![]() The DAB antenna has a magnetic base and when placed on a suitably ferrous bit of casework gets a stronger signal than otherwise, again this will be location specific and best results will be achieved with an external antenna, but who has one of those these days? I was able to pick up a good if not comprehensive range of DAB stations using the ‘national scan’ option, it found all the BBC stations but not Classic Rock (now on the Absolute roster). I wasn’t initially able to get a clear signal from the T-shaped indoor antenna supplied and resorted to the DAB feed instead. Of course, you still need wires to go to the supplied DAB and FM aerials, however the latter is redundant unless you’re living in the right place. It’s a little odd that there’s no RJ45 for a direct Ethernet connection to a network, but wires are clearly out of fashion these days. The back panel says it all, with a coaxial socket for an FM aerial, threaded coax for DAB, and twin Wi-Fi antenna for network streaming. The Rotel T14 is an FM and DAB receiver and a network streamer with access to internet radio and various streaming services, I don’t think there are many source components that provide the range of options than the T14 does. Rotel is hoping I’m not alone in thinking that, and there’s an audience for an all-singing, all-dancing multi-source ‘wireless’ a single device that can receive the majority of broadcasts and internet streams on the major platforms and more. I frequently listen to specific shows in the hope of hearing something new and interesting (I have a Tidal account but that’s of little use unless you know what to look for or are a hip hop enthusiast). All of which meant that the radio held rather higher status in the hierarchy of audio sources than it does today – an age when FM tuner sales were in free-fall, even before the threat to turn off analogue broadcasting came up again. But if you missed it that was it, there was no ‘listen again’, no music on demand, and definitely no Spotify, YouTube, or Tidal. There were some stations that broke through the top 40 playlist barriers, like Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg on AM, and those prepared to stay up late enough could enjoy a genuinely eclectic mix on the John Peel show on BBC Radio One. And, if you were listening in the UK, that was a very confined experience where the few broadcasters on FM were only interested in a mainstream audience. Stop me if I’m being presumptuous but I suspect that most of the readers of this august journal can remember a time when the only way to listen to music without paying for it was on the radio.
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