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This antenna is great. I now get very crisp reception - almost CD quality sound - and I am thrilled to listen to my favorite radio shows ("Brunch with Bob [Marley] and Friends", and almost anything on KPBS/NPR) over the airwaves. I used to get horrible reception from a boombox on my favorite stations, and [.]. but I lost the FM antenna, so I bought this one. If you live in San Diego, I recommend checking out FM 94.9 from 9am-12pm for "Brunch with Bob and Friends". [.].
I had my doubts about this antenna. Really did not look like much,but its amazing how great it works pulling in distant stations.
This antenna gives me my favorite station very clearly and the other ones are a little better. I work in a lab and am surrounded by metal, concrete and machines. I can only get two or three stations with a dipole antenna and they come and go depending on the time of day. It didn't perform miracles but it is better than anything else I've tried. $30 is a lot for come coax cable but it is worth it for me to be able to hear music while I work 8 hours a day.
The sound is very good. This leads me to believe that in fact, the building is causing my reception problems. I will try some more stuff and let you know how things work out. With the C. I had expected stuff to work a lot more smoothly thanthis. At the perceived steps of levels going up, there should be at least two more steps DOWN from the present lowest.
I like thedisplay on HD. Crane Reflect is even touchier than the dipole. I need to get a lot more reliable performance from theFM tuner. I get one more station in HD than I did before, and about 1 bar better on the analog stations.
The deciding factor for buying this radio over others was, first, HDradio reception. I'll forward your message to the other folks in the customer service department.Take care, Ken From: Kenneth NybergSent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 10:16 AMTo: Swauger, KenSubject: Fwd: Weak HD reception Hi Ken, I received my C.Crane Reflect antenna and installed it on my I-Sonic. Start the thread at the bottom if you are interested.________________________________________________________________________________________Hello Ken,Thank you for the detailed feedback, it's great having someone's opinion to be able to refer to when another person has a similar problem. Antenna placement with the C. It provides apparent full quieting on the analog stations I wanted. Changing locations or orientation(vertical, change "leg up") will make things worse - some stations notcoming in at all on analog FM. I have an aftermarket JVC HD car radio in my car, and it gets all ofthese stations with HD easily to 40+ miles, more in some cases.
It does actually produce a little better signal than the included dipole. That is a pretty decent signal increase. Our building, for example, makes good FM reception very difficult.Regards, ken, Polk Audio -----Original Message-----From: Kenneth NybergSent: Monday, May 04, 2009 12:07 PMTo: Swauger, KenSubject: Weak HD reception REF;I-Sonic ES2 110VSerial AMXXXXXXXXXLOT:3053083 Purchased Apr 28 09 from Amazon merchant Symptoms - weak FM reception, weak HD FM reception, don't know or careabout AM reception. Thanks for your help and suggestions on the reception issue. All stations are high power, high antenna (>1000') andclose local, 7 or 8 miles.
Here is the correspondence thread I had with Ken at Polk Audio about poor reception. Based on my simple observations, Crane's claims are about right, and actually pretty impressive. I really like HD. Radio is located in commercial building about 30' from outside wall. After living with the I-Sonic for a couple weeks, my most serious complaint is that at minimum volume, the sound level is still way too high. Tried single wire antenna, various positions, and included dipole,various positions. Ken Begin forwarded message:From: "Swauger, Ken" Date: May 4, 2009 1:42:28 PM CDTTo: Kenneth Nyberg Subject: RE: Weak HD reception No problem.-----Original Message-----From: Kenneth Nyberg Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 2:38 PMTo: Swauger, KenSubject: Re: Weak HD receptionKen, Thanks for your reply and info.
Happily my office is moving from a significantly interior one to an outside wall/window one on the side facing the transmit towers. Crane claims "up to 213% better". Some stations come in OK in some combinations, butnot in others. The C.Crane antenna does work - some improvement. The second reason is function withiPhone. Crane, I should get the performance I wanted out of the I-Sonic.
Thanks for your helpKen Nyberg HELPIs there a software update I should be using. Overall, they were good response. I can do some more experimentation - I have a Wave Radio II at homeoffice I can bring in and see how it works in this location. I have done a good bit of experimentation with the dipole, and aboveare about the best results.
It is possible the construction of the building, you are using the radio, is blocking the radio signal. A couple of things to keep in mind:1).
HD radio stations are limited, by the FCC, to a small percentage of their total signal strength for the HD portion of their broadcast.2). Some of the reviews I read claim that isn't happening, others claim it is no better at all than the standard dipole, and others claim fantastic improvements in reception.
Some features are a little odd (presets,lowest volume, alarm stuff) but overall are pretty useful. This ought to be a software fix.
I really want to get this working well.KenOn May 4, 2009, at 1:10 PM, Swauger, Ken wrote:Hello,Thanks for contacting us. Any other suggestionsyou can make.
I appreciate your comments and suggestions on this problem.
I purchased this antenna for RV use; my television and my radio shared an amplified extenal Winegard Sensar antenna 16 feet off the ground. After installing the FM Reflect inside near the radio 8 feet from the ground I was still receiving 34 stations. I wanted each to have its own antenna. Before installing the FM Reflect antenna I was receiving 34 FM stations off the amplified Winegard. Installation was super easy. I am very pleased with this product.
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