Things Get More High-Tech and Complicated with the 2.0 Sangean WR-2

I haven’t had a radio review in a while. Sedated on the Sangean Kool-Aid evidenced by a Sangean U3 worksite radio in my office/gym, a Sangean PR-D4 in the kitchen, a Sangean-made C.Crane CCRadio-2E in the bathroom, and the Sangean WR-2 as my “crown jewel” bedside table radio.

I haven’t had a Sangean WR-2 in a year because a year ago Southern Cal Edison fried all the electronics on our block doing unauthorized work. They had to pay tens of thousands of dollars to residents. I was paid about $400 for the loss of some of my electronics, including my Sangean WR-2.

For a year I used my CCRadio-2E as my bedside radio. A great performer on AM and FM, the 2E suffers from a telescopic antenna (hooks around my arm when I get up at night) and sticky on/off and preset buttons, a common complaint with a model that costs in excess of $160.

I decided to get my beloved black WR-2 back. This radio, which I first purchased in 2005, is one of those radios that marks my entry into being “radio-minded,” a guy who is very aware of the radio performance hierarchy.

The WR-2, with its wire antenna, is very sensitive on FM and very capable on AM. I like its heavy low-profile, which makes it difficult for me to knock off the bedside table. With fond memories of my WR-2, I recently bought another. To my surprise, the black WR-2 was different than my previous one, noticeable in two ways:

Different speaker calibration: Brighter, louder sound out of the box with “15” being very loud. In contrast, you had to crank the WR-2 1.0 up to “40” to get decent volume.

Different interface: The WR-2 1.0 had a separate clock setting button with separate hours and minutes buttons. This made setting the time relatively simple.

Below, you can see the WR-2 1.0 and 2.0 respectively:

Goodbye to simplicity with the WR-2 2.0. Now you have no separate clock buttons. You must press a menu and scroll through the following:

Clock Setting (set time with Tuning Wheel)

RDS

Factory (settings)

Loud On

DST (daylight savings time)

Snooze

Clock 12/24 Hours

FM 100KHZ

AM 10KHZ

VER P.01 (your radio’s software version)

You use the volume control to set hours and minutes.

You must follow 4 steps for Snooze.

You must follow 5 steps for setting alarm.

The Good News:

The complexity of the interface is not a deal-killer by any means. So far no bugs have been detected.

The sound is actually better than the 1.0 version—brighter, louder, crisper, less muddled.

The AM and FM performance seems identical.

Final Thoughts

I’m no Luddite who cringes in the face of radio DSP chips, software updates, Internet radio options, Bluetooth, etc. However, a part of me, the romantic with fond memories of those majestic vintage Panasonics and Sonys from the 1960s and 1970s, loves the simplicity of an analog radio.

Because I do not have my father’s engineering and math genius (I turned out to be a college English instructor), I don’t have the tech proclivities to maintain vintage radios (cleaning the pot, ridding static, etc.), and my vintage radio quest halted several years ago. But I wonder if I would have been happier getting a new analog radio from Sangean: The Sangean WR-15. Perhaps in the near future I will get one.

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Comments

[Gary]

Thanks for your review, Jeff. I still have a WR-2 1.0 in my kitchen. I didn't even know there was a 2.0 until I saw your review. I like the sound of my WR-2, as long as the bass and treble is adjusted properly.

With mine, AM is fairly low in volume -- 35 is a normal setting when I listen to KNX or KFI. FM is much louder -- probably 30 or less is equivalent to 35 on AM. It sounds like they went overboard on the new one, with 10 providing loud volume.

[herculodge]

I didn't know there was a 2.0 until I opened the radio from the box and noticed the different buttons. I just double checked volume. I'd say 15, not 10, is high volume.

[Gary]

So this means the volume control is not as granular as the old one, since they cram all of the useful volume levels into just 15 positions.

[herculodge]

Forgive me for not being clear. What I should have said is that by 15 the radio is as loud as the old one was at 40. But you can crank up the volume beyond 15. I haven't gone beyond 17 because my ears couldn't handle it .

[Gary]

Right, but at some point the power amp or speaker (or both) will start to distort. I doubt that you can use the whole range of the volume control. Just because it has all those positions doesn't mean they are all usable. Also, with headphones especially, a more granular volume control is an advantage.

[Ed S.]

Good review. My white WR2, now 8-9 years old, still works well, no problems. True, it has to be cranked up to 40 for decent volume. And I wish the Aux Input was on the front. But otherwise it has outlived other sangeans, Tecsuns and even CC Radios (I do have the latest CCR 2e, but hardly use it. It picks up too much interference, which has really swamped out my AM radios in my house for several years (thanks to neighbor's plasma TVs I think). These days I mostly stream to Bluetooth speakers.., I just ordered Amazons new portable "Tap"-- I might write a review if it works well.
Take it easy. Come over some time to see what radios I have in-house now.

[herculodge]

The good news is that I suffer no abrupt volume increases with the headphones. My home, two miles from Ed's, doesn't have his AM interference problem. As I recall, Ed lives near a wire transformer.

[Ante]

How about new Sangean WR 50 radio?

[herculodge]

Ante, I really love that Sangean WR-50, looks very promising. I may have to get one.

[Angelo]

Jeff: You know how you found grail watches that at least for the time being, seemed to satisfy your need to have monthly incoming watches? Well quite a while back----at least a year or more, I think----I bought a Panasonic 2200 and another Sony 5800 (rare American market model---my first was Japanese market but now I get the full FM range). I haven't spent serious money on a radio since then. It's like the tide went out and has stayed out, since I got those two classics. Granted, I also have a Zenith Transoceanic, classic GEs, etc.----but the collection kept growing and growing until I found deals on these two apex performers, and I almost feel like there's nowhere else to go. I guess I could consider a new Sangean or C Crane, but it would almost be buying just to buy, not buying because I really want one.

[herculodge]

The radio market hasn't intrigued me much the last few years; however, Ante mentioned the Sangean WR-50 and it looks very appealing and very promising.

[Gary]

That WR-50 does look cool. With the Bluetooth streaming, you can stream music or Internet radio directly from your smartphone, Jeff.

They also included bass and treble controls, and the ability to turn the loudness curve on or off, which is a big plus to me.

They even offer a slave speaker to get stereo sound. Very cool.

http://www.sangean.com/products/product.asp?mid=215&cid=

[Gary]

Amazon has the stereo one with the slave speaker for $179. The mono one is $145. For just $34 more, I'd go for the stereo version.

[herculodge]

I agree. The stereo version is more appealing.

[rtc]

Before you go with the WR-15 it would be
prudent to look at the three and four star
Amazon reviews...not so much QC but
design related.