Sangean RCR-22 Atomic Clock with FM-RDS / AM / Aux-in Digital Tuning Clock Radio, silver, one size

UPDATE 2022-10-24: The super capacitor has long gone sour. The function buttons are bouncy and cause errors; even the ON/OFF button requires multiple operations and sometimes does anything but. It's life is nearing end. As of this writing, I have had the RCR-22 for over two months. These days, our product range of offering is limited by crowd-driven selection, based on an uninformed, undiscerning public dictating a mundane choice for those of us who know what we want. Once in a while, something shows up that makes me say; "where did that come from?" Looking at the available clock radios was underwhelming based on what I knew I wanted and what I could find. These times, every product is the same as the other.......or worse. It's either common or excellent. When I found the Sangean RCR-22, it stood out way above the plethora of "me-too" clock radios. I won't go over all the features here as they are already published. I did find a few pluses that are not listed in the features as well as a few of my own items I wish it had. What I wanted was a clock radio that had a quartz time-base that was reset by the time radio signal transmitted from Boulder Colorado, which is connected to the world-standard atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. A good quality AM/FM radio, runs off AC with a battery that only serves as a backup during power outage. A large enough display that was lit at night but very dim, preferable amber in color (warm colored light in a dark room is more conducive to sleep than the blues and greens). Of course, I didn't quite get everything I wanted. With the RCR-22, I found most of what I wanted, then some. It's an "atomic clock" radio. It runs off AC, without one of those "wall warts". The AM/FM radio is above average quality with "phase locked loop" FM tuner. The sound coming out of the speaker is above average for a clock radio. It has a headphone output for stereo headphones but it only has mono audio out. It has a lot of buttons to access lots of functions. Some buttons are on the front, some on top. One thing I found convenient is that when pressing the front buttons, there is a post on top at each side to place a finger behind to stabilize the unit while pressing a front button. It does not use a back-up battery but instead has a "super capacitor" to keep clock running for an hour or so during a power outage. Some outages last longer. If it goes beyond the power stored in the capacitor and your wake-up time, the alarm will not sound. Even if power is restored before your wake-up time, it may take a while to reset to the atomic clock signal. That's why I would prefer a back-up battery. We recently had a 2-hour power failure and when the power returned, the clock had lost its time. All other settings (alarm and radio presets) were still intact. The clock will reset automatically by radio control but that will take a while depending on reception. The clock face illumination is blue LED. You have a choice of bright or dim. The dim choice is fully adjustable by screw-head adjustment on the bottom. You can adjust from nothing to bright as the standby setting. That means that even with be color being blue, you can adjust it so that it is barely visible in a dark room. That's what I did and I can still read the display in a lighted room. The snooze can be silenced by ANY of the top buttons. The snooze alarms every 5 minutes. I would have preferred 8 to 10 minutes. If I try to write all my thoughts of this product, I never will get this review in. I will just say in conclusion that I am very satisfied with this Sangean clock radio. Instead of warming over a product to compete with everything else, they innovated and put thought into a product that rises above the rest. Of course, it's too early to discover how long it will last. I do know that my previous Timex atomic clock radio lasted 13 years until the function buttons lost their conductive film inside. UPDATE 2016-11-06: The clock does NOT automatically reset for changes between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time. It has an add or subtract an hour setting. Some people prefer this, some don't. I have other radio controlled clocks that automatically reset. I would prefer the option instead, to choose between automatic DST setting or not automatic. The DST/ST code is already sent along the radio signal from Boulder Colorado and if the dates change, the radio signal contains the change.

I searched for a long time to find a bedside clock radio I thought would make me happy after my 20 year old Zenith radio died. Like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, it seems like most clock radios available are way too basic or way too complex. For the most part this Sangean radio delivers on being in the comfortable Goldilocks zone. What I want is a radio that does not require a graduate degree in quantum mechanics to operate but still has some flexabilty. I don't need a Bluetooth enabled internet MP3 player to wake up in the morning, but it would be nice to have a reliable alarm that sounds at the correct time. As other reviewers have noted, the instruction manual is for the most part grammatically correct and covers the necessary information, but is lacking some needed detail. Some illustrations in the time setting options section might help. Having said that, this radio is pretty easy to figure out by just trying it out for a few minutes. Generally, the controls are logical and behave in a consistent manner between different functions. Unlike my old radio, I don't think I'll have to keep the manual for this radio handy to refresh my memory of seldom used features. The radio reception of this Sangean stands out as better than most moderately priced table radios. Both AM and FM stations are received clearly and without static. It is clear that Sangean's experience with short wave radios has benefitted this radio. It is also nice that the volume control is a digital thumb wheel instead of buttons that must be punched. This radio has an automatic volume sensitive tone control circuit that keeps the sound rich and balanced as volume is adjusted. Be aware that this is not a stereo radio, but sounds very good for a compact device. Audio output power is about one Watt, but is quite room filling and plenty loud. Time setting offers three modes. The default time setting system uses one of the national extremely low frequency time broadcast stations. The Sangean is apparently manufactured for one of the regions of North America, Europe or Asia and will receivce the time standard station in that region. The model I received uses WWVB, which is located in Colorado, United States. The instruction manual should explain that atomic time broadcasts can usually only be received for a few hours a day, typically between 12:00 AM and 4:00 AM local time where you are. This is due to daily atomospheric conditions. The Sangean has an internal backup that keeps time going for at least a few minutes of outage, however a long power loss might mean correct time will not be set until the early morning hours. If you live in an area with FM stations transmitting an RDS signal, you have the option of selecting to have the Sangean set its time from the RDS signal. Some FM stations don't seem to have the savvy to keep the RDS time they transmit correct, so how well this feature works may vary. In general, RDS time setting is a the best choice because it will allow the Sangean to quickly set the correct time. If neither automatic time setting option is appropriate, manual time setting is also a menu option. Generally, this radio seems to keep fairly stable time, so manual setting should not be an issue unless you live in an area with frequent long power outages. It should be noted that the Sangean relies on its short term backup power source and then setting by radio signal for long outages. The Sangean will not sound the alarm if the power happens to be off at the time the alarm is supposed to sound. I think Seangean sould have made it an option to be able to install a disposable backup battery so that the alarm alwwys sound even if power is off. The alarm functions are pretty well thought out. There are two independent alarms that can each trigger a beeper or the radio separately. The volume levels of both the beeper and radio are adjustable for each alarm. When the alarms sound, they start at a soft level and then quickly reach full volume; the light on the LCD display also goes to full brightness. The alarms also have a one-shot mode that allows setting for one sounding after which the alarm shuts off from further soundings. This is nice for setting a one-time weekend wake-up if you have your main alarm set for just Minday-Friday. A red LED on the alarm buttons is a reminder that the respective alarm is set to go off. Some reviewers have criticized the LCD as too bright. There is a button on the front of the radio to switch between full and user adjustable brightness. Full brightness is definitely bright, but the adjustable setting can be anywhere between off and full brightness. I didn't have any problem finding a setting that is dim but allows easy reading min a dark room. My only criticism is that the brightness adjustment knob is curiously located on the bottom of the radio. The instruction manual does explain brightness setting. Oddly, the instruction manual does not explain the rather large, "time capsule," antenna. The time capsule clips to the back of the radio, after a little fiddling to figure out the correct orientation to get the clip to lock into place. An adhesive dissc is included for attaching the time capsule to a surface separate from the radio. You may want to have the capsule separate if you have trouble getting reliable WWVB time reception. The capsule works best when it is broadside to the dirction from you to WWVB. Over all this is a very nice, good sounding, radio for a moderate price, and it will wake you up at the correct time unless there there is an unusually long power outage.

I was looking for a high-quality alarm clock after about 12 years with an unimpressive Sony Dreammachine. This clock delivered on that front, and unlike most consumer electronics devices I've purchased in the past several years, it is clear that lots of thought was put into this device (and very little into the manual). PROS: There are tons of little nuances that the manual does not detail that I've discovered using the clock for a few weeks. For example the display can be dimmed with a dial on the bottom (which on my unit did not take effect until my alarm goes off the first time). The clock remains dimmed at your preset level, but goes to full brightness when the alarm goes off, making the clock easier to find. Combined with the pleasing blue light and the HWS (makes the alarm bell go from soft to loud) it's really nice to wake up to. Another thoughtful touch is that alarm indicators only light within 24 hours of your alarm. Either alarm can be set to go off on particular days, with any combination of Su-Sa set for each alarm (i.e. alarm1 can be set for Monday, Thursday and Sunday, no weekday/weekend restrictions like some others). The alarm indicators however only light up when your alarm will ring the next morning. Very nice. Other functions like the snooze, nap timers, etc. all work well. Like most alarms you need some time to figure out how it works, but after a few mornings most functions were intuitive. The radio functions well, and pulls in way more stations than the Dreammachine. The speaker is fine, that is to say neither exceptionally good or exceptionally poor. If I want the ultimate music experience, I have an expensive stereo for that. The clock is a true atomic time clock (not just a "preset" clock like many others). I don't know all the nuances of atomic cock synchronization, but the weather and location of the antenna seem to affect the two atomic clocks I have at home. Try moving the antenna towards the window if you have problems. CONS It is nicer than average plastic and construction, but still not going to win any design awards. I can't figure out why all alarm clock designs are frozen in 1992. The manual was clearly written by a bunch of engineers. It is no nonsense, and explains how to set/use everything, but does not mention any of the usability features I noted above. For example if it's Monday and you set an alarm for thursday, You might wonder why the alarm indicators do not all light up. No mention at all in the manual. I thought the clock was broken since the dimmer did not function until the first time an alarm went off. Again, no mention in the manual of what turned out to be a very nice feature, and one I almost returned the clock for! Another example is the unwieldly "Time Machine" antenna for the atomic clock. It is big and odd looking, but fits nicely to the back of the clock. Again, no mention in the manual save for a single line drawing. When I initially plugged the clock in, all kinds of crytic numbers flashed on the display while it synced the time, again, no mention of what was happening or why in the manual. The manual does tell you how to DO everything, but does not explain WHY certain things work the way they do, or explain the various nice features someone clearly took time to think through. Overal a great buy, especially for something you'll likely use every day for 5-15 years. I would like to see a better manual, autodimming of the display (it is BRIGHT when set to max), Sangean using a designer that is somewhat current, and perhaps a user manual rewrite, other than that, this clock works very well and will be on my nightstand for years to come. I agonized over what to put on my nightstand (everything from Bose to Timex) and am very happy with my choice.

UPDATE: The radio suffers from a few setbacks: 1) Atomic clock doesn't work (won't lock onto satellites), so the clock function has to be set manually. 2) The control board has become defective to the point where some buttons don't work at all, and others seem to have randomly reassigned themselves to another function, turning the unit into a paperweight that requires e-recycling. I've noticed this problem with at least one other Sangean product, so... draw your own conclusions. I'm looking elsewhere. SUMMARY: Very good FM radio with good reception and sound quality. AM radio susceptible to 60 Hz buzz from household wiring at lower end of AM band. Alarm features not evaluated. Despite shortcomings, I'd recommend this unit, and would buy it again. DETAILS: I bought this radio for use in our master bath rather than the bedroom, so the alarm features were not important (and are not evaluated here). I was looking for a compact radio with decent AM performance (FM secondary). An automatic clock so I wouldn't have to reset the time twice a year (or more, if power outages) was considered a plus. In general, this radio satisfies our needs While I agree with other reviewers that the instruction manual is short on details, operation of the radio is relatively straight-forward once set up. DISPLAY AND CONTROLS: The white digits on blue display is quite visible and the brightness control provides a broad range for various lighting conditions. Most controls are easily accessible, with the most used (e.g., tuning) on the top of the radio, lesser controls (alarm and clock setting) on front, and least used (brightness) on the bottom. I would have expected that the power switch would be on the top of the radio, but it is easily found on the front panel, top right button. The controls exhibit a nice tactile feel -- much better than cheaper clock radios. RADIO: I was somewhat disappointed in the 60-Hz buzz that the radio exhibits at the lower end of the AM band. While this is a chronic problem with AM receivers, I was hopeful that it would be minimized. Turning the radio left or right on the counter top controlled, but did not completely eliminate the problem for stations from around 610AM and below, as well as between stations when manually tuning the radio. For stations above 610AM, orienting the radio resolves the problem (but positioning the radio on the counter so that you are staring at the side of the radio may not be esthetically pleasing for all households <gr>. The scan feature (activated by momentarily holding down the tuning button) works reasonably well, but sometimes will stop on the edge of a station's frequency band. A quick bump of the tuning button brings you to station center, and then you can store the station by pressing and holding one of the tuning buttons. ATOMIC CLOCK FEATURE: I tried the recommended clock-syncing feature when I plugged the radio in the first time. After about 5 minutes, I gave up and used the manual clock-setting method, which was very straight-forward. Some time later, the radio "found" the atomic clock signal and is locked on. POWER BACKUP: The lack of a battery backup is a serious design flaw -- the capacitive backup is helpful only during very short power "hiccups", and longer power outages will necessitate setting up the radio from scratch. I'd rate this the biggest drawback to this radio -- especially for those relying on it to get out of bed in the morning ;o{

I bought this in July 2010 for $58. It worked fine for about 5 years, then it started giving me problems. The atomic clock stopped working even though the antenna icon would flash on the display indicating it was searching for the time setting signal. I'd have to set it manually and maybe once or twice a year it would randomly drift off the correct time. It happened again a few days ago when the alarm went off at 7am, or so I thought. I picked up my cell phone and realized the alarm clock time was 20 minutes ahead. Luckily it was ahead instead of behind. At that point, I decided to retire it. Overall, I'd say it was a decent alarm clock while it was working. The best part is the radio and it's sound for such a small alarm clock. It has some really nice features but I don't think this company executed them very well. Also, it's not very intuitive like the old alarm clocks were. The biggest problem I had was with the display. I believe they packed too many functions into a display that's way too small. When you have an alarm set, it removes the date and shows the alarm time in it's place. It only displays one alarm time at a time. Once the first alarm is reset, it then displays the second alarm time. The display panel is difficult or impossible to see when the room is bright unless you have the clock's brightness turned up. Even on the lowest setting, the blue display lights up most of my bedroom, basically acting like a night light. I'm temporarily replacing this with a GE single alarm clock that's 25 years old . I'm ecstatic with how easily I can see that old 3/4" red LED display day or night. Because it's a red display, it doesn't need to be dimmed or brightened to be able to see it and the room is much darker at night. The current crop of alarm clocks are extremely dissapointing so I might be keeping my old GE in service for the foreseeable future. In closing, while it worked fine for a while, I wouldn't recommend buying this. Note: The alarm clock currently for sale differs slightly from my clock that was made in 2010.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL CLOCK RADIO. ITS MANUAL, LIKE SO MANY WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO KNOW TOO MUCH AND ASSUME THAT THE CONSUMER ALSO KNOWS PLENTY.....COULD USE SOME EXPLANATION. BUT THE LITTLE TUBE-LIKE "CARTRIDGE" THAT FITS ON THE BACK, SOMEHOW DOES AN INCREDIBLE JOB OF GETTING AN FM RADIO SIGNAL. WE LIVE OUT IN FARM COUNTRY IN THE MIDWEST. WE HAVE HAD ACCESS TO ONLY ONE CLASSICAL RADIO STATION. WITH THIS CLOCK RADIO WE NOW HAVE THREE. WHILE IT ONLY ALLOWS TWO SETTINGS FOR ALARMS (ALL WE NEED) RATHER THAN ONE OR TWO EACH OF SEVEN DAYS LIKE ANOTHER CLOCK WE RECENTLY PURCHASED, I WANT TO LIST WHAT IS WONDERFUL ABOUT THIS ONE IN ADDITION TO THE RADIO. YOU CAN ADJUST, FROM THE BOTTOM, WITH A SLOT SCREWDRIVER, THE BACKLIGHTING FROM BRIGHT TO SEVERAL GRADATIONS OF DIMMER, TO TOTALLY OFF. THIS ENABLES YOU, ONCE YOU FIGURE OUT THE BUTTONS ON THE FRONT TO: PRESS THE LOWEST ONE OF FOUR VERTICAL ONES ON THE RIGHT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. I THEREFORE SET IT TO SAVE OUR SLEEPING EYES, AFTER READING HOW DAMAGING LIGHT CAN BE THROUGH THE EYELIDS OF SLEEPERS WITH ILLUMINATED NUMBERS OR BACKLIGHTING. LIKE MOST PEOPLE WHO BUY SUCH A CLOCK-RADIO, WE HAVE IT TWO FEET AWAY FROM OUR BED, IN ORDER TO TURN OFF THE ALARM THE NEXT MORNING. ANOTHER REALLY NICE FEATURE IS TO BE ABLE TO PRESET THE SEVEN TOP BUTTONS FOR AM OR FM STATIONS. WE NOW HAVE A CHOICE OF THREE CLASSICAL SIGNALS. JUST LAST NIGHT, ONE OF THE STATIONS HAD SORT-OF BOMBASTIC MUSIC, WITH A LOT OF DRUMMING. WITH JUST A POKE OF A BUTTON, I TRIED ANOTHER STATION AND GOT GORGEOUS, SUBTLE JAZZ GUITAR PLAYING...PERFECT FOR GOING TO SLEEP. THE TOP RIGHT VERTICAL BUTTON GIVES YOU OPTIONS FOR ON/60/45/30/15 MINUTE INCREMENTS FOR SLEEP...LIKE OLDER RADIOS USED TO DO. YOU JUST LISTEN FOR A BEEP. THE LEFT TOP TWO VERTICAL BUTTONS ARE ALREADY PRE-SET BY US TO SELECT ONE OR THE OTHER ALARMS, FOR THE TWO DIFFERENT TIMES WE NEED DURING THE WEEK. WE JUST LOVE THIS RADIO. I SELECTED IT BECAUSE I HOPED THAT IT HAD NO STRONG GREEN, RED, BLUE BACKLIGHT AND NO STRONG GREEN, RED, BLUE (THE WORST ON THE BRAIN, I HAD READ) BACKLIGHT. IF YOU DO NOT NEED A DIFFERENT ALARM TIME SETTING MORE THAN THE TWO OPTIONS, THIS IS THE FINEST CLOCK-RADIO YOU CAN GET. IT IS BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AESTHETICALLY AND FAIRLY PRICED. IT HAS A LOVELY SOUND FOR MUSIC ALSO. THE REASON FOR THE APPRECIATION OF MORE THAN ONE STATION IS ALSO BECAUSE, WHILE NEWS MAY BE WHAT SOME PEOPLE WANT, IT IS NOT WHAT YOU ENJOY WHEN GOING TO SLEEP OR AWAKING, IN MOST CASES. I THINK IT ALSO HAS A SLOWLY-GROWING LOUDER ALARM BUT I AM NOT SURE. NM

Okay, so I've read all the reviews, pro's and con's, and I bought this radio after two weeks of debate. I have had a month now and will buy this again if I needed to. I live in an area 30 miles outside of Boston and on all attempts at clock radios I have never received the Boston stations well. That was my first goal, a radio with good reception. This Radio picks up every station I want in Boston, and have programmed them into it. I acheived my first goal, a good radio - no a GREAT radio! Sound quality is good for an alarm clock. If you want great sound go with a BOSE. This offers a good sound and great reception. Next, almost all the reviews complained about the screen. I must admit in this day and age of OLED screens this could be better. But is not as bad as I have read. It dims to a great level for night time and everything on the screen is still legible (and I need glasses and don't wear them at night). Yes, if you put the screen on dim for the night, you won't see it in the day, but do you use it in the day that often? If you do all you need to do is hit one button and it is bright again! NO PROBLEM WITH THE SCREEN AT ALL. Programming it was EASY, although I am a bit of a tech geek. The instructions were fine but pictures would have been nice. The Atomic Clock is nice, and mine registered about 5 minutes after plugging it in. It can take a couple hours as people have complained, but mine was 5 minutes. And you can manually program it until it does click in. Finally, the Quality of the Alarm Clock. I found that this is a very good quality radio. Everything works well, never had a problem with the Alarm at all. In fact, the Humane Waking system is great. I turn it off long before it gets too loud. It does increase quickly but that's no problem. Much better than the old BUZZ BUZZ I use to have. So, a great radio, good sound, decent screen, and a solid alarm clock. I'd buy another one anytime!

***UPDATE-4.23.2023*** Third unit has failed in less than one (1) year!! Can not recommend the Asurian insurance plan highly enough. It is my experience that you WILL need it if you purchase this clock radio. This third unit has failed in a way different from the first two. No power failure has occurred to my knowledge, yet all the control buttons have quite working; clock remains powered up and keeping time. Alarms can not be turned off or on or changed, radio can not be turned on or any function on the unit changed. Exception, when resetting, the unit goes through initiation and all buttons respond to input. Once initiation is complete the buttons no longer are operable. I stand by my comments below and have ordered yet a fourth unit, to use for 11 to 12 months. Finding a really solid and reliable alarm clock these days is difficult. I thought I had found what I was looking for when I came across the Sangean RCR-22. I have been thrilled with this alarm clock and all its features. That is, until about a year into placing the unit into service. That is when the display would darken some and the words "POWER FAIL" would take over the display with the word FAIL flashing for some 20 to 30 seconds. Following this message the time would display but a battery symbol with a slash through it would begin to flash in the upper left corner of the display. These messages and interruptions would last for some 30 to 40 seconds or more and would then release the clock to perform normal operation. Only the normal operation would only last for approximately a minute before the entire routine would repeat itself. When other than normal operation is going on, the alarms would not activate at all. I could no longer trust this alarm clock to perform it's primary function for me and that is to awake me from sleep when I want it too. I loved this clock so much that after filing a claim with Asurian and getting reimbursed for the purchase price, I bought another exactly like it. Problem is, the second clock has done "EXACTLY" as the first had, at approximately the same time period after being put into service, 1 year. While I can not find another clock on the market that is reasonably priced and compares in features to this clock I will have to settle for something else as this issue seems to be an ongoing problem with Sangean. If you do buy this clock, purchase the Asurian protection plan as well. You will need the plan. Why is it so hard to find a quality alarm clock with or without Atomic clock feature and dual alarms. I sure miss my Timex cube alarm/radio clock; it lasted for almost 10 years and had battery backup.

Un excelente radio y despertador, sintoniza con claridad, lo recomiendo ampliamente

Wie versprochen wurde das Lieferdatum exakt eingehalten und es war auch alles sehr gut verpackt . Die Verpackung und der Versand waren natürlich kostenlos. Jetzt zum Gerät: Da war ich am Anfang etwas misstrauisch, aber ich habe beim Lieferanten angerufen und er sagte mir das ist das neuere Gerät des RCR-22 . Ich habe dann 2Stück bestellt ,ein Gerät für meine Frau und ein Gerät für mich. Ich muss sagen alles Top mit den zwei Geräten. Man kann 7 Sender einstellen 2 verschiedene Weckmethoden einstellen, also mit Weck-Ton oder mit Radio-Ton. Der Sound ist auch ganz schön ordentlich für dieses kleine Gerät. Und die Uhr wird über das Radio funkgenau eingestellt Sommerzeit und Winterzeit. Also alles in allem ein Top Gerät kann man nur weiter empfehlen.

Había tenido problemas con otros aparatos a la hora de recibir la señal. Con este todo bien. Como pega le pondría que no se puede apagar del todo la luz de fondo azul, si bien se puede atenuar a costa de que la hora no se vea a menos que lo ilumines tú.

What a fantastic unit. The screen is lit with a variable intensity blue background so you can leave it on low intensity overnight and then when the clock radio alarm begins the intensity automatically jumps to high, to light up the clock face. Very nice. Also the clock radio sound comes on gently over a half minute or so with a gentle volume then increases in volume. No blaring radio here folks ! The sound is very nice, clear, with some nice bass. It is very easy to read, the alarm settings are very thorough and easy to set and reset. There are 7 preset station buttons on top of the unit so you can preset your favourite stations. Also there is a great function called the "Information" button which is the bottom button on the right side face of the unit and when you turn it on, if the station is a Radio Data station, a read-a-board style message moves across the screen identifying the station you are listening to and the name of the song and the artist. It is a nice size unit, not taking up much space on my limited sized bed size table. Easy to learn how to use. I am glad I waited the month to get it as it was on back order. I could not have found a unit as excellent as this in the smaller city I live in. This Sangean product I purchased through Amazon was great. Shipping was fast. A great purchase ! N.C.B. Kelowna BC.

Dear fellow consumers,I am pretty happy with my purchase of the Sangean RCR-22 clock radio. First I will start with the radio, the reception on am is adequate, being able to pull in more out of town stations at night. The fm is qiute good with the wire antenna extended being able to pick up local stations and a few out of town stations as well. The 3 inch speaker is quite decent for the size with pretty good sound. Of course the stations are digitally viewed being spot on. The clock is wonderful, picking up WWVB practically every hour so the clock is accurate to the second. The Humane Waking System which gradually goes from a barely audible beep to the volume that you have set to the highest volume is just a great feature. The display I keep at a high intensity during the daytime and at night I dim the display and there is a control on the bottom to set the intensity to your liking. They say that the radio is in stereo in the instructions with headphones, but the technician at Sangean says that his display as well an mine did not show stereo. The stations are easy to set ,7preset for am and 7 preset for fm. You can also have the option of hooking up a aux sound source, in my case a portable cd player which translates into mono through the 3 inch speaker, not exactly high fidelity. The blue display is very clear to see and the unit looks high tech. I forgot to mention that there is also an antenna for picking up WWVB which has a length of 5 inches.This is a very good choice for a clock radio and is well made.