Geekage Warning: Tecsun PL-390
Feb. 28th, 2011 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafoc
Considering that it only has one tiny speaker, the sound from the Ipad is pretty good. It's only mono, though. Also, its volume doesn't go high enough for larger or noisy places.
It would be nice to have a set of external speakers for it. But most of the computer speakers I've seen are either without any power of their own, or they eat batteries too fast to be that much use. And most of them are too bulky to haul around much. Granted you could use a big set of speakers around the house, but it would be nice to have some that are as portable as the Ipad is.
I was considering this problem, wondering where I could find a set of self-powered portable speakers for the Ipad, when I remembered that a radio I have has a line in. A stereo line in...
http://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-PL390-Digital-Shortwave-Speakers/dp/B004NQHR12
This puppy hooks to the Ipad with a standard stereo patch cord, one of those two-ended things with a miniature stereo headphone plug at each end. So it would hook to anything that has a standard miniature headphone jack, like your Walkman (if anybody still uses those things) or your MP3 player.
Here you have a set of portable stereo speakers that also picks up AM, FM. shortwave, and (for anybody in Europe) longwave. Plays stereo on FM too.
Not only does it pick them all up, it picks them up WELL. The "Easy Tuning Method" is especially nice. You set it to scan whatever band you're listening to. It makes note of all the listenable signals there are, even on the shortwave broadcast bands. After that, when you turn the tuning knob, it jumps clear signal to clear signal, skipping all the spaces in between. Cool!
They also make a smaller version without the right side speaker. I got the larger stereo version because it has a longer case that gives space for a longer AM antenna- and for a miracle, they did actually put a longer AM antenna in it, instead of the shorter antenna of the one speaker version. It makes it borderline amazing for AM reception.
Plus it does all the "usual" radio things- it works as an alarm clock, it has more memory presets than I can find use for, and so on.
This is a great little set. Amazon has them for $66 or so. That's not too bad just for a set of speakers, let alone the other features. Recommended.
It would be nice to have a set of external speakers for it. But most of the computer speakers I've seen are either without any power of their own, or they eat batteries too fast to be that much use. And most of them are too bulky to haul around much. Granted you could use a big set of speakers around the house, but it would be nice to have some that are as portable as the Ipad is.
I was considering this problem, wondering where I could find a set of self-powered portable speakers for the Ipad, when I remembered that a radio I have has a line in. A stereo line in...
http://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-PL390-Digital-Shortwave-Speakers/dp/B004NQHR12
This puppy hooks to the Ipad with a standard stereo patch cord, one of those two-ended things with a miniature stereo headphone plug at each end. So it would hook to anything that has a standard miniature headphone jack, like your Walkman (if anybody still uses those things) or your MP3 player.
Here you have a set of portable stereo speakers that also picks up AM, FM. shortwave, and (for anybody in Europe) longwave. Plays stereo on FM too.
Not only does it pick them all up, it picks them up WELL. The "Easy Tuning Method" is especially nice. You set it to scan whatever band you're listening to. It makes note of all the listenable signals there are, even on the shortwave broadcast bands. After that, when you turn the tuning knob, it jumps clear signal to clear signal, skipping all the spaces in between. Cool!
They also make a smaller version without the right side speaker. I got the larger stereo version because it has a longer case that gives space for a longer AM antenna- and for a miracle, they did actually put a longer AM antenna in it, instead of the shorter antenna of the one speaker version. It makes it borderline amazing for AM reception.
Plus it does all the "usual" radio things- it works as an alarm clock, it has more memory presets than I can find use for, and so on.
This is a great little set. Amazon has them for $66 or so. That's not too bad just for a set of speakers, let alone the other features. Recommended.
