 |
Sony CMT U1
by blissman70
I like listening to music, like many people, either using a personal music player, such as an MP3 player, or, when I'm in the mood, having my favourite tracks playing in the back ground whilst I'm doing my stuff around the house.
In fact I like music that much that I have a few stereo systems around the house, although when I say I ... have I should really state that one or two are my kids stereos so technically I don't own them, but I can ban the kids from using them if they annoy me with their 'strange' choice of music.
One particular stereo, which I managed to grab at a really knock down price and have in my back room, is from a well known company called Sony, with the full name of this one being the Sony CMT U1 micro stereo system. (not a great name but the performance makes up for it).
Firstly, let's get the specs out of the way with...
* Top slot system CD loading
* Two speakers, with built in tweeter and woofer, each with 25 watt per channel output.
* Bass control
* Treble control
* Built in LCD display
* AM/FM digital radio with 30 preset stations- 10 AM/20FM
* Supports CD, CD-R/CD-RW
* plays WMA, ATRAC3plus, MP3
What does it look like then..?
It looks pretty square really, well, more a rectangle than a square, made in a silver moulded plastic material and being approximately 240mm by 220mm and 160mm, with the speakers being about 240mm by 150mm by 220mm.
On the top there is a couple of buttons and a slot that the CD goes into, then there's
an LCD screen in the centre of the main unit with controls above and below,
Those control being...
On the top...
* The CD slot
* Power button (left)
* Eject button
On the front there are...
* Volume control
* Audio in jack bottom left.
* USB port bottom centre
* CD controls, including stop, play, pause, rewind etc.
Sockets, or ports...
* 3.5mm Headphone socket (front)
* USB connector (front)
* Audio line in (front)
* Aerials (rear)
* Speaker connectors (rear)
* Mains power (rear)
Setting it up...
This is pretty simple, being a matter of taking it out of the well packaged box, as it may not sound it's best if you leave it in the box. Then plug the speakers into the slots at the back of the main unit, which there are two of that are for the plastic plugs that are on the end of the speakers cable to slide into.
Then just plug the stereo in and you're ready to go... it's just a matter of setting such things as the clock, radio stations and maybe even the sleeper option
Is it easy to use..?
Yes indeed, and it gets easier the more you use it. You just decide which option you want to listen too, select that function, maybe slip in a CD in the top of the stereo, then press play...
Job done, just select the volume level, but remember to respect your neighbours when you're blasting your 'Best of Tom Jones' CD out.
As for those listening options, with this I mean what it can actually play, well it may only be able to take one CD at a time but the USB system allows you to have a more wider choice of tracks, depending on the size of the USB stick you stick into it.
You can also listen to music from such things as your phone using the Bluetooth connection method, although I find this can be a bit hit and miss at times.
And then there's the many radio stations that you can 'lock' onto so they are there when you want to listen to your favourite station.
And I nearly forgot about the device for people like me... lazy people who, once lay down, sprawled on the sofa, don't want to move too much... there's a lovely little, and very easy to understand remote control which has all the buttons you need to change your music and set the stereo playing exactly how you want it.
The only thing the remote can't do is change the CD or USB stick so you may have to move if you want to do that.
My opinion...
This is a fine little stereo without a doubt, although not the one I choose to have in the main room of my house, more a bedroom stereo.
It looks pretty nice, if you like a dull silver type finish, with the buttons that control the stereo neatly positioned on the front, some above the LCD screen, with the others below.
The display isn't one of those that are designed to make you pull your hair out as it simply shows such things as Text information, timer, tuner audio format, play mode, the track you are listening to, the name of the track, the radio stations and more.
I particularly like the fact that I can stick in a USB pen drive, which can hold hundreds of songs on it at once, so that I don't really have to go near the stereo again, just carry the remote around with me, or at the side of me if I'm in a lazy mood.
It has a little cursor control, which is on the right under the LCD, which is easy to use, in fact it's just like any other cursor control device on most machines, offering several options to browse through your music selection.
The LCD screen is simple and so easy to understand exactly what is showing, so selecting your tracks is easy to do, using the cursor to scroll through as the options appear on the screen, such genre, artists name, album names etc.
Other information does appear, such as when you are setting up the stereo, setting the clock, the timer and the method of how you want to play your favourite tracks.
It's all there and is all so easy to get the hang of.
The screen isn't crammed with a load of information, most of which you don't really need to know. It is kept simple, showing such things as what your tracks are playing from, be it the CD, radio or even USB. Then there's the tracks being played and some information about that particular track.
The sound quality from the good sized speakers is pretty good too, although on higher volume, with a bit too much bass, it can 'warble' a bit, but overall I've never really been disappointed by the sound this omits at all.
As I said, I have this on a shelf in the back room and it doesn't look out of place due to the fact it's only small really so there's no danger of it being the focal point.
What about the cost..?
Sadly, this does cost quite a bit for a stereo, selling in the region of £200, which would have been a bit more than I would have spent on a stereo which wasn't for the main room. But as I got this a while back at 50% off I jumped at the chance and I'm glad I did.
But would I have paid the full price for it..?
I think I may well have now I've used this, although I still prefer the price I got it for obviously.
© Blissman70 2012
Read the complete review |
 |
Philips MCB204 DAB
by Tilda
CDs are slowly becoming less and less popular as every turns to iPods and iPads. But my house has so many CDs in it that I find myself regularly popping a CD into this hifi system to enjoy music the good old fashioned way. There is something nice about holding your music in your hand rather than it being without packaging and straight on ... to the devise. We have this machine in our house years now and I think it has great sound. There are two compact speakers that are the exact Height as the brains of the system. They have a thin grey covering that blends with the silver of the hifi itself. This is a single disc player unlike the one we have in our sitting room that holds a few disks at a time. This means I have to manually change the CD if I want to only listen to one track on a particular CD and maybe a few on another. This is no big task it's very easy to load and eject the dick either by pressing the eject button on the player or the remote control. The disk is pulled in smoothly and comes out the same way.
There is a DAB radio on this which is quite fancy, we have a few DAB radios but they are just that a radio. DAB is digital radio and compared to my dads old, standard AM, FM radio the sound is so much clearer, music sounds like a CD is playing and the DJ's voice is full of base and crystal clear. There are so many stations as well on this hifi compared to a standard radio we can pick up a great selection that suites all our taste. There is a thin lead that works as an aerial for the radio this is very long but we just have it tucked in behind the system so it's completely out of sight and doesn't ruin the overall look of the hifi, which by the way looks good. It's all very square, straight lines, clean and stylish.
There is of course an instruction manual included with this player but most of it will be familiar if you have used a CD player in the past. The only new thing may be the DAB radio and how to control and navigate through that. There is also standard radio in the form of FM, MW and LW, why anyone would choose this over the crackle free DAB version is beyond me. Unlike standard radio DAB tunes by station name rather than it's number. There is a tape cassette deck on this that we don't really use anymore, only my dad occasionally plays an old tape from his collection. I never use it, I don't even think they sell cassette tapes anymore; I have never seen them anyway. A more modern feature would be the ability to play mp3 files and also the inclusion of a USB slot. There is also an alarm clock (never used as it's in our lounge).
We had to replace the remote control with one of those one for all remotes after it was dropped too many times. But while we had it, it was compact with easy to press buttons that were not too close together. I don't know if this was a result of it being dropped so often, but it wasn't the most responsive of remotes and we would have to give it a tap or walk right up to the machine more times than not. No such problems with our new remote, so at least it wasn't the hifi that was faulty.
This is a nice looking hifi with a good, strong, loud, clear sound and doesn't look dated in our home.
Read the complete review |
