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Tivoli Audio SongBook AM / FM Alarm Clock Travel Radio, Green |  | Brand: Tivoli
List Price: $199.99
Buy New: $199.00
as of 9/9/2010 11:39 CDT details
You Save: $0.99
New (2) from $199.00
Seller: Vanns
Rating:  46 reviews
Color: Green
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 2.1 x 6
MPN: SBGRN
Model: SBGRN
UPC: 831623001552
EAN: 0831623001552
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Outstanding AM/FM Reception | | • | AM/FM for North America /Europe | | • | Digital alarm clock and sleep function | | • | Plays on AC,Alkaline/NiMH/NiCAD batteries, 12V | | • | Weather resistant for use outdoors |
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Product Description
Includes Tivoli SONGBOOKGREEN Tivoli Songbook Green AM/FM Travel Alarm Clock.
Amazon.com Review
Tivoli Audio has made waves in the audio field with the retro look of models such as the Model One Henry Kloss Table Radio and the iPod-inspired iPAL Portable Audio Laboratory AM/FM Radio. The SongBook AM/FM Radio breaks that mold slightly, opting for a simple, yet fun, look and feel. And like all Tivoli Audio products, the SongBook deserves accolades for the surprisingly rich sound it is able to produce despite its compact size. The Tivoli Design
The first thing that called our attention was the SongBook's brilliant color and unique texture. This is a radio clearly designed to make you feel happy by just looking at it and holding it. With the options of several, bright elementary colors (Black, Blue, Red, Silver, White, Green, Yellow) that make you want to reach for your crayons, the SongBook truly makes a statement. It's a radio that you'll definitely want to take to the beach, and it's a radio that makes you long for summer days all year around. But Tivoli Audio knows that good design involves far more than color. The radio is coated with a unique, rubberized texture, and the dials and displays are all sealed so that a sudden rain shower or a little sand won't interfere with performance. We're not suggesting that you surf the waves with your SongBook, or bury it in the walls of your sand castle, but a little of Mother Nature here and there won't bother this baby. Weighing in at three-and-a-half pounds, and with dimensions slightly smaller than that of a hardcover book, the SongBook is designed with portability in mind. The minimalist front-face design -- a round, metal mesh covering the (surprisingly robust) 2.5-inch driver, and several rubberized button and knobs are the only elements in view -- harkens back to early portable radio designs. Five presets, two tuning buttons, a rotary volume control, a function knob (OFF/AM/FM/AUX), and buttons for the alarm, sleep, time set, and back light functions are all clearly and conveniently laid out. The radio's LCD (with an on-demand blue back light) sits directly above the speaker. Meanwhile, three standard 3.5-millimeter inputs are set on the radio's side -- an auxiliary line-in port for plugging in your iPod or other music device, a port for AC/DC power, and a headphone input. All the ports feature strong, attached rubber plugs that keep out the elements when they're not in use. A rear keyhole cut-out for wall hanging is set into the back, and a single telescopic metal antenna is set into its own groove on top of the radio. Because the SongBook is designed for the elements, the battery compartment is tightly sealed and requires a coin or screwdriver to open. Once opened, you can easily access the two switches (alkaline/rechargeable and 9k/10k) that offer options for the battery source. You can also choose U.S. or international AM reception here. The only design element missing is a handle, but Tivoli offers an optional, color coordinated SongBook Carry Bag to make up for that. Giving it a Listen
As with other Tivoli products we've reviewed, the sound of the SongBook is remarkably strong for such a small unit. Granted, you don't get stereo sound, but competing designs that offer stereo speakers in a small package don't offer that much stereo separation anyway. Reception came in loud and clear on all the area AM and FM stations, with both AC and DC power. The only glitch, which we were able to repeat in two separate locations, was occasional outside interference that broke up broadcasts with a brief screech. All in all, though, we were happy with the sound of every genre of music we listened to, as well as talk radio. The auxiliary input was great, too, for listening to MP3s from a portable music source. In addition to good sound quality, we found the presets, time set, alarm, and tuning/search functions impeccable. Everything was so intuitive that we barely needed to consult the manual. Another bonus we liked: The SongBook comes with a handy internal recharger, so you have the option of using rechargeable batteries without the inconvenience of having to carry around a separate recharger. Tivoli clearly decided early on not to reinvent the wheel with respect to portable radios. Instead, they put their energies into making an easy-to-use, rugged, yet playful, radio. Audiophiles, beach-goers, and general radio listeners of the world should unite in praise. Pros - Rugged yet playful and colorful design
- Simple, intuitive functionality
Cons - It's a radio with the price-tag of a much more advanced device
- Lack of a handle somewhat limits its portability
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
 Oh My Goodness! What a Sweet, Sweet Radio! January 18, 2005
Keith Husmann (Vancouver, WA USA)
57 out of 57 found this review helpful
The new Tivoli Songbook is one sweet, versatile radio. I was reluctant to order it because it was brand new model and I couldn't find any reviews, but I'm glad I overcame my reluctance and purchased this radio. I consider it expensive for an AM/FM radio so I expect serious performance for the money--I was not disappointed. It's Tivoli, so I expected sound quality and Tivoli delivers. The sound isn't quite as full as the Model One, but it's more than adequate. For talk radio, it's simply the best sound I've heard from any radio.
One reason I hesitated purchasing was because I planned to use this as a table radio more than a travel radio--the lack of external antenna jacks was a concern because I have trouble with AM reception in my area. The real surprise was the reception--this small radio locked on and pulled in signals that I have trouble pulling in with some of my better radios like the GE Superadio or Grundig Satellit 800--all while delivering a clear, clean signal. Admittedly, I'm not a DXer, and I'm not suggesting this is the radio for that purpose, but it's performance, particularily on AM, is impressive for such a small package.
Performance was great using the aux input on a Sirius tuner as well as MP3 and CD.
Overall, it has the look and feel--as well as performance--of a quality product.
One thing that you should be aware of--this model uses an outboard transformer--a relatively large wall wart. That negates some of the travel versatility, IMO, but isn't a problem for home use. One of the smart design features is the wall hang slot on the back--I promptly mounted the thing over my nightstand and cleared off the space formerly eaten up by my cheap, tinny sounding clock radio.
It's a rare day that a product meets my expectations, much less exceeds them, but this is a great radio!
Rich, Bold, Room-filling, front-row concert sound from a tiny clock radio October 3, 2005
Asianhoney79 (Toronto, Canada)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
benefits of Aux-in: use it as a high-quality speaker that will fill your apartment with rich, bold sound from your Laptop, Ipod, Mp3 player, walkman, cd player etc. It's one of the only machines that have this option.
safe against black-outs: this clock-radio won't make u lose track of time after a power-outage. it has a built-in automatic battery charger for battery storage. once the electricity is out, the battery kicks in, so u don't lose any preset or alarm information. never be late again!
crescendo alarm: a very considerate feature! it will not startle u or give sensitive individuals a heart attack in the morning. this alarm begins at low volume and gets successively louder until it reaches its maximum level u have preset. u can choose to wake up to your aux-in device, fm/am, or a beeping sound. the beeping sound changes as it beeps, becoming more and more annoying to the unwakeable sleeper as time goes by! Great for people who just can't get up!
Best fm/am reception: according to professional reviewers, and myself, radio reception is crystal clear and cannot be beat!
Sound quality: Rich, Bold sound. Sound Fills my whole apartment, without cluttering it. Has a wallmount. Sound is comparable, arguably better, than the Bose clockradio.
How i make the most of it: my laptop plus tivoli songbook = my entertainment center. anybody with a laptop or an ipod should definitely not go without the Tivoli Audio Songbook. All other clock radios pale in comparison. Looks cool too!
Tivoli nails it (again) January 16, 2005
D (Lake Oswego, OR)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
A year ago, I migrated over from my monolithic mid-hi end seperate home stereo components to the Tivoli Model two radio unit, cd player and mini-sub.
Won over by the high quality sound, feel, and old school look of Tivoli, it was an easy choice to pick up the Songbook for my on-the-go tunes and as an ipod mini accessory. Much more backpack-able that the ipal, this is one high quality little unit. The sound and reception are remarkable, and the look, feel, and ergonomics of the Songbook are a joy.
(Also, in the Altec inmotion dock, you can produce sound through the inmotion speakers and headphone out to the aux in of the Songbook, to get great sound from both sources at the same time!)
I have the white, rubberized unit, ordered through Amazon/J&R.
My favorite AM FM radio - elegant design, great audio! November 19, 2005
Anonymous (Columbia, SC)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is my favorite AM FM radio coming from someone who collects AM and shortwave radios...Elegant design, great audio, excellent reception, especially FM, such good sound you don't really miss the stereo very much. Water resistant design means it can live in the bathroom or kitchen comfortably. Put a set of NIMH batteries in there, and a charge lasts for weeks and weeks with use in my house for a half hour a day at least...Charge from within the radio, no need to change batteries. Also an excellent portable solution for Ipod...just not Stereo once again...Tivoli does a great job...this radio is worth it's steep price tag easily for me...
Impressive sound and performance in a small package July 28, 2005
Mike (Benicia, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had been shopping around for a good sounding, portable AM/FM radio for some time and prior to Tivoli Audio's introduction of the SongBook, the only other radio I had really considered was their PAL. The C Crane CCRadio was also a possibility, but my tastes lean toward music listening more than "AM talk radio" which the CCRadio is said to be well suited. The CC Radio also offers VHF weather band and TV audio reception, features I didn't find necessary.
As much as I liked the simplicity and good sound of the PAL, in the end I went with the more expensive (than the PAL) SongBook, and have no regrets. The PAL's (and other Tivoli model's) smooth analog tuning really does have a nice feel, but I just preferred the digital preset tuning of the SongBook which makes station swapping quicker and more convenient (although Tivoli Audio co-founder, the late Henry Kloss would've probably disagreed...). FM sensitivity is very good but occasionally it does take a bit of fiddling with the antenna to get a solid, noise-free signal, but this isn't surprising in my so-so reception area. AM reception is also fine - certainly good enough for any "AM talk radio" I might find interesting. The clock and alarm features are added bonuses to the package.
Overall sound quality is very "musical", pleasant and quite impressive bearing in mind that this is a compact radio. High and mid frequency sounds are reproduced nicely and what bass there is, balances things out nicely. Just don't expect this radio to provide window rattling bass, as a 2.5 inch diameter speaker can only move so much air. Without a doubt, my Cambridge SoundWorks 88CD (sort of the SongBook's cousin from a previous marriage) provides much fuller sound mainly due to it's built-in woofer. But, the 88CD is a much larger "table radio", not easily moved from room to room, isn't splash resistant, doesn't operate off of batteries, etc.
Speaking of batteries, my other preference for the SongBook versus the PAL is it's flexibility of usable battery types. The PAL requires a proprietary Ni-MH rechargeable battery pack, and like all rechargeable batteries can only be charged and discharged a certain number of times. When the battery pack no longer accepts a charge, it must be replaced, which in the case of the PAL is about $20 from Tivoli and not likely available locally. The SongBook uses either disposable (alkaline) or rechargeable AA batteries (neither of which are included). A set of 6 high capacity Ni-MH batteries can be had for about $15 these days, and are likely found pretty much anywhere batteries are sold. The SongBook's built-in battery charging capability comes in handy here. If you're ever caught without the "wall wart" power supply and/or dead rechargeable batteries, you can always pop in a set of alkalines.
Granted, $160 is rather spendy for "just a portable AM/FM radio", but if really good sound that you can take just about anywhere is something of interest, I think the SongBook is definitely worth a listen and the $$$.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
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