Phil and others, You mention on your site that your picks are the Sony SW7600GR for SSB radios and PL-380 or PL-390 for Silicon Labs DSP-based radios. I was thinking of a PL-660 but your write-up made me think that perhaps I should consider a PL-390 too.
One thing that is very important to me is that I be able to operate the radio without any lights coming on. This is a hard requirement for me. I would not even consider a radio for which I can't turn off and keep off the lights. The PL-660 allows you to turn off the back light (by pressing and holding 5 while the radio is off until it says OFF on the screen) and it will stay off unless you specifically turn it on -- i.e. simply tuning the radio or performing other operations won't automatically make the light come back on as far as I can tell from the manual. Also as far as I can tell there are no other lights on the radio or on the AC adapter so if you can force the backlight to stay off then no light at all will come from the radio.
1. Because of the way the light operates I was thinking of a PL-660 but wonder if the PL-390 would do too? I haven't been able to find a manual online for the PL-390. Do the PL-390 lights work that way too? Are there also no other lights aside from the backlight?
2. Also how important is having SSB?
3. Does the PL-390 with its two speakers sound significantly better than the PL-660 which only has one?
4. How do I choose between the PL-390 vs. PL-660?
I would mostly use it for a few FM stations but might try the SW -- I have never owned a SW radio before so I don't really know. Might use AM a bit but not much.
