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Grundig 960 Classic AM/FM Shortwave Radio

Grundig 960 Classic AM/FM Shortwave Radio

List Price: $199.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great homage to a classic radio of the fifties
Review: If you're looking for an exact replica of a fifty-year-old radio, or if you want the latest in shortwave technology, this is not the radio for you. However, if you want to add a cool retro touch to your home or office, and you also want a radio with modern electronics and decent sound, this could fill the bill. Although it is constructed from modern materials, it is well-made and doesn't look cheap, at least to me. I don't use it for shortwave, but it does a great job of pulling in AM and FM stations in my steel-frame office building. It's a great conversation piece that everyone notices. It met my expecations and I'm glad I bought it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Radio of the fifties only one way to go the Grundig 960
Review: The Big Bands great music of the fifties. Enjoy it all on a Grundig960. its a keeper.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: For old times sake
Review: The only gripe I have with this radio is that the lighting is not strong enough to read the stations. Otherwise it is a very good buy for the price. It lacks all the mod cons such as a remote control and the like but we have Bose for that. I have two Bose radios and frankly they do have a better sound than the Grundig. They are also much more expensive! I am very happy with both the Bose and the Grundig but there is something about the Grundig that reminds me of plays on the radio in the late fifties when the radio was an important part of life. Of course this Grundig does not have the sound of the Grundig I had in Germany. That one almost had a place at the dinner table such was its presence. Nothing is as we remember it. I am very glad to have this as a reminder of simpler and perhaps happier times. The times when the attention span was not determined by a remote control.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great product!
Review: The radio is fine. When you tried it out in the store i'm sure you found that it isnt a home theater system. Yes, it's not the best speaker or newest features, but what kind of putz would have bought it if the didn't know this in the 1st place. (RE, utter junk person.) I find that is great to put on while having a nice meal with the family. i win! king me!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great product!
Review: The radio is fine. When you tried it out in the store i'm sure you found that it isnt a home theater system. Yes, it's not the best speaker or newest features, but what kind of putz would have bought it if the didn't know this in the 1st place. (RE, utter junk person.) I find that is great to put on while having a nice meal with the family. i win! king me!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A gift for a special person
Review: There is a whole generation out there that have lived with table radio. This type of radio includes beautiful wood construction. They must have concert quality sound, AM, Mediumwave and Shortwave. They have to be, quite frankly, furniture. Something that you would be proud to display in your living room.

If it was me I would have bought something like a Bose Soundwave. I'm happy with plastic construction, a remote control, an alarm clock function, maybe even a cd. Sound is also important to me but I grew up with stereo, so I'd want that. This radio would not go in my living room.

The problem with the old table radios, from experience, is lack of an FM band (important today) and they suffered from horrible drift. And as always, you can't get replacement tubes easily.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good Looking, Bad Engineering
Review: This is an absurd piece of junk. If you intend to limit its use to light local AM and FM broadcasts or pretending you're Flash Gordon it may suffice, as long as you have a home palatial enough to accomodate it. However, even with a decent long wire shortwave antenna you will need either a lot of patience or very strong stations, because tuning the clumsy slide-style tuner is almost impossible to do with any degree of precision. Even in an area of good radio reception this unit requires a quality antenna for any, including the strongest, stations, especially on FM. You will need -- and this is not a myabe, you will will will need -- separate antennas for FM and AM, and don't underestimate the headache this may represent for you, not to mention the extra expense and rat's nest of wires needed just to bring static down to acceptable levels. And you won't get away with just a cheap FM dipole antenna: the one I tried did nothing for this gigantic colossus, and I had to use a powered FM antenna. (I had to try three until I finally tuned out the static on FM). The feel is mushy, and in fact, the knobs aren't even firmly set in place -- whatever it is that they're are attached to moves around as you rotate the knobs, as if they didn't finish putting the thing together inside the case. It surprised me how shabbily made this fairly cool-looking radio was when I first started messing around with it. There are two things about this radio that are unforgivable: NO HEADPHONE JACKS! Even as I write this I can't quite believe it, and feel like one will appear, it will have been cleverly hidden -- but no matter how hard I look, how much credit I give them for ingeniously disguising the thing -- it's not there. So if you're going to use this bedside, just remember that it will always be a group activity, and using it to record anything is ruled out for you. This is absolutely beyond belief, considering that a jack would have added about four cents to the cost of this behemoth. Equally irritating is that the line input for using an auxiliary sound source -- your cd walkman, say -- is absolutely terrible. You need to turn the unit way up just to hear what you've attached, and then it comes through sounding like a damp toilet paper and comb kazoo. I don't know how they could have possibly failed to do this properly, but please do not buy this device if you expect to listen to your cd player through it. The sound will kill you. The wooden case is nicely made, but beware, it is much bigger than you might expect, about the size of a medium-size microwave oven, and it needs even more space than its footprint alone would suggest, because two of the three speakers are on the side. Bottom line -- if you really like the way it looks and you don't mind static on most stations, if you never intend to listen to an auxilliary player through it, if its use as a shortwave is limited to maybe BBC and other big-output stations, AND if you both never want to use headphones or record anything, then this might, just might, do the job. Or you could get a real radio nd use something else for decoration.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Beware
Review: This radio is not a replica of the 960. In fact nearly every claim made for it is false. Reception is marginal on local stations, sound is so-so, shortwave tuning is hit-and-miss. The cabinet material does have some wood origin, but one has just to compare this radio with the real 960 pictured on the carton to see how pitiful this one is. I can't believe I fell for it. A great shame on the Grundig name...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Please learn from my mistake !
Review: This radio is not only cheap looking but the sound has a tin quality to it.Forget the short wave as I can barely pull in any stations.I need a flash light to see the lighted dial at night.What a fool I was to buy this radio.Please learn from my mistake!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Conversation Piece
Review: This radio looks good and makes an interesting conversation piece. It's fun to use and appears to be well built. If you mostly listen to AM radio the sound quality is about as good as you'll find on other radios. I wouldn't rely on this radio for serious shortwave listening, but it does have some pulling power. However, it's impossible to tell the exact dial location of the station you're listening to from the analog dial. My biggest disappointment: the quality of FM sound. This is not a radio to listen to music on. Also, while it has a CD input jack on the back, you will be very disappointed if you think you're going to get anything more than mediocre sound. It's unforuntate that such cheap speakers were used. Bottom line: If you find this radio on sale and you're looking for a nice, retro conversation piece, grab it. At full price, go get a good shortwave radio.


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