Gary's Got It Right: Sangean Does a Better Job Than Tecsun of Eliminating Ugly Background Noise

 

One of the things I don't like about the G6 is the number of spurious tones scattered across the MW AM band. In this regard, it's similar to the DSP-based Tecsun radios, like the PL-380. Although they don't have the sensitivity of the G6 or PL-380, I find the small Sangean radios (e.g., DT-400W, DT-200X) to be nearly free of these spurious tones.

Sangean appears to give more consideration to this issue in their designs. This is one reason why the ferrite bar is mounted at the bottom of the radio, as far as possible from the display, in the two Sangean models mentioned above.

Comments

[Gary]

I've heard that the G6 is made by Degen, so Tecsun isn't the only company that builds small radios prone to spurious tones.

Even the larger Sangean radios, like the PR-D7 and PR-D5, seem to be relatively immune to this problem, which suggests that this is one of Sangean's design goals.

[Michael Brent]

Ive got the DT-200X.
They should make a larger version of EXACTLY this same radio. Maybe twice as big with a tone control, flat on the bottom so it can stand up straight like your mother told you to do and black instead of canary yellow and they would sell a bazillion of them. Id buy three.

[Tom Welch]

The larger version of the Sangean DT-200X is called the PR-D9w.

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[Blake]

I do notice these imagages some on the G6 but do not notice them yet on the 606 or the 390 and certainly not on the G5. Even now I am scanning to notice on my 606 and am not noticing it.

[Gary]

Tom - How is the AM & FM reception of the PR-D9W compared to the PR-D7?

I prefer the PR-D7 over the PR-D5 for AM talk/news, because it sounds less boomy and muffled. I prefer the PR-D5 for FM music, because the extra bass sounds fine. How does the sound of the PR-D9W compare to the PR-D7?

One other thing -- on the DT-400W and DT-200X, it's not possible to "tune around" from one of the presets, as it is on the PR-D7 and PR-D5. How does the PR-D9W work in this regard?

[Tom Welch]

Gary, I prefer the sound of my PR-D9W over the PR-D7, but I listen to NPR on the FM dial mostly. The PR-D9W works very much like DT-200X and 400W in regard to tuning around.