C Crane

[TaoOfLuxLisbon]

I know someone mentioned them the other day.....anyone ever get one of their products and what did you think?

I'm thinking of getting a long range AM radio or a WiFi radio from them.

[ArtBellFan]

Love C Crane, have the CC Radio Plus and have bought many products from them over the years, buy all my long life batteries there..there are a trustworthy company back money back guarantees on their products.  The CC Radio is the best radio I have ever owned...

[Marc.Knight]

Love C Crane, have the CC Radio Plus and have bought many products from them over the years, buy all my long life batteries there..there are a trustworthy company back money back guarantees on their products.  The CC Radio is the best radio I have ever owned...

I have to agree with your opinon about the CC Radio Plus.  I also have a Grundig S350DL which I love as well.

[MV/Liberace!]

i also have a cc radio plus.  it's fine, but i found it to be more susceptible to electrical interference than i would have liked.  that said, the cc radio plus is a rebranded sangean... and they make fine equipment.

[The General]

What is this about 'operators are standing by?'
Back in my day, you had to wait until the next day and call Bob Crane in the morning.

[albrecht]

I was thinking the same thing about C Crane! Classic. But glad to see that they have modernized to have staff available to take orders at night. They see good stuff. I still have some a decade (or more?) still working.

[Wintermute]

I must be the only one that thinks that many of C.Crane / Tivoli / Grundig products are over priced.

Unless you hit a clearance sale on any of these, the value isn't there.

[Caruthers612]

I know someone mentioned them the other day.....anyone ever get one of their products and what did you think?

I'm thinking of getting a long range AM radio or a WiFi radio from them.

           Back in the 90s, I bought the CC Radio for the friend who turned me onto Art, for his birthday. He absolutely flipped when he opened the box. I never heard whether it actually brought in more distant radio stations or made the normal ones sound clearer. Why do I think the latter claim was about as legit as a three dollar bill with a picture of Millard Filmore on it.

[CornyCrow]

i also have a cc radio plus.  it's fine, but i found it to be more susceptible to electrical interference than i would have liked.  that said, the cc radio plus is a rebranded sangean... and they make fine equipment.

Yeah.  Mine, too.  I think you can find better stuff online if you look around.   

[CornyCrow]

I must be the only one that thinks that many of C.Crane / Tivoli / Grundig products are over priced.

Unless you hit a clearance sale on any of these, the value isn't there.

I agree.  I don't think you are getting the quality that the cost would make you expect. 

[DanTSX]

I must be the only one that thinks that many of C.Crane / Tivoli / Grundig products are over priced.

Unless you hit a clearance sale on any of these, the value isn't there.

The Tivoli stuff sounds GREAT.

Much like the old Boston Acoustics FM Receptor radios.

But they went cheap chicom manufacturing recently and lost all of their quality and innovation.

But it's always been overpriced.  Tivoli of the late 90's - early 2000's were pretty nice. 

C. Crane is generally the same re-branded chi-com crap that grundig is doing. The nice thing that C.Crane does, is that they actually look at how people use the products, and react to needs, which is nice.   Grundig of today is nothing at all like the German Grundig of yesteryear.   Cheap junk in comparison.  But they make an honest attempt to bring introductory consumer level equipment to the market, and encourage the chicom factories to put some thought into the product layout and design.  For that, they do a decent job.  I have a newer chicom grundig sitting on the desk next to me.  It's pretty good for dicking around on the AM and SW bands.

All of the good radios were built in the past.  However, the recent wave of Software Defined Radio is giving a $20 IF dongle, tuning options that were never avaliable or flexible on any tube or solid state radio of the past 60 years.  The more things change......the more they stay the same....

[Wintermute]

Exactly... I had a Boston Receptor and sold it because of the lack of AUX selection, but it sounded very nice. I bought a Tivoli Songbook on clearance for 60% off. It has been a VERY good radio and can be used for a ton of other things. I also acquired one of the large Tivoli table radios for very cheap (less then $200). It is a great sounding system for it's size, but the reception sucks.

Most Andriod devices have FM tuners + have the ability to use online streaming through multiple apps. Pair a 4yr old Andriod phone with a set of $100 powered speakers and you have a very good setup. Much better than C.Crane / Tivoli / whoever.

When I listen to C2C or Dark Matter, I use a Droid Incredible 2 hooked to some 5yr old M-Audio BX5's. The DINC2 in airplane mode w/ WiFi on will last three times longer than a Tivoli Songbook on batteries.

The Tivoli stuff sounds GREAT.

Much like the old Boston Acoustics FM Receptor radios.

But they went cheap chicom manufacturing recently and lost all of their quality and innovation.

But it's always been overpriced.  Tivoli of the late 90's - early 2000's were pretty nice. 

C. Crane is generally the same re-branded chi-com crap that grundig is doing. The nice thing that C.Crane does, is that they actually look at how people use the products, and react to needs, which is nice.   Grundig of today is nothing at all like the German Grundig of yesteryear.   Cheap junk in comparison.  But they make an honest attempt to bring introductory consumer level equipment to the market, and encourage the chicom factories to put some thought into the product layout and design.  For that, they do a decent job.  I have a newer chicom grundig sitting on the desk next to me.  It's pretty good for dicking around on the AM and SW bands.

All of the good radios were built in the past.  However, the recent wave of Software Defined Radio is giving a $20 IF dongle, tuning options that were never avaliable or flexible on any tube or solid state radio of the past 60 years.  The more things change......the more they stay the same....

[Wintermute]

The last C.Crane item I had was the FM transmitter and I sent it back. It was horrible. The little Belkin model you can buy at Walmart had more output. For $80 you can buy a full 1watt transmitter on Amazon which can cover a few city blocks depending upon your antenna placement.

Otherwise in the 1990's a gal-friend bought me a C.Crane shortwave. It was fine as long as you had a very good, external antenna. But wasn't a miracle or anything.

[DanTSX]

The best current production consumer AM/Fm radios are going to be Sangean table radios and larger portables.   Sony still has some good stuff, but is either behind the times or full-tilt techno crazy.


Go late 80's early 90's vintage for best results.