enjoy, manual.... as it allows you to make the kind of precise adjustments needed to zero in on your target station of choice with pinpoint accuracy....Reception - Reception is what it is all about, and The WR-11SE's reception ability is excellent, close to amazing really.... this radio has outperformed EVERY radio I have purchased in the past 15 years.OKUp until now I have had nothing but great things to say about this great radio....So now it's time to get to the ONE thing Sangean did wrong here......The radio comes with a plug in wire antenna.....OK, that's fine but where is collapsible antenna?Answer - it does not come with a telescoping antenna...It seems to me to be a bit illogical to not just include the antenna that is BEST suited to provide the BEST reception possible with such a fine radio, along with the cheap/inferior wire antenna... so the consumer has the option to use whichever antenna best suits his/her individual needs.I knew the wire antenna would not provide the degree of reception that I needed to pull in the only station I like to listen to, so when I ordered the WR-11SE I also ordered a collapsible dual band antenna that you can get here on Amazon...After testing both antennas my assumptions were proven correct.... the wire antenna could not secure the station signal I was targeting.....but the telescoping antenna was able to fully attenuate to the signal so I could tune it in loud & clear!So.... if you want to listen to stations that do not come in clearly, you really need to get a collapsible antenna so you can get the best reception possible.OK Having said that.... I will say that even though it was irksome to have to purchase another antenna, It is not a big enough transgression to merit deduction of a star as the additional antenna was inexpensive.So to wrap this up....IMO this Sangean WR-11SE is a highly recommendable radio, get it while you can... you won't regret it!5 Stars

Absolute most fabulous plug in am/fm home radio. Been trying radios for months. This has strong signals, clear sound, dial lights up when on. Thrilled I finally found atop of the line radio and wroth the $. Exceptional quality. I bought 3of these. great sound,pulls in A.M. stations clearly and looks very cool and retro