I've had my Kaito 1103 for 3 or 4 years now and while I've often disdained its woeful ergonomics (no volume turning knob; you have to press volume numbers followed by volume button, completely ridiculous) and its lack of musical fidelity, I have to say that FM reception struggles with my recently-acquired Tivoli Model One have renewed my appreciation for the Kaito. The Tivoli has a wonderful speaker and looks great. Its AM is fine. On FM is has no problem with 88.3, 89.9, and 91.5. But its FM is weak on 88.9, 89.3, 97.1, and 103.1--even when I attach a C.Crane Reflect Antenna. In contrast, my little 1103 gets all of the aforementioned FM stations with boldness and clarity. Who wants to screw around with antennas, attachments, and constantly move the antenna this way and that way when your trusty 1103 pulls in all the FM stations with ease? I may buy the upgraded clone of the 1103, the Eton E5, attach a cable between the E5 and the Model One and use the E5's tuner and the Model One's speaker. That's a far better scenario than festooning my office with the giant, eyesore of the Reflect Antenna.
You just needed to buy a better radio, initially, Jeff... the Kaito 2100 with it's long telescopic antenna and sensitive front-end would have obviated all your problems with FM reception, and with its 5" speaker sounded better than the Tivoli, too, for under 125 dollars. Sometimes you *do* get what you pay for. It's worth spending a few extra bucks upfront to prevent later aggravation and jury-rigging things together to make them work as well as you'd like.
Posted by: Ed S | February 14, 2008 at 07:33 PM
"Jury-rigging" sums up the whole thing, indeed.
I always wanted that Kaito but the memories only go up so you have to go around the whole cycle. That doesn't sound appealing.
Posted by: Jeff McMahon | February 14, 2008 at 08:49 PM