A Herculodge Reader Makes a Strong Case for Buying a Vintage Panasonic or Sony Radio Over Today's Radios

Dear Herculodge,

my C.Crane CSW arrived yesterday. ive gone over it quite extensively and everything seems to functioning fine. i also have a Sangean PR-D5 on the way. i must tell you, i've collected all manner of radios, particularly vintage multi-band portables. if this csw is one of the best portables available today, then we've seemingly gone backwards in technology! while its fairly nice, it comes nowhere close to my sony icf-5800 from 1974. except for the convenience of digital readout and the ability to get exactly on frequency, the old analog sony blows it away, including am dx ability. the fidelity on these old radios is unbelievable, easily surpassing my tivoli one. i know youve stated youre not into ebaying for vintage, but i implore you, get a panasonic rf-2200 or a sony icf-5800, 5900 to test these new radios against. it'll give you quite new insight into what quality is, in regard to the new sets.

I do feel inspired by this reader's comments to find myself a Panasonic RF-220 or something similar. My hunch is he's right--yesterday's vintage radios are better than today's.

Comments

[Jeff McMahon]

These radios look decent. I worry someone will out-bid me at the last second.

[gerald johnson]

be vigilant jeff, im afraid the radio is gonna go over your current bid of 20 bucks. what i do is, when time allows, have in my mind my maxium bid, for the 1080 id say 80 bucks, and when there is about 30 seconds to go i bid my max. the reason i do this way is, first, if you let your max bid go from the rip, it tips your hand to other bidders for one, and it can also cause the price to go up by someone comming along and trying to beat your max bid. next thing you know its up to 100 bucks. thats why savvy bidders tip their hand at the last possible moment. which i suspect is why the bid of 20 is still standing.if you cant wait by the computer, then go ahead at the last possible time you can, and bid you max. i think 75 to 80 will take this radio. good luck!

[Jeff McMahon]

Thanks for the advice. I should put up a bigger max.

[Mike W]

Jeff, Gerald, both of you speak so highly of the CCRadio-SW that I'll probably end up buying one.

The one vintage portable that has interested me the most for the last couple of years has been the RF-2200, so for Gerald to say the CSW comes close is very impressive indeed.

Gerald, am I correct that you posted earlier that you had a PR-D5 on the way? A comparison between the CSW, the PR-D5, and the RF-2200 would be awesome, worthy of a radiointel article.

[Jeff McMahon]

Mike,

Gerald has been buying radios since 1983. When he says the Panasonic RF-2200 beats the C.Crane CSW on AM,FM, and speaker sound, I think the 2200 may be the holy grail, not the questionable Grundig Satellit 750. But, man, where am I going to put a 2200? My house has a radio in every cranny, drawer, and closet. I'm going to have to sell some radios to make room for the One.