Based on This Reader's Remarks, I Would Not Buy an RCA "Super Radio"

Looks like the GE SRIII is much different than the RCA SR as Brian writes:

Something that may have been mentioned on this blog before - buying a radio at the Salvation Army, Goodwill or garage sales or similar.

I know the Superadio 3 is hit or miss on quality control, and the latest version with the RCA name on it is pretty much junk, but I recently found a GE Superadio 3 at Salvation Army for $4.99

It looks like it used to belong to a UAW assembly line worker here in the Detroit area. The previous owner's name is on it, along with the shift he worked and some other stuff like a Dale Earnhardt #3 stenciled on it. It looks like he replaced the original whip antenna and also marked the dial for his favorite station, 101.1 WRIF.

I got lucky though, my $4.99 investment happened to have batteries already in it and this GE SR3 is one of the good ones. The difference between this one and the RCA version I owned previously is night and day. It is absolutely brilliant on FM when it comes to pulling in the low power and obscure high school and college stations at the low end of the band. Strong local AM stations like WJR 760 sound amazing with the AM wide band setting.

Keep your eyes open and stop into a resale store now and then. There are definitely quality radios out there for cheap if you watch out for them..

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Comments

[Drive-In-Freak]

I love a SR3.

While it's very true that they are a mixed bag, when you get a good one it's a really good radio.
The problem is that they decided to ditch the six gang open air cap in the first one and SR2 with a varactor circuit, and often used less than great pots causing the circuit to be unstable.

I've had one that worked great, a RCA that would tune from 520-850-800-1710 (odd jump back in the middle), but otherwise worked fine, and one that was so far out of alignment as was as if they didn't even try, and a GE that was like trying to crack a safe when tuning in a station.

Even with a bad one local AM/MW stations really come alive with the kill the selectivity "wide" switch. Dare I say it even sounds better than FM ( if FM were mono anyway). The nice big 6 1/2" speaker is a nice touch too..something that's sadly almost extinct today as far as portables go.

When you get one that works as it should? We're talking almost one of the best portables of all time.

I say it's well worth the gamble.

[Drive-In-Freak]

Oh..and..

Nice score. Congratulations. [cheers]

[Bob C.]

Several months ago, I pulled the trigger on what was advertised to be a GE SR III from Amazon. An RCA arrived instead (apparently the Amazon Marketplace seller never updated his listing). I checked it out and it basically offered clock radio-level reception with the SR III's great speaker sound. Tuning was off by a good 500 kHz on AM and 4 MHz on FM. Sensitivity and selectivity were fair to poor. Needless to say, it went back immediately. I'll never again buy anything with the RCA nameplate again. Which is a sad commentary on what happens when a cheap foreign company buys a venerable trademark. At one time, RCA radios were of high quality. But today's iteration of the brand bears NO resemblance to the brand's products in those those halcyon days of yore. Now, they're at the same level as a Coby. In a word: junk.