Home > Consumer Reviews > Boston Acoustics Recepter Radio - Clock radio

Reception has always been a problem where I live, but you would never know it with the Recepter. It has rich sound, digital tuning, excellent reception on both AM and FM, and small footprint. The simple controls are a bonus. There's no seek feature, but as it pulls in so many stations clearly and has 20 presets, seek isn't really needed. Compared to my 2 Bose Wave radios, which do have the edge in sound, the Recepter gets stations clearly that the Bose can't even lock into, it's much smaller, and less than half the price. My only gripe is the display is hard to read on days of bright sunlight, when it loses contrast and picks up glare, though it's otherwise easy to see (my Bose and an old Proton can be seen clearly in any light, even in the same spot). Overall, its sound, size, reception, and simplicity rate 5 stars even if the display is not always perfect.

A lucky break to find this. In Australia, the Bose (without CD) is about USD$600 (eeekkk!), the Cambridge Soundworks unavailable, and this unit had a sticker price of AUD$399 = USD$285!!! But I found one in a store (Harvey Norman) that had discontinued the line, for A$150 = US$108.

I listened and liked it, but hard to assess in a huge retail room. A quick check on a PC there of this website had supportive reviews, so I bought it. Very happy with the sound in the bedroom, although bass can be a little excessive - as observed by others, it can be damped by shoving a Kleenex in the rear port.

The single dial for tuning forward and backward, and all other adjustments is simplicity in itself. (My pet hate of clock radios in hotels is that the time can only be adjusted forward, taking about 5 minutes to change an alarm setting!) Until home and reading the instructions, I was unaware of the nice alarm feature of radio for 5 mins, then the buzzer to really wake me up.

On AM at low frequencies, eg 621, there is some mains 50Hz hum, even with the antenna away from the power cord. But by 700+ Hz this disappears. Maybe an external antenna would fix this - haven't tried. FM is excellent.

Amazed that the sales rep told me this last item of stock had been on the shelf for months, while hundreds of cheap and nasty clock radios were sold from beside it - my good luck, and the cloth ears of so many people!!!
This is a good buy at up to US$150 in my opinion.

I am always surprised to find high-end radios, built for discriminating audiophiles who can detect subtle differences, in the homes of people (usually nouveau riche) who only use them to listen to very powerful, "classic" rock or top twenty stations that would sound great on a ten dollar radio because of the strong signal. I knew one rich woman who bought a very expensive Bose stereo to listen to her one and only music CD once or twice a week: a Reader's Digest reissue of Hawaiian music from the '60's recorded in analog. That is what she spent hundreds of dollars for. She never bought another CD or listened to the radio.
So what are you buying this expensive radio for?
Do not buy it for bringing in distant AM stations because it won't do that.
For FM music, this presents full, rich, perfectly balanced sound that will fill a room. This is where it excels. FM reception is good with the attached whip antenna.
Buy it for the sleek, techno/minimalistic look. It is well designed and will look sharp in most living rooms.
Buy it for the simple operation dials. It is very easy to use.
But think before you buy it. This is an expensive radio and you may be able to fulfill your purposes for a lot less money. And if you aren't the type of person who is listening to music for hours every day or who only listens to big rock stations you probably won't notice the difference in sound between this and a cheaper radio.

I bought this radio based on the glowing reviews here. I am not disappointed! Wonderful, full sound for a small radio. I was simply amazed... even better than I thought it would be. The features are more than adequate for our needs. My husband and I each have our own alarms now, so our mornings will be a little less complicated. I am thrilled with the reception and range of FM stations. I can even pull in a favorite little AM station with perfection. The Recepter is replacing a Sony that gave us a few years of horrible reception and less than desirable tuning capabilities. What a joy it will be to wake up to a perfectly clear radio station!

We bought this radio after looking at a number of table radios at various price points. The radio was shipped quickly & arrived in original packaging. We paid circa $109. Set-up was incredibly easy; the directions are quite user-friendly & straightforward. Setting preset stations & dual alarm times was simple. Out of the box to installed & playing may have taken 10 minutes. Although we set a number of local stations, we use this Boston Acoustics radio exclusively for playing XM satellite radio (Audiovisions) through an inhouse/incar pioneer satellite radio. The sound quality is crystal clear & stunning. The bass is nicely presented without being overbearing. We wondered about the lack of tone controls but this is a total non-issue since the sound is well balanced & rich. We could have spent more for other brands, but the sound quality from this radio is stunning. Would strongly recommend!!