Excellent Table Radio, (What's this?) I bought one of these from Target a while back, and when I went back to buy a second one, they were gone. So, I found one here at Amazon at a reduced price. It was actually a used or "Previously Owned" item, but at a fairly reduced price.
Annoying controls and defect clock radio - don't buy refurbished, I purchased Boston Acoustics Horizon Solo (a predecessor of the SOLO 2B II) a year ago directly from Boston Acoustics. The radio works fine and sounds great. Unfortunately, the controls are irritatingly arranged, with the ON button (one of the functions of the larger central knob) being the most irritating. One needs to push it very hard to turn it on or off. However, the most worthless part of this radio is that the alarm clock is very idiosyncratic. It turns on at the correct time, but one day it stays on for an hour (as it is supposed to), another day it may stay on for a time ranging between a few seconds up to an hour and then the sound goes off, but the alarm light stays on and flashes indicating it is still in alarm mode, and another day the alarm turns the radio on, but no sounds comes out, even though the alarm indicator flashes showing that the alarm is in alarm mode. It may come on later within the hour period. The alarm function is plain unreliable! Tech support says one should unplug it for 48 hours to reset the memory (I believe that it has a capacitor that acts as a backup battery). I did it for a week, and the memory did NOT reset and the clock radio continues to behave very erratically and unreliably. It being a refurbished unit, Boston Acoustics does not want it back and are not willing to help, except to give you the telephone number of a company that repairs their equipment for them. Also, when you call and ask for tech support, it seems that one is connected to the sales department and all they tell you to do is to unplug the radio in order to reset the memory. If you are looking for a CLOCK radio, beware and consider trying something else.
Terrible User Interface, It appears that the design team never used a clock radio. The sleep function is nested between the clock and alarm settings and it's very easy to corrupt everything. Don't buy this if you want to hit a button and fall asleep to music.
Two stars since the radio sounds good.
Would I purchase again? No. Wait for the next edition with interlocks on the time settings.
Tops for AM talk radio and Classical - amazing sound without too much bass like other 1 speaker radios, I have now been using the Boston Acoustics Solo2 radio for over a year, so I figured I am in a good position to write a clear review.
I wanted a 1 box radio to use in my office that had stellar AM reception and sound. Given the huge number of inexpensive AM/FM radios you can buy today, why spent >$100 for a simple device that doesn't even have an iPod dock?
First, the quality is literally unrivaled in the world of cheap to mid-range radios. It tunes in AM radio stations without any hum or buzz, often far clearer than when I stream them over the Internet. For the quality of the tuner alone, it is well worth the price. However, the radio goes further in that the sound coming from it literally fills the room. When you evaluate one-box radios at the big-box stores, often they have very high bass. Marketers have found that consumers associate high bass response with quality. In fact, some of the competitors make the bass so high that the radio sounds good in a mega-store, but is annoying when you get it home. When you listen to human voice with the bass too high, it is just disturbing. News talk radio needs good audio balance.
Bringing me to the Boston radio, the radio not only features strong bass and treble response, but they are adjustable! So you can make the sound perfect.
The design is appealing, with a simple front panel and some multi-purpose knobs.
Clock light too bright., (What's this?) Even with the brightness at 0 the clock lights up my entire bedroom. Other then that this clock radio is very high quality and sounds great. It picks up all stations very clear. I just could not take the blue light from the clock shinning in my face all night. Had to return the unit.
settings horrible, radio turns on every day even tho alarm is not set, (What's this?) I received this radio last week to replace a much older Boston Acoustics clock radio for my bedroom I liked that radio and the settings were very easy to use but there's no bass/treble setting and the bass is so deep I had trouble listening to speech from my bed. This radio works well in that sense and the sound is great but I find the settings to be extremely annoying. As one person said, changing stations from FM to AM in the middle of the night is a real pain as you need to move brackets to whatever setting you wish, and at night they're very hard to see.. Also the ambient light from the clock, even when turned down to 0 is too bright because it adjusts to a darkened room and becomes brighter as well as reflecting on nearby objects. I have been putting a business card over it which means I need to remove it to see the time. For people who haven't sleep issues it probably doesn't present a problem, for those of us sensitive to the light it does. I read recently that blue LED light, which this emits, creates sleep problems in general. It's a good radio for use during the day but I'm sorry I didn't take some of the other writer's concerns more seriously for my needs.
This is an addition to my review. I'm very sorry I bought this radio considering it's cost. I mostly use it at night when i'm in bed and if i wake and have difficulty falling asleep, it is an incredible nuisance to use as you have to turn a light on to see where AM and FM are to bracket them. On top of this the alarms, which I've never used and are definitely off, turn themselves on every day and have from day one.
Good sound, can't keep correct time, This is an update to my review from Nov 2008 which was a positive one.
Turns out that after the original problem with the firmware (that required repair under warranty), the clock has started losing time again (over an hour a day). This time, the Canadian service center tells me it's a hardware problem and repair would cost over over 100$, which even they say is not worth it. Tried complaining to Boston Acoustics directly but the National Service Manager for Canada responded, basically saying "tough luck". Really upset at having paid 150$ (the price here in Canada) for what I thought was a high end alarm clock and having it fail twice in 3 years and now pretty much useless as an alarm clock. You may want to consider the Logitech Squeezebox Radio, which requires wired or wireless network access but offers access to quality Internet radio.
Rich sound, great radio, (What's this?) I've owned this unit now for 3 months and primarily use it as a clock radio. The radio is very good pulling in stations most other radios simply can't receive. The sound is rich and well balanced. I also appreciate not having to put batteries in it for time backup - the built in capacitor has ensured everything stayed set correctly through a couple of power outages.
The alarms work well and I love the way the sound increases gradually to the set level. I also like the way the clock automatically dims when it's lights out. Also, when the radio starts by the alarm the time remains visible, important when you are trying to get the door on time. Note, however, when you turn the radio on you cannot see the time - just the currently tuned channel.
The design is very sleek and I like the fact that it can be rotated. I do wish there were some preset channel buttons though; controls are perhaps a little too simple. Also, at this price it would have been nice to include an hd radio tuner and a remote.
All-in-all, pretty happy with the radio and can recommend it.
Serves me right, Once upon a time I had a cheap Sony clock radio that gave me good service for years. Then I decided to get fancy and buy the Horizon Solo, the predecessor of the Solo II.
There's a reason for that II. My Solo worked perfectly for me, with nice acoustics----until it died last week, exactly two years from the day I bought it. The radio lit up, but no sound emerged. The company said to unplug the radio for 48 hours to reset its insides, but that accomplished nothing.
Good luck with Boston Acoustics tabletop radios. I'm on the lookout for a nice cheap Sony......
M.
sounds good as long as you use high bitrate audio, controls are okay, not well thought of. sometimes it takes a bit of time to turn it on/off, and controls are touchy esp on the left one. a little touch will change it from aux to fm which is annoying.
as for sound quality, it is great tho not exactly crystal clear. instrument separation/stereo widening or other sort of digital processing is missing, i wish it had one granted that this equipment is mono. i use my smartphone most of the time with this and i noticed i needed a high bitrate of coding to make it sound nice..
on the plus side, sound is room filling and has excellent bass for its size.
Dual independent alarm clock with sleep timer Auxiliary input for iPod and other portable media devices and Stereo headphone jack - on the front for your convenience High performance 3.5" full-range speaker with BassTrac audio processing for rich, clean bass at all listening levels High contrast LCD display automatically adjusts to ambient light Precision AM/FM tuner with 20 AM/FM station presets delivers noise-free reception
Dual independent alarm clock with sleep timer.Auxiliary input for iPod and other portable media devices and Stereo headphone jack - on the front for your convenience.High performance 3.5" full-range speaker with BassTrac audio processing for rich, clean bass at all listening levels.High contrast LCD display automatically adjusts to ambient light.Precision AM/FM tuner with 20 AM/FM station presets delivers noise-free reception. The Solo II is a stylish and compact AM/FM radio that features Boston's innovative 360-degree snooze bar, a touch-sensitive outer rim that you can't miss, even when you're half asleep. It also offers you plenty of placement flexibility thanks to its rotating clock face. Use it vertically on a desk or horizontally on a kitchen counter or bedside table. The choice is yours. Best of all, wherever and however you use it, the sound from this little radio is simply amazing. .caption ul.indent table.callout td.
