[Biggles]

Does anyone even use their AVR to listen to radio ?? I find it amusing that even entry level AVR's have 20 pre-sets for FM/AM radio stations.Does anyone listen to 40 different radio stations ?
The only time I listen to the radio is in the kitchen in the morning or while driving,and I only listen to 4 different stations.
Why do manufacturers add so many pre-sets ?? why not add a few other
features for the HT user ??

 

[eljay]

Does anyone even use their AVR to listen to radio ??

I do, although very infrequently (which is to say, almost never). I think I have two stations programmed into memory.

Why do manufacturers add so many pre-sets ??

Probably because if they didn't, there would inevitably be complaints from people upset at the fact that manufacturers were infringing upon their "rights" as consumers to have as many presets as they want.

 

[classicsat]

While I don't have an AVR, I do have a fairly old stereo receiver as part of my HT setup, and do use it to listen to the radio almost daily, and sound support for TV viewing, although might enjoy a full surround system for that.

As for presets, my receiver has I think something like 20 altogether, in two banks. It is kind neat though, each preset can be set independantly of band, rather than an AM bank and an FM bank you may traditionally get.

 

[dm_4u]

Personally I think with higher end Receivers...they should eliminate the radios altogether and go with a Home Theatre amp.

Most High end Receivers now get internet radio/HD Radio...can stream from pc's and really don't have the need for am/fm anymore.

For lower end receivers I would leave them the way they are now...because they are much more likely to be in a room in the house more apt to play the normal radio.

In my HT...I never use the tuner...ever...but I do upstairs in the living room.

 

[JamesK]

Does anyone even use their AVR to listen to radio ??

I do and have about 6 or 7 memories programmed.

 

[scampbell]

I listen to XM radio on my receiver. It has 7 banks of 10 presets, although I only have 2 banks filled.

 

[57]

I occasionally listen to radio on my AVRs, but mostly they are fed from the Galaxie stations on my STBs if I wish to listen to music. I probably have about 10 presets on each of two receivers. In addition, for music I use the various other devices - DVDs, CDs, USB sticks with MP3s plugged into the AVR or BD player, etc.

 

[ScaryBob]

That's like asking why a car has a back seat when you never use it. They are there because some people want them and use them. There are lots of features on AV receivers that may never get used by many people, like tape/VCR in/out or phono input. They are there because some people would not by a receiver that did not have those features and it increases sales. There are radio markets in the US that have over 60 radio stations. For example, the Detroit area has about 85 radio stations.

 

[Biggles]

" For example, the Detroit area has about 85 radio stations. "

True, but would an individual person listen to ALL of those stations ??

I'm guessing very few people would need 40 pre-set stations , especially in the AM frequencies.

 

[hugh]

Funny, my receivers have two presets that I set when I bought them in order to test the functionality. Never listen to AM/FM from my AVR's.

 

[57]

Once the decision is made to put presets in the receiver, then adding a few more presets has negligible impact on cost/performance.

 

[ScaryBob]

IIRC, my AVR has 4 "bands" of 10 presets. The presets in the first band are set, even though I rarely use the tuner. There were about 40 on cable until recently. I just scanned them all and let the tuner automatically fill the presets with stations. We only have about a dozen radio stations near here. 20 years ago, there weren't enough OTA stations to fill 10 presets. OTOH, if you live in near Detroit and have several household members that listen to radio...

 

[cfraser]

Staying away from the "why is this feature that I never use on my AVR?" for the reasons mentioned...

I think we should consider that there is a high radio station density in the U.S. My main AVR e.g. has 56 presets, and I know that in a major U.S. city, it is trivially easy to pick up 56 AM/FM stations just from the immediate surrounding area, never mind real DX. Even in TO, using my Sony and MD tuners I can get that many on AM/FM, though many aren't so listenable, but they're there, and conceivably my AVR could receive them decently if it was connected to the "good" antennas. As it is, with the crappy indoor antennas they give you, I see my Denon AVR AM/FM tuner (also crappy IMO) automatically detected 32 stations for the presets.

Gotta admit the number of presets does seem excessive, can't imagine anybody even listens to ten stations "regularly", but again it costs nothing extra if you have the memory once you've decided to have *any* presets at all.

Edit: I'm mistaken, the AVR tuner detected many more than 32 stations, I only bothered to fill in the call letters for 32 of them that were listenable (to me)...