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Has great sound. I have this radio for two weeks now. I am very satisfied with the reception of AM, FM and Short Wave -- very sensitive. The only negative is the lack of being able to preset the stations. Would buy the radio again - worth the money.
You get a little AM overload. Every house should have a Grundig S350 Deluxe. The speaker on the Deluxe is bigger and brighter. You don't have presets in spite of the digital read-out. Or you might look at the stunning Kaito 1103 or its more expensive cousin the Eton E5. Whereas your fancy digital preset radios often sound like tin, the Grundig S350 DL has depth.
Also the cheaper (and cheaper built) GE Superradio boasts an internal AM ferrite antenna twice the size and as a result gets slightly better AM.If you're looking for a radio with similar features as the Grundig S350 DL but erases its weakness--no presets and AM overload, then you might want to check out the Grundig G4000A. Big, brawny, "grabbing" in all the hard-to-get stations with ease, championing a big antenna that says this radio means serious business, the Grundig S350 Deluxe version, is a bigger, better version of the old Grundig S350, eliminating some of the "drift" problems of the earlier model. Here in Los Angeles I get overload on 1150 so that I'm listening to two shows at once. Is it a perfect radio. No. It's the same price as the S350 and its speaker is surprisingly good for a digital preset shortwave radio.
But even if you get a fancy preset radio, every house should have the big easy-to-use Grundig S350 Deluxe.Update: Comparing the S350 to the same-priced G4000 for several months, it becomes clear that the G4000 is a better buy: superior AM, superior separation of AM stations, presets, same warm speaker, and smaller.
With all that being said, with the restructuring of the 50K watt clear-channel AM stations, in the 1980s, AM DXing is not what it used to be, in the 1960s and 1970s. The front filter and band switches and tuning knob are flimsy. I opened up the back of the radio, before returning it to RadioShack - it was mostly hollow inside, very cheap, low-grade plastic, and with 1960s-grade electronics. These stations can easily be picked up with standard car radios. Don't be fooled by the "Grundig" name - it used to be made in Germany, but is now made in China, by Tecsun/Eton. With the Radio Shack receiver, I can easily pick up WWL 870 New Orleans (1000 miles), WHO 1040 Des Moines(900 miles), WABC 770 New York, and my favorite, WLW 700 Cincinnati - same as the S350.
The filters do a minimal job and only muffle the very good audio. Because of the very cheap quality construction, the radio is very light-out-of-the-box, until the 4 "D" size batteries are inserted. The RF gain control can always be set on maximum, so it only acts like a DX/LOC switch. Even the newer model drifts off the tuned frequency, despite a kludged fix, that only causes ergonomic problems - once a frequency locks on, it still drifts, causing one to have to retune way past the desired frequency, to break the lock. "Million-Dollar Looks for $100" - Analog w/digital display receivers do not have the stability of digital phase-locked loop (PLL) receivers. The speaker grill is plastic, the digital readout is low-resolution, the antenna doesn't lock into place, and the carrying handle is cheap, smelly, imitation-leather. Instead, I bought a Radio Shack AM/FM (for AM DXing) model 12-898 for $25; it has digital PLL tuning (prevents drifting), DX/LOC switch, hi/low tone switch, 3" speaker with metal speaker grill, internal ferrite-bar antenna, lock switch, 20 station memory, almost as sensitive as the S350, and much better quality - even the antenna locks into place.
Check out the Tecsun/Eton brand of this radio on Amazon (same junk), and show, "lowest rating first", also, look at the reviews for Grundig G2000A. Tecsun/Eton is becoming known for marketing jazzy, pretty radios that are poor quality/performers; they bought the rights to market products, under the "Grundig" name, hoping consumers will think they are still made in Germany. There are images all over the SW bands, being a cheap, single-conversion superhet. When putting the radio back together, I was very careful not to over-tighten/cross-thread the screws, but as soon as, one of the screws started to tighten down, the plastic started to crack. For example, many stations out West now have to use directional antennas, that cannot be picked up on the East Coast.
The S350 has significant tuning backlash, which is partly responsible for the frequency drift. There are no station memories, so anytime the band selection changes, the radio has to be retuned to the desired frequency. All the hype about the CCradio, Superadio III, and S350 being, "DX machines", is nonsense, and with the clear-channel situation, certainly not worth the extra expense. For just, as little as $30 more, one could purchase the Sony ICF-SW7600GR instead, with digital PLL tuning, dual-conversion, SSB, and synchronous detection; or, for $45 + $20 S&H, off Ebay.com, one could purchase a new Degen 1103 with digital PLL tuning, dual-conversion, and SSB (the S350 has none of the above).
The S350DL (with headphones eliminated from the package, see S350DLR, S350DLB and S350DLS) will then drop to about the same price as the old S350. The old (Silver) Grundig/Eton S-350 is being phased out. Right now, some of the older stock of the S350DL (with headphones still included) is being sold off at cheaper than the normal price.shop around.I do not own a S350DL, but it has been reported that this model reduces the "drift" problem observed on the S350, and provides STEREO reception through the headphone jack. (see my review on the S350). The Eton S350DL series is the replacment.For more on this, visit the website of "Passport to World Band Radio" (passband.com) under "Receiver News: Update to Edition 2006" (near bottom of the page). Perhaps Eton will now offer this radio in more colors, since it is dropping the silver model. a nice "electric blue" or "emergency yellow" like they use on some other models (crank-power and pocket) would go well with the blue display illumination.
The S350 has significant tuning backlash, which is partly responsible for the frequency drift. The front filter and band switches and tuning knob are flimsy. Instead, I bought a Radio Shack AM/FM (for AM DXing) model 12-898 for $25; it has digital PLL tuning (prevents drifting), DX/LOC switch, hi/low tone switch, 3" speaker with metal speaker grill, internal ferrite-bar antenna, lock switch, 20 station memory, almost as sensitive as the S350, and much better quality - even the antenna locks into place. Because of the very cheap quality construction, the radio is very light-out-of-the-box, until the 4 "D" size batteries are inserted.The filters do a minimal job and only muffle the very good audio.
Tecsun/Eton is becoming known for marketing jazzy, pretty radios that are poor quality/performers; they bought the rights to market products, under the "Grundig" name, hoping consumers will think they are still made in Germany. The RF gain control can always be set on maximum, so it only acts like a DX/LOC switch. Even the newer model drifts off the tuned frequency, despite a kludged fix, that only causes ergonomic problems - once a frequency locks on, it still drifts, causing one to have to retune way past the desired frequency, to break the lock. "Million-Dollar Looks for $100" - Analog w/digital display receivers do not have the stability of digital phase-locked loop (PLL) receivers.I opened up the back of the radio, before returning it to RadioShack - it was mostly hollow inside, very cheap, low-grade plastic, and with 1960s-grade electronics. All the hype about the CCradio, Superadio III, and S350 being, "DX machines", is nonsense, and with the clear-channel situation, certainly not worth the extra expense. The speaker grill is plastic, the digital readout is low-resolution, the antenna doesn't lock into place, and the carrying handle is cheap, smelly, imitation-leather.
Don't be fooled by the "Grundig" name - it used to be made in Germany, but is now made in China, by Tecsun/Eton. Check out the Tecsun/Eton brand of this radio on Amazon (same junk), and show, "lowest rating first", also, look at the reviews for Grundig G2000A.
With the Radio Shack receiver, I can easily pick up WWL 870 New Orleans (1000 miles), WHO 1040 Des Moines(900 miles), WABC 770 New York, and my favorite, WLW 700 Cincinnati - same as the S350. When putting the radio back together, I was very careful not to over-tighten/cross-thread the screws, but as soon as, one of the screws started to tighten down, the plastic started to crack.
With all that being said, with the restructuring of the 50K watt clear-channel AM stations, in the 1980s, AM DXing is not what it used to be, in the 1960s and 1970s. There are images all over the SW bands, being a cheap, single-conversion superhet.
There are no station memories, so anytime the band selection changes, the radio has to be retuned to the desired frequency. For example, many stations out West now have to use directional antennas, that cannot be picked up on the East Coast.
These stations can easily be picked up with standard car radios.For just, as little as $30 more, one could purchase the Sony ICF-SW7600GR instead; it has digital PLL, SSB, and synchronous detection - the ICF-SW7600GR is many times the radio compared to the S350 (I'de be kicking myself, if I was stuck with the S350).
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