Boston Acoustics HDUOIMIST Horizon Duo-I System For Ipod(R) With Am/Fm Radio (Mist)

Boston Acoustics HDUOIMIST Horizon Duo-I System For Ipod(R) With Am/Fm Radio (Mist)

Price: $140.65
Manufacturer: Boston Acoustics
Buy from amazon.com

Horizon duo-I system for Ipod with AM/FM radio (mist).

Information

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #11641 in Consumer Electronics
  • Color: Mist
  • Brand: Boston Acoustics
  • Model: Horizon Dou-I
  • Dimensions: 8.60" h x 11.10" w x 16.70" l, 11.00 pounds
  • Integrated Ipod(R) Dock With Video Output Charges Ipod(R) While Connected
  • Dual High-Performance 3.5-Inch Full-Range Speakers
  • Bass Trac Audio Processing For Clean Bass At All Listening Levels
  • 2 Auxiliary Inputs
  • Includes Remote, Fm Antenna & Detachable Ac Cord

Product Reviews

The Receptor on Steroids...you may have to do a little Final QC
I owned the BA Receptor (or "Recepter") and loved it---the rich deep bass, the sensitive tuner, the easy alarm settings...and hated it: no earphone jack, no Remote, no pushbutton presets and, worst of all--no STEREO.

While the new BA Solo addresses some of these deficiencies, the Solo is still only monophonoic...nice sounding to be sure, but missing that fullness that only Stereo brings. Also the Solo still uses a dial as a preset station selector and not dedicated preset buttons, which I prefer.

The Receptor--and the Solo, I'm told--are very sensitive receivers...which is a mono tuner's saving grace...noise is always much lower on a mono FM signal. They work great with the supplied 3 foot-long pigtail wire supplied. They don't need much of a signal to pull in stations. NOT SO with FM stereo radios--you need a stronger signal from a good antenna for best results. With my sample, THE DUO WOULD NOT LOCK INTO STEREO MODE WITH THE SUPPLIED ANTENNA! And since there is no "Stereo" indicator or LED to confirm it, you can't be *sure* the Duo is really getting stereo, unless you plug in heaphones and CHECK by ear. Another indication the Duo has an insensitive (or improperly set) Stereo detector is the fact that THE SEEK FUNCTION DOES NOT STOP on any stations while using the supplied antenna. It just keeps scanning. Now, I'm using the Duo on the top floor of a 2-story house where my myriad other radios need no help in getting FM stereo...I dont even need to extend the telescoping antenna on my Sangean PR-D5 to get stereo, for example. So something is definitely wrong with the Duo...it's design is flawed, or the FM Stereo section is improperly aligned. Once I connected a powered pair of rabbit ears, the Duo came alive--like a Receptor on Steroids-- and gave gorgeous room filling 2-channel sound. SO YOU MUST USE AN EXTERNAL FM ANTENNA to get this baby to bloom! Then you will be in audio Nirvana.

--Ipod sound is INCREDIBLE. May be one of the best-sounding ipod-docking units available for the price. It even has a VIDEO OUT jack.

--Did not notice the "5-minute Loss" problem or the low level last station problem reported for the BA Solo.

--It is very immune to PC interference. I put it right next to my monitor.

Other quirks:
--It loses the 5 AM presets when unplugged, but not the 10 FM presets! Wha??
--Blue backlight can be seen to "flash" slightly light & dark for a few seconds after power is turned off. Just weird.
--AM reception is also variable, sensitivity-wise. This is the only radio I have that picks up noise with KFI (local 50KWatter) but can still get KGO 810 in San Francisco OK. Again, like the FM SEEK function, the AM SEEK function doesn't stop on many stations.

My advice: spend the extra $50-$70 for the Duo-i model (now selling for about $150-160). With its ipod-docking capability it is much more than just a clock radio. It is a hi-fi component in its own right.

UPDATE: BA contacted me and arranged to take the Duo back & replace it. They sent me a 2nd Duo sample. Very quick response! Good to see a company respond to consumer feedback so quicky.
The Good News: The 1st sample definitely had reception problems. The replacement "seeks" fine and gets all the FM stations of interest in STEREO with the supplied pigtail FM antenna. No need for an external antenna unless you want the most distant stations.
-AM reception is more sensitive now, but I am not able to compare to a Solo. 1150 has no bleedthough from 1070 KNX, like the Sangean. It is very AM-directional, which can be good (for DXing) or bad (not all stations you want will come in strong with the radio fixed in one position on your table). Nightime AM DXing is to yet to be checked.
The Bad News: Still loses the 5 AM presets, but not FM, when AC is interrupted. This must be a design issue. But I can live with this, as power is rarely lost in my house. And it won't affect the alarm operation.
-Still "smells." Hope it dissipates with time.

Otherwise, I'd say it now matches or surpasses the sound and performance of the Solo, since they essentially use the same tuner, according to BA. And the ipod playback capability and remote control and preset buttons and stereo sound are just icing on the cake! My favorite radio now.

Great sound for a clock radio
FM reception is good, sound is good (well, make that great for the price range), *very* easy and tactically pleasant to use (set alarm, etc.)

Boston Acoustics Horizon I-Duo Volume limit problem: Mine came with "hospitality mode" enabled, and volume would not go past 19. To fix: turn on unit, turn volume all the way down to 00, push and hold volume button for 10 seconds until beep then release, then turn volume all the way up to 50 (max) and push and release volume button.

After one email to Boston Acoustics support, I received a courteous response within 12 hours with instructions.

best i have listened to so far
for the last few years i have heard multiple ipod speakers - altec lansing, bose, klipsch, jbl etc. but have never found any which could compare to a regular portable music system. they all sound like ipod speakers.

around 2 years back i bought an altec lansing inmotion portable speaker for my ipod. i knew that it couldn't compare with my regular music system - it didn't. but it was portable and so ...

four months back i bought a jbl radial high performance speaker for my ipod. it was heads above my portable altec lansing. pretty good sound - but still not comparable to a regular music system. and at low volumes the sound is lifeless.

last week i came upon the boston acoustics duo-i in sears. i have a high opinion of the capabilities of the company and wanted to demo it. but didn't have an ipod on me and thought i will come back with it and test it out later.

but couple of days back to my surprise my wife presented me with it. it is much heavier than the jbl. i hooked it up, attached my ipod and yea it is good. sound is much fuller than jbl, even in lower volumes. the bass is also quite impressive. this is the first time i have heard an ipod speaker sound something close to a regular music system. i'm impressed.

i have a bose wave music system (the smaller one) and in my opinion the sound of the duo-i is better than that - at less than half the cost! though ofcourse the bose wave has a built in cd player.


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