Home > Consumer Reviews > Tivoli Audio PALBLU Portable Audio Laboratory (PAL) AM / FM Radio, Electric Blue

I feel like raving about this radio, but I'm not in the mood to write a lot about it right now. Read the reviews. Most all it's attributes are here.

For naysayers and detractors, I can only say this: It was never designed to compete with a stereo boom box, whose stereo separation is overrated due to close speaker placement anyway, and it doesn't go as loud either. It's excellent for midrange tones and classical music. It's equalizer has been tuned to give the illusion of a lot of bass response by really working midranges, and in truth, it has surprisingly good bass response due to it's excellent long-throw speaker.

From a design standpoint, it is intentionally designed to do the most important tasks exceedingly well, and because it has no presets, it appeals to those to don't station surf, but have their favorite that they usually stick to most of time. What is has is an *amazingly* sensitive FM tuner capable of separating and locking on to weak and constrained signals. Even people living in Manhattan with all the steel and glass and interference are impressed by Kloss-designed tuners for their ability to separate confused signals there. I live in the woods 100 miles north of Seattle, and I'm so very pleased with it's ability to pick up several NPR stations here.

From my point of view, the only downside is cosmetic. It's hard sealed plastic case has a THIN plasticised layer on it, which makes if feel "grippy." That layer is not particularly durable. It'll start peeling off on the edges. I slapped some black gaff tape over the edges on mine, and I really don't care what it looks like anyway.

I wish it had a sleep timer....only because I'm too cheap to buy the alarm clock Tivoli...Ha!

It's been two years of daily use and I couldn't be more pleased. I look forward to many more years of use.

a nice little radio. rechargeable battery pack works well, and the radio does a good job of pulling in the stations and putting out a nice sound. there are two problems: 1) the exterior is disintegrating on mine (it has not been subjected to anything harsher than a gentle touch), and 2) the tuner, while good, is quite inferior to that of the Tivoli Model One. don't buy this radio expecting it to perform as well as a Model One - it will not(though perhaps it should, given the slightly higher price of the PAL).

I've owned a Tivoli PAL radio now for several months -- it is most amazing. Not only is the sound incredible and clear, but from this small box, you *think* you're hearing stereo, as well as a wonderful bass with good highs and mids.
You can hook up a portable CD player or MD to the mini-plug in back and get wonderful sound as well. The analogue dial pulls in radio stations really well, and the antenna makes it work even in the trouble spot I live in.
Based on this model, I purchased other Tivoli products and they all are stupendous. I cannot say enough good abou these audio products!

I have a couple of table radios from Tivoli that I like quite well. I also very much like the comparable model (which I also have) from Boston Acoustics. As for the PAL, this is something I bought specifically to have a portable, self-contained device to play audio from my laptop from in presentations. (It also works very well to plug in any MP3 player the same way, but stereo-mini to stereo-mini plug cable.) The sound for music is not quite as good as the Inmotion IM3 which I also have and use similarly, but it's as good or better for audio in general, ruggedness, and loudness for presenting in a room. The radio is also superb, and the volume controls apparently in use on the PALs appear to me to be better in quality than on the table radios that Tivoli makes (where the volume control has a very sharp ramp up in loudness and is harder to regulate well for lower volume listening). Yes, I'm a geek.

Anyway, the PAL is a splendid device. Does all as promised with style, attractive looks, high quality audio, and with at least the appearance (and I bet the actuality) of ruggedness.

I CANT BELIEVE HOW WELL AND REAL THIS SMALL BOX SOUNDS. EVEN IN OPEN SPACES LIKE PORCHES AND TERRACES. THE FM RECEPTION IS OUTSTANDING. THIS IS THE BEST RADIO I HAVE EVER HEARD BY FAR (YES, INCLUDING THE BOSE WAVE RADIO).