Not as nice as the original
Written: Aug 10 '05 (Updated Aug 17 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good introduction into the world of shortwave.
Cons: Priced too high for what it is. Not an audiophile's radio.
The Bottom Line: Do not buy unless you don't mind the average quality and high price. Better quality can be found with the actual old Grundigs from the 1955-1965 era.
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| atombaum's Full Review: Grundig C960 Classic 960 AM FM Shortwave Radio |
This is the radio responsible for raising my awareness of older European style radios several years ago. After I saw the Grundig Classic 960 advertised in catalogs, I began looking online to see what other European AM/FM/SW radios from this bygone era were like. Prior to seeing this style, I was primarily familiar with the ubiquitous brands such as Zenith, GE, RCA Victor, and the like. The online technical reviews for the first edition of the Classic 960 were only marginal to fair, but the second edition, released in March of 2002, was reported to be technically improved. So, after several years of reading reviews and debating the pros and cons of ownership, I finally bought the updated version of the 50th anniversary edition AM/FM/SW table top radio from the famous Grundig company. Purchased on July 26, 2005. The package includes a useful beginner's shortwave listening/reference guide, an owner's manual and a retractable external FM/SW wire antenna (10 meters long).
This retro style radio features a dark wood cabinet with brass colored accents and five ivory colored (piano style) push buttons for AUX (auxiliary inputs), FM, SW2, SW1 and MW (AM). It has a multi-purpose "on-off-volume" switch and knobs for bass, treble, and frequency tuning. There is one large (102 mm 8 ohm 5W) speaker in the front covered by a period grille cloth design and also a speaker (102 mm 4 ohm 5W) on both sides of the cabinet behind the same style grille cloth. The front grille also has two brass labels affixed to it. One says, "HI-FI Sound" and the other says, "960". The back of the radio is made of the traditional particleboard, which includes model designation, technical specifications and serial numbers. Curiously, the back of this solid-state radio also includes a series of holes for heat dissipation, as if it were using vacuum tubes. When I first looked through the holes there appeared to be the faint glow of tubes, but it was only the tuning dial lamp. At the bottom, there are two RCA connector AUX inputs marked "R" (red) for right channel and "L" (white) for left channel (for CD or tape player, records or VCR). An FM/SW ANT. input (for the external FM/SW antenna wire, which is provided), an ANT. selector switch (toggles between "AM ANT." and "FM/SW ANT.") and screw terminals for both GND. and ANT. connections. The dimensions of the radio are: 15.25" L x 6.5" W x 11.25" H. The weight is: 4.2kg. Even though the top of the tuning dial says, "Grundig Germany", this radio was made in China.
There are several ways to visually distinguish the first and second editions of the Classic 960 from each other. Examine the lower portion of the tuning faceplate. The first edition included rectangular blocks with country names (located between the treble and bass tuning knobs). On the 2nd edition (the one I purchased) the same area features horizontal lines with no text. The speaker grille cloth pattern is slightly different as well. There are fewer dark threads in the pattern of the 2nd edition. Also note the position of the "HI-FI Sound" label on the grille cloth. On the first edition, it is lower and farther to the right than the second edition which has it affixed very close to the top left of the grille cloth. Another way to tell them apart is by the original box (if still available). The first edition came in a white box with pale green accents, an illustration of the radio and a 1950s style portrait of a woman. The 2nd edition box is black and features a photograph of the radio as well as a bearded man in a black suit holding an orchestra conductor's baton. The box that my radio came in (the 2nd edition) says, "2518 02/03" which suggests that it left the factory in February, 2003. The "2518" is probably an internal factory code, not a specific serial number. Both editions came with the retractable external FM/SW wire antenna (10 meters long), the owner's manual and the shortwave listening/reference guide.
The reception is not quite as bad as some of the online technical reviews seemed to suggest, although I have radios that can pick up distant FM stations (75 miles away) that this radio does not seem able to pull in. With the external antenna, the reception of these distant and/or low powered FM stations is only marginal and sporadic. Night time AM DX-ing was interesting in Ontario, Canada. I was able to pull in most stations from the Georgian Bay region while I was staying in Bracebridge, Ontario. Bracebridge is part of the Georgian Bay region itself, so this would be expected. Some of the stronger stations in Canada seem to be run by the CBC (eg. CBC1 and CBC2) and they were easy to pick up. I also picked up WHAM (50 kW from across Lake Ontario in Rochester, NY) with no problem. Other than a simple one night test to see if the radio was basically functional, I did not attempt to tune any more distant stations.
The sound quality of the Classic 960 is unfortunately not as good as the old Grundig units. The bass response is not as deep and full as on the original models. Even with a wood cabinet, the sound quality (when tuned to FM stations) is average at best. They probably should have used a better speaker. The tuning dial action was reported to have been improved in the second edition, and I can report that tuning into shortwave stations with the Grundig Classic 960 (2nd edition) is no more difficult than with old vacuum tube shortwave radios. However, I found that once I tuned in a station, I did not find it necessary to repeatedly fiddle with the dial to keep the signal clear. The shortwave beginner's guide (provided) goes into some detail about how to tune shortwave stations. The guide suggests tuning very slowly and deliberately to grab the signal.
Useful enhancements might include a light to indicate a stereo signal and a signal strength indicator similar to the old "magic eye" tuning tubes. The numbers on the tuning faceplate are painted and thus, the tuning dial lamp can not illuminate the numbers at night. This must have been an oversight. Photographs of the faceplate will mask this because the numbers are painted gold and thus appear to be illuminated from behind. On my radio, the front of the cabinet has raised bumps where (presumably) nails or tacks were used from inside the cabinet. This amounts to a quality control problem. The bumps are smoothed over and painted as the rest of the cabinet, but are quite noticeable in direct light. If the radio is kept out of direct light (as it probably should be) they will not be noticeable at all. At this late date, several years after the initial release of the Grundig Classic 960, I doubt there will be a 3rd edition to make up for these shortcomings and quality issues. Grundig made a nice effort to create the Classic 960 but I wish they would have gone a bit further by making it an audiophile's radio. I will close this review by saying that it was a fun moment to open up a brand new "old" Grundig radio from the box. Imagine how thrilling it must have been to bring home a new vacuum tube radio in the 1950s and 1960s. Overall, the Grundig Classic 960 looks great on the shelf but it only performs as an average radio should.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
atombaum
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Location: Finger Lakes region of New York
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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