More Evidence That the GE Super Radio III and RCA Super Radio Are Not the Same

Bob C writes:

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.

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Comments

[Angelo]

Didn't Thompson Electronics buy the RCA name (at which point things slid uncontrollably downhill)? I thought Thompson was located stateside? I know the radios are manufactured in China, but I thought Thompson still owned RCA----or did they sell the name again to the Chinese? In either case, I've read elsewhere that this particular radio went from very good to a junkbox while Thompson was in charge.

[Bill Bush]

Thompson is a French consumer electronics company that bought RCA's radio/tv business. That was how things were, at least, years ago when the deal went through. I don't know if things have changed since then.

[Gary]

More info on the Superadio 3:

http://earmark.net/gesr/sr3.htm

[Drive-In-Freak]

GE bought RCA, then Thompson bought GE.

[Carey]

I bought a RCA Superadio 3 in hopes I would get the "luck of the draw".... No such luck. It was hard to tune, it HAD to have AFC turned on to even function, and the speaker had a distortion on talk radio. I ordered a used GE Superadio 3 on E-Bay for $30 (scratches and all) and I am listening to it as I type this... Incredible sound, great reception, and AFC is a bonus, as opposed to a necessity. This is my favorite portable so far. The differences between the two are clearly pronounced, and the RCA version is quite inferior to a once grand product.