We dropped by HMR a few weeks ago to see if there were any new and interesting items. We found a brand new analog desktop radio with a faux wood finish that had an old style look but was still a modern product.
It really looked good and only cost around $17. It was made by Jensen and used 220V. Since it was cheap, good looking, and didn't need a transformer, we decided to buy it.
We previously bought a cheap but somewhat nice looking generic radio for around $7 or $8. I thought it had two speakers for stereo sound but it turned out that one speaker was fake. That one speaker sounded tinny. It sounded like we got what we paid for - cheap lousy sound.
We had been looking at old or antique style desktop radios before and we wanted one but they didn't seem to be affordable to us. When I saw this Jensen radio at first, I couldn't believe it was so cheap. I thought maybe it would be because the build quality was cheap and the sound was awful but when we took it out for testing, I saw that it looked and felt well made and when we tested the sound, it was clear and crisp. It sounded better than branded portable stereos costing at least 3 times as much.
I was wondering why it was selling so cheaply and why it was being sold at a surplus store. I googled for the model of the radio which was indicated on its box and its bottom, JMR-280. I only found one match, at an Australian online store but when I visited the site, it was no longer there. There is no mention whatsoever of any JMR model on Jensen's site.
My feeling is that since this model didn't have a CD player or clock, it wasn't attractive or useful to many customers so it didn't sell well. The excess stock probably ended up in surplus shops like HMR. If you take a look at Jensen's current catalog of products, almost all products have either a CD player, clock, or iPod attachment.
Well, the lack of interest in this very good product is somewhat sad but was to our benefit since we got a cheap good looking and good sounding AM/FM radio, something we've been planning to buy for some time now.
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