Blog FeedThe Perfect Clock Radio
Almost 3 months ago now, I told the story of my quest for the perfect clock radio. News of my progress has been scant as of late, but I am here to tell you that it is now over. The previous contender, Seangean’s RCR-1, was so close to being exactly what I wanted, but it had one crucial flaw - it hummed. The internal transformer turned the expensive and featureful device in to nothing more than a useless brick, playing havoc with my incredibly light sleeping habits.
Where I left you all last time was at the point where I was deciding on what to do next. Indeed, I did contact the retailer to ask for a replacement, and another RCR-1 was shipped out to me in due course. It suffered the same problem. Contrary to Sangean’s claims however, the devices were not atypical of the RCR-1 model line. I believe they were all like this, and the final resolution to the problem only proves it further.
After telling the distributor about the problem, he offered another replacement. This time though, it wasn’t the same clock. Indeed, Sangean knew about the model’s shortcomings and was already now offering an updated model. Presenting the Sangean RCR-3:
At first glance, it looks just like the RCR-1 with some different buttons and colourings. However, it actually trumps the RCR-1 in several ways. Most notably it now has an external transformer which is completely silent, and instantly solves the only critical problem of it’s predecessor.
Interestingly though it also added some other extras. For starters, it now supports 4 alarms rather than two, and the active alarm buttons light up green when they are active. The Humane-Wake-Up system has also been tweaked. Whereas before the radio/buzzer would started out quiet and quickly become louder on the RCR-1, it now happens at a much slower pace, which I find ideal. Changing DST and general alarm settings are now also much much easier, requiring far less button pressing - usually by utilising button-hold commands.
The backlight is now white instead of blue which while not as fancy, actually makes it much clearer especially at dimmer light levels. The dimmer also now gradually fades to dark when you activate it, which adds a touch of class. When in dimmed mode however, pressing any buttons on the clock will temporarily light it up again - just for long enough so you can see on the screen as to what you are doing. Brilliant. As before, the backlight colour changes to orange when the alarm activates, but this time only for the analogue clock face. The LCD display stays white, keeping it nice and readable, if a tad awkward looking.
Unlike the Australian version of the RCR-1, the RCR-3 also now supports regular 12-hour time format. This isn’t exactly what I would call an “extra” but it’s certainly something that should always have been in the previous model, which now is. Granted, the presence of the analogue clock makes the digital display much less important, but I’ve never been a fan of 24-hour time formats.
The only real downside to the clock would have to be it’s colouring - white and silver probably looks good in other locations, but my desk would have suited the RCR-1’s complete silver look a bit better. Given all the other advantages that this clock radio has though, I can’t complain. They’ve sacrificed a few minor cosmetic advantages to add in some great functionality and bug fixes, and hence, my quest is over. If you’re here because you’re looking for a bigger list of the clocks feature, you’d do well to read my RCR-1 post, as it details the others not mentioned here.
At this point I would like to post a shout-out to the retailer who was extremely helpful throughout this quest. The guys at The Hi-Fi Trader in Sydney certainly deserve it. I would certainly go back there again, save for the fact that there’s nothing else on their shelves which interest me in the slightest. But I digress.
The Sangean RCR-3 is the perfect clock radio.