Tivoli Kloss Model One AM/FM Radio

Lots of people have weighed in on this product.  As a long time hi-fi guy, I shake my head at a few of these reviews, so here's my take:

To my knowledge, most or all of the "small-box / big-sound" radios, computer speakers, MP3 speakers and wifi radios use "sound shaping" circuits to fiddle with the volume across the frequency spectrum.  Doing this, designers compensate for the small speaker by turning up the bass, turning down the treble or whatever else works.  In too many cases designers overcompensate and I hate the results.  These devices deliver sound in huge quantity, but the quality suffers, sounding almost gimmicky. Tivoli though, has managed not to get carried away with the sound shaping, and the results with the Model One are great. 

Is the Tivoli as good or better than a Bose Wave Radio?

I've had a few "gourmet" table radios, including a Wave Radio.  For casual use, the Bose and the Tivoli both measure up.  What they do mostly is sound bigger than they should when played loud.  The Bose, with two speakers, can fill a larger room with music without straining.  The Tivoli sounds a little smaller ... it is after all, and is tons cheaper.  The Bose, play CDs, not so for the Tivoli.

Tivoli designers (Henry Kloss?) delivered a sound that's believable ... not the biggest, but big for it's footprint.  The Tivoli has lots of presence for a lively sound.  The Tivoli is engaging whether played at low volume or high.  The Wave Radio is lifeless at low volume, even though it's sound seems pretty flat (this is good) across the audio spectrum.  The Wave Radio sounds much happier cranked up.  With its loud presence, treble on the Tivoli practically jumps in your lap.  Hook it up to your iPod and play something that uses triangles or cymbals or tambourines.  It's fidelity for the price will astound you.

Owing to it's cabinet design, (transmission line) the Wave Radio's bass is pretty loud.  But bass with the Wave Radio can also be muddy and a little out of phase -- on orchestral music, for example, where the bass line doesn't carry a lot of rhythmic punch, muddy out of phase bass can make it a little hard to follow the music.  Bass reflex cabinets such as the Tivoli uses, does not have this problem.  Bass is well defined and tight.  On the flip side, the bass isn't as loud either.  [UPDATE: Nov. 18, 2008 -- We've found bass response on the Tivoli can be influenced by where you place the radio.  This is because the radio's bass port faces down, and is subject to reflection from hard surfaces underneath and  nearby.  On top of the refrigerator, sound from the bass port disipated into the space of the kitchen without much reflection.  This sounded great.  Now we've had to move the radio to a corner of the counter top where the walls, counter and cupboard bottom all catch the sound and shoot it straight at you.  This can amplify the bass more than you want.  I've had to resort to loosely wadding up a paper towel and placing it in the bass port to tune the sound.  The tighter the wad, the less bass.  Hey at least with the Tivoli, you have this option.]  I prefer bass through the Tivoli, though you're entitled to your preference.  Our kitchen is small, so we get all the bass we want.  A larger room might require the Tivoli be placed in a corner to reflect the bass for maximum impact.

[UPDATE: Dec 08, 2009 -- I came back to this review because I'm planning to get another Model One for my new office.  More than a year after writing the initial review, I still marvel at this little thing.  I most appreciate that it sounds great played softly.  But the reason for this update is additional perspective on bass.  With or without a wad of paper towel in the port, and no matter where we have it placed in the kitchen, the culpret behind awful bass with this radio and the Wave radio too, has turned out to be the recording engineers.  Engineers boost the bass on their recordings sometimes to compensate for small speakers in most people's playback gear, and because the Tivoli Model One doesn't need the compensation, these recordings just sound lousy played through these radios.  Not Tivoli's fault.  Just something you have to put up with.  Knowing you hold the moral high ground helps.]

Some other points people have made here and elsewhere on the net:

• Why couldn't they make it stereo?  Uhh, because then it wouldn't sound as good.  FM stereo requires something like 10 times more signal to sound as good as FM mono.  When short of signal, the result is very loud background hiss and (obviously) lack of range.  I've seen postings on the net confirming the Model One sounds better than the stereo Model Two.  The source is unsubstantiated so take that with a grain of salt -- but I don't doubt it.  Enjoy the novelty of mono.  With this radio, it will be easy.

• How's the signal range?  Very good on FM.  I haven't spent much time on AM with it.  They say the radio's long range is cell phone technology at work.  Maybe it is.  But if I cracked the radio open to see what's inside, I'd expect to see a big, retro tuning capacitor pulling in that fat signal, same as radios from the 1950s and 1960s.

• The Tivoli has an always present, soft, 60 cycle hum.  I can hear it.  The power supply isn't as well filtered or shielded as it should be.  But sitting on my refrigerator, it's hardly the loudest ambient noise in the room, so it's not a concern for me.  In a bedroom, this could be a problem though.  Powering the Tivoli from a separate regulated 12vdc power supply (there's a jack on the back for this) was suggested somewhere online as a way to quiet the Tivoli.  I'm sure this works, but like the presenter of that complaint commented, it seems like you shouldn't have to spend $30 at Radio Shack to solve a problem Tivoli could have solved if they hadn't cheaped out.

I like the Tivoli Model One very much.  If you aren't interested in newer music delivery options such as WIFI radio or Sirius, this is a fine choice.

[Updates Nov 12, 2008 -- They say this radio is tuned for the human voice, and they mean it.  Yesterday I was at the sink with the radio behind me.  I had an NPR classical station on the radio, when one piece of music ended, and the DJ came on, it fooled me so completely, I look over my shoulder to see who was in my kitchen with me.  It's that good.  One other observation: Sound wise, orchestral music is certainly a stretch for this little radio, stereos have always had big speakers and big cabinets for a reason afterall.  But the little Tivoli, for smaller ensembles with fewer instruments, is stunning.]