iLive iKB333S Under Cabinet Radio with Bluetooth Speakers (Silver)

I was hesitant to buy this radio, since I'm not familiar with the brand name, but the price spoke to me. I like to listen to talk radio when I'm cooking, or cleaning my kitchen. Our local station doesn't have very good signal strength, so I needed a radio with decent reception. This unit has an external antenna, which was a deciding factor in my choice. My station now comes in very clearly, since I was able to position the antenna for the best reception. I also wanted an under cabinet unit so no counter space would be lost. This radio fits perfectly under my cabinet, and looks very nice, too. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, since I don't have to have concert sound, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the clarity and quality of sound this little unit produces. It sounds much better than the boombox for which I paid twice as much. I may start listening to music again! All things considered, I think this is a great radio, at a great price.I haven't used the bluetooth feature yet, so I can't speak as to it's usefulness.Since my handyman husband installed it for me, I don't know how difficult installation would be for the average person. If you have a drill, and a screwdriver, I don't think it would be very hard. Rather than drilling holes in the cabinet, my husband cut a piece of plywood to fit, attached the unit without the 3 extender pieces, then screwed that into the bottom of the cabinet.PROSThe sound is by far the best feature of this radio. For such a small unit, it has a very rich, clear sound. When I turned up the volume to listen over the running dishwasher, there was no distortion. The sound is so crisp, I can even understand what is being said when I'm in the next room.The external antenna ensures that you can choose the best positioning for lower signal strength stations in your area. It's a thin wire, about 3 ft long, attached at the back of the unit. It can either be "snaked" up through holes drilled in your kitchen cabinet, run up the outside corner of the cabinet, or just attached to the bottom of the cabinet if you're lucky enough to live where the radio stations all have good signal strength.The size of this unit is great. It only extends a few inches below the bottom of the kitchen cabinet, so it doesn't get in the way at all. It's also a nice looking unit. The silver part extended on the top is up under the cabinet, so you only see the black with the silver edges.CONSThe buttons and their labels are small. Since my husband attached the unit at the front of the cabinet, I have no trouble seeing them. If it were farther back under the edge, it would be more difficult. With continued use, most people memorize where everything is, anyway.There is only 1 button for the 20 preset stations. You have to cycle through from one to the next. Since there are only a handful of stations that I listen to, I simply programmed them in several locations. My talk radio station is at 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. The music stations are on the ones in between those.The clock only displays when the unit is off. The station numbers display when it's on. Since I have clocks in several locations, this isn't an issue for me.The light feature on the bottom is too dim to be of much use. Since I don't need one there anyway, this doesn't matter to me.

Really a nice replacement to my 15yr+ old under cabinet radio. My old one had a CD player but even though this radio has no CD player, it will play more modern MP3 via Bluetooth (you need an MP3 device) which is really nice. I get more than 2 dozen FM stations clearly (live in a city) but I usually just listen to a couple stations. Reception in my area is excellent. Sound very good for what I paid. The unit is about 1/2 the size as my older unit and fits nicely under my cabinet. Installation was pretty straight forward using instructions and template. Took a few minutes to figure out how and set preset stations. Very happy. As far as the plug that other's refer about being very large and containing batteries, they must have redesigned because my plug is the size of a cell phone charger -not big at all and the 2 AAA batteries are installed in the radio next to speakers. Batteries are really for clock and preset memory when power goes off- not meant to power full radio. The LED light is not a working light, but rather a very good night light. Looks very nice once installed.

Its a great little radio for what it is. Some of the little idiosyncrasies that other reviewers have mentioned are true... The buttons ARE small and hard to read, but they have a very good solid feel with a clean decisive push to them, and once you learn what's where, its not a problem. The display is hard to read from an angle... But I'm assuming that most people have a few other digital clocks in their kitchen like we do, no big deal. If you DO want this as the primary clock for your kitchen, its NOT for that. There are 20 station presets that cycle through ALL 20 with each press of the single preset station button, so if you only store say 12 stations, you are forced to cycle through the additional 8 white noise stations 13-20 to get back to #1. This wasn't a big issue for me either. On the plus side, the reception on this unit is very good. I am a seasoned audiophile who has been in the audio business for over 20 years, and I can say that I was pleasantly surprised with the sound quality of this unit. Music is loud, clear and impressive for the small, compact unit that it is. Those who complained of poor sound quality obviously had unrealistic expectations! This is not a living room hi fidelity stereo system. But its great for your kitchen. Sounds fine throughout the whole house at reasonable volumes. The Bluetooth has connected flawlessly with several of our devices and works great. Very well built unit. Installation was easy. Overall, a great purchase. I am very happy with it.