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vr6ofpain
11-21-2004, 03:10 PM
Does anyone own one of these little radios?

I'm considering getting one for serveral reasons. Apparently they have an excellent tuner for FM, and a decent AM tuner, which is far better than the run of the mill stuff today. I am interested in a small radio, which I could bring to work, to listen to both AM(morning) and FM (throughout the rest of the day). Plus I was just reading about one in my Dec. issue of stereophile and apparently they work as a decent headphone amp for a portable device. This would work well for me, because I could use it with a CD player(it has a stereo input and stereo output, both 3.5mm phono). Also, I figure I could even connect it via the 3.5mm output to my main system, because it is apparently a great tuner(currently I have no tuner for this system).

For those of you who have one of these devices, or have had some experience with them, let me know what you thought about it. They really aren't priced to expensive either at $129.99, including the internal and recharable Ni-Mh battery and A/C adaptor/charger.

plextor guy
11-22-2004, 01:05 PM
I own three (one was a gift from someone that didn't know I had one). One is an iPal. No difference between the Pal and iPal other than cosmetic. Personally I like the plain Pal's rubberized exterior to the iPal's hard plastic. They sound great for what they are. Very full bodied and clean. If all you want is a no-frills portable am/fm radio in an attractive and user friendly package, the Pal would be at the top of my list. If sattlelite radio (in addition to am/fm) is something you'd like albeit at significantly higher cost, Tivoli just introduced a Sirius version of their table radio. Sirius has NFL, NPR and will soon have Howard Stern. This in addition to numerous music, news and talk stations. http://www.tivoliaudio.com/product.php?productid=175&cat=&page=1

vr6ofpain
11-22-2004, 09:56 PM
I own three (one was a gift from someone that didn't know I had one). One is an iPal. No difference between the Pal and iPal other than cosmetic. Personally I like the plain Pal's rubberized exterior to the iPal's hard plastic. They sound great for what they are. Very full bodied and clean. If all you want is a no-frills portable am/fm radio in an attractive and user friendly package, the Pal would be at the top of my list. If sattlelite radio (in addition to am/fm) is something you'd like albeit at significantly higher cost, Tivoli just introduced a Sirius version of their table radio. Sirius has NFL, NPR and will soon have Howard Stern. This in addition to numerous music, news and talk stations. http://www.tivoliaudio.com/product.php?productid=175&cat=&page=1

I didn't know about the Sirius Tivoli. I'm not interested though because I get Sirius(or a large number of Sirius stations) with my Dish Network programming. THough I do like the idea of the PAL. Have you listed to it via headphones? Is it indeed capable of stereo out of that output? Does it sound good with headphones? I read that the rubber coating on the PAL can rub off, that is why I am considering the iPAL, because of the hard plastic, but the rubber coating does sound kinda cool, even if it isn't durable.

I wouldn't be using the thing as a football, so I'm not worried about that I guess. I'm most concerned about whether the tuner section in it is actually very good, and not just hype. Also as I previously mentioned I am interested in whether it can produce stereo and not just(dual mono) sound from the headphone out.

Thanks

plextor guy
11-23-2004, 04:37 AM
The Pal has a stereo headphone out. I did try it once with a pair of ear buds. I also connected one to a computer/sound system and had stereo. The tuner is on par with most other radios I've used. There's been quite a bit of hype about the tuner used in these radios. As far as I can tell, the tuner is on par with other similar radios I've used. What probably sets it apart is that it can be moved around easily for tweaking reception. It's built in battery means you don't have to tether it to a wall. It also has a retractable, 20" antenae unlike most other radios of this type. If the Pal really does outperform other similar radios, I'd guess the antenae and portability are the reasons. There's also an aux in on the back. MP3 players, portable cd players and so on can be connected.

dean_martin
11-24-2004, 04:11 PM
I've read quite a bit about the Tivoli radio and am interested in a decent radio that can be used when the power goes out - this may be post hurricane paranoia. I guess the regular Tivoli table radio doesn't have battery operation so the PAL would be the choice?

plextor guy
11-26-2004, 04:20 PM
I've read quite a bit about the Tivoli radio and am interested in a decent radio that can be used when the power goes out - this may be post hurricane paranoia. I guess the regular Tivoli table radio doesn't have battery operation so the PAL would be the choice?

The Pal is the way to go for an emergency radio.