#Superior sound studio portable#
#Superior sound studio tv#

Each of the two alarms can be set to wake to an alarm tone or to any one of the AM/FM radio presets (but you can't wake to the iPod). (The display can be set to display the text as static, scrolling, or turned off altogether.)Īlarm functionality isn't usually notable, but the Cambridge 735i offers some subtle flexibility that's worthy of its luxurious price tag. The Cambridge tuner supports RDS (Radio Data Service), so the readout offers call-letter and song information from stations that support it. The right set of buttons offers a choice of source (AM, FM, iPod, or front auxiliary), as well as up/down radio tuning there's a seek function for jumping from station to station as well. The left set of buttons are the radio presets-just depress one of them while on the station of your choice, and it's saved to one of the three 'bands' (FM1, FM2, or AM). Using the jog dial, the audio output can be set to stereo, mono, or 'wide,' which attempts to simulate stereo separation beyond the 7 inches or so of space between the front speakers.

#Superior sound studio tv#

The speakers are magnetically shielded, so they can be placed near a TV or any other sensitive device with impunity. The 735i crams a 2.1-speaker array into its comparatively tiny frame-two front drivers, and a downward-firing woofer for added bass. It's the same problem we had with the more downscale Lasonic MSU-2020-but the 735i's better-known brand doesn't make the poorly arrayed controls any more palatable. The knob offers much more visceral control than a pair of up/down keys, but the rest of the controls aren't nearly as pleasing: the tiny circular buttons are identically sized and shaped, so they're hard to distinguish in low light or when you're groggy-not good for a radio that boasts alarm clock functionality. The jog dial controls volume by default, but clicking the nearby 'jog' key toggles it to a variety of other functions, including bass, treble, and loudness.

The display is linked to a light sensor, so it dims in dark rooms-correcting an oversight of the always-bright display on the 730/740 model. A 32-character LCD readout sits above two clusters of eight buttons each, separated by a jog dial that's 1 inch in diameter.

#Superior sound studio portable#

It tips the scales at a hefty 11 pounds, but we're not complaining-it's a tabletop radio, not a portable you'll be moving from room to room.Įxcept for the snooze/mute button on the otherwise bare topside, all of the Radio 735i's controls are located on its front face. Like that venerable model, the 735i is available in white or black and measures out at 5x14x10 inches-so make sure your nightstand or bedside table has enough real estate. Aside from that dock, the Radio 735i is basically a dead ringer for its predecessor, the Radio 730.

Like most of the products in the rarefied tabletop radio world, the Radio 735i is pretty straightforward: It's an AM/FM radio with a dual-alarm clock radio and an outboard iPod dock thrown in to boot. So the company has added an iPod dock to both models, and updated the model numbers accordingly.Įnter the Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 735i ($300, reviewed here) and the Radio CD 745i (which adds CD playback for an additional $100). Since the debut of those two Cambridge models, however, the need for iPod integration has become an even more critical feature for lifestyle-friendly audio products. Two of our favorites were from Cambridge SoundWorks-the company's Radio 730 (Read review ) and Radio CD 740 ( Read review )delivered some of the best sound quality we'd heard from a tabletop radio. In past few years, however, the market has been crowded with competitors including Tivoli Audio, Polk Audio, and Boston Acoustics, not to mention upstarts such as Chestnut Hill Sound.

( ) - The realm of high-end tabletop radios once seemed to be the sole domain of Bose.