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Sangean WR-1 AM/FM Wooden Cabinet Radio, Walnut | 
 enlarge | Brand: Sangean
Category: CE
Buy New: $80.99 (On sale from $149.95)
You Save: $68.96 (46%)
New (25)
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 13727
Color: BIRCH
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 8
Dimensions (in): 10 x 6 x 5
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: WR-1 (Light Wood)
Model: WR-1 (Light Wood)
UPC: 729288027010
EAN: 0729288027010
ASIN: B0000CFYMY
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | SENSATIONAL SOUND | | • | ULTRA SENSITIVE AM/FM RECEIVER | | • | WOODEN CABINET | | • | VERNIER TUNING (5 TO 1) | | • | FULL RANGE 7 WATT AMPLIFIER |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The WR-1 is the culmination of 30 years of experience in the design and manufacture of quality, state-of-the-art radios. This beautifully crafted radio creates the warm rich tones normally found in only the larger, more expensive home stereo systems. Specially designed circuitry and custom made speaker combine in an attractive and acoustically corrected wood cabinet. No other radio will be found with a better sound quality, at a comparable price range.The beautiful MDF wooden cabinet in contemporary walnut and black will accent any room in your home or office. Simple to operate with three conventional knobs, the 3" custom speaker with 7 watt output Hi-Fi amplifier easily fills a room with pure, undistorted sound even at high volume.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Great tuner, way too much bass June 14, 2008
I like the old school analog tuner, which is easy to use and pulls in stations really well. The audio quality would be great, except it has waaay to much bass. We have ours on the kitchen counter, and even at moderate volume, the junk on the counter resonates when somebody is just talking on the radio. A great radio should make it sound like people on the radio in the same room as you, not speaking over a PA system at the bottom of a well.
In fact, the bass was so objectionable, it was almost unlistenable. I took a piece of packing tape and put it over the resonance port in the back, which took enough of the edge of the bass to make it marginally acceptable. The only reason I kept this was that it's tuner is so good. I'd avoid this model, or any similar Sangean model unless it had a tone control.
Update: my wife found the bass so objectionable, she went out and bought a cheap clock radio to replace it. To see if the radio could be salvaged, I opened up the box. Aside from the compact transformer based power supply, the radio is contained on two circuit boards, one in front containing mostly radio stuff, one in back containing mostly power amp stuff and back connectors. Amplification duties are handled by a single, unmarked IC in a heatsinked, single inline package. This is possibly a TDA1010 or similar, which is mainly targeted at the car audio market.
There are two issues, I think, that cause the objectionable "boom" sound. The first is the speaker, which is a rather massive 3.5" unit similar to those used in car audio. Replacing this with a different unit might help, either a cheap unit with less bass capability, or a more expensive one with an aftermarket crossover.
The second issue is the cabinet, and some people might find this important for different reasons. The cabinet is not "wood" except by the most liberal definition of the word. It is a wood resin composite -- something like bakelite. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but the material is extremely dense and the cabinet is definitely resonating. Theoretically covering the resonsance port would make this worse, but it seems move the boom to a less objectionable frequency. It might be possible to add weight to the case to shift the resonance lower.
In any case, this case is certainly not "walnut", it is wrapped in tough synthetic sheeting with walnut grain printed onto it. She sheet is actually overlapped on the bottom of the cabinet, and if you actually look at the "wood grain" you see it twists around the corners in ways that wouldn't happen on a real wood cabinet.
That said, the fact that this is not actually wood isn't necessarily a problem, it's a high quality plastic cabinet. In this case it seems poorly matched to the speaker, which is perhaps too much speaker for a cabinet this small. The more I think about this, the more I am convinced the best course of action would be to replace the speaker with a more appropriate one. It's not that the speaker is bad, far from it. It's just too much for this cabinet.
Second update: I soldered in a 220 microfarad non-polarized capacitor in series with the speaker. Given that the speaker is 4 ohms, this should result in a low pass filter with a loss of 3db at 180Hz, 9db at 90Hz, 15db at 45Hz etc. The objectionable "boom" is actually subsonic; you can feel it in other parts of the house. Although the radio is still bass heavy, the boom seems somewhat attenuated. I've ordered a 7.0 mh inductor from Parts Express using Amazon. Putting this in parallel with the speaker should net no noticeable reduction above 200Hz, 3db at around 130 Hz, and 12db/octave thereafter, yielding a 15db reduction at 64Hz, a more dramatic reduction of subsonic boom.
 A Step Above The Usual Radios June 3, 2008
I got this radio to replace one of those cheap tabletop radios found at the local drug store. The Sangean WR-1 definitely has better FM reception than anything costing less than $50, including comparative radios made by Sony. The Sangean looks good, has dials that turn smoothly (not quite as nice as the weighted dials found in the expensive stereos of old), and looks to be of solid construction. The sound is "big". There is a low-frequency resonance that makes the radio sound like a beefed-up car stereo. Not necessarily the clearest sound, but better than the puny speakers of cheaper radios. Like other so-called "hi-fi" radios, the its big sound is an illusion.
 Can't Beat It! May 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I also own a Tivoli Model One. This Sangean far surpasses the Tivoli.
The sound is mellow and clear. I really like the old fashioned vernier
tuning dial. It's also illuminated. In a side by side test, the Sangean and Tivoli do great with FM reception, but on the AM side, the Sangean picks
up WAY more AM stations. Just a cool little radio. For the price, you
can't beat it.
Excellent Radio! April 9, 2008
I bought this radio for my 90-year old aunt because she
wanted a simple, easy to operate table radio without a clock,
alarm, and other "bells and whistles". This radio is just
that and more. It's a beautiful radio, just the right size,
and oh, what terrific sound! Even at low volume the sound
is rich and clear. She's very pleased with it and everyone
who has seen it has remarked on how nice it is and how great
it sounds. Very satisfied with this radio and it's worth every
penny of the price.
Sangean WR-1 Am/Fm January 9, 2008
Easy to use simple radio i purchased for my 85 yr old mother.
We liked it as well. Nice retro look.
Good quality sound, better than most single speaker systems.
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