I'm looking for a small portable radio to take on a long trip.

June 9, 2004 4:15 PM

Anyone own a Tivoli PAL portable radio? Or have another lightweight, portable radio with audio-in they'd like to recommend? I'm looking for a small little gadget to take on a long trip, to the beach, and other places.

The PAL looks great, but it's $130! I would be up for it if it were certified amazing by the Metafilter Review Committee....

posted by josh to shopping (10 comments total)

As it so happens, my wife presented me with not just a PAL, but an iPal (self-link) as an early Father's Day gift after I drooled about it on my blog.

It's definitely smaller and lighter than the regular Tivoli table radios (I have one of those, too), but it seems a bit boxy to me as a take-along. I listened to my iPod with it at work all day today and the sound is typical of the Tivolis, surprisingly warm for a single-speaker system.
posted by briank at 5:30 PM on June 9, 2004

I own the Tivoli Model 2 with sub-woofer, and just recently bought a Model 1 for my parents. I've seen the PAL, but haven't really used it.

But I can say that I'm very impressed with the Henry Kloss line of radios sold by Tivoli. They're solid, well made pieces of hardware that are worth the extra expense. Barring something catastrophic, it'll last a lifetime. You can probably find something cheaper, but I don't reckon it'll last long at the beach, etc.

This member of the MeFiRevCom endorses it unreservedly!
posted by aladfar at 5:33 PM on June 9, 2004

I got a PAL as a freebie and really enjoy it. I don't know that I would ever pay $130 for it, because even as warm as it sounds, it's still only one speaker. The battery life is pretty good, which makes it ideal for the beach, etc. However, if you are going to be using it in places where you generally have power available, a decent set of computer speakers would be a better investment.
posted by ajr at 7:08 PM on June 9, 2004

It looks like such a cool device . . . . My plan is the following: I'm going on a four week trip to California on some family business, during which time I'll be staying in hotel rooms and studying for a big grad school exam. I was thinking of splurging on the PAL so that I can listen to the radio and my iPod at my desk and in bed -- so, to the extent it needs to be packable, it just needs to go comfortably into a rolling suitcase, and not add too much weight to my trip.

I'm pretty sold on it from everyone's positive reviews -- I'll go check it out at Tweeter tomorrow.
posted by josh at 7:40 PM on June 9, 2004

(Also, I was hoping that after my trip, I could take it to the beach, on a picnic, etc.)
posted by josh at 7:41 PM on June 9, 2004

P.S., my wife found that Tweeter, et. al. will not have the iPal in the store until late July, so if you want one now, you can order it directly from Tivoli's website.
posted by briank at 6:37 AM on June 10, 2004

I bought a PAL and have been very happy with it. For me, the greatest benefit was that it's got much better reception than most radios I'd been trying in my apartment. The sound's good too, I guess, but this is from someone with a bottom of the line stereo system and cheapass speakers. My partner rolls her eyes every time we use it, but I don't really notice anything wrong.

It does have good battery life and I often cart it around the apartment with me when I'm doing maintenance type stuff or when I'm folding laundry, etc.
posted by ursus_comiter at 7:55 AM on June 10, 2004

Both my wife and I have PAL units. They are good from travel, doing yard work, and even in the bathroom.

Everything is great about them except one small detail. It's a pet peeve of mine, and it may not matter to you.

The PAL has an external input so you can feed it audio from your CD player, MP3 player, whatever... But there is no selection switch on the front to choose the aux input. The aux input is switched in only when you put the connector in the back.

So if you are listening to the radio and you want to switch to your CD player, you have to plug the cable in. When you are done with the CD player and want to listen to the radio, you need to unplug the cable.

When they released the Model Two, it had a Aux position on selector switch and it is now The Perfect Audio Device. The older Model One has the same connector issue as the PAL.

As long as that won't drive you insane, the PAL is fantastic. In every other way, wonderfully designed.
posted by Argyle at 9:21 AM on June 10, 2004

Count me among the PAL admiration group. I have one in my shop -- connect my iPod to it occasionally -- and its single small speaker sounds better than I ever expected.
posted by Dick Paris at 1:17 PM on June 10, 2004

Okay, well I bought one (in white)! It's quite great -- it does sound extremely nice, and the mono sound is a lot less troublesome than I expected. It looks like it'll be a good companion for the next couple of months.
posted by josh at 4:13 PM on June 10, 2004