Transcript
George: A Table Radio? Bernard R. Kingsley
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FEW MORNINGS ago as I was getting ready for work, I heard music blasting downstairs. We have several audio systems, so I couldn’t be sure where the sound was coming from. Actually, it sounded pretty good, just loud. Stepping out of the room near the stairs, I identified the likely system and user. “Hey, Andrew, can you turn George down some?” It’s been that way with George and Andrew. Normally, Andrew, age 11, pays little or no attention to the audio boxes that arrive at our home. But with George, it was different. “Wow, this thing can connect to my iPod!” I can tell you right now that when Chestnut Hill Sound wants their George back, they will have a fight on their hands, if only from Andrew. What’s a George? It looks like one of those audiophile-quality table radios (you know, from Bose, Tivoli and Cambridge Audio). But it has a few unique twists. It contains an iPod dock so you can use an iPod as a source as well as use it as a traditional radio. The makers want me to call it George and I will from now on. But how’s this for slick? George has a front panel which can be removed and then used as a remote. Let’s look at some other aspects of George.
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I live in an area which has been the home of many audio companies, so I’m not surprised that yet another has started up. Based in the up-scale area of Chestnut Hill and Newton, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), Chestnut Hill Sound is making a considerable noise with their new, flagship model (actually, as of this writing, their only model). George is an attractive table radio and it comes in a variety of cosmetic options. Although it isn’t exactly tiny (14.25 x 5 x 8.6 inches), it does not contain its own power transformer. Instead, it uses an outboard power transformer, which is massive for such a device by most people’s standards. George uses coaxial (two-way) speakers for stereo. The speakers are bi-amped. These stereo coaxial speakers are paired with a dedicated downward-firing 4-inch subwoofer. My impression is that this is one well-built, tough unit. The unit can be cosmetically changed in color through kits Chestnut Hill has available. You can choose from cherry/charcoal, natural walnut/brown, jet black, royal blue, or pure red. Unlike most such radios which require you to use the iPod for control, the front panel-based remote will
the audiophile voice
let you do that on its large display. Okay, I did write “large” and not a few people have pointed out that the remote is, indeed, large. Large enough to be provided a separate acrylic stand. In reality, it’s not the kind of remote you can easily carry around and perhaps put in your shirt pocket. But it is handy. We had placed George in a rather inconvenient to reach (but not to listen to) area of the kitchen, and the remote was located on its stand across the room in a very convenient place. The stand has its own charger, so that the remote, which operates on supplied batteries, is always ready. We had George set up fairly quickly. When you connect an iPod, it will synchronize with George and that can take a minute or so. Once done, George can display all the content of the iPod. Any iPod connected will also charge itself while docked. A combination alarm and timer is available so that you could wake up with your designated iPod playlist. A large owner’s manual can be downloaded from the Chestnut Hill Sound website (there was very good startup information in the box, but not a full manual which it seemed to me would be helpful to any owner). In addition to the radio and iPod function, George possesses an auxiliary input, headphone output, USB connection (for firmware upgrades and other possible future uses), bass level adjustment (we turned ours down since the radio is near a corner), a pre-amp output (yeah, that’s unusual and might be appreciated by audiophiles), and connections for antennas. I should mention that the website is more helpful than most, both for making a buying decision and for support. The front panel (remember it doubles as the remote) contains a large display, a multi-purpose knob and a number of buttons which change function depending on what is selected. That’s not as complicated as it sounds since the display helps sort things out, but there were a few times when we got frustrated. Once we got used to George, the operations were smooth. Radio reception was quite good, at least as good as the Tivoli radio we had been using. We received all of the stations we normally get from Boston, even the marginal ones. Lamentably, even Jamie’s country station got through. Incidentally, George is said to have the world’s only band-less tuning system. It has no AM/FM button. You can spin the front panel control knob from FM to AM frequencies and back again. As Andrew demonstrated on several occasions, this player can be loud! Fortunately, it sounds good even loud and has more bass than you might expect. As with any audio system, location can make a difference and while it is a “table radio,” I would not use a heavy table cloth due to the downward firing woofer. Obviously, the sound quality will vary depending on the quality of the audio files in the iPod. We had a number of uncompressed files in Microsoft (wav) and Apple lossless (M4A) formats available so that a reasonable evaluation could be made. The two stereo speakers are really placed too close together to provide much of a soundstage, but they did give some directionality. Initially, I thought the unit was rather bass heavy, but this was ameliorated with some adjustments in placement of the unit and with that control in back of the unit. Still, George has a bit of “warmth” in its sound and this can be noticed in male voices. Classical music came out surprisingly well (listening to Haydn’s cello concerto). The midrange was nice and clear. High fre-
quencies were smooth with a roll-off a bit early for my taste, but still, a very smooth sound which never became harsh unless pushed to the absolute extreme (by Andrew). Like some other high-end radios, George has a wide, open sound and delivers much more-surrounding, more-enveloping sound than anyone would expect from a system so small. It can fill a room with very credible sound. Indeed, as stated at the beginning of this article, I had troubles identifying George from the other audio systems in the house when listening upstairs. Incidentally, I did try out the audio and headphone outputs, which did not add anything in the way of noise or other objectionable things to the sound. In fact, I enjoyed listening with headphones. All of us preferred George over the Tivoli, though, to be fair, George is a bit more expensive. The Tivoli does have separate speakers which we normally separate by a couple of feet, giving a greater sense of Stereo. Still, we would choose the George for several real reasons: First, because of its iPod capability, then because it has quite good sound, and last, it has a very useful remote. At $499, George isn’t exactly cheap. But then, it’s obviously going to last a good many years, and good sound never comes really cheap. I think it’s worth the price of admission.
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George (what sort of product is this?), $499.00. Chestnut Hill Sound, 90 Oak St., P.O. Box 68, Newton, MA 02464; phone 617/618-1800; fax 617/663-6158; e-mail
[email protected]; web site www.chillsound.com. Associated Equipment iPod Nano, Tivoli radio, Shure EC5 headphones, Philips SHE9850 in-ear headphones.
Volume 13, Issue 1
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