Good table radio, $100 or less used

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slackerinabox

Lifer
Mar 15, 2003
12,668
103
106
My wife's a teacher and is headed back to the classroom and would like a little radio. I'm too snobby to get her an alarm clock radio and want something she can enjoy for years to come (the snobbishness is quality not brand, cheap radios make my ears hurt).

Here are my requirements:
1. FM at a minimum, aux in would be great but not critical
2. Not too flashy looking, nyc public school teacher - shit, forget about the kids stealing it: staff will. I figured an old school look would thwart theft a bit
3. Strong fm: She's in a school with concrete/steel/ bomb shelter construction, cheap tuners will not work

I personally own a handsome tivoli myself but it's bright red and screams "steal me!" I need something low key and, well, i aint giving up my tivoli. Suggestions? I found a bootleg tivoli I'm bidding on, while my budget's $100 I'm looking for as cheap as possible because I'm fairly certain it's going to need to replaced a few times based on her working in the hood
 
S

slackerinabox

Lifer
Mar 15, 2003
12,668
103
106
sdifox said:
Radio? What is wrong with her smartphone?
Click to expand...

She likes FM radio/npr, can't wear headphones at work, her work doesn't have wifi and we'd eat through our data if she spend 40 hours/wk streaming, she'd rather keep her phone in her purse than out and easily grabbable, and I think it's weird that I have to justify asking for radio advice :)
 
Thump553

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,839
2,625
136
Pick up something for $3-5 at a tag sale or check Goodwill. The tabletop radios built in the 60's or so were built like brick shithouses. My FiL had one on his workbench, when he passed away it moved to my workbench. Got knocked over countless times still works.

A more pilferable option is a boombox.

Whether she gets FM reception there is an open question. If you insist on pouring big bucks into it at least have her bring in another radio first to see how the reception is..
 
S

slackerinabox

Lifer
Mar 15, 2003
12,668
103
106
Thump553 said:
Pick up something for $3-5 at a tag sale or check Goodwill. The tabletop radios built in the 60's or so were built like brick shithouses. My FiL had one on his workbench, when he passed away it moved to my workbench. Got knocked over countless times still works.

A more pilferable option is a boombox.

Whether she gets FM reception there is an open question. If you insist on pouring big bucks into it at least have her bring in another radio first to see how the reception is..
Click to expand...

I was a bit worried about vintage radio having issues with modern fm bands, but I know nada about how fm works. A thrift store find's a good idea, I prefer how they look too. She gets fm in the room (I lent her my tivoli)
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
100,606
17,992
126
slackerinabox said:
She likes FM radio/npr, can't wear headphones at work, her work doesn't have wifi and we'd eat through our data if she spend 40 hours/wk streaming, she'd rather keep her phone in her purse than out and easily grabbable, and I think it's weird that I have to justify asking for radio advice :)
Click to expand...

don't teachers spend most of their time in the classroom as opposed to their desk? something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Boytone-BT-3...8&qid=1491324579&sr=8-8&keywords=stereo+radio
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
100,606
17,992
126
slackerinabox said:
I was a bit worried about vintage radio having issues with modern fm bands, but I know nada about how fm works. A thrift store find's a good idea, I prefer how they look too. She gets fm in the room (I lent her my tivoli)
Click to expand...

FM is FM.... hasn't changed.
 
JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,586
986
126
slackerinabox said:
My wife's a teacher and is headed back to the classroom and would like a little radio. I'm too snobby to get her an alarm clock radio and want something she can enjoy for years to come (the snobbishness is quality not brand, cheap radios make my ears hurt).

Here are my requirements:
1. FM at a minimum, aux in would be great but not critical
2. Not too flashy looking, nyc public school teacher - shit, forget about the kids stealing it: staff will. I figured an old school look would thwart theft a bit
3. Strong fm: She's in a school with concrete/steel/ bomb shelter construction, cheap tuners will not work

I personally own a handsome tivoli myself but it's bright red and screams "steal me!" I need something low key and, well, i aint giving up my tivoli. Suggestions? I found a bootleg tivoli I'm bidding on, while my budget's $100 I'm looking for as cheap as possible because I'm fairly certain it's going to need to replaced a few times based on her working in the hood
Click to expand...

No tuners will work. I work in a similar building and can't pull in shit in here.

Radio sucks ass anyway. She's not missing anything.
 
ctbaars

ctbaars

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2009
1,565
160
106
slackerinabox said:
She likes FM radio/npr, can't wear headphones at work, her work doesn't have wifi and we'd eat through our data if she spend 40 hours/wk streaming, she'd rather keep her phone in her purse than out and easily grabbable, and I think it's weird that I have to justify asking for radio advice :)
Click to expand...
I thought most smart phones have FM receivers.
 
S

slackerinabox

Lifer
Mar 15, 2003
12,668
103
106
ctbaars said:
I thought most smart phones have FM receivers.
Click to expand...

True, but she can't wear headphones (the tuner uses headphones as antennas). I suppose she could use external speakers but I'd rather someone steal a cheap radio than an $800 smartphone.
 
S

slackerinabox

Lifer
Mar 15, 2003
12,668
103
106
herm0016 said:
c.crane, Grundig/Eton, Sangean are also great brands, and many have an old school look that may disaude thieves, most will fit in a drawer too.

That boytone thing is probably terrible.

something like this will have far superior reception.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009ZAA42/ref=s9_dcacsd_dcoop_bw_c_x_6_w?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BY7YIOQ/ref=s9_dcacsd_dcoop_bw_c_x_7_w
Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestions, finally someone who knows their radios :) those are added to the list, thanks!
 
thebestMAX

thebestMAX

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2000
7,512
136
106
Yeah, Sanjean and Tivoli are both hard to beat. My Sanjean AM/FM/Shortwave is stored away and I still have a new Tivoli in the box since I bought an internet Logitec squeezebox at the same time and it suited my needs so much better. Radio reception in some parts of Florida is really poor. (If she has WIFi available these will solve the reception problems.)

Goodwill sounds like your best bet in this instance. See if you can insure it against theft, gang wars, immigrants, illegals and DiBlasio.
 
FeuerFrei

FeuerFrei

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2005
9,144
929
126
PixelSquish said:
I found this one for my pops last year. It's nice for 77 bucks. It's a Sangean. And it looks cool and retro.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IGXENR4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...
$77 is the low range for that model. I got that (non-anniversary) model for my mother last year. She claims the reception is good. It has a slack wire antenna. Sound quality, IMO, is substandard - mono-speaker, no tweeter = muddy. But she uses it for talk radio so who cares. One plus is it's flat-topped so you lose almost no desk space - just pile on top.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,697
13,846
126
www.anyf.ca
A tuner on a receiver does not have to be "strong", it's either the signal is getting there or it isin't. It's all about the transmitter. Well some tuners may be more sensitive than others and have better filtering so that it can work with a weaker signal. Most radio station transmitters output in the kw range so you'd have to be in a pretty serious Faraday cage to block the signal. I've never been anywhere that radio does not work unless I'm 100km+ away from town.

A vintage radio might be a cool buy. Tons on ebay and amazon to chose from. I kinda went down the rabbit hole myself looking at radios now... lol
 
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