I'll Miss the Sangean PR-D5

I sold my Sangean PR-D5 today. It is an excellent radio both on AM and FM, the ergonomics are user-friendly, it has RDS, its speakers are well above average in sound. I can't say I was in love with the way it looked, like a white purse. Nor did I like its cheap-feeling buttons, which one reader described as "tinfoil." But overall, I think it's one of the best radios you can get for the money. I had to sell it though. Since I obsessively review radios, I constantly buy new ones and this means my house needs to be purged of radios every now and then. My wife worries that someday she and I will sleep in the garden shed as the house bulges at the walls with hundreds of radios. To assure her that the we still reign over our master bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room, I had to put some of my radios for sale and the PR-D5 was the first to go.

Another radio observation: My black Sangean WR-2 is the most elegant looking radio I've ever owned, but I find myself obsessively doting on it, gently wiping dust off it with an old white T-shirt. Last night my wife and I couldn't agree what it's made of: Is it laminate, real wood, plastic? I'd like to know so I can buy the appropriate cleanser. As I dusted it for the umpteenth time yesterday, my wife said, "Dude, you're scaring me."

Comments

[Ed S.]

That's why I went for the WR-2 in white, Jeff...no dust or fingerprints (visible, anyway), and the white fits the kitchen motif. If you cant' see it, it ain't dusty, I say.

[Jeff McMahon]

While the white one didn't appeal to me, I see the practical side of it now. I feel like I'm buffing a black BMW M3 every day. My radio's very own personal assistant. Whew!

[Mike W]

I considered about replacing my PR-D5 with a PR-D7 but decided against it.

I too never liked the look of the PR-D5 and found the inclusion of two small speakers odd.

The PR-D7 seems to lack the 200 mm MW antenna and the outstanding tuning knob that Sangean included in the PR-D5, so for me is a step backwards.

Performance-wise, the PR-D5 seems to me to be the best value for dollar out there, as good a MW receiver as the CCRadio at half the price.

[doby14]

I'll be interested to see if the PR-D7 is available in black, as it is in Europe.

The PR-D5 might've scored a couple of man points if it had been available in black. :)

[herculodge]

But black shows dust and fingerprints. My WR-2 must be wiped daily.

[herculodge]

Mike,

I hope you're wrong about the PR-D7.
Tom Welch speculates that it will have the same antenna as the PR-D5, that the PR-D7 has enough for for it in spite of smaller overall length.

[Mike W]

I did the math on the antenna as well; 200mm being just shy of 8 inches, yes, the 8 1/2" wide PR-D7 could potentially contain it. But the PR-D7 seems to be a modified Sonido, and that has a smaller ferrite bar inside, and I am basing my hunch on that. I hope I am wrong and Tom right. If either of you get a PR-D7, I hope you'll post your results here. In the meantime I just picked up an Emerson MBR-1 to serve as a swig of Methadone until I get to spike that Satellit 750 in my forearm.

[Mike W]

I just googled around a bit more and see that the Sonido uses 4 D cells but the PR-D7 will use 6 AA cells, (including rechargeables). So maybe it's not as much like the Sonido as I thought.

[herculodge]

Mike,

If I sell my Tivoli Songbook, I'll fork out the dough for a PR-D7. I would be sadly surprised if its AM pales next to the PR-D5.

[Tom Welch]

Actually, the PRD 7 is a slightly scaled scaled down PRD 4 sold in Europe. The PRD 4 is sold here in North America as the Sonido radio.

There are some slight differences between the PRD 4 and the Sonido radio, namely the NOAA weather band feature in the Sonido.

The PRD 5 is getting a lot of traction among DXers world wide.

Jeff and Mike: How does the PRD 5 sound compare to the Sonido radio?

[Jeff McMahon]

Tom,

The Sonido has the WR-2 speaker, 3 inches. Overall tuner performance is similar. My question: Does the PR-D7 have the same AM antenna as the PR-D5?

Jeff