Roberts Raido plus iPod doc

kah22

My girlfriend is looking at buying a new radion plus iPod Doc. The one she is looking at is the Roberts Sound 66 DAB/FM Radio with iPod Dock. It will basically sit in one room. She is looking at this because we believe Roberts to be a reasonable manufacturer.

Part of the speck says 'it generates 5 watts RMS - the average measurement of a speakers output,' but I'm not to sure of what that means. Could anyone explain.

I might add that the reason for the purchase is that I bought her a Kit Sound iPod Doc for Christmas from Argos and to be honest it proved a disaster. So I'm guessing that for an easy life we are really stuck with Argos.

I'm actually argueing with them that it is 'not for for the purpose it was intended.' I could only pick up four radio stations from it and even then the sound was terriable and there didn't seem to be anyway of fine tuning the radio. So I guess I'm stuck with Argos unless I want to start a whole arguement with them as to whether it is 'fit for the purpose it was intended.' I'm assuming they could string that out.

I'd like to hear your views. In real life what does the 5 Watts RMS mean?

Kevin

googler

5 watts is the average (RMS = root mean square average) power output provided by the internal amplifier to drive the speaker, and given a reasonably efficient speaker in the unit, it should be perfectly adequate for filling an average room.

Essentially, it's a guide as to how loud it will go. If you had one with 10 watts, it would be louder (but not necessarily twice as loud) as the 5 watt one.

It won't go to rib-shaking, Motorhead-on-steroids levels. Not with 5 watts.

You don't 'fine tune' DAB radios in the way that you would fine-tune an AM or FM radio. The radio scans for the available signals itself, locks on to them, and decodes the channels being carried by those signals for you.

WTFH

Is it possible that the DAB radio signal is weak where you are?
Have you tried the radio in a different location?

I've got a Roberts Sound 53 and use it as the clock radio in the bedroom. It's excellent (but it's also 2x8W rather than 2x2.5W), so it's got a more powerful amp/speakers.

kah22

Googler thanks for the quick reply. Maybe I was confusing with my original post. The radio operates two frequences AM and FM not DAB.

As a follow up I'm only after receiving a call from Argos and they say that I'll have to return the equipment to KitSound for examination. I was saying to them it's not fit for purpose (can't pick up radio stations in the centre of a town) But I've agreeded to send it back with the clear knowledge that my contract is with Argos. But to be honest I'm not quite sure what to do next