HD Radios - Slow to reach But Now there are More Choices!

Kenwood KDC-MP345U In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA/iPod Receiver with USB

Industry experts say that there are now more than 1000 stations broadcasting in HD. More than 100 of them are even multicasting with HD2 subchannels.

But can you actually hear HD radio yet?

The answer to this is that you can, particularly if you want to put an HD radio in your car. At least five manufacturers that already offer car audio systems that incorporate HD technology. They are:
Panasonic
JVC
Alpine
Sanyo
Kenwood

Plus, Eclipse has an HD tuner that can make certain of their models HD capable.

The best place to acquire one of these car audio systems might be eBay. An eBay search turned up a Kenwood KDC-MP4028 at a buy it now price of just $99.98.

Online sources for information on HD car audio systems include Nextag (nextag.com), BizRate (bizrate.com), PriceGrabber (pricegrabber.com), PriceScan (pricescan.com), and Shopzilla (shopzilla.com).

In terms of pricing, NexTag has the Kenwood KDC MP828 at a low of $220 at etronics.com.(refurbished) And Shopzilla has the same unit at $204.98 (www.amazon.com) And the high-end Alpine DVA-9965 is available from Crutchfield at $1,499.99.

Tabletop HD Radios

More tabletop HD radios are arriving almost weekly. Boston Acoustics recently began shipping its Recepter Radio HD to selected audio stores. This unit is usually at Crutchfields. One call (www.onecall.com), amazon.com, NPR (www.npr.org), and J&R (www.j&r.com). All of them outlets have been pricing machine at $499 by using a $50 rebate.

Five manufacturers have announced HD tabletop radios - Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio, RadioShack, Sangeon and Radiosophy. The Polk I-sonic is shipping now and Radiosophy's MultiStream is due out late this year. The I-sonic is priced at $599 by using a $50 rebate that expires at the beginning of January. The Radiosophy MultiStream HD for $269 before a $50 rebate. The RadioShack Accurian is $174.99 from $35 rebate as well as the Sangeon HDR-1 is $249.99 before a $50 rebate.

The greater news is that often new, lower-cost HD tabletops should start arriving at the beginning of 2007.

Component HD Tuners

Sangeon has a component radio tuner known as the HDT-1 at $199.(before rebate) and Yamaha has its RX-V4600 Home entertainment system Receiver with HD. This 7-channel, surround-sound receiver can be found at specialized audio stores and has a manufacturers suggested retail price of $1899..

ADA (Audio Design Associates) offers three HD component tuners - the Duo Tuner ($2199), Quadritune Tune Suite ($3199) and the HD Pro Tuner.

Day-Seguerra has announced an HD receiver but by today haven't provided any information on the merchandise or its cost.

So, more choices in HD Radio are actually here and more are coming soon.