www.us963.com There are many more FM and AM radio stations around
here,I like U.S.96.3 FM the best.Real good Country Music.
cuhulin

That sounds like a loser radio to me! My wife bought me one for xmas one
year as I had commented earlier that I thought it was kind of cool and
"retro" looking. I also mentioned to her that as cool as it looked, I
wouldn't pay $150 for it as I had played with it in the store and didn't
like the "feel". Later, she told me not to be too upset with her for buying
it as Circuit Cirty sold her the floor model for $50 with no box just to get
rid of it! I guess it didn't sell very well. I don't understand why ;)
All I use it for anymore is to listen to my "Old time radio" cd's through
it's AUX input. I have a "MINT" (don't you hate that word?) Zenith floor
model radio that I use once in a while. That thing sounds/works great. Not
very drifty either, once it's warmed up. If I was you, I'd trade that 960
in once a year just to help them deplete their supply!



"Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message
oups.com...
Dear Jim,

I bought the Grundig Classic 960 in 1996. Right off the bat I realized
it was hopeless for SW broadcasts, though it does have good sound on MW
and FM. (The drifting on SW is intolerable and the tuning "feel" is
awful.) A few months after I bought it, the radio "died." I contacted
Grundig and they told me to ship it back to them, which I did. Instead
of fixing my radio, they sent me a new one. This radio drifted quite a
bit (the first one did too, but not to the same extent, especially on
FM). When I called them and spoke to a technician he admitted to me
that the set's design was not "all that would have been desired." Then
a couple of years ago that (second) unit died. Again I had to send it
back to Grundig and again they replaced it. (I noted that the SW
frequency coverage was somewhat different on this new unit.) But this
unit is the Mother of All Drifters! You can't listen to FM (which is
now all I use it for) more than an hour or so before it drifts off
frequency, no matter how long it's been running.

I "hate" that radio. It's my definition of "junk." (Three examples in
less than 9 years!) It "looks" good (people always comment on it) and
it has reasonably good sound, but its performance is very, very poor,
in my opinion. When new MW/FM radios are introduced featuring IBOC, if
the reviews are good, I'll replace that terrible "Classic" radio. (I
wouldn't even sell it to someone unless they knew exactly what they
were getting; it does have that 25-year warranty, however.) It's my
understanding that the local FM station that features classical music
half the day and jazz the other half is going to "split" in two via
IBOC and have classical music 24 hours a day on one "channel" and jazz
24 hours a day on the "other." That sounds good to me as far as local
programming goes.

By the way, that radio is kept in our living room and I have it playing
music most of the day. I do not play it "loud," and it has always
received good care.

I think it is, and has always been, a "loser." It's obvious that its
cost is next-to-nothing or they wouldn't just keep replacing the set
rather than fixing it. Naturally a year or so after I bought it for
$249.95 + shipping, the price "dropped" to $149.95 + shipping, though
the warranty also dropped from 25 years to 1 year. I can't blame them
for that! I wonder if they have a "stash" of them set aside for people
like me who have 25 year warranties and they'll use that "stash" to
keep replacing "dead" sets until the warranty runs out!

P. T. Barnum was right, as I learned through this experience (and a few
others over the years!).

As always, my opinion.

Best,

Joe

Jim,

I even tried using a C. Crane FM Stereo Transmitter (an absolutely
great piece of equipment, by the way) connected to my AR7030 playing SW
and listening through the "Classic 960" on an FM frequency. But the
drifting makes good listening just impossible.

Once in a while I'll connect one of my Sony ICF-SW7600GR's through the
AUX input. That works out okay.

The sound quality on the radio is very good, however. Too bad Grundig
(Lextronix at the time) didn't try harder to make a radio that performs
as well as it looks and sounds. How much extra would it have cost them?
(They could still do it if they really wanted to. A re-introduced
"Classic 960" made to a higher performance standard would sell well, in
my opinion, if only because of its looks - it's a real conversation
piece - and sound quality.)

Best,

Joe

P.S. In my opinion, even $50.00 is too much for this junker. 50 cents
might be more like it! (And remember, I paid $250.00 for it! What a
sucker I was.)

Joe Analssandrini wrote:
Jim,

I even tried using a C. Crane FM Stereo Transmitter (an absolutely
great piece of equipment, by the way) connected to my AR7030 playing SW
and listening through the "Classic 960" on an FM frequency. But the
drifting makes good listening just impossible.

Once in a while I'll connect one of my Sony ICF-SW7600GR's through the
AUX input. That works out okay.

The sound quality on the radio is very good, however. Too bad Grundig
(Lextronix at the time) didn't try harder to make a radio that performs
as well as it looks and sounds. How much extra would it have cost them?
(They could still do it if they really wanted to. A re-introduced
"Classic 960" made to a higher performance standard would sell well, in
my opinion, if only because of its looks - it's a real conversation
piece - and sound quality.)

Best,

Joe

P.S. In my opinion, even $50.00 is too much for this junker. 50 cents
might be more like it! (And remember, I paid $250.00 for it! What a
sucker I was.)




I also pre ordered mine from Willoughby and Ward. Waited more than a
year for it. I have an original 960 on my desk. I thought it would be
nice to have a solid state version for casual use, so I didn't have to
chew up so many tubes, a couple of which were getting hard to fine.

Went through three of them, before I found one that 1) didn"t drift
halfway up the dial once a station was selected, and 2) was less than
1mHz off dial calibration.

Inside the classic 960 was worse than some homebuilts I've seen at
highs school science fairs. Build quality would be a misnomer. But it
was difficult to tell from all the spiderwebs of hot glue used to hold
the damned thing together.

An embarrassment to the Grundig name.

Three of them, one worse than the next.

I finally sold it to a college student in Canada for a pittance. He
was happy, so it wasn't a total loss.


They did release a revised Classic 960 that addressed the drift and
dial backlash and that held something that at least hinted at dial
calibration. It also had a revised tuning mechanism with more tactile
resemblance to the original 960.

But I didn't spring for one.


I posted the details of my experience with Classic 960, here, at the
time.


What a miserable excuse for a radio.

Joe,you can't judge any books (radios) by their cover.Some radios look
great but they are lousy radios and vice versa,I have some old radios
here that look like they have been whupped with an ugly stick,but they
play real good) Interestingly,I stopped off at the Goodwill store this
morning on my way to the foodstore (I was out of coffee) an back my way
to Quality Pet Products store
www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.comclick on the Mississippi
map,Robinson Road Ext) (I spent $36.36 on a couple of thingys for my
dog) and at the Goodwill store,I bought a German to English/English to
German pocketbook dictionary.(twenty five cents) That got me to
thinking,I need to check with some of the bookstores around here and see
if they can order me a Gaelic to English/English to Gaelic language
dictionary.Because I am Scotch Irish by ancestry and I hate brits.
cuhulin

I wouldn't have anything from www.ccrane.com nowdays even if they
gave whatever to me for free.(however that girl sure does look cute) I
would take them Bob Crane whatever(s) over to the Goodwill store six
tenths of a mile South (South is always best) of Blueberry doggys couch.
cuhulin

That's odd. My 960 doesn't drift any more than my S-3drifty. Well, I guess
that's alot. On MW or FM, it's fine in respect to drift.
Don't feel bad, I plunked down $450 for my Zenith, although it works good.
Being as I bought it on a whim at an antique store, I'm sure I paid way too
much but I always wanted one of those Big "Black dial" Zeniths. MY aunt had
one that we used to listen to when I was about 6. I wish they still had the
shows we used to listen to. George and Gracie, etc, etc. etc. Damn, I'm
old. :( But on the bright side, I'm not as old as YOU :) LOL



"Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message
ups.com...
Jim,

I even tried using a C. Crane FM Stereo Transmitter (an absolutely
great piece of equipment, by the way) connected to my AR7030 playing SW
and listening through the "Classic 960" on an FM frequency. But the
drifting makes good listening just impossible.

Once in a while I'll connect one of my Sony ICF-SW7600GR's through the
AUX input. That works out okay.

The sound quality on the radio is very good, however. Too bad Grundig
(Lextronix at the time) didn't try harder to make a radio that performs
as well as it looks and sounds. How much extra would it have cost them?
(They could still do it if they really wanted to. A re-introduced
"Classic 960" made to a higher performance standard would sell well, in
my opinion, if only because of its looks - it's a real conversation
piece - and sound quality.)

Best,

Joe

P.S. In my opinion, even $50.00 is too much for this junker. 50 cents
might be more like it! (And remember, I paid $250.00 for it! What a
sucker I was.)

LOL. I don't believe I've EVER heard a good thing about this radio...
]


"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...
Joe Analssandrini wrote:
Jim,

I even tried using a C. Crane FM Stereo Transmitter (an absolutely
great piece of equipment, by the way) connected to my AR7030 playing SW
and listening through the "Classic 960" on an FM frequency. But the
drifting makes good listening just impossible.

Once in a while I'll connect one of my Sony ICF-SW7600GR's through the
AUX input. That works out okay.

The sound quality on the radio is very good, however. Too bad Grundig
(Lextronix at the time) didn't try harder to make a radio that performs
as well as it looks and sounds. How much extra would it have cost them?
(They could still do it if they really wanted to. A re-introduced
"Classic 960" made to a higher performance standard would sell well, in
my opinion, if only because of its looks - it's a real conversation
piece - and sound quality.)

Best,

Joe

P.S. In my opinion, even $50.00 is too much for this junker. 50 cents
might be more like it! (And remember, I paid $250.00 for it! What a
sucker I was.)




I also pre ordered mine from Willoughby and Ward. Waited more than a
year for it. I have an original 960 on my desk. I thought it would be
nice to have a solid state version for casual use, so I didn't have to
chew up so many tubes, a couple of which were getting hard to fine.

Went through three of them, before I found one that 1) didn"t drift
halfway up the dial once a station was selected, and 2) was less than
1mHz off dial calibration.

Inside the classic 960 was worse than some homebuilts I've seen at
highs school science fairs. Build quality would be a misnomer. But it
was difficult to tell from all the spiderwebs of hot glue used to hold
the damned thing together.

An embarrassment to the Grundig name.

Three of them, one worse than the next.

I finally sold it to a college student in Canada for a pittance. He
was happy, so it wasn't a total loss.


They did release a revised Classic 960 that addressed the drift and
dial backlash and that held something that at least hinted at dial
calibration. It also had a revised tuning mechanism with more tactile
resemblance to the original 960.

But I didn't spring for one.


I posted the details of my experience with Classic 960, here, at the
time.


What a miserable excuse for a radio.

Jim Hackett wrote:
LOL. I don't believe I've EVER heard a good thing about this radio...
]





It was very nice to its mother.







"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...

Joe Analssandrini wrote:

Jim,

I even tried using a C. Crane FM Stereo Transmitter (an absolutely
great piece of equipment, by the way) connected to my AR7030 playing SW
and listening through the "Classic 960" on an FM frequency. But the
drifting makes good listening just impossible.

Once in a while I'll connect one of my Sony ICF-SW7600GR's through the
AUX input. That works out okay.

The sound quality on the radio is very good, however. Too bad Grundig
(Lextronix at the time) didn't try harder to make a radio that performs
as well as it looks and sounds. How much extra would it have cost them?
(They could still do it if they really wanted to. A re-introduced
"Classic 960" made to a higher performance standard would sell well, in
my opinion, if only because of its looks - it's a real conversation
piece - and sound quality.)

Best,

Joe

P.S. In my opinion, even $50.00 is too much for this junker. 50 cents
might be more like it! (And remember, I paid $250.00 for it! What a
sucker I was.)




I also pre ordered mine from Willoughby and Ward. Waited more than a
year for it. I have an original 960 on my desk. I thought it would be
nice to have a solid state version for casual use, so I didn't have to
chew up so many tubes, a couple of which were getting hard to fine.

Went through three of them, before I found one that 1) didn"t drift
halfway up the dial once a station was selected, and 2) was less than
1mHz off dial calibration.

Inside the classic 960 was worse than some homebuilts I've seen at
highs school science fairs. Build quality would be a misnomer. But it
was difficult to tell from all the spiderwebs of hot glue used to hold
the damned thing together.

An embarrassment to the Grundig name.

Three of them, one worse than the next.

I finally sold it to a college student in Canada for a pittance. He
was happy, so it wasn't a total loss.


They did release a revised Classic 960 that addressed the drift and
dial backlash and that held something that at least hinted at dial
calibration. It also had a revised tuning mechanism with more tactile
resemblance to the original 960.

But I didn't spring for one.


I posted the details of my experience with Classic 960, here, at the
time.


What a miserable excuse for a radio.

zenith is JUNK! zenith has aways been JUNK,zenth will always be JUNK!
Cheap quality no good CRAP zenith!!! So is Maytag.
cuhulin