Home > Consumer Reviews > C. Crane Sonido Radio

This radio is smartly designed, aesthetically pleasing, and super-functional. Crystal-clear reception (even AM), even in areas of my apartment where cell-phone reception is spotty. The manual is well written and edited, it takes 10 minutes to go through the whole thing and figure out how to use every function of the radio with confidence.

I work at a design museum, and am sort of programmed to see and evaluate form and function in all things around me. This radio is one of the nicest-looking and best-designed objects I've come across in a long time. Very highly recommended.

The Sangean Sonido is a great kitchen radio. This is not HiFi, but it is big enough to sound great over kitchen noise. It is also big enough and designed well enough to be easily operated with just one hand as well as picked up with one hand without touching any knobs or buttons. A knuckle of an otherwise wet hand is enough to change stations using the presets without moving the radio due to its size and the non-skid feet. I should not forget the non-slip volume control. AM reception is outstanding. In a side by side comparison with my Grundig S350 (short wave), the Sangean clearly came in better when there was some audible AM interference. The only downside is that I would prefer a darker color.

I purchased the Sonido radio based upon the reviews posted on Amazon which praised the superior AM reception of the radio. AM reception was my main purpose for purchasing the radio as my venue in Pennsylvania made it difficult to listen to Yankee broadcasts out of NYC (some 110 mile away).

Thus my expectation was high. I was therefore disappointed when putting the radio to the test when radio's reception was found to be no better than other radios used in my home. I even tried to incorporate the use of an additional antenna, and so purchased a Sangean Twin Coil Ferrite AM Antenna. That too did not significantly improve my AM reception(either for NYC stations or for closer Philadelphia stations). The Twin Coil was returned to Amazon soon after its initial use.

The Sonido is a good radio as it has nice sound and good FM reception, but it simply falls short of the AM reception claims. So I only give it 3 stars. Now, to be fair, I live in a Valley area and so the geographic location of my residence may play a part in what radio signals come through. Though my car radio picks up a better AM signal while driving in the neighborhood I live then does the Sonido.

I tried two other radios before this purchase (Grundig and Eton) but they could not compare to the high level of reception, build quality and the audio clarity from the single speaker Sonido. I'm not a radio geek so I can't explain the technology, but somehow this unit just finds (and holds) any AM or FM station and fills the room with an amazingly high quality sound. I also appreciate the NOAA weather alert feature, batteries that seem to never die, and highly intuitive controls.

One minor con: there is no natural place to pickup and carry the radio - my finger invariably finds a button to press everytime I attempt to pick it up. Might want to consider purchasing Sangean's radio case which includes a carrying handle. Yes, I have big hands, so try it first without the accessory.

I've had this radio for a week and the AM reception is outstanding,
even better than my Grundig G4000! It at least ties it for FM. The TV and
weather band are great too! I get all the weather stations in my area,
better than my walkman that only gets the local one. The TV band gets as many channels as my other TV radio, the Sangean DT220. It has a great sounding speaker too, my next best sounding radio, right behind my Boston Acoustics. The only thing I wish it had is more than 5 presets per band, but that's no big deal. The battery life is great too! I've been using it every day for a week and the battery indicator still reads full. I also like the aux input. So I'm using this as my new portable radio! This is definately one of the better radios out there.

Update: 3/9/08 After 2 weeks of use on batteries the battery indicator still reads almost full. This radio has very long battery life! It does real well on the AC cord too. No AC hum at all! I hooked it up to my cord a couple of days ago and am piping it through the speaker of my Boston Acoustics clock radio because the speaker has slightly better bass.