 |
Sony CMTBX77DBI Mini Hi-Fi with iPod Dock
by ginger321
As you can see from the pictures this is a very chic, black "minimalist" style Hi-Fi, but don't be fooled by it's lack of flashing lights and chrome.
I have owned this for 18 months and have always been impressed with the sound quality. I like my music loud and undistorted and on this count the Sony is a winner - ... personally I have never listened to it for long over 75% power as it is too much!
If appearance and sound quality are all you are interested in then this is one for you.
I plugged my daughters iPod into the neat top dock (which comes with adapters for different generation iPods) and the controls using the remote were very good.
Plays CD & MP3 CD's well, although "tree" navigation on MP3's was a bit confusing.
However, there are a couple of issues:
The display is hard to read and the input controls on top are not the most intuitive and being all black with dark markings on them, they can be hard to read and see when you are having a "moody" evening!. I guess we are being spoiled with touch screen now, but it can be a bit frustrating.
DAB radio - love the idea of this but in practice I always end up going back to the FM frequencies as the stuttering and signal drop are so frustrating. I tried hanging the aerial wire all over the place but with little improvement - may just be reception in my area, but it is allegedly "good".
The speaker cables are a bit short - it seems like they intend you to have this on a book case or unit, but if you like your speakers spaced apart, invest in some extension wire.
Read the complete review |
|
|
Sony CMT CPZ3
by spiritwood
This is another one of my ebay finds which I got for a massively reduced price thanks to it having some small marks on the outer casing. Being the mother of a toddler, i knew that those small marks would eventually be joined by sticky fingerprints and quite probably a few felt tip doodles so this was not a concern of ... mine.
This is a micro system by Sony comprising a cassette player (yes! retro eh?) and a cd player which are encased in a beautiful brushed aluminium casing.
I usually prefer stereo seperates because I listen to a lot of older music (classic rock, reggae etc ) which sounds far superior on a vintage system but these are bulky and tend to take over your house with wires, plus I am ashamed to say that I also have three already- one in each of the downstairs rooms.
I also like humongous retro Wharfedale speakers that could house a whole herd of sheep, so this little thing was perfect for my bedroom without compromising on space.
I needed something that could be heard over the top floor of the house without distortion and something that would happily sit unobtrusively on a small table. This fitted the bill nicely.
The stereo packs 150 watts (75 per channel) into its little body and has what Sony call an "s master digital amp" contained within, which promises to enhance the sound and reduce distortion.
Sound quality is good, it has a nice punchy treble and a deep bass which is fantastic for reggae. I had to turn the treble down a little for Robert Plant because he sounded a little frazzled, but apart from that I was impressed that something so compact could deliver such a decent sound. And yes it could be heard throughout the top floor of my house (and probably next door too)
Being a fan of everything retro, the speakers looked like quality old-school wooden cased ones that you would find in the 60's and 70's although on a much smaller scale. These are 2-way speakers with a glass fibre woofer and soft-dome tweeter.
Also included is an FM/MW radio with RDS which is programmable. Living rurally in the land of song and sheep (Wales) I tend to struggle to pick up a decent radio signal and therefore do so through the laptop or via Sky. This was no exception but that is not the fault of the stereo.
I was delighted to see a cassette deck featured on this as I have a lot of music still in that format. The deck on this has auto reverse and is synchronised to the cd player for recording purposes.
This came to me with a remote control, speaker cable, antenna and manual which is pretty comprehensive.
All in all this is a sweet little system ideal for smaller spaces or living arrangements. Perfect for a bedroom, loud enough to annoy the neighbours, it looks stylish and would fit into almost any decor ( not that I care about such things but many do! )
Pricey I think brand new and immaculate (around the £200 mark) but certainly a good quality micro system compared to the tinny cheapie ones out there that make Lemmy sound like Britney Spears....
FEATURES:
2 x 75 W output power
MP3 playback
Programmable CD drive with random play and repeat
Cassette deck with auto reverse and sync recording capacity
S-Master digital amplifier
AM / FM radio with RDS and 30 station presets
2-way speakers with glass fibre woofer and soft-dome tweeter
S-Master digital amplifier
Equalisation (bass and treble)
Recording timer / sleep timer.
Included in the box:
Remote control (batteries included)
FM/MW antenna
2 speaker cable
Manual.
Available through Amazon and HiFi/ electrical stores.
Read the complete review |
 |
Sony CMT EH15
by ladybracknell
When the old ghetto blaster I've been using to listen to CDs and cassettes died, I began to look around for a replacement. I'm of the generation which has seen recorded media move from ancient 78s played on a radiogram (bet not many of you remember those monstrosities), through the vinyl, cassette and CD eras to the age of the MP3 ... player and downloaded music, all of which were initially hailed as the next big thing. As a consequence, I'm reluctant to put all my eggs in one basket and do without a hi-fi system altogether, especially as I have a pretty large collection of assorted vinyl, cassettes and CDs acquired over the decades.
As I trawled through various websites it became obvious that if I wanted a space saving hi-fi system, I'd have to forego a turntable but there were plenty of micro systems to choose from and eventually I plumped for the Sony All-in-One Audio System which currently retails at £64.24 on Amazon and has garnered 4½ out of 5 stars from previous buyers. It isn't high end and doesn't profess to be so but reviewers of the product mostly gave it a big thumbs up. I duly paid over my money and within a couple of days was the proud owner of a sweet little micro system.
What did I get for my money?
Although the turntable isn't part of this system, it incorporates a single CD player, single cassette player and AM/FM radio as well as the facility to connect MP3 players for playback through a jack-to-jack connector (which isn't included with this system). This is all wrapped up into a very neat little black and silver package which stands 9½" high x 6" wide and 8" deep, with the two matching speakers being a roughly similar size making it compact enough to fit on most shelves. It just about covers all modern musical options making it ideal for technological Luddites such as myself.
Putting it all together
Setting up the system is simplicity itself. It was merely a case of connecting the speakers into their corresponding colour coded sockets on the back of the unit and similarly connecting the radio aerial. This comes with a comprehensive instruction book but it isn't really necessary for setting up the system as it's all pretty self-evident. Like most boxed electronics these days, this is a plug and play device.
The system can be operated either manually using the buttons on the unit or by using the remote control, which takes a couple of AA batteries, not supplied. As well as operating buttons, the front has a digital readout window and there are sockets for attaching MP3 players and headphones.
There is a clock which is set in a similar way to most digital clocks but as the time setting is lost whenever the power is disconnected, I haven't bothered to do this, as I'm one of those sad people who go round unplugging everything rather than leave equipment on standby.
The sound of music
For such a little piece of kit, the sound quality isn't bad at all. OK, this isn't anywhere near the sound quality of a Bang & Olufsen but neither does it have the tinny sound which generally comes from small, cheap systems. Having said that, the sound controls are pretty limited and confined to either louder or softer plus what Sony refer to as Dynamic Sound Generator X-tra which is supposed to give the sound a bit of extra oomph but quite frankly I can't hear any difference when using this.
Radio Ga Ga
I'm not a huge radio listener these days other than early morning listening and occasionally tuning in to woman's Hour and have a portable radio to do this but nevertheless I've set up the radio. Once again, this is a very simple operation as tuning is automatic and scans for stations, stopping each time one is found. Reception, at least here in East Berkshire, is pretty good on most of the main radio stations although the antenna does seem to occasionally pick up some external noise such as that annoying mobile phone interference.
I've got it taped
I know cassettes are a thing of the past but I have quite a lot of my music in this format, some of which aren't available in any other format so personally I think this is a great additional facility to this micro system. The tape deck is hidden away behind the front panel but is easy enough to access and means that the sleek appearance of the front isn't compromised. The system only has a playback facility, however, and doesn't record onto tape but that shouldn't prove too much of a problem to anyone these days.
A....B....CD
As well as playing commercial CDs, this system will playback discs containing MP3 files and it's possible to select straight play of these files or select a shuffle option. The CD player is set on the top of the unit and opens with a simple push down motion
And so into the 21st century
Being able to connect my MP3 player into this hi-fi is a great facility. Many of these micro systems only have input sockets for iPods with anything else requiring plugging into the back of the system which can be fiddly. This MP3 facility operates in the same way as a car MP3 system, by way of a 3.5mm jack-to-jack cable. This isn't supplied with the system but they can be bought for around £1 from most electrical suppliers.
The final analysis
I'm very pleased with this micro hi-fi system which, as one would expect from a company such as Sony, is an excellent piece of budget equipment. The sound quality is plenty good enough for general listening to both music and radio. To my mind this little sound system deserves 5 stars as its pros far outweigh the cons.
Pros:
It looks good with a sleek frontage with tape controls hidden behind a panel
It's compact enough to fit into a very small space
It's easy to operate and has good sound quality
It has a tape cassette player which means it can cope with some older recorded media
The radio auto tunes to all the main UK radio stations as well as local radio
The system can be operated manually or remotely
Cons:
The radio may pick up external interference
No record facilities
Read the complete review |
