Tom Taylor asked me to write a review of the TTR1. He generously gave me a discount on the unit and sent it to me around Xmas time. I had some vacation and had a busy January so here is my review although a tad late.
[What is the TTR1?]
The TTR1 is a single purpose clock radio with only the ability to play Sirius Premium Internet Radio or from an AUX input. It has all the features you would expect from a clock radio and a few extras.
[My old setup]
I had a Timex XM Clock Radio. I did not have the XM activated as I had a Tao and found its portability to be prefered. I listened and woke up to it over FM. I had my SL2 plugged into the AUX input of this unit. I used it as my listening source in the bedroom/computer room.
[My needs -- why I wanted a change]
My son has become an XM radio addict particularly to the Kids Channel. He has asked repeatedly for a radio in his bedroom. I really didn't want to get yet another subscription. Then Voila, I heard about the TTR1. I could use my internet subscription and free up the Tao for my son. I also was having issues juggling recordings, sleep timers and alarms between the SL2 and my Tao.
[My first impressions]
The unit is big. The pictures give the impression that it is a medium/smallish radio. It is not. It is large. Most of this is speakers. It also doesn't look as unattractive as it does in the pictures.
[What I like]
I found the setup and navigation to be intuitive. I only had to look in the manual when I was having some trouble hooking to my WiFi network (more on that later). The manual also seemed to be well laid out. I like the way the sleep timer works as well as the variable time snooze. It allows me to snooze for variable time increments instead of the N minutes decided by some programmer in China that most clock radios have. I like the display. It is crisp and easy to read. I like how the alarms are displayed when the power to the unit is off. I like the auto-dimming feature as well. I like the 2 alarms which can be configured to have different channels and volumes. But the biggest thing I like about the unit is the sound. I did not have to play with any settings. It sounds great with the default factory settings although you can adjust it for various things such as loudness, etc. I use it as a general purpose radio that fills my bedroom/computer room with sound. I also like the presets which allow a change in channel. Alarms are easy to set, enable and disable. Also, there is no internet timeout.
[What I don't like]
The remote control of the unit shares simular frequencies to the SL2 (which is plugged into the AUX here as well). This is most annoying. I therefore have moved my SL2 behind the TTR1 and do not use the TTR1 remote at all. I would have liked a longer sleep time option (max is 60 minutes).
[What I had problems with]
Hooking the TTR1 up to my home network was a challenge. My network was set up to with WPA security and the router filtered units based upon MAC addresses. I was unable to hook up the TTR1 with this configuration. The issue was the WPA. I looked at the router logs and it indicated it had sent a success back to the TTR1 yet the TTR1 looked like it did an immediate retry after that. It just flagged the generic "Error" box back which was described as having wrong passcode or settings. When I removed the security, the TTR1 hooked up just fine. Since the MAC filtering is still active and we are on the 8th floor of an aparment building, this isn't a showstopper for me.
[My conclusions]
The TTR1 is, for me, a radio that meets my needs. Like others above me in this thread, I am very happy with this radio. If you do not spend the $2.99/mo or do not subscribe to Sirius, obviously this radio is not for you. It does not work with XMRO only Sirius Premium Internet Radio. Fortunatly for me, I am a Sirius subscriber and an Sirius Premium Internet subscriber.
Thanx again Tom Taylor (TSS Radio) for making this happen. I don't know what they do to/for the shipping guys to make the deliveries so fast (and I really don't want to know
) but it took 3 business days to make it here and that included customs. That is unheard of in these parts. Three cheers!
[What is the TTR1?]
The TTR1 is a single purpose clock radio with only the ability to play Sirius Premium Internet Radio or from an AUX input. It has all the features you would expect from a clock radio and a few extras.
[My old setup]
I had a Timex XM Clock Radio. I did not have the XM activated as I had a Tao and found its portability to be prefered. I listened and woke up to it over FM. I had my SL2 plugged into the AUX input of this unit. I used it as my listening source in the bedroom/computer room.
[My needs -- why I wanted a change]
My son has become an XM radio addict particularly to the Kids Channel. He has asked repeatedly for a radio in his bedroom. I really didn't want to get yet another subscription. Then Voila, I heard about the TTR1. I could use my internet subscription and free up the Tao for my son. I also was having issues juggling recordings, sleep timers and alarms between the SL2 and my Tao.
[My first impressions]
The unit is big. The pictures give the impression that it is a medium/smallish radio. It is not. It is large. Most of this is speakers. It also doesn't look as unattractive as it does in the pictures.
[What I like]
I found the setup and navigation to be intuitive. I only had to look in the manual when I was having some trouble hooking to my WiFi network (more on that later). The manual also seemed to be well laid out. I like the way the sleep timer works as well as the variable time snooze. It allows me to snooze for variable time increments instead of the N minutes decided by some programmer in China that most clock radios have. I like the display. It is crisp and easy to read. I like how the alarms are displayed when the power to the unit is off. I like the auto-dimming feature as well. I like the 2 alarms which can be configured to have different channels and volumes. But the biggest thing I like about the unit is the sound. I did not have to play with any settings. It sounds great with the default factory settings although you can adjust it for various things such as loudness, etc. I use it as a general purpose radio that fills my bedroom/computer room with sound. I also like the presets which allow a change in channel. Alarms are easy to set, enable and disable. Also, there is no internet timeout.
[What I don't like]
The remote control of the unit shares simular frequencies to the SL2 (which is plugged into the AUX here as well). This is most annoying. I therefore have moved my SL2 behind the TTR1 and do not use the TTR1 remote at all. I would have liked a longer sleep time option (max is 60 minutes).
[What I had problems with]
Hooking the TTR1 up to my home network was a challenge. My network was set up to with WPA security and the router filtered units based upon MAC addresses. I was unable to hook up the TTR1 with this configuration. The issue was the WPA. I looked at the router logs and it indicated it had sent a success back to the TTR1 yet the TTR1 looked like it did an immediate retry after that. It just flagged the generic "Error" box back which was described as having wrong passcode or settings. When I removed the security, the TTR1 hooked up just fine. Since the MAC filtering is still active and we are on the 8th floor of an aparment building, this isn't a showstopper for me.
[My conclusions]
The TTR1 is, for me, a radio that meets my needs. Like others above me in this thread, I am very happy with this radio. If you do not spend the $2.99/mo or do not subscribe to Sirius, obviously this radio is not for you. It does not work with XMRO only Sirius Premium Internet Radio. Fortunatly for me, I am a Sirius subscriber and an Sirius Premium Internet subscriber.
Thanx again Tom Taylor (TSS Radio) for making this happen. I don't know what they do to/for the shipping guys to make the deliveries so fast (and I really don't want to know
) but it took 3 business days to make it here and that included customs. That is unheard of in these parts. Three cheers!
