| Product: |
Panasonic RX-ED707 |
| Date: |
03/12/02 (722 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: cheap now, very loud, diverse range of functions
Disadvantages: complicated at first, seems unnecessarily hard to set the alarm, guzzles batteries
Every time somebody sees my stereo, they always say it looks like the front of a car. It is fairly flat, and has the two main speakers integrated into the sides. These curve down and around at the front, to make it look a bit like the bonnet of a car. It has most of the buttons on the top, in front of a panel which lifts up to reveal a screen display and two tape decks. The CD tray is hidden at the front, underneath the two speakers that curve round.
It is a portable, all-in-one stylee stereo, so most of all it is light and compact. It also has a carrying handle at the back, which you can use when the motorised screen is folded down to carry it around. I keep it on my shelf though, and tend to keep the screen up at all times because it has a clock.
As I said, it has a CD player and two tape decks, and can also receive MW/FM radio signals. It allows you to store 10 preset staions, which can then be accessed through the remote or the main panel. It is powered through the mains, but has a memory battery facility, so that if you unplug the stereo for any length of time, it will remember all your station settings, as well as your alarm and clock settings.
CD and tape playing: You can play and pause CDs as well as prgram the order in which a CD plays its tracks. The same buttons function for both tape and CD, and are labelled clearly so that there is no confusion as to what you are doing at any one time. You can record from CD to tape, as well as from tape to tape.
The alarm is useful, and can be set to wake you up, record your favourite program on the radio, play a certain song from a CD at a predetermined time, and can even be mixed with a fader function, so as to wake you up gently. Hooray!
The sound quality is excellent. It has a volume range of 0 to 50, where 20 is a nice listening level for being across the other side of my bedroom (about 8 feet away). So there is the capacity for a lot of noise. Should you want more, the
re is a hidden speaker at the back called the superwoofer. Switching this on enhances the bass. There is also a sound virtualiser that enhances sounds at the edge of the sound range. This has the effect of making the music sound better than stereo, and as though it is live effect. I keep this on permanently, and it fills the room. There is a third function, called the preset equaliser, which allows you to choose which part of the sound range you want to enhance for different types of music.
There is also a sleep timer which allows you to fall asleep with your music playing. If you don't set this, then the stereo doesn't turn off, and the alarm will not turn on in the morning. This is one of the more annoying aspects of the stereo. Most things can be done from the remote though, so I can do this from my bed.
The remote itself is hard to get to grips with at first, because it has over 40 buttons on it. Most of them are duplicates of the ones on the main stereo though, and you will soon get used to them. I can now work out what I am doing by touch. The remote has a really good range as well, and the infra-red beam is so strong that it will still work if you point the remote in another direction.
The manual for the stereao is really helpful. It gives you step by step guides on setting everything up, and even goes into fucntions such as how to record your favourite radio program, all with pictures to guide you.
Small miscellaneous things: It comes with a headphone socket should you want to be respecting of other's privacy. It has quite a short mains lead, of only about five feet. Awkward for positioning it. It takes 12 (twelve) D size batteries if you want it to be truly portable, but eats them at an astonishing rate.
I first got this from Argos about three or four years ago when it was just under £100. I have no douby that you could find it now for around £50-60. And I have to recommend it, because it is not only
pretty stylish (in cool black and silver), but it has good sound quality that you can alter to taste, and is cheap to boot!
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