Over the course of the last few months, electronics manufacturers have released a fair number of new HD radios. There are new tabletop radios, car radios, and even a new category: shelf systems.
Tabletop HD Radios
The new tabletop radios are from AGT, Directed Electronics, Dice Electronics, Polk Audio and Sony. Additionally, Visteon has introduced a portable HD Jump receiver that the company says easily goes from car to home and back.
Polk Audio has two new units. One is called the Executive HDX3(TM) HD Radio and is priced at $299. This is about $300 less than Polk’s original HD offering, the iSonic entertainment system which checked in at $599.99, and about $200 less than Polk’s new iSonic 2 system.
The AGT HD Pulse HDT200 radio comes in a beautiful natural cherry wood cabinet and has a six-line graphic display, backlit LCD display, manual and seek tuning capabilities, 10 memory presets, and an analog and digital clock. AGT’s suggested price of the HD Pulse is $199.95
The Directed Electronics HD Tabletop Radio has a large, multi-line backlit display that shows the station, artist and song title, as well as other broadcast information. Directed Electronics says the regular MSRP for this radio is $199.95, but it’s currently available for $149.95.
Dice Electronics’ ITR-100, at an MSRP of $199, features HD station seek, an alarm clock, an RCA auxiliary input, and an optional add-on speaker.
Sony’s XDR-S3HD HD Radio comes in an attractive wooden cabinet and has a backlit LCD screen, 20 AM and FM presets, and a host of other nice features. Sony’s suggested retail price for the XDR53HD is $199.95.
The hybrid of the bunch is the HD Jump portable receiver. According to Visteon, HD Jump Radio allows you to enjoy the superior sound and diverse programming of HD Radio in your car or at home. Docked in the car dock, HD Jump uses your car’s existing radio and antenna to play HD Radio broadcasts. Dock HD Jump into the home with the optional Home Bracket Kit and listen to exclusive HD Radio content through your home stereo. The unit is priced at $177 with a car kit.
shelving systems
A new entry into the HD Radio market is the Insignia shelf system that retails at Best Buy for $149.99. It is described as a complete component system with progressive scan DVD/CD/MP3 player, 2 speakers and AM/FM/HD digital radio tuner. Also, plays DVD, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, DVD-RW DL, DVD+RW, DVD+RW DL, CD-R/RW, CD, Formats VCD/SVCD, JPEG, MP3 and WMA. The Insignia system comes with a remote control and has two audio inputs and outputs for composite video, S-video, component video, and digital optical output.
Tuners and car audio systems
The introduction of new HD car radios hasn’t quite kept pace with their desktop cousins, but there has been some activity in recent months.
For example, there are currently at least four new units on the board available. They are the JVC KDHDR1 50-watt CD player with built-in HD tuner for $149.99; the Sony CDX-GT320 HD-ready CD deck for $99.99; and two dual radios.
The dual units are a $149.99 XHD6425 50W x 4 In-Dash CD Player with HD Radio Tuner and Detachable Faceplate and the XHD6420 50W x 4 In-Dash CD Player with Radio Tuner HD and detachable front plate. Finally, Directed Electronics has a Directed Car Connect radio.
Dice Electronics has an external HD Radio receiver called the HD Dice HD Radio that it says will integrate into your factory car radio.
There are also HD tuners available that can be connected to existing in-dash units for HD Radio reception. In this area, Alpine has a TUA-T500HD Radio Tuner Module that is compatible with all new 2007 Alpine head units. The T500HD has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $250. Kenwood offers a KTC-HR100TR tuner for around $179 that can be connected to compatible Kenwood in-dash units. And Sony has a tuner, XT-100HD, with a suggested retail price of $99.95.