[BC] HD Radio Sales to the Common Listener

[Rich Wood]

------ At 01:28 AM 3/3/2009, Robert Orban wrote: -------

>At 08:22 PM 3/2/2009, Rich Wood wrote:
>>One high end audio dealer has had a Boston Acoustics Receptor on 
>>display for more than two years. The owner says it has a bright 
>>future in a dumpster.
>
>Odd...it's actually a pretty nice FM table radio, even in analog. I 
>would think he could sell it on that basis. (I still use mine as a 
>clock radio to wake me up, and yes, I still wake up to KDFC HD2.)

Personally, I prefer the BA mono analog unit.  It comes pretty close 
to the Sony tuner's reception. There's something listenable 
(technically) on almost every frequency at night. The AM is quite 
good. That's one reason I was disappointed with the performance of 
the two Receptors I bought and returned. The Receptor doesn't come close.

Part of the reason he can't sell it is that it doesn't belong in a 
snooty audiophile store. They've experimented with IBUZ and dismissed 
it as crap (his words). His less well off customers start with a 2 to 
3 thousand dollar amplifier and stop when they reach about a $20,000 
system. No CD player. CDs aren't good enough.  Absolutely no radio 
included. Primitive quality combined with vapid formats in this 
market  make it unnecessary. MP3 signals the end of the world as we 
know it. These are people probably close to food stamps.  The real 
systems start with a $20,000 turntable and go up from there. Even the 
Radio Shack stores can't get rid of their receptors.

The sales guy was a man oozing desperation trying to get it out of 
the store. I was the only person to ever ask about IBUZ. He was truly 
disappointed when I told him I had already returned two of them and 
wasn't going out with a third strike.

If stations in New York are having IBUZ reception problems I'd love 
to get an unbiased report on mobile reception in San Francisco. I was 
programming KFOG there when the Sutro tower went up. It was supposed 
to solve the problem of hilly terrain. Sadly, it made some stations' 
reception worse and annoyed the neighbors.

I haven't been back to the store in a while. I have to drive by it 
today. I might stop in and see if it's still there. If it isn't, I'd 
like to know if the buyer lives in a refrigerator box or if it ended 
up in a dumpster or the Salvation Army.

I think someone let the air out of the revolution.

Rich