[Electronics-talk] Looking for Good Am/FM Radio

[Gerald Levy]

I'm sick and tired of the lousy reception and poor sound quality from my old ILA talking clock radio which is on its last legs.  Its only redeeming feature is a talking clock, but I really don't need this feature in a radio, as I have plenty of stand-alone battery-powered talking clocks with easy-to-set alarms that will suffice instead.  So I'm looking for a reasonably priced AM/FM radio for my bedside nightstand for under $100 that offers good reception and sound quality.  Based on dozens of user reviews, the Sangean PR-D5 portable digital AM/FM radio, which sells for under $80 would seem to fit the bill .  According to reviewers, it has exceptional AM reception and very good sound quality from its built-in twin speakers.  And because it has rotary tuning and volume knobs, it sounds like it would be easy to use for a blind consumer.  Does anyone have experience wiht this radio or other Sangean radios?  What about AM/FM radios from CCrane and Sony?  There is a new HD radio on the market from a company called Sparc which has voice prompts for the basic functions but not the menu options, but except for a podcast that demonstrates its reception, there is little information about it.  I'm not really interested in HD reception, anyway, because it is a waste of time, but the voice prompts would be useful, except for the fact that the presenter of the podcast noted that he had accidently turned them off and did not know how to turn them back on again without sighted help, which makes me very wary.  Apparently this radio, the Sparc SHD-TX2, replaces the Insignia talking HD radio which was discontinued after being on the market only about six months.  Has anyone tried this new HD radio from Sparc?  Thanks for any feedback on your experiences with AM/FM radios .  

Gerald