At a glance, the CCrane CC Radio Plus looks like a strong, heavy build quality multiband radio with presets and my favorite of all, a telescopic antenna. The latter is a rare feature on a radio that is designed for bedside use. The $139 price tag, while not cheap, is the same price of the CCrane CSW I bought, a fine radio for reception but a radio with speaker flat, dull, harsh speaker sound, especially for music.
But I've never purchased the CC Radio Plus because for the last 5 years the Internet has been rife with reports about the radio's faulty LCD screen. A look at the reviews on Amazon are equally negative. For the black model there are as I post this 62 reviews and the radio averages an abysmal 2.5 stars. Scrolling through the reviews, you'll see complaint after complaint of the LCD screen going screwy, you'll read about ordeals of returns, arguments, negotiations. You've got to be kidding.
The silver version of the radio gets 14 reviews averaging only 2 stars with same complaints about the LCD screen. It's puzzling that a radio made by Sangean for CCrane has these problems. Sangean generally makes high quality radios so I don't know the specific problem with quality control here.
Another problem: The TV band will be obsolete in several months.
With the TV band going extinct, I anticipate that Sangean will make a new version for CCrane. This new version hopefully will not have the LCD problem and it will retain the telescopic antenna. If that's the case, I may get myself one. Until then, I'm going to enjoy my Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo. Even with its sad pigtail wire FM antenna, it pulls in FM stations with authority. The BAHS is also a better value than the CC Radio Plus. As I post this, the BAHS is selling on Amazon for $73 plus $10 shipping--that's 40% less than a radio that suffers from a buggy LCD screen. While some readers have reported some bugs with their Solos, especially on sleep and alarm functions, the 3 that I have purchased have not had these problems.
My Ccrane was purchased in 2000 and recently returned from its third trip from Ca. The first when I bought it and the second for the lcd repair. Finally this week the high maintenance radio with noisy preselects returned from a speaker problem repair and I find the battery box (I hope this is the problem) is not working. I have not recommended this radio for many years and this year have bought a standby radio that is so far good. It is the Sangean PR-D5.
Too bad I paid so much for the CCrane and two repairs. If I return it one more time it will be a $400 radio!
Posted by: David Snover | August 30, 2008 at 04:00 PM
A few days ago I purchased the Aussie version of this radio, the Sangean PR-D3L. I bought it because of the supposedly great sounding speaker, but was disappointed when I turned it on. It was as though they had filtered off the upper midrange on the AM, leaving it sounding really awful. Add to that a terrible hiss with the volume at zero. I returned it that day.
Posted by: Adam | September 17, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Adam, I wonder what you would think of the Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo or Duo models. Their speaker sound is superb. And the reception is excellent generally speaking.
Posted by: jeffrey McMahon | September 17, 2008 at 07:29 AM