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HD Radio Tabletops Begin to Arrive

HD Radio Tabletops Begin to Arrive

Boston Acoustics is shipping its Recepter Radio HD to retailers and broadcasters, becoming the first receiver manufacturer to ship tabletop HD Radios.
Director of Product Development David Kroll said retail back-orders shipped from its Massachusetts headquarters before Thanksgiving and those should arrive this week.
Shipments to broadcasters also began last week and are expected to continue for the next few weeks.
Kroll said some broadcast groups have ordered a small number to use as samples while others have placed orders for “significant quantities” for promotional use.
Boston Acoustics is shipping to retailers such as: The Great Indoors, a division of Sears; Listen Up in Denver; Bjorns in Texas; Tweeter Etc. in Chicago; Magnolia Audio in the Pacific Northwest and Harvey Electronics in New York.
Some of the online retailers receiving the product include: C. Crane, Crutchfield, One Call, J&R Music and The Audio Advisor.
The unit, which lists for $499, includes the ability to decode multicast signals. A stereo input accepts iPods, MP3 players and other external audio sources. The radio’s stereo headphone output doubles as a line output, allowing it to serve any component audio system as an HD Radio source.
On the display, an HD-R indicator tells the user the radio is tuned to a digital station; glowing arrows appear to the right and left of whatever station the unit is tuned to to indicate the presence of multicast stations, Kroll told RW Online.
The tabletop models for HD Radio have suffered numerous production delays; originally manufacturers projected late spring-early summer availability.
Why the months-long delay? It’s new technology, Kroll said. “It’s not re-freshing a product and making subtle changes.”
Another tabletop model, Radiosophy’s MultiStream HD, has technical issues that need to be addressed. It expects to resolve the issues soon and begin mass production in China once the multi-week Chinese New Year break is over, company President/CEO Richard Skeie told RW Online.
“We’ll ship in Q1 and as soon as we set a firm date, we’ll announce it,” said Skeie.
We’ve previously reported the third company that plans to incorporate IBOC into a tabletop radio, Polk Audio, plans to ship its I-Sonic Entertainment System to retailers in Q1.

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