I may take a lot of flack for this recommendation, but here it goes. Making the big assumption that you have the room for it, I would look around for a mini system. One from Sony, etc. There is a lot of dreck out there, so you must be judicious. I have friends that have bought some that are quite pleasing. Always less than $500. Sometimes a lot less. They are not the last word in terms of anything, but I have often found myself commenting on the understated styling and good sound to my non-audiophile friends. I much prefer them over the Bose Wave radio. Taken quite by surprise, I ran into the Kloss table radio that Sam Tellig recommended so highly in a store last week. After reading his column, I actually thought it was a good idea, and wondered if it would be a nice addition to my kitchen. It was a lot smaller than I expected. I assumed it was not plugged in, but went about playing with it. I did think the port on the underside was a nice touch. It then came to life as I switched the selector to FM. I tried it on AM and FM. Have to say that I did not like the sound nearly as much as Sam. Didn't think it was rich or full, the way it was described. But, I didn't expect much, as the speaker was only about 3" or so. You can't get blood from a stone. It was better than a clock radio(no doubt), but much below many of the better mini systems I described.
Radio Purchase question
I guess this is a mid/low fi question but I'd like to purchase a good table radio to listen to AM/FM. I'm finding the question isn't fidelity but rather just good old reception problems that I'm most concerned about. I have an old Proton that is disappointing. Does anyone have a table top radio that gives decent fidelity and can reliably pick up FM stations 80 miles away without aux antenna?