Re: Car radios

["Chris Beckwith" <beckwith@ime.net>]

At 22:42 on 12 Apr 98 SteveOrdinetz wrote:

> I'll have to agree on Sony.  I have a Sony in my car (not a
> tremendously expensive one either [car or stereo]), and I've been
> very pleased with it as a radio.

I have to second that, and that goes double for their ES line which
has better specs, at least on FM.  Crutchfield is blowing out their 
year-old models for cheap.  Also, Blaupunkt's new 7 Series (made in 
Germany) emphasizes AM reception in its literature.  I evaluated 
their cassette head unit at Custom Auto Radio last week, and it 
sounded good, though the shop's halogen lighting wreaked 
havoc with AM reception.

> I've never had much use for Dolby myself...my experience is that
> the de-emphasis tends to roll off the treble more than the
> pre-emphasis boosts it, and tapes sound muddy.  YMMV

If the cassette section is marginal in the first place, Dolby will
only make it worse.  Make sure that head azimuth is semi-adjustable,
and the head and associated electronics are reasonably wide-
bandwidth. Sony's top-of-the-line ES model specs out to 19K with
Dolby B/C. Haven't evaluated it, but it should be vastly superior to
much that is out there.

Take care,

Chris

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