Quote:
Originally posted by radiolee
Like I really need another radio.
It's the NR 31 model-
http://www.emersonradio.com/Retro/
This thing's got ported cabinets, analog vernier tuning, aux inputs, obviously a rip off of the KLH/Tivoli concept.
But I always give credit where credit is due. This thing sounds great and it cranks. Amazing bass for 3" drivers.
Closed out at 29.99.
Eat your heart out Mr. Bose.........
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These replica radios are nice, but I think putting FM in a cathedral set spoils things as all the cathedral radios I've ever seen only had AM. I have a replica cathedral in my bedroom with FM, and it works well on that band (although the AM isn't much better than a crystal set, especially in my small town 45 miles from the Cleveland stations--I can't hear most of them at night on that particular radio, though my 1959 Zenith pulls them in much better).
If you have a big-band station on AM or FM in your area, I'd keep a replica set tuned to it. (If not, I would consider playing older music from CDs or MP3s through these radios using a small FM transmitter, as others here have done.) These stations play the music which, so I'm told, was popular when real cathedral/console radios were the rage (decades before TV). Somehow, hearing modern rock (especially the acid-rock stuff from the mid-to-late '60s) coming from even a replica set in a cathedral or other antique-style cabinet doesn't settle well with me. I don't even like listening to talk radio on my replica cathedral, let alone the noise that passes for music on most FM stations these days.
The remark that ends your post, "Eat your heart out Mr. Bose....", is interesting; however, I don't think these replica sets sound
that good (they will never, IMO, outsell the Bose Wave radio or radio/CD systems). Bose's Wave radios, including the Wave radio/CD combos, are specially built for high-fidelity sound from a small package; the replica sets, while probably sounding fairly good, are not meant to replace hi-fi systems, not with their 3-inch (!) speakers, regardless how good the bass may or may not sound. These units sell because of the nostalgic looks of the cabinets, not for the sound.
Now that I think of it (and after rereading your post), perhaps your Emerson unit is an exception to the foregoing. I've seen those sets advertised in the local paper (especially in the color ad flyers in our Sunday paper) and in novelty-store catalogs, and they look really good. They look very well built; with the aux inputs, they can accept external speakers and/or outboard units such as MP3 players and the like. Perhaps the company which manufactures these (I honestly do not think for a second, however, that it is or was the real Emerson Radio and Phonograph Company, which went out of business maybe 20 or thirty years ago) and uses the Emerson name and logo under license from the company, did in fact model these units after those great old KLH FM/stereo tuners of years ago, particularly their Model Eight which also had vernier tuning. The tuning dial on your set looks a lot like those old KLH tuners, even down to the vernier tuning drive mechanism.
What's next? Zenith knockoffs, complete with the old lightning-bolt logo and so on? Now that the original Zenith Electronics Corporation (and the Zenith Radio Corp. before it) is history, I wouldn't be surprised.