PURE Radios - Ireland

PURE Ireland

Hello,

I thought I'd introduce myself, I work for PURE Radios (http://www.pure.com/ie/) and look after pretty much every aspect of PURE Radios in Ireland.

I'm a long term member of boards.ie so I know how you (we?) like to interact with manufactures and give your feedback, both good and bad. So I'll gladly answer questions relating to PURE and even DAB as I've a good few contacts in both RTE & the commercial stations and might be able to give you guys/gals some information that would not normally be available.

Few little facts:

• All PURE radios come with a 2 year end user warranty.
• All PURE radios sold in Ireland are at least DAB+ out of the box. (Many are profile 1)
• PURE radios bought in the UK or from Currys/Argos/M&S here in Ireland are 99% not DAB+ compatible as these were destined for UK market.

BBC Radio will never be broadcast on Digital in Ireland. To the best of my knowledge it's never been broadcast on FM here either.

I personally see all radios of the future having joint Digital & Internet radio on them, with switching between broadcast types being blurred with just one list of favourites.

If anyone wants to ask questions, fire away! If you want to contact me directly - sean.burke@pure.com

Looking forward to hearing peoples feedback on PURE in Ireland!

I've also contacted the powers that be about becoming a commercial member so hopefully that will happen soon.

Thanks,

Sean.

CUCINA

I bought a Pure radio recently (EVOKE 1S)...but very disappointed with the sound. It is very muffled, like the bass is set too low and needs a "treble" control.
And although it has an alarm feature, it doesn't have automatic switch-off. On the plus side, the read-out is a handy feature (e.g., on RTE's "Gold" station, but that's common to all Dab radios (I think!).
So not happy with my purchase, sorry to report...

ntlbell

You really need a second speaker for stereo sound.

A bit of research before purchase will go a long way.

speaker

rebeve

I have the evoke flow , nice firmware update recently.Would def buy another one.

goingpostal

I have two Pure products. I have the portable DAB Pure 1500. It is excellent. Perfect DAB reception and the FM receiver is very, very good too, which is unusual, because every portable FM radio I have had before has been rubbish. I also have the Pure One Classic, which is a lovely product, bright display, good reception, nice design and intuitive buttons on the front. I also own a Roberts RD-45 FM/DAB radio that is only useful for throwing at the dog when he steps out of line.

I can receive BBC radio on FM here in Sligo and have done so for many years and also I can receive it on DAB from the NI tx!

PURE Ireland

CUCINA wrote: »

I bought a Pure radio recently (EVOKE 1S)...but very disappointed with the sound. It is very muffled, like the bass is set too low and needs a "treble" control.
And although it has an alarm feature, it doesn't have automatic switch-off. On the plus side, the read-out is a handy feature (e.g., on RTE's "Gold" station, but that's common to all Dab radios (I think!).
So not happy with my purchase, sorry to report...

Hi Cucina,

Sorry to hear your having sound issues with your 1S.

The Evoke 1S is very well known for being one of the best sounding radios out there:

http://whathifi.com/Review/Pure-Digital-Evoke-1S/

So I'd recommend contacting the guys in support to see if your one is faulty?

support@pure.com - or +44 (0)845 148 9001 (a free phone number is coming!)

Please let me know how you get on.

I've also been told that there is a very real possibility that the BBC radio stations will be broadcast on Digital in the Republic in the near future. This is because of the Good Friday Agreement and the need to have the same broadcasts available in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Also for anyone in the sunny south east, the guys in Total Broadcast Consultants in waterford are running a trial (both DAB & DAB+) of 4 (I think?) stations which is great for anyone in that region to try out there digital radios!!

http://www.totalbroadcast.net/news.html

Sean.

PURE Ireland

PURE Ireland wrote: »

I've also been told that there is a very real possibility that the BBC radio stations will be broadcast on Digital in the Republic in the near future. This is because of the Good Friday Agreement and the need to have the same broadcasts available in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Also for anyone in the sunny south east, the guys in Total Broadcast Consultants in waterford are running a trial (both DAB & DAB+) of 4 (I think?) stations which is great for anyone in that region to try out there digital radios!!

http://www.totalbroadcast.net/news.html

Sean.

Sounds good but this has been already covered on boards.ie

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055815871

Firetrap

No harm in posting the link here - so many forums on Boards chances are not everyone who reads/posts in this forum will also frequent the other ones

BrianD

Why are they more expensive here?

bkehoe

PURE Ireland wrote: »

Also for anyone in the sunny south east, the guys in Total Broadcast Consultants in waterford are running a trial (both DAB & DAB+) of 4 (I think?) stations which is great for anyone in that region to try out there digital radios!!

http://www.totalbroadcast.net/news.html

Sean.

Hi Sean,

There's 9 on now, although 2 are the same birdsong but in DAB & DAB+ (nice sounding birds though!).

B

PURE Ireland

BrianD wrote: »

Why are they more expensive here?

Hi Brian,

I assume you are referring to the price difference between the UK and Ireland.

Apart from the more obvious reasons such as economies of scale, tax rates, cost of doing business in Ireland (which effects everything, not just PURE) each PURE radio that is imported into Ireland is a different spec to the UK models, each one is fully Profile 1 (DAB+ etc) compatible with different chipsets/firmware which increases the amount of codec’s used, each of these extra codec’s have to be paid for and licensed for each individual radio (like a Windows/office licence key etc)

When I joined PURE, one of the things I worked very hard for was to bring the pricing more in line with UK pricing.

Because of this if you buy any of our products through an Irish retailer you will be paying less than if you buy it through an UK importer such as Argos/M&S/Currys etc

This is the Argos price list below

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/store...&Submit=GO+%3E

Even with the current deals they have on offer, they are still more expensive than you buying it in Peats etc. Sensia for example is over €45 more expensive.

Basically, it makes more sense to support your local Irish retailers.

Thanks,

Sean

pumpkinsoup

PURE Ireland wrote: »

Hi Brian,

I assume you are referring to the price difference between the UK and Ireland.

Apart from the more obvious reasons such as economies of scale, tax rates, cost of doing business in Ireland (which effects everything, not just PURE) each PURE radio that is imported into Ireland is a different spec to the UK models, each one is fully Profile 1 (DAB+ etc) compatible with different chipsets/firmware which increases the amount of codec’s used, each of these extra codec’s have to be paid for and licensed for each individual radio (like a Windows/office licence key etc)

I bought an Avanti Flow late last year. I bought it from Amazon as it was significantly cheaper than any on offer in Ireland. Do I read from your mail that my radio has the wrong spec for Ireland? I don't receive DAB in my area (yet). When I do, will I have reduced functionality because I'm using a set sourced in the UK? I understood that my radio was IMDA certified and what you've explained appears to be against the spirit of IMDA.

When I joined PURE, one of the things I worked very hard for was to bring the pricing more in line with UK pricing.

Because of this if you buy any of our products through an Irish retailer you will be paying less than if you buy it through an UK importer such as Argos/M&S/Currys etc

This is the Argos price list below

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/store...&Submit=GO+%3E

Even with the current deals they have on offer, they are still more expensive than you buying it in Peats etc. Sensia for example is over €45 more expensive.

Taking the first part of your post into account this implies that UK-based retailers trading here are selling Pure sets with the wrong chipsets for Ireland. Can you confirm if this is the case?

Basically, it makes more sense to support your local Irish retailers.

This is a value judgement and it's not one that I would agree with. An employee of Currys or Argos in Ireland would be of the view that his/her job is as worthy of supporting as that of an employee of an Irish-owned shop. In fact if we take your argument to its conclusion, it would make sense more to buy a radio manufactured by an "Irish" company, such as a Roberts, (even if these, like Pure, are manufactured overeseas).

PURE Ireland

pumpkinsoup wrote: »

I bought an Avanti Flow late last year. I bought it from Amazon as it was significantly cheaper than any on offer in Ireland. Do I read from your mail that my radio has the wrong spec for Ireland? I don't receive DAB in my area (yet). When I do, will I have reduced functionality because I'm using a set sourced in the UK? I understood that my radio was IMDA certified and what you've explained appears to be against the spirit of IMDA.

pumpkinsoup wrote: »

Taking the first part of your post into account this implies that UK-based retailers trading here are selling Pure sets with the wrong chipsets for Ireland. Can you confirm if this is the case?

If you look at amazon now you will see the newly added caveat:

"This product is optimised for use in the UK and may not be fully compatible with digital radio broadcast systems in other countries."

Amazon Link

This is only to do with Digital radio and not the IMDA features of the product.

Some products will be firmware upgradable, some will not. I'm pretty sure the UK Avanti Flow is DAB+ upgradable.

pumpkinsoup wrote: »

This is a value judgement and it's not one that I would agree with. An employee of Currys or Argos in Ireland would be of the view that his/her job is as worthy of supporting as that of an employee of an Irish-owned shop. In fact if we take your argument to its conclusion, it would make sense more to buy a radio manufactured by an "Irish" company, such as a Roberts, (even if these, like Pure, are manufactured overeseas).

I said it makes more sense to support your local Irish retailers directly after saying that they were cheaper and that they were the correctly spec'd products for Ireland. This is the reason for that statement.

Sean.

eth0_

Sean - do the model numbers have a suffix that we can look for to ensure they're Irish market PURE radios?

bkehoe

pumpkinsoup wrote: »

Taking the first part of your post into account this implies that UK-based retailers trading here are selling Pure sets with the wrong chipsets for Ireland. Can you confirm if this is the case?

Go to a UK retailer in Ireland, e.g. Tesco, PC World, etc and go to the DAB radio section and count how many radios support DAB+ (I'm not limiting this to Pure radios). I did in my local Tesco and didn't see any (now maybe some are upgradable but it doesn't say it on the box anyway). In PC World I saw 1 Pure radio (which didn't say anything about it on the box, but which I know from personal experience does support +). Chances are that any commercial deployment in Ireland will use DAB+, or at the very least a mix of both so all these radios may never be able to receive future services in Ireland. The UK is a different market and the existing DAB market is well established so due to the amount of people with DAB radios, broadcasters will be very slow to embrace DAB+, the reason that UK radios may not support +.

We've seen the exact same thing happen with TV; everyone buying TVs with UK freeview receivers beeing left with blank screens when RTE decided to go with the superior MPEG4 standard, and if DAB does take off in Ireland, you probably will be left with a radio which doesn't support some of the services available if you bought a non-upgradeable UK product.

Pure should make a point of putting something on the boxes of products that will be sent to the Irish market to indicate their compatibility with current and future DAB services to help with customer awareness. TV companies are doing it so why not radios too?

ntlbell

bkehoe wrote: »

Pure should make a point of putting something on the boxes of products that will be sent to the Irish market to indicate their compatibility with current and future DAB services to help with customer awareness. TV companies are doing it so why not radios too?

My pure box had a sticker on it.

DAB and a DAB+ sticker.

pumpkinsoup

PURE Ireland wrote: »

PURE radios bought in the UK or from Currys/Argos/M&S here in Ireland are 99% not DAB+ compatible as these were destined for UK market.

PURE Ireland wrote: »

Some products will be firmware upgradable, some will not. I'm pretty sure the UK Avanti Flow is DAB+ upgradable

I checked the PURE website last night. It says that all Pure internet radios support DAB+, so I won't need a firmware upgrade for my Avanti Flow. This of course applies to all Pure internet radios sold by Currys/Argos/M&S as well!!

For other Pure radios without internet function is it a case of caveat emptor, as most customers have no way of checking where the retailer may have sourced his sets?

bkehoe

Well depending on when your Avanti Flow was built you may or may not need the upgrade. Mine, new out of the box recently had version 1.3 installed which doesn't have AAC+ decoding. At least with wifi upgrading the firmware is simple.

justsally2

Hi bought the Pure Evoke Radio last year, but let it fall recently. Does anyone know if these can be repaired and if so what the cost is likely to be. The screen is blank so I guess it needs a new screen.

Thanks

justsally2

Sean at Pure, looking forward to receiving a reply to my e-mail regarding the replacing/repair of the VDU screen on my E flow Radio as per my previous post.

Moriarty

Anyone figured out a way to have the alarm use the lounge (or even FM radio) for a source, instead of just DAB or the alarm tone? I'm guessing I'm not just missing something blindingly obvious and it will need a firmware update to allow that?

Moriarty

Moriarty wrote: »

Anyone figured out a way to have the alarm use the lounge (or even FM radio) for a source, instead of just DAB or the alarm tone? I'm guessing I'm not just missing something blindingly obvious and it will need a firmware update to allow that?

Apparently it wasn't just me that was wanting to do this.

The latest firmware update that became available in the past few days (v2.1 I think) has a vastly superior alarm function that, amongst other things, lets you select any source to use as the alarm, including picking the specific station if you're using radio or the lounge.

That's turned it into a very useful little device to have sitting beside the bed

ntlbell

Moriarty wrote: »

Apparently it wasn't just me that was wanting to do this.

The latest firmware update that became available in the past few days (v2.1 I think) has a vastly superior alarm function that, amongst other things, lets you select any source to use as the alarm, including picking the specific station if you're using radio or the lounge.

That's turned it into a very useful little device to have sitting beside the bed

Can you set the volume the alarm should come on at?

Moriarty

ntlbell wrote: »

Can you set the volume the alarm should come on at?

As a most pleasant and unexpected surprise, you actually can set the volume for each of the alarms It's a perfect bedside radio now imo.

Qualitymark

Sean, thanks for your informative posts. A couple of questions:

One of the reviews I read online said the zapper didn't control the iPod if you have it plugged in; is this correct?

When you say "Irish retailers" (I'm with you on this; while I'm happy to help workers in Curry's and Argos get their wages, but would sooner a chunk of the profit went into the Irish economy rather than the British one), what retailers are you talking about?

If I buy an Avanti with the DAB+ sticker, is it also usable in Britain, or only in Ireland?

How easy is it to program the stations? I've just ditched out a SilverCrest radio because it's so difficult to program, and like my little Roberts DAB/FM radio because it's easy (though too few presets allowed).

Trick of the Tail

Any Pure radios marked DAB+ are also DAB compatible, so will work in the UK.

As for programming, with the help of thelounge.com the Pure radios are very easy to set up.

That website isn't 100% user-friendly, but with a little perseverence you can program stations to your radio with no probs.

And the radio's own interface is pretty good too.

Hope this helps.

Andy.

Qualitymark

Thanks, Andy, that answers some of my questions. Two more though - Sean, anyone? - can you control the iPod with the remote control or do you have to get up on your hind legs and walk to it; and what are the Irish suppliers?

ntlbell

Qualitymark wrote: »

Thanks, Andy, that answers some of my questions. Two more though - Sean, anyone? - can you control the iPod with the remote control or do you have to get up on your hind legs and walk to it; and what are the Irish suppliers?

Yo can manage the ipod on pure avanti flow from the remote, I don't see why you counldn't with the other as they use the same software.

As for buying "irish" currys et al are employing irish people who's taxes are going to Ireland and their wages are spent in the Irish enconomy etc, I don't see what the issue is

Qualitymark

Thanks, ntlbell, that's very useful.

The wages in a foreign-owned shop go to Irish residents, but the profit is exported, apart from any tax that's paid here, of course.

ntlbell

Qualitymark wrote: »

Thanks, ntlbell, that's very useful.

The wages in a foreign-owned shop go to Irish residents, but the profit is exported, apart from any tax that's paid here, of course.

Just to note if use anything other than the default ipod software I don't think all options are available, e.g. if you install rockbox on the ipod.

bkehoe

Controlling playback, next, previous track all works fine with my iPhone4 in my Avanti Flow using the supplied remote control as well

mauriceapeakin

Friends
I am Irish but now retired and living in Germany.
I've used a PURE Evoke Flow successfully in the UK since 2009 and here in Germany.
Within the past couple of weeks, RTE Radio One and Lyric FM have failed to buffer, staying indefinitely at 0% with a ? against their names on my favourites list.
I've contacted the PURE help desk but they don't seem to have a clue what is wrong and pass the blame to RTE itself.
When I try to tune into RTE on the PURE web site without success and follow clues, I come across a message that the Real Player plug in has failed.
I can, of course, still listen to RTE on my iPad but miss the sound quality of the PURE radio.
Any help would be appreciated.

byte

The following link will answer your problem (2nd post). RTE have phased out the RA codec in favour of mp3 at higher bitrates.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056745501

mauriceapeakin

Dear Byte
Thank you for your reply and reference to the RTÉ link.
I've forwarded this to the PURE help desk with a stiff request that PURE sort out the problem.
with kind regards
Maurice

Doodah7

Interesting...I didn't know that Pure had a rep. on here.

If this thread is still monitored I would be grateful to know if there is a planned firmware update for the Sensia to incorporate Pure Stream? It is available on the new Sensia 200d and is being retro-incorporated into other Pure models. Just wondering if it is in the pipeline?

UrbanMan

Hi,

Any idea where I can buy a replacement power supply for my Pure Evoke 2XT?

Ideally in Dublin.

Thanks.

byte

Peats maybe?

micks_address

byte wrote: »

Peats maybe?

Hi guys I have a pure classic series 2 radio and it picks up all the dab stations but when tune to the + version of the channel a message comes up on the screen about upgrading firmware. I've done that via the pure website and retuned but still same message. Is there a problem with the radio?

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

Hi guys I have a pure classic series 2 radio and it picks up all the dab stations but when tune to the + version of the channel a message comes up on the screen about upgrading firmware. I've done that via the pure website and retuned but still same message. Is there a problem with the radio?

Looks like I have a UK version of the radio. Can I flash Irish firmware on the UK model?