Sound on my new radio is muffled.

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 23 Sep 2023 09:20:21 -0400, Retirednoguilt
<HapilyRetired@fakeaddress.com> wrote:

>On 9/22/2023 4:32 PM, micky wrote:
>> In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 15:10:51 -0400, Retirednoguilt
>> <HapilyRetired@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> On 9/22/2023 1:42 PM, micky wrote:
>>>> I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>>>> problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>>>>
>>>> Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>>>> talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>>>> sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios. 
>>>>
>>>> Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what? 
>>>>
>>>> It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of
>>>> music to "talk".   I didnt' hear any change. 
>>>>
>>>> So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've
>>>> lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the
>>>> max, and the one in between almost to the max.   This helped at first,
>>>> but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help. 
>>>>
>>>> I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but
>>>> then it's louder than I want. 
>>>>
>>>> Is there an audio ng that's not dormant that I can post too.   alt.audio
>>>> and alt.audio.pro had gone 3 years without posts. 
>>>
>>> Time for a visit to an audiologist.  If you don't use hearing aids, you
>>> may need them.  If you use them, the settings may need to be tweaked.  A
>>> few years ago, I thought something had gone wrong with my stereo
>>> equipment, either the speakers or the receiver.  I also noticed I was
>>> having problems understanding dialog on the TV and in face to face
>>> conversations.  Turns out I have typical "mild-moderate" age-related
>>> hearing loss.  Hearing aids made a big difference in what I hear and
>>> almost completely "repaired" my stereo system.  If you will be getting
>>> your first set, make sure they come with a 100% money-back guarantee if
>>> not satisfied, for at least 45-60 days as it takes a little while for
>>> your brain to adjust.  Much longer than it takes to adjust to a new
>>> eyeglasses prescription.
>> 
>> What brand did you get and about how much were they? 
>> 
>> Do you have to have them "tuned" by the audiologist?  Just once or every
>> year or something? 
>> 
>I have a set of ReSound Linx Quatro hearing aids that were recommended
>by my audiologist at Walter Reed.  I got them about 4 years ago.  Yes,
>they were custom tuned.  Initially set to compensate for my audiogram
>and then tweaked by my subjective comments.  They retailed at that time
>for about $5K so I'm told.  Being retired military, I qualify for the
>DoD's hearing aids at cost program.  My total cost out of pocket was
>about $850.  The audiologist recommended an annual checkup or anytime
>sooner if a problem develops.
>
>Reading some of your other comments in this thread, it seems that you
>don't have a complaint of muffled sound when listening to other radios.
>If that's the case, and the other radios have a similar audio frequency
>response, your problem may not be your hearing.  Perhaps it is the
>radio.  Good luck!

I think it's the radio too, but I do have an interest in hearing aids. I
hear about 80% of the people I meet fine,  but some talk so low I can't.
And at meetings, but those are not as common anymore.  At home with zoom
I can just turn up the volume.  And at movies. 

I have a $150 "hearing amplifer" and it works well at my current level
of hearing. Although it has a good design, they seem to have used a
cheap on/off switch and sometimes when I turn it off it stays on and
vice versa.  It's just a slide switch, but embedded in hard rubber so I
can't replace it. Maybe I'm getting more used to it, although... I can
understand the voice when it says "Power off" or "Power on" but after
she says On she says something else and I can't come close to
understanding.  (In this casee, it is not about my hearing, but about
the device.)

I like the onse with a yoke, so when they fall out of my ears as they
often do, I don't lose them.   None of the high quality hearing aids
like yours or the Otikon that Clare mentinoed come in yoke form, do
they?     

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 23 Sep 2023 11:27:46 -0000 (UTC), Jasen
Betts <usenet@revmaps.no-ip.org> wrote:

>On 2023-09-22, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>> I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>> problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>>
>> Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>> talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>> sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios. 
>>
>> Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what? 
>
>Perhaps tweeter, or midrange driver missing or defective.

The grill cloth is square, 4 or 5".  Probably no separate tweeter and
for some reason I think it's probably not coaxial. 

>perhaps speaker cone is crooked and hung up. 

Hmmm.  Maybe.  Either way I should open it up and look. 

>perhaps someone was 
>smuggling illict substances in the speaker box and for reasons
>was unable to retreive them, and you have the result.

I'd have to find a place to sell that stuff, but maybe I coudl get some
of my purchase price back.   Radio probably made in China.  Opium or
something related. 
>
>Have you tried headphones, does that improve the sound? If it sounds

Good idea.  i should have thought of that. 

>good with headphones the problem is probably inside the speaker box.

Writing my previous post, bluetooth output occurred to me.  Going to try
that now. 		


Well, the Grace had already found and would pair with/connect to my
computer which is more than 40 feet away, farther than I thought normal
bluetooth range was, but it won't find the Sangean radio which is one
foot above it.  The Sangean Bluetooth is still working because it paired
with Alexa as soon as I put the radio on Bluetooth.  In fact, I
unplugged Alexa to keep it/her from interfering.  

So I'm fairly sure I can get this to work, but I need some time to think
about it. 

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 23 Sep 2023 06:13:08 GMT, Jan Panteltje
<alien@comet.invalid> wrote:

>On a sunny day (Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:42:01 -0400) it happened micky
><NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote in
><gojrgilsq36fjgt7gca1r8d0v6pbscg6bo@4ax.com>:
>
>>I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>>problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>>
>>Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>>talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>>sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios. 
>>
>>Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what? 
>>
>>It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of
>>music to "talk".   I didnt' hear any change. 
>>
>>So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've
>>lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the
>>max, and the one in between almost to the max.   This helped at first,
>>but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help. 
>>
>>I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but
>>then it's louder than I want. 
>
>Is there a headphone connector?

Ah, a great suggestion.  I think so, in the back.  With a small jack.  I
have to find my headset with the small plug.   It's cheap too so maybe I
should go straight to***

>If it sounds OK on headphones then the speaker / acoustics of the cabinet is bad.
>Use external speaker? or dump it in the garbage, 

I never dump anything in the garbage, but I'll admit, when I offered
some computer speakers with terrible sound, and I said they might be
good for children because they had terrible sound, no one replied.

>give it away?

There still isn't a Wifi radio with everything I want.  One or two
others do have presets, but each one has somet hing I don't like. 

External speakers sounds good.   *** It might have bluetooth output**
and I could send it to the AM/FM radio^^ on the shelf above that does
have bluetooth input.  It won't have stereo but I can live without that.
Mostly I listen to talk anyhow.   **The manual says "Integrated
bluetooth... transmitter to stream to Bluetooth headsets. ... Bluetooth
audio to every room in your house". 

It can work as transmitter or receiver but not both at the same time. --
that's fine. 


Well, the Grace had already found and would pair with/connect to my
computer which is more than 40 feet away, farther than I thought normal
bluetooth range was, but it won't find the Sangean radio which is one
foot above it.  The Sangean Bluetooth is still working because it paired
with Alexa as soon as I put the radio on Bluetooth.  In fact, I
unplugged Alexa to keep it/her from interfering.  

So I'm fairly sure I can get this to work, but I need some time to think
about it. 


^^The Sangean WR-22 AM/FM radio on the shelf above has good sound even
though it sells even 3.8 years later for $149. 

I bought a cheap early version of Alexa, the one that's shaped like a
cylinder of Quaker, and it only has 10 levels of volume and usually none
were the right one, so I send it to this radio that has 30 levels of
volume.  That works okay but I'd rather just push a button than have to
yell, Alexa play CNN for two hours

In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 15:08:54 -0700, Bob F
<bobnospam@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>>> Have you
>>> tried "stations"?
>> 
>> ????
>
>
>There are lots of apps to do this with your phone, and probably plenty 
>for PC's, 

The PC is at the far end of the hall, and when in bed, I don't want to
go there to change stations.   With the regular radio, I change stations
a lot.   Sometimes back and forth and back and forth.

The phone could be by my bed, but in practice the phone is off unless
I'm going somewhere.  And then off again when I get home.   I've used
the phone for this sort of thing while travelling and in the car, and
it's just not as easy as pushing a button

>as an alternative. Is there a satisfaction warranty for this 
>"radio" so you can send it back and try alternatives?

I may have let too much time go by.  I'm over the month that Amazon
gives, but I did it pretty much knowing there was nothing else I wanted.
BTW, when I sent in my last suggestion for firmware improvement, I
mentioned in passing that I haven't found CNN or MSNBC yet. She still
volunteered that I could find CNN among the IHeart entries, by typing
in, on the radio, CNN, and it worked.    (I already quoted that she said
MSNBC change their stream name frequently!)  

I've sent in two suggestions, to delink the Sleep function from most of
the other controls, and to add a Seek function. 

I'm saving complaining about the sound for last, I'm not sure why. Maybe
they'll like me because I've been so helpful (although why they didnt'
think of Seek I do not know. Maybe they have.)  I guess the worst would
be moving it to the kitchen, where I don't mind if the sound is louder. 

>I use StreamWriter on my PC to automatically store my favorite FM 
>programs, like the "Saturday Traditions" and "Thom Hartmann" shows on KBCS.

I'm looking at its webpage now.    Very good, and free.  Thanks. 

In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:42:01 -0400, micky
<NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

>I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>
>Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios. 
>
>Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what? 
>
>It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of
>music to "talk".   I didnt' hear any change. 
>
>So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've
>lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the
>max, and the one in between almost to the max.   This helped at first,
>but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help. 
>
>I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but
>then it's louder than I want. 
>
Is there an audio ng that's not dormant that I can post too.   alt.audio
and alt.audio.pro had gone 3 years without posts. 


I'm trying to connect my wifi radio to a regular radio with bluetooth.
The Grace wifi radio doesn't find the Sangrean wr-22, even though it has
found my laptop, even though the laptop has never been on and closer
than 40+ feet from the Wifi radio.   And it later found something called
[LG]webOSnnnnnnn which must be in my neighbor's house. 

But not the Sangrean which only 12 inches above the Wifi. 

Is there any chance Grace wifi radio knows how to find headphones, but
not another wifi radio????

The owners manual only mentions headphones but I took that to be becuase
that's the standard device and my problem was not foreseen.   The
Sangrean works fine when receiving audio from Alexa. Connects very
easily and quickly. 

On Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 11:43:14 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
> In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:42:01 -0400, micky
> <NONONO...@fmguy.com> wrote: 
> 
> >I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the 
> >problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled 
> > 
> >Maybe it's okay for music. I haven't listened to much music, but for 
> >talk it sounds muffled. Like literally they are talking through some 
> >sort of muffle. I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios. 
> > 
> >Is the problem that there is too much bass? If not that, what? 
> > 
> >It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of 
> >music to "talk". I didnt' hear any change. 
> > 
> >So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've 
> >lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the 
> >max, and the one in between almost to the max. This helped at first, 
> >but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help. 
> > 
> >I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but 
> >then it's louder than I want. 
> >
> Is there an audio ng that's not dormant that I can post too. alt.audio 
> and alt.audio.pro had gone 3 years without posts.
> I'm trying to connect my wifi radio to a regular radio with bluetooth. 
> The Grace wifi radio doesn't find the Sangrean wr-22, even though it has 
> found my laptop, even though the laptop has never been on and closer 
> than 40+ feet from the Wifi radio. And it later found something called 
> [LG]webOSnnnnnnn which must be in my neighbor's house. 
> 
> But not the Sangrean which only 12 inches above the Wifi. 
> 
> Is there any chance Grace wifi radio knows how to find headphones, but 
> not another wifi radio???? 
> 
> The owners manual only mentions headphones but I took that to be becuase 
> that's the standard device and my problem was not foreseen. The 
> Sangrean works fine when receiving audio from Alexa. Connects very 
> easily and quickly.

Wifi has a master and a slave.  Most devices are only designed to be one or the other.  Laptops are an exception, where they can be either.  So both of your radios are probably designed to be masters, talking to slaves like remote speakers and headphones.  I would not expect them to talk to each other. 

-- 

  Rick C.

  - Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
  - Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

In sci.electronics.repair, on Sat, 23 Sep 2023 23:43:05 -0400, micky
<NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

>In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:42:01 -0400, micky
><NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>
>>I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>>problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>>
>>Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>>talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>>sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios. 
>>
>>Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what? 
>>
>>It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of
>>music to "talk".   I didnt' hear any change. 
>>
>>So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've
>>lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the
>>max, and the one in between almost to the max.   This helped at first,
>>but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help. 
>>
>>I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but
>>then it's louder than I want. 
>>
>Is there an audio ng that's not dormant that I can post too.   alt.audio
>and alt.audio.pro had gone 3 years without posts. 
>
>
>I'm trying to connect my wifi radio to a regular radio with bluetooth.
>The Grace wifi radio doesn't find the Sangrean wr-22, even though it has
>found my laptop, even though the laptop has never been on and closer
>than 40+ feet from the Wifi radio.   And it later found something called
>[LG]webOSnnnnnnn which must be in my neighbor's house. 
>
>But not the Sangrean which only 12 inches above the Wifi. 

I let it try for hours, but the Grace wifi never found the Sangrean. 

>Is there any chance Grace wifi radio knows how to find headphones, but
>not another wifi radio????
>
>The owners manual only mentions headphones but I took that to be becuase
>that's the standard device and my problem was not foreseen.   The
>Sangrean works fine when receiving audio from Alexa. Connects very
>easily and quickly. 

If I can't connect by bluetooth, there is a Line Out on the Grace and a
Aux In on the Sangrean.  Both Stereo**.   Are those of the same
amplitude?  Will that work?   The Aux In says connect, for example, an
iPod, MP3 or CD player.  Are their outputs like Line Out would be? 

There also a 3.5mm mini headphone jack on the sending radio.  Would that
be better than Line Out. 

**Even though the Sangrean has only one speaker, it has a stereo Aux In
jack. Do you think that means L and R are merged in the radio?    

Or can I merge the left and right channels just by buying the right
Y-cable?  Is there a name for that? 

On 9/23/2023 5:22 PM, micky wrote:
> 
>>> What brand did you get and about how much were they? 
>>>
>>> Do you have to have them "tuned" by the audiologist?  Just once or every
>>> year or something? 
>>>
>> I have a set of ReSound Linx Quatro hearing aids that were recommended
>> by my audiologist at Walter Reed.  I got them about 4 years ago.  Yes,
>> they were custom tuned.  Initially set to compensate for my audiogram
>> and then tweaked by my subjective comments.  They retailed at that time
>> for about $5K so I'm told.  Being retired military, I qualify for the
>> DoD's hearing aids at cost program.  My total cost out of pocket was
>> about $850.  The audiologist recommended an annual checkup or anytime
>> sooner if a problem develops.
>>
>> Reading some of your other comments in this thread, it seems that you
>> don't have a complaint of muffled sound when listening to other radios.
>> If that's the case, and the other radios have a similar audio frequency
>> response, your problem may not be your hearing.  Perhaps it is the
>> radio.  Good luck!
> 
> I think it's the radio too, but I do have an interest in hearing aids. I
> hear about 80% of the people I meet fine,  but some talk so low I can't.
> And at meetings, but those are not as common anymore.  At home with zoom
> I can just turn up the volume.  And at movies. 
> 
> I have a $150 "hearing amplifer" and it works well at my current level
> of hearing. Although it has a good design, they seem to have used a
> cheap on/off switch and sometimes when I turn it off it stays on and
> vice versa.  It's just a slide switch, but embedded in hard rubber so I
> can't replace it. Maybe I'm getting more used to it, although... I can
> understand the voice when it says "Power off" or "Power on" but after
> she says On she says something else and I can't come close to
> understanding.  (In this casee, it is not about my hearing, but about
> the device.)
> 
> I like the onse with a yoke, so when they fall out of my ears as they
> often do, I don't lose them.   None of the high quality hearing aids
> like yours or the Otikon that Clare mentinoed come in yoke form, do
> they?     
I don't know.  Mine have never fallen out.

On 9/23/2023 11:44 PM, micky wrote:
> In sci.electronics.repair, on Sat, 23 Sep 2023 23:43:05 -0400, micky
> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
> 
>> In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:42:01 -0400, micky
>> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>>> problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>>>
>>> Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>>> talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>>> sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios.
>>>
>>> Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what?
>>>
>>> It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of
>>> music to "talk".   I didnt' hear any change.
>>>
>>> So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've
>>> lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the
>>> max, and the one in between almost to the max.   This helped at first,
>>> but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help.
>>>
>>> I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but
>>> then it's louder than I want.
>>>
>> Is there an audio ng that's not dormant that I can post too.   alt.audio
>> and alt.audio.pro had gone 3 years without posts.
>>
>>
>> I'm trying to connect my wifi radio to a regular radio with bluetooth.
>> The Grace wifi radio doesn't find the Sangrean wr-22, even though it has
>> found my laptop, even though the laptop has never been on and closer
>> than 40+ feet from the Wifi radio.   And it later found something called
>> [LG]webOSnnnnnnn which must be in my neighbor's house.
>>
>> But not the Sangrean which only 12 inches above the Wifi.
> 
> I let it try for hours, but the Grace wifi never found the Sangrean.
> 
>> Is there any chance Grace wifi radio knows how to find headphones, but
>> not another wifi radio????
>>
>> The owners manual only mentions headphones but I took that to be becuase
>> that's the standard device and my problem was not foreseen.   The
>> Sangrean works fine when receiving audio from Alexa. Connects very
>> easily and quickly.
> 
> If I can't connect by bluetooth, there is a Line Out on the Grace and a
> Aux In on the Sangrean.  Both Stereo**.   Are those of the same
> amplitude?  Will that work?   The Aux In says connect, for example, an
> iPod, MP3 or CD player.  Are their outputs like Line Out would be?

Line out outputs tend to be a fixed output level, not affected by the 
volume control. The volume resulting at the receiving device may be at a 
different level than the receiving device default, but the volume 
control should adjust for that unless the receiving device expects a 
significantly different level. The headphone output would allow the 
outputting device volume to be adjusted if the line outs are not 
compatible for some reason. If the output is too high for the inputting 
device, distortion will result.

I would use the line out as my first choice.

You really should talk to the seller of your device about replacing it 
with one that actually works or refunding your money..

> 
> There also a 3.5mm mini headphone jack on the sending radio.  Would that
> be better than Line Out.
> 
> **Even though the Sangrean has only one speaker, it has a stereo Aux In
> jack. Do you think that means L and R are merged in the radio?

Probably.

> 
> Or can I merge the left and right channels just by buying the right
> Y-cable?  Is there a name for that?

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 24 Sep 2023 07:44:48 -0700, Bob F
<bobnospam@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 9/23/2023 11:44 PM, micky wrote:
>> In sci.electronics.repair, on Sat, 23 Sep 2023 23:43:05 -0400, micky
>> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:42:01 -0400, micky
>>> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I bought a $230 wifi radio that is impressive in many ways, but the
>>>> problem I have is that the sound sounds muffled
>>>>
>>>> Maybe it's okay for music.  I haven't listened to much music, but for
>>>> talk it sounds muffled.  Like literally they are talking through some
>>>> sort of muffle.  I don't have this problem with 5 other table radios.
>>>>
>>>> Is the problem that there is too much bass?   If not that, what?
>>>>
>>>> It has equalizer settings so I changed from default and various kinds of
>>>> music to "talk".   I didnt' hear any change.
>>>>
>>>> So I went to custom, which has 6 frequency ranges, and over time, I've
>>>> lowered the lowest 4 ranges to the minimum and raised the top one to the
>>>> max, and the one in between almost to the max.   This helped at first,
>>>> but future changes were smaller and I didn't see addtional help.
>>>>
>>>> I can still understand if I make the sound one or two steps louder, but
>>>> then it's louder than I want.
>>>>
>>> Is there an audio ng that's not dormant that I can post too.   alt.audio
>>> and alt.audio.pro had gone 3 years without posts.
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm trying to connect my wifi radio to a regular radio with bluetooth.
>>> The Grace wifi radio doesn't find the Sangrean wr-22, even though it has
>>> found my laptop, even though the laptop has never been on and closer
>>> than 40+ feet from the Wifi radio.   And it later found something called
>>> [LG]webOSnnnnnnn which must be in my neighbor's house.
>>>
>>> But not the Sangrean which only 12 inches above the Wifi.
>> 
>> I let it try for hours, but the Grace wifi never found the Sangrean.
>> 
>>> Is there any chance Grace wifi radio knows how to find headphones, but
>>> not another wifi radio????
>>>
>>> The owners manual only mentions headphones but I took that to be becuase
>>> that's the standard device and my problem was not foreseen.   The
>>> Sangrean works fine when receiving audio from Alexa. Connects very
>>> easily and quickly.
>> 
>> If I can't connect by bluetooth, there is a Line Out on the Grace and a
>> Aux In on the Sangrean.  Both Stereo**.   Are those of the same
>> amplitude?  Will that work?   The Aux In says connect, for example, an
>> iPod, MP3 or CD player.  Are their outputs like Line Out would be?
>
>Line out outputs tend to be a fixed output level, not affected by the 
>volume control. The volume resulting at the receiving device may be at a 
>different level than the receiving device default, but the volume 
>control should adjust for that unless the receiving device expects a 
>significantly different level. The headphone output would allow the 
>outputting device volume to be adjusted if the line outs are not 
>compatible for some reason. If the output is too high for the inputting 
>device, distortion will result.
>
>I would use the line out as my first choice.

OKay.   I like that better because the jacks are in the back. 

Even though the fidelity of $8 earbuds can't be that good, I tried them
last night in the headphone jack, but they have a 2.5mm plug to fit a
cell phone and it's a 3.5 mm jack.   Plus it's TRRR instead of TRR,
because of the mike it has.  Iirc that is still supposed to work if the
plug fit. 
>
>You really should talk to the seller of your device about replacing it 
>with one that actually works or refunding your money..

I guess I'm afraid they'll send me another one that's no better than
this.  

After I've gone to the work of shipping the first one back and putting
the new one in its place, both of which would have been pretty easy 2
years ago but now seem like tiring acts. 

Also I think it would be easier to get them to send a new one after I
tell them how much effort I put in to get this one to work.  This stuff
doesn't seem tiring because it fulfills my curiosity too. 

>> There also a 3.5mm mini headphone jack on the sending radio.  Would that
>> be better than Line Out.
>> 
>> **Even though the Sangrean has only one speaker, it has a stereo Aux In
>> jack. Do you think that means L and R are merged in the radio?
>
>Probably.

I hope so. 

BTW, I remembered last night that I have another bluetooth radio, also
by Sangean, in the bathroom, and I tried to pair it with the Grace radio
this morning and it was easy.    So I don't know why I can't pair the
bedroom Sangean, especially since I can easily with Alexa, and I
unplugged Alexa.  It's not just that I can't pair it, the bedroom
Sangrean doesn't even show up on the Grace wifi list of bluetooth
sources. 
>
>> 
>> Or can I merge the left and right channels just by buying the right
>> Y-cable?  Is there a name for that?