A Herculodge Reader Speaks Out: A Critique of This Website

Dear Herculodge,

 

First, I would like to thank you for your thoroughly assiduous, if not at times obsessive, radio reviews. A newcomer to the radio scene, I would be hopelessly lost trying to choose my bedside, my kitchen, my portable, and my general all-purpose radios, if not for the sagacious guidance your website has provided. Based on your solid recommendations, I have purchased the Kaito 2100, Eton E5, and the Sangean PR-D5, radios that do not disappoint and I give you credit for the high level of satisfaction these radios provide me on a daily and nightly basis. Suffering from chronic insomnia as I do, I find myself in need of a bedside companion during those excruciating bouts of sleeplessness and having my trusty Kaito 2100 at the helm is a source of great comfort. My hats off to you for steering me in the direction of this premium-class radio.

 

However, if I may, could I be so bold as to offer some constructive criticism. First, please reserve your enthusiasm until you’ve had a radio for at least a few months. Your effulgent, gushing praise of the Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo, for example, followed by your reportage of “bugs” was dismaying, to say the least. When I ordered my own Solo and was confronted with these annoying bugs, I did not read about these defects on your website until several weeks after my purchase. Only then did I realize I had a radio made with abysmal quality control and decided to return the unit promptly. Packing my Horizon Solo with all the shipping materials, padding, manuals, AC adapter twisty ties, etc., and driving to Postal Solutions and forking out 10 dollars from my own pocket was not a pleasant experience. While I don’t hold you completely responsible for this inconvenience, I do feel a bit chafed every time I read your original gushing praise of the Horizon Solo.

 

My next point isn’t so much a criticism as it is a problem regarding your well-chronicled radio addiction. I’m afraid your addiction, as you render it on your website, is rather contagious. I too have been smitten by the radio bug and reading your site several times a day, I’m resentful when you don’t have some new radio to identity or review. I know this is unreasonable on my part as there are only so many, finite radios worth mentioning that are being introduced on the market. However, I find that when a day passes and you have not posted any “radio news” I feel a bit resentful and empty inside, as if my day is somehow lacking.

 

Related to my radio addiction is the problem of space in my modest two-bedroom apartment. Since reading your website, I have accumulated over a dozen radios and I suffer the constant struggle to choose which radio to use in which situation. My girlfriend, for example, has mocked my neurotic behavior, stating that I play “musical chairs,” that is, “musical radios,” using one as my kitchen radio one week, then switching to another and doing the same in my office and bedroom. It’s reached the point that when she visits my apartment, she suffers the cognitive dissonance that results from all my radios being rotated in different parts of the apartment. While I don’t blame you entirely for this neurotic behavior, I do assert that you have encouraged me down this path.

 

All in all, though, I really enjoy your site and hope you continue with your obsessive search for the “perfect radio,” which I’ve inferred from your expositions is merely a chimera that does not and will not ever exist.

 

I hope you never do find the perfect radio, Herculodge, as it is your search, not the acquisition, that makes your website so stimulating. It is fitting, then, to end this correspondence with a quote from Kierkegaard who once said that fulfillment is in the wish. Indeed it is so.

 

All the best,

 

Matthew Beauregard

Dear Herculodge,

 

First, I would like to thank you for your thoroughly assiduous, if not at times obsessive, radio reviews. A newcomer to the radio scene, I would be hopelessly lost trying to choose my bedside, my kitchen, my portable, and my general all-purpose radios, if not for the sagacious guidance your website has provided. Based on your solid recommendations, I have purchased the Kaito 2100, Eton E5, and the Sangean PR-D5, radios that do not disappoint and I give you credit for the high level of satisfaction these radios provide me on a daily and nightly basis. Suffering from chronic insomnia as I do, I find myself in need of a bedside companion during those excruciating bouts of sleeplessness and having my trusty Kaito 2100 at the helm is a source of great comfort. My hats off to you for steering me in the direction of this premium-class radio.

 

However, if I may, could I be so bold as to offer some constructive criticism. First, please reserve your enthusiasm until you’ve had a radio for at least a few months. Your effulgent, gushing praise of the Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo, for example, followed by your reportage of “bugs” was dismaying, to say the least. When I ordered my own Solo and was confronted with these annoying bugs, I did not read about these defects on your website until several weeks after my purchase. Only then did I realize I had a radio made with abysmal quality control and decided to return the unit promptly. Packing my Horizon Solo with all the shipping materials, padding, manuals, AC adapter twisty ties, etc., and driving to Postal Solutions and forking out 10 dollars from my own pocket was not a pleasant experience. While I don’t hold you completely responsible for this inconvenience, I do feel a bit chafed every time I read your original gushing praise of the Horizon Solo.

 

My next point isn’t so much a criticism as it is a problem regarding your well-chronicled radio addiction. I’m afraid your addiction, as you render it on your website, is rather contagious. I too have been smitten by the radio bug and reading your site several times a day, I’m resentful when you don’t have some new radio to identity or review. I know this is unreasonable on my part as there are only so many, finite radios worth mentioning that are being introduced on the market. However, I find that when a day passes and you have not posted any “radio news” I feel a bit resentful and empty inside, as if my day is somehow lacking.

 

Related to my radio addiction is the problem of space in my modest two-bedroom apartment. Since reading your website, I have accumulated over a dozen radios and I suffer the constant struggle to choose which radio to use in which situation. My girlfriend, for example, has mocked my neurotic behavior, stating that I play “musical chairs,” that is, “musical radios,” using one as my kitchen radio one week, then switching to another and doing the same in my office and bedroom. It’s reached the point that when she visits my apartment, she suffers the cognitive dissonance that results from all my radios being rotated in different parts of the apartment. While I don’t blame you entirely for this neurotic behavior, I do assert that you have encouraged me down this path.

 

All in all, though, I really enjoy your site and hope you continue with your obsessive search for the “perfect radio,” which I’ve inferred from your expositions is merely a chimera that does not and will not ever exist.

 

I hope you never do find the perfect radio, Herculodge, as it is your search, not the acquisition, that makes your website so stimulating. It is fitting, then, to end this correspondence with a quote from Kierkegaard who once said that fulfillment is in the wish. Indeed it is so.

 

All the best,

 

Matthew Beauregard

Comments

[Angelo]

I think Jeff usually does the "First Look" reviews, then follows up later with a long term analysis. If the initial review is gushing about performance, I usually note that only after he has more hours on the thing will we know how it holds up longer term.

[jeffrey McMahon]

I try to avoid gushing, but it's impossible not to with the vintage Panasonics.