Radio days. (Forum).

Every once in a while, a product comes along that really strikes one as being unique. The Tivoli Model One radio is just that kind of product. While its configuration harkens back to the opening era of radio, its technology and construction are state-of-the-art. Clearly one of the principles employed in the design was simplicity. Lets start with the obvious--the front control panel. Here there are just three controls: an Off-FM-AM selector, Volume control and Tuner knob/Indicator dial. That's it! Well, I guess we also have to count the speaker grill, green LED power-on indicator and the larger yellow LED tuning indicator. Consistent with the keep-it-simple philosophy and heritage it is monophonic! (More about that later.)

The unit is 4.5 inches high, 8.375 inches wide and 5.25 inches deep, which makes it somewhat diminutive for a tabletop radio (certainly smaller than an original vacuum tube radio would have been). The rear panel includes an internal/external antenna switch along with a 75-Ohm Type F connector for the external antenna connection. There are also aux in, headphones and Rec out stereo mini connectors (monophonic sound only). To supply power there is a power-cord connector and an external power connector (12-16 VDC power supply). The case is a wooden box with four non-marring feet. It comes in three color combinations of front panel and case: Cobalt Blue/Cherry, Hunter Green/Maple and Silver/Walnut. The bottom of the unit has a 1.125 inches-in-diameter base port for the internal speaker--a heavy-magnet, long-throw, three-inch driver. It weighs approximately 5.0 pounds with a very solid feel and top-notch fit-and-finish. It comes with a generous detachable power cord (approximately 9 feet 10 inches in length), a single wire antenna (approximately 50 inches in length) with a Type F connector, a 4-page Owner's Manual (card) and a one page safety instruction card.

Operation is quite straightforward. Rotating the power switch to either the FM position or the AM position turns on the unit. It has a solid feel but is, perhaps, a bit on the smallish side ergonomically. Doing so illuminates the green power-on indicator. Volume is set with the volume control (same size as the power switch) which has a nicely damped feel. Radio stations are selected by rotating the tuning knob. Tuning is a very smooth process where the inner tuning knob has a 5:1 ratio to the outer tuning indicator ring. The yellow tuning indicator LED changes intensity with signal strength as the tuning knob is adjusted. The frequency stenciling on the front panel is quite clear. The order of the AM frequencies, since they are on the lower half of the dial, might seem a little "strange" but maintain the "normal" orientation of turning clockwise for higher frequencies. Out-of-the-box operation only requires that the power cord be attached to the rear panel and a quick check made to see that the antenna switch is in the internal position.

Performance, without an extensive test bench, is necessarily a subjective business. None-the-less, there are several performance areas that are worth trying to characterize. Of primary interest for a radio those are sensitivity, quieting (s/n), and channel separation. No doubt most of us are also inquisitive about sound quality for such a small package. So here goes.

Taking FM first, the unit does a credible job of pulling in all of our local stations (about 13 of them) just on the internal antenna. It also does well on the ten or so distant (high power) stations (up to 75 miles away). Although I thought that I did detect some audible distortion (raspiness) on some stations, that smoothes out by using the included simple external antenna. The effective quieting (or signal to noise) is very good. I think one thing that plays well here is the monophonic nature of the design. It is been my experience that it takes less signal strength to have the same s/n ratio as a corresponding stereo signal. The only good channel separation test in my area is two stations 0.2 MHz apart. Unfortunately one is 25 miles away and the other is 75 miles. They separate fairly well, although the closer station causes some occasional cross-talk distortion (especially bad on the internal antenna.) The audio is very good for a three-inch speaker in a 0.1 cubic foot box! It doesn't move a lot of air, so I would not use it to "fill" a large room. But as a unit to provide non-irritating, easy listening, background sound in task oriented spaces (office, den, kitchen, garage, workshop, sewing room, etc) it works quite well. It sounds best on classical music with, otherwise, just an occasional hint of audio distortion in other music and spoken voices. This probably comes from some non-linearity in the frequency response of the package as a whole. The bass response, while not awesome (nor overly boosted), is better than I anticipated, although, probably not in the true Hi-Fi realm.

The designer notes that it "... uses a state-of-the-art, discrete-component FM tuner featuring GaAs MES-FET mixers. This technology originally developed for applications such as cell phones, has never before been applied to FM radios." This results in "....high sensitivity and selectivity ...". I would have to agree that the effect of this technology is remarkable in a unit of this type. (Just a note that the company does not back up these claims with any published technical specifications either in the Owner's Manual or on their website.)

How about AM performance? We don't have a lot of AM stations around: three. Those we do have sounded almost as good, overall, as the FM stations. Clearly this just isn't a "token" AM tuner section. Actually the sensitivity, quieting and audio quality are very impressive. I don't think a casual observer (listener) would know that it is AM and not another FM station playing.

Some miscellaneous thoughts: The unit is so sensitive that even operating it in the "external" antenna position with NO antenna still results in audible signal reception, but where the background noise becomes very intrusive. Now that's unique. Having a DC power connector makes taking it along in the car, boat or RV possible. While not a "portable" unit, being able to use headphones when others are asleep is a nice touch. It would have been even more "convenient" if the headphones connector had been placed on the front panel. The line-in and line-out connectors make integration with other units possible. Having a radio with a real tuning dial is somewhat refreshing in this age of all digital tuners with pushbuttons--the downside is no quick station changes.

For only $99 I think Tivoli's Model One qualifies as a Sensible Sound candidate. BTW, it was designed by none other than the late Henry Kloss.

Jon H. Peterson
via e-mail

Thanks for the tip on this product. With "webcast" music shows taking a rapid down-turn because of new licensing fees, perhaps more and more people will be turning back to radio for entertainment. We shall see ...