Trying DAB on the M-CR603

chebby

Well-known member
Jun 2, 2008
1,253
26
19,220
Visit site
Tried DAB on the M-CR603 for the first time today.

First I got the extendable aerial from the box and screwed that in. Useless. No reception to the extent that the automatic scan failed to find any stations.

Not suprised. the living room faces away from the transmitter (Rowridge). DAB reception (on our Vita Audio R1) in the kitchen and conservatory is spot-on with just it's extendable aerial. But that end of the house faces towards the transmitter.

(Conversely, FM reception is strong everywhere in the house. Even with the proverbial bit of wet string.)

Anyway...

...next I took off the extendable aerial, popped in back in the box (never to be used again) and unscrewed the push on (FM) co-ax plug - from the rooftop FM aerial lead - to reveal the F type connector and screwed that onto the DAB aerial socket instead.

This results in superb reception (despite the rooftop aerial being FM optimised). Max signal strength on every station. Been listening for two hours now (Jazz FM, R4Extra, R4, R2, R6M, Radio Solent, R3, Classic and some local commercial dross) and it all sounds pretty good.

I am going to keep it like this for a couple of days on 'trial' (one 'burble', on anything we normally listen to, and it's going back to FM).

I am really suprised at how good a job the M-CR603 does with DAB.

I did the same exercise about 4 years ago - with my old Arcam Solo-Mini - when our new aerials went up. DAB was pretty ropey on that occasion.

So either the Arcam was a bit cr#p at DAB, and the M-CR603 simply does it better, or the DAB signal has improved in the last 4 years. (Not enough to penetrate the house as far as the living room without a roof aerial though!)

Given that I also have Freeview radio (and now the ability to record it on the Humax) via digital optical to the M-CR603 and internet radio (in superb quality from TuneIn Radio Pro via AirPlay), I may just leave it on DAB permanently for the extra choice and convenience*.

*My wife isn't into AirPlay (she doesn't use an iPhone) or internet radio. She just likes to press 'tuner' on the remote and get the stations she likes. (She also prefers the 'convenience' of CDs whereas I prefer to stream from iTunes using AirPlay.)
 

Ravey Gravey Davy

Well-known member
Apr 28, 2008
225
3
18,795
Visit site
Do not get too excited yet..My Teac is variable using the same connections.(and yes ,forget the wire version) It does share the TV aerial now but with a booster. Even so,with all TV connectors off,it still suffers big time depending on the ambient weather conditions.I am about to do a dedicated dipole aerial and see whether that overcomes the issue. It also depends on the station. The Pure Sensia in the kitchen with extendable aerial is excellent for R2,3,4 and Absolute/Ab 80's but Ab 70's is variable to say the least.When the weather is bad ,the TEAC even struggles on R2
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts