I've had one Kaito version, one Redsun version, two C.Crane versions that all sounded harsh and brutal on my ears for talk and music.
My third C.Crane version however sounds very nice. My guess is there is variation in these with quite a good Quality Control range. I finally found one that is pleasing to my ears.
So the stigma of harsh sound may have to be replaced with the stigma of too much variability in product.
I have a Redsun version. I've always loved it and was a bit puzzled that some reviewers rated it as crap. I kind of figured they must have a lot of variation in quality. Looks like you confirmed this.
Posted by: Bill | November 30, 2011 at 03:27 PM
Jeff - I've had two CCR-SW units, and they both sounded the same. One of them -- a C. Crane "orphan" -- did have a lot of play in the AM/FM knob, so I returned it and bought a second one from Amazon.
Posted by: Gary | November 30, 2011 at 03:31 PM
I bought 2 broken radios one was a CCRADIO SW and the other one was a TECSUN RP-2100 I fixed one with parts of the other and the sound of this radio is very pleasant, deep bass and good treble. They both had the same componentes and were easy interchangeable, same speaker and ferrite antenna also.
Posted by: Huesby | November 30, 2011 at 05:52 PM
Mine has some play on the AM/FM selector knob as well. Is this normal or should i get it replaced? It's a Refurb from C. Crane and has a 1 yr warranty.
Posted by: Dan | December 01, 2011 at 11:37 AM
Dan - I think they all have some play in the AM/FM and SW selector knobs, but on the one I returned, it had maybe three times the play in the AM/FM knob than there is on the one I kept. One way to reduce the play is to pull the knob off and put some tape around the "inner" portion of the knob (try blue painter's tape; teflon tape may work as well). This will take up some of the slack between the inner portion of the knob and the hole in the front panel of the radio.
Posted by: Gary | December 01, 2011 at 12:49 PM
@Gary: Thank you for the tip. I will try that!
Posted by: Dan | December 01, 2011 at 04:23 PM