What's the best sounding vintage clock radio?

Artie said:
Somewhere around here, I have one of those. Not only could you wake up to AM/FM/CD, but you could also do Surf/Wind/Rain etc. You could also set the sleep timer to fall asleep to those. It was cool. I think it was called a "Dream Machine".
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I have a dream machine I used to use. It's a 2010 model and now I have it sitting on my father's dresser. But it's not vintage.
 
62vauxhall said:
We are talking AM clock radios, right?

No "contemporary" table radio sounds better to me than a tube model from the.40's or 50's.

I would say the same about tube car radios from the same era.
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Nope. More like clock radios from the 60s thru the 80s.

I'd also need FM/AFC
 
I found a GE 7-4945A at a yard sale a few years back, it sounds excellent. Stereo, AM/FM, dual alarm, battery backup.

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I picked up one of the flip clocks at a rummage sale many years ago. Brought it home and found that the numbers didn't flip like they were supposed to. Opened it up and found the dried out carcass of a dead carpenter ant blocking the numbers from flipping. Removed said ant and it ran fine for years afterwards.
 
Vintage Art Deco.......maybe ????

You can even find something with simple wire circuitry in wood using tubes !!!!


Or you can put a plug-in timer on your receivers power cord and leave the receiver on, adjust the volume high and it will blast you out of bed no matter how late you went to sleep the night before. It’s what I did in the Army for years.
 
Nakamichi System One - the clock/timer is at the top. You'll need some speakers to go with, but if you choose those wisely you'll have the best sounding clock radio ever. I don't think it has a buzzer, but the radio will go loud enough to definitely wake you up, no matter how deep you sleep

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Photo is from AK member Tower Boss, who is aptly named
 
Almost anything made by GE or Zenith in the '70s and '80s sounds great, but the 1980s GE 7-4691A "Fidelity I" clock radio really is king, with its huge 5"x7" oval speaker. It has outstanding AM and FM reception, too.

 
darg said:
I would not take one with a green LED clock, these green LED are bright like hell, and even dim able ones are still lighting up a dark room. My mom has one and has a welders glass in front of it to not get blinded :)
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I used a leftover piece of DIY window tint from a French door on one of my alarm clocks. That dark tint took of the brightness perfectly!
 
50+ people will give the kid great advice and he'll probably end up buying another wolf statue. I refuse to give advice to someone who has no intention of taking it.
 
After my GE (similar to that above) died, I had a heckuva time replacing it. But I'm very happy with the Nakamichi TM1(identical to the Proton) that I found used on-line. They're usually less than $50, but make sure you get a refundable purchase -- if they are shipped poorly they can be damaged and unusable.
 
vwestlife said:
Almost anything made by GE or Zenith in the '70s and '80s sounds great, but the 1980s GE 7-4691A "Fidelity I" clock radio really is king, with its huge 5"x7" oval speaker. It has outstanding AM and FM reception, too.

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Welp, I'm going to buy the one GE 7-4691 on eBay rather instantly.

But, at the same time I just want improve something that I really like as well. Just to make it more enjoyable so that I can turn it louder without distortion. Maybe add some foam in the ported chamber. Or the T/S Parameters have degraded over the years?
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vwestlife said:
Almost anything made by GE or Zenith in the '70s and '80s sounds great, but the 1980s GE 7-4691A "Fidelity I" clock radio really is king, with its huge 5"x7" oval speaker. It has outstanding AM and FM reception, too.

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Interesting! Bet it sounds better than pretty much every other clock radio they ever made. I've owned a few GE clock radios; while a couple of them sounded sorta-decent, while the rest sounded like the speaker was made of pressed cardboard. :thumbsdown: Would be interesting to see a shoot-out between one of those and a Proton 320, to see which one is the king of the clock radios........... :idea:
red 111 said:
KLH MODEL 21 with digital clock... 25 WPC...very few beat this radio...
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The KLH 21 was a decent follow-up to the legendary KLH model 8 table radio. Unfortunately, the CL version used what I consider to be one of the worst electro-mechanical digital clock movements ever designed. Rather than using flip digits or scroll wheels like most 'digital' clock radios, they used what I refer to as a 'film-scroll' mechanism which is made of cheap plastic which almost always has broken by this point. :rant: Perhaps one of them could be retrofitted with a different alarm clock mechanism/circuit, though it probably would be a pain in the ass.
-Adam
 
AdamAnt316 said:
Interesting! Bet it sounds better than pretty much every other clock radio they ever made. I've owned a few GE clock radios; while a couple of them sounded sorta-decent, while the rest sounded like the speaker was made of pressed cardboard. :thumbsdown: Would be interesting to see a shoot-out between one of those and a Proton 320, to see which one is the king of the clock radios........... :idea:

The KLH 21 was a decent follow-up to the legendary KLH model 8 table radio. Unfortunately, the CL version used what I consider to be one of the worst electro-mechanical digital clock movements ever designed. Rather than using flip digits or scroll wheels like most 'digital' clock radios, they used what I refer to as a 'film-scroll' mechanism which is made of cheap plastic which almost always has broken by this point. :rant: Perhaps one of them could be retrofitted with a different alarm clock mechanism/circuit, though it probably would be a pain in the ass.
-Adam
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You are right...the clock was bad... I found mine with the clock working...but not for long...sound wise...beautiful! ...my original model 21 bought in 1968 is still playing like new...no clock
 
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