Boys and their toys part deux (Aiwa XR-M161)

Member Name: Excelle

Product:	Aiwa XR-M161
Date:	02/08/02 (527 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks nice, Crisp sound

Disadvantages: Lack-lustre EQ, Random mode on remote, No MD

If you've read my DVD player opinion, you already know all my banter about the whole bloke-gadget thing. You know, us young (or in some cases, old) men like our new technology to play with. Now, having covered the wonderful medium of moving picture presentation, I must now move on to another of my loves - music. No self-respecting household can be complete with a top quality stereo or two. Due to the wonder of modern technology, we can now all afford a superb stereo - a mini, micro, or midi system.

Well, my old Bush system was on it's way out (the tape and CD player no longer worked properly), so I pulled a wad of money from my savings account and toddled off down to Currys to see what I could spot.


- The Aiwa unit

I only had a limited amount of cash I was prepared to spend, so when I saw the Aiwa system, I got right in there and started playing with it. The unit comprises of a central all-in-one unit, with two speakers. It's not too heavy to move, the main unit weighing in at 2.9kg, while the speakers are 1.1kg each. The main unit has a silver finish, with green LCD and blue-green highlighting. The speakers are of wooden construction, with a 10cm cone, and material mesh.

Altogether, the M161 looks pretty nice - I wasn't sure about the pine-style finish on the speaker to start with, but they fit in better with my décor than I expected them too.

It isn't hard to set up - the speaker cables can be a bit fiddly to get in, but a steady hand will sort that! Apart from that it's just aerials and plug in socket and away you go!


- Connectivity

This hi-fi system has a lot of connections on the rear for such a small system:

SPEAKERS - The speakers connect through two wire clamp terminals as with a lot of audio equipment these days.

AERIALS - There are separate connections for a coaxial FM aerial and a loop MW/LW aerial, which gives you a better overall signal on
the radio, which is more of an advantage than you would think.

DC POWER - This hi-fi also allows DC connection to a car battery through a separately sold cigarette lighter cord, which is a nice, if not often used, option.

SUB-WOOFER - This small system allows the connection of a sub woofer, as long as it has a built in amplifier, which is a wonderful option that can really boost the sound.

AUX - The final socket allows a phono audio connection to an external device, and was the thing that decided me to buy the system in the first place, as it allows you to connect TV and video equipment through it for a better sound.


- The manual

I found the manual fairly straightforward to follow, although I would have liked it to go into a little more detail here and there. However, all the functions were covered well, and it was really just my lust for information that caused my niggles :)


- What does it give you?

The makeup of the system is pretty standard, but it does the job, and does it well. You get a toploading CD player, a single tape deck (with auto reverse - smart), and FM/MW/LW tuner. They all work well really, but it's the little extra features that make the whole thing worthwhile. The sound is crisp and clear, and the controls are easy to work with. The only two niggles I have about the system itself is that you can't set random CD mode from the main unit (you have to use the remote), and there isn't a proper EQ, it's one of these 'presets' ones, although the Rock preset does a pretty good job I have to admit. Maybe I just expect too much for £120 :)

The four functions (CD/tape/tuner/AUX) are switched between using a series of buttons just under the LCD display. All the buttons are set out in sensible places, and there's no excess of controls to contend with either.


- Features

This system has a whole load of natty features, some of which
I didn't even know about when I bought it, but that's what the manual is for I suppose, isn't it? Apart from the sleep timer, the rest of the features can be easily split into the relevent modules of the hi-fi:

CD:
RANDOM/REPEAT/PROGRAMMED PLAY - Fairly standard on most systems these days, allowing you to make the system randomly pick a track, repeat tracks or the whole album, and program the track order yourself.

TUNER:
STATION PRESETS - The M161 allows 48 presets to be tuned in - 16 for each band.

TAPE:
AUTO REVERSE - none of that strenuous removing tape and turning it over - just let the hi-fi run backwards by itself to play the other side of the tape. This is worth noting, as the fast forward and rewind button swap depending on the direction of play.
AI EDIT RECORDING - give the stereo a tape, tell it how long it is, and then let the stereo figure out how many tracks of the CD it can fit on each side, all by itself!
PROGRAMMED RECORDING - like the programmed play function for the CD player, but allows you to record the tracks of a CD in the order you want.

TIMER FUNCTIONS:
SLEEP TIMER - turn off the stereo after a certain period of time.
TIMER PLAYBACK - turns the stereo on at a certain time for a certain period.
TIMER RECORDING - start recording at a certain time (from the radio for example) for a certain period.


- Niggles

Some people might find the lack of a minidisc player a disadvantage, but there are two simple solutions to this problem - buy the model with the minidisc in, or attach a portable MD via the AUX socket, it's not difficult!

As already mentioned, the lack of an EQ and having to use the remote to set random CD mode is a little irritating, but not a major inconvenience.


- Summary, please

Overall, this is a nice little unit - it provides an excellent sound with an average number of features. It doesn't go o
ver the top, and for a price of £120 (bear in mind I bought this some months ago so it will be cheaper now) it is certainly good value for money. It can even cope admirably with the high volumes I push it to (when all the neighbours are out, naturally :) )! I would recommend this system to anyone, unless you're one of these enviable people who has a few thousand to spend on a beast of a machine!

Summary: