Sangean HDR-19 HD Radio/AM/FM-RDS/Bluetooth/AUX Premium Wooden Cabinet Radio

I've had this for almost a week now, enough time to test it a bit and form some opinions. First off this is a very handsome radio, build quality is first rate which I would expect at this price. It's heavier than I was expecting. The speaker is large and can get pretty loud without distorting. The knobs and controls give it a quality feel and the wood cabinet is not only nice to look at but gives the sound a warm quality. To test AM reception I consulted the Radio Locator website and printed off a list of AM stations which I should be able to receive in my area according to them. I grabbed my Eton Elite Executive, Tecsun AN-100 small loop antenna and a C.Crane Twin Coil antenna and set up to see what I could receive in the mid to late afternoon. Radio Locator gave me a list of 15 AM stations that I should be able to hear at my location. Two of those stations turned out to be off-the-air; local stations that weren't present at all. Of the remaining 13 stations the Eton could easily capture all of them and deliver listenable signals. The HDR-19 couldn't hear about 5 of those but when I added the AN-100 or Twin-Coil antenna all of them came in well enough. I had slightly better results using the AN-100 on the HDR-19 and preferred it over the C.Crane Twin Coil. The AN-100 fits well on top of the HDR-19 and looks good there. The Eton didn't need any help, it delivered a great signal all by itself. It found about 8 or 9 extra stations not on the Radio Locator list. The Sangean could barely hear half of those with the AN-100 but not very well. In general AM reception of non-local stations was very noisy, lots of RF noise, typical for this area. The Eton with selectable bandwidths handled the noise better. Night time AM reception was challenging because it's hard to turn the radio, but when I tested it I was able to pick up the major stations out of New York City which is nearly 900 miles away, plus WBZ in Boston and Zoomer out of Toronto and many others in between. (I'm in Florida) I had to use the AN-100 to get these but still this was good performance for a table radio. FM was a different story, it pulled in lots of stations very clearly. I'm between two NPR stations, one about 45 miles south of me which includes an HD station that I like and one about 75 miles to the north which has 3 HD stations. I can usually get one or the other but the HD stations to the north are a hard catch and the one to the south should be out of range too. The HDR-19 is bringing in at least one these stations almost every day, more often than I would expect. There was one magical day when they all came in strong and crystal clear. I'm really happy with this because I like to listen to classical music and the HD stations are the only source I have, except for the internet of course. This is a great FM radio and probably the best HD Radio that I have used. Bluetooth works flawlessly and sounds great! I have positioned this radio next to my recliner and stream TV sound to it. It sounds wonderful. I can understand everything being said which is otherwise a problem for me. I've had this radio for nearly a week and the only real problem I'm having is turning it off! Not only is there no listener fatigue but I actually miss it when I do turn it off. This is a great sounding radio. I usually ignore the equalizer presets and go with the normal program. A couple of minor complaints: 1) There is no provision for attaching an external FM antenna. It would be nice to have that option. There are terminals for an external AM antenna. I hope someone will test that out. 2) The button labels are hard to read in a darkened room. A light behind those would be great. This radio is a keeper!

I've been researching compact home audio systems for several years. I have one old huge 8-speaker Technics component stereo and a smaller Pioneer component stereo - 500+ watts each - and I never use them because they are just too much. For years I had planned to hard-wire speakers throughout the house using one of these beasts but, again, it's just too much. I wanted something much smaller that sounded disproportionately good. I considered going the obvious route with a small army of Sonos speakers. Personally, I've never really found their sound to justify the immense cost. Being a fan of JBL, I was excited when they released the [new] Authentics series. They look and sound good but seem a bit cheaply made. While they are Wi-Fi and meant to compete with the Sonos, I'm constantly annoyed by JBL not getting any of their products to work together. If I were to do a wireless household audio system, I would want a decent sound bar included in the setup but JBL refuses to make any of their speaker series connect to each other and they're constantly changing the type of wireless technology while also not making any of it backwards compatible with older products. Then I finally decided to ditch the entire idea of an expansive interconnected household system. Our house is only 1,200 square feet on a single floor, so there really isn't a need for speakers in every single room. We have a collection of JBL Bluetooth speakers we use a lot with our mobile devices but I now wanted a tabletop radio with Bluetooth instead of always using the battery-powered JBL's (which are getting old and the batteries aren't lasting as long as they used to). I've also had a Sangean WR-15WL radio centrally located in our dining room for the past 10 years. It was connected to my girlfriend's turntable and we would occasionally use it to listen to OTA live FM radio. We actually really like to listen to live radio but don't often do so in the house as the WR-15WL reception and sound quality is decent but not awesome and radio tuning can be cumbersome. Still, the WR-15WL let me experience the high quality of a Sangean radio. So my new plan was to replace the Sangean WR-15WL in our dining room with something that has better sound, volume and features. My first consideration for a new radio was a Sangean WR-12BT or a WR-16 but I figured these would have the same standard radio tuner. Then the new Sangean HDR-19 was released. I didn't jump on it right away due to the price, but when I came across it on a really good sale, I ordered one right away. Unboxing it I wondered if I was going to keep it. Turning it on and giving it a quick trial, I wondered again if I was going to keep it. Well, that was a week ago and I've used it pretty much every day. The little Sangean HDR-19 turned out to be exactly what I was looking for: a compact, high-quality tabletop radio with clear and accurate radio tuning, an auxiliary input, Bluetooth and a good match of speakers and amplifier with some tone control (3-band digital EQ). To me, it sounds really good with a broad range of fairly crisp highs and mids and enough bass to fill out the whole sound. Despite suffering a bit at the top third of its capable volume, the radio definitely punches above its weight class. The controls are minimal and easy to navigate but the radio does require some minor setup (like time, date, emergency alert system and region selection for radio reception - hint: USA is region "B" which is not the default). Everything about the HDR-19 feels premium with smooth, LED-lit knobs and firm buttons. The LCD screen can be a bit cluttered but it does a good job of displaying information. I have no regrets at all in buying this radio. If you are looking for a small but very good sounding radio (FM & AM) with added features like Bluetooth and an auxiliary line-in (3.5mm stereo) definitely consider the HDR-19. If by any chance the radio is in stock locally, don't hesitate to go and try it out. You'll be able to tell right away that Sangean makes quality products. I strongly recommend this Sangean HDR-19 tabletop radio.

Excellent product, easy to install and clear reception. Expensive but totally worth it given the other radios don't really work in Indian homes anymore. Needs a step down converter in India. Very happy with purchase.

It's not a deal breaker, and this radio is gorgeous, but no auxiliary jack for stereo speakers. I liked the radio so much that I bought some Kanto Ora speakers for it! You can easily remove the antenna cover and add the Bingfu FM Radio Antenna FM Dipole Antenna, found on Amazon. Once the antenna cover is off, just remove the whip antenna by removing the nut holding the antenna. I did notice large improvement in reception, from 2 bars/3bars to 3bars/4bars. I live in an apartment so the walls are full of metal that hold the plaster and interfere with reception, and I'm located on the opposite side of the building from the radio station transmitter. It takes some work and testing to find the right antenna position, but it is well worth the effort. I won't guarantee that this antenna is better for you, than the antenna that came with the radio, but the articles on the web that I read say that it is a better type of antenna. I like the fact that the original whip antenna isn't annoying me anymore!

Très bon radio de table avec une grande qualité de son. Surprenant pour sa petite taille.

No better Radio on market. simply the best

Before I review this radio, I will say that I own two Sangean HDR-18 radios with HD capability, so I will compare the radios as a matter of fact and not something I read online. I purchased this HDR 19 radio for its supposed ability to play HD stations as well as to be able to pull distant FM stations. My huge disappointment came from the fact that the FM tuner of this radio is an absolute failure in terms if sensitivity and selectivity! An HD PBS station that with an indoor antenna on the HDR 18 radios comes in with three bars out of five, on the HDR 19 radio pulls in ONLY the main station, not being able to lock in the HD2 and HD3 at all!! I connected the radio with an external antenna with zero success! The main station came in with 5 bars of strength and the HD2 and HD3 were not locked in at all. A regular FM country station that would come with the indoor antenna with 2 or 3 bars of strength on the HDR 18, would barely be picked up by the HDR 19 with one bar of strength with a lot of hissing and was absolutely unlistenable. Another shock was to discover that the selectivity of the FM tuner is horrible. A strong station would come in on 4 or 5 frequencies to the right of the tuner scale, thus completely drowning a weaker (but listenable) station adjacent to it! And to make it worse, the weak but listenable stations that were picked up by HDR 18 were not picked up by this radio at all! Ok, let's say that the indoor antenna was not good enough or that my house is not in a good location but to replace the indoor antenna with an outdoor antenna with zero success??? I am sorry, for me this radio is not worth one-third of its price. AND , it is supposed to be a celebration or a jubilee of Sangean's existence as a company? Is this a joke? An over 300$ joke? The speaker with a bit of tweaking gives a very good sound. But if I wanted a Bluetooth speaker, I would have bought one for 30$ and not for 300$. I repeat - all weaker stations that I pick up with no problem on the HDR 18 Sangean radio are an absolute failure on the HDR 19. If you live in a big city with super strong radio signals, and that is sufficient for you, it is fine, but when you pay for such an expensive product, you should expect a little more, nay a lot more. For me, this radio was a huge disappointment, even though I love the company and I own three Sangean radios. I am sorry, Sangean, someone didn't do their homework right.