My old Morphy Richardsclock radio's display finally packed in recently so I ventured to my nearest independent electrical retailer and paid £14.99 for the Sony ICF-C317 Clock Radio.
The unit measures approx 14cm by 14cm by 6.5cm. At first glance, it looks a little unusual in that the radio 'sits' on four stubby little legs, each about a cm high, leaving a gap underneath.
The front display is very clear, with radio frequencies written in white against a black background. The LED display is green and for me, is simply too bright. There is no dimmer facility and it took quite awhile to get used to it. I nearly took it back just because of this problem. That aside, the am/pm and function led indicators are clear and easy to spot.
The radio is a 2-band model. FM covers 88 to 108 MHz while AM caters between 53 and 170 x10 kHz. This covers just about all you need but there's no LW. The mains lead is plenty long enough, as is the attached antenna. This is simply a long piece of wire but I haven't needed to unfold it yet as reception is fine.
The box it came in suggested that it was available in different colours, but the saleman assured me that it didn't - not in this country anyway. So, I took the grey model!!
The tuning and volume controls are both rotary dials positioned on the right hand side. Although they are slightly different in size, I can never remember which is which when I'm just waking up!! The tuning dial is large enough to fine tune as necessary. Between these two is the band-change switch.
The radio has a dual alarm facility. I was mistaken in thinking that this meant that two separate alarm times can be set but this isn't the case. The sliding switch on the top gives the options OFF, RADIO, BUZZER and RADIO+BUZZER. There are also two separate buttons for RADIO ON and OFF.
The clock has developed the unusual, but annoying, function of giving out a small 'click' precisely on midnight. Not sure how this fault came about but it's noticable if you're just nodding off.
This brings me to my biggest complaint - the number of buttons this radio has. TEN!! This doesn't include the alarm mode slider switch or the side rotary ones. Lovers of the Snooze facitity will not be disappointed, however, as this button takes up about half of the top surface. I'm not particularly technical but it took me a little longer than I thought to work out exactly how to set the thing.
Having now set the clock and tuned to the desired station, the sound quality is surprisingly good. I tend only to listen to talking (Radio 4) but the tone is mellow with some bass, rather than a more tinny sound from my previous clock radio.
For power cuts, the radio can house a PP3 battery in its base, powering just the clock in emergency.
I've got used to this clock radio now, and it does the job it's supposed to. I did try to fix my old Morphy Richards one though!!
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Jan 5th, 2004
(Feb 7th, 2004)
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