Dear Jim,

You're not going to like my answer as it does not truly address your
questions, but, owning all three versions of the GE Superadio and
appreciating their positive attributes, nonetheless I have "retired"
all but one which I sometimes use strictly for local FM (performance of
which is very good). I do not own a Grundig S350 but, having seen
several in local stores, I am not impressed. Personally, I would never
buy one (even with its fantastic looks and sound quality). In my
opinion, it is more style than substance.

The radios are probably "okay" for MW ("AM") DXing but if you can just
"swing" a few dollars more you could buy a radio which is far better
than both: the Sony ICF-SW7600GR which you can find for about $130.00
(from J&R Music World, among other dealers). You would find that this
radio is just as sensitive on MW's as either of the two you mention
and, with its digital readout and, especially, its synchronous
detection circuit, it just "blows" away those other two. No kidding.

You're correct that "memories" are of little importance to many of us,
but PLL is not an "extra." It is a virtual necessity for DXing.

You asked about selectivity: the Sony is FAR better that either the GE
or the Grundig even though those two have two "bandwidths." The Sony's
synchronous selectable-sideband circuitry allows you to eliminate
selective fading distortion (which, have you ever noticed, ALWAYS
occurs during station ID! ;-) ) and to also pick the sideband with less
interference. (For example if you lived near New York which has a
strong station WFAN on 660 kHz and you want to listen to WSM 650 kHz,
you would get a lot of "splatter" from 660 on 650 making listening
difficult if not impossible with the GE and the Grundig. However, with
the Sony, you could switch in the sync circuit to LSB on 650 and
virtually eliminate 660. This is an example only; I do not live near
New York nor have I presonally every tried that particular frequency,
but I have done the same thing with other stations.)

Another beauty of the radio is that you can supply it with certain
accessories as money allows. To get even better "sound," the Sony's
weakest point, you can buy a cable from Radio Shack to run the sound
from the line output through your stereo system. Very inexpensive. Then
the sound is limited only by your stereo. Or you could buy an amplified
(computer) speaker set, a somewhat more expensive option. To improve
the MW reception, you can buy a Select-A-Tenna (or the similar Terk)
which works inductively (does not require any wire hookup); putting the
Select-A-Tenna and the Sony ICF-SW7600GR on an inexpensive "lazy susan"
you can really "null out" co-channel interference and/or boost
reception of very weak signals. (Note that the Select-A-Tenna would
also work well with the GE and the Grundig and you CAN attach a
moderate long-wire antenna to the GE and, within reason, it works well
with little overloading. I do not know how the Grundig would work with
a long-wire on MW. You CANNOT physically attach a long-wire or other
antenna for MW reception to the Sony, but, as the Select-A-Tenna works
so well, that is unimportant, in my opinion. The Sony's antenna
connection is for short wave reception only.)

These "options," which, as I said, you could purchase at your
convenience, are not 100% necessary. You may find that, for your
purposes, the radio alone is all you need.

Plus, of course, the Sony is a very good performer on short wave even
with just its whip antenna. (A simple "clip-on" wind-up wire antenna is
packed with the radio and sometimes offers a bit of improvement in
reception of SW.) If you do decide to pursue short wave listening, the
Sony can handle a fairly good external antenna (especially good, though
sometimes hard-to-find is the Sony AN-LP1 "collapsible" loop antenna,
which works very well with the radio and is convenient for travel as
well).

It is my advice to you (for what it's worth) to try to save just a few
dollars more and buy the Sony. It is just a much better radio than
either the GE or Grundig and far more flexible in operation. I believe
the performance and pleasure you derive from it will more then make up
for any financial sacrifice you may need to make.

In addition, the Sony's quality of construction, at least in my
experience, is much better than either of the other two radios. There
is nothing that can be done to improve the GE's dial inaccuracy and its
mediocre construction quality may loom large. (The Grundig's
construction quality appears to me to be equally mediocre.)

Please pardon this long answer which didn't really address your
question. You can gather that I am very positive about the Sony
ICF-SW7600GR (and rather negative about the GE Superadios, with all
three series of which I have had extensive experience).

Frankly, I regard the Sony as the best small portable radio being
manufactured at the present time.

At its current price, it is nothing short of a bargain.

All my best wishes to you,

Joe