I brought a Thievery Corporation CD to Frye's and tested every system in there. This had the best sound for the money BY FAR. I like my music to have powerful base and thought about getting the same system with the sub woofer, but the highs and mids were not clear on that one. This unit had great comprehensive sound--clear mids and highs with great base. All of the other systems in this price range couldn't handle high volume and had around 150-170W, but this one maintained good sound as loud as I could turn it because of the 360W. The only drawback is that it's a little bigger than I wanted for a shelf system. Sony MHCEC709iP Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System
I wish I had known that that there is no headphone jack! (Ronnie's review came too late for me, unfortunately). I was very pleased with this system -- nice and loud so I can play drums with it with earplugs on, nice bass and overall sound quality. Then I discovered that there is no headphone jack. I didn't even think to see if it was included -- a headphone jack is a most basic feature that should be on every stereo. So, if you never ever use headphones, this is a great stereo, especially for the price.
This stereo looks and plays fine. That said, Sony really missed the mark. They didn't bother to include a headphone jack on the system. The audio input is a mini jack - not standard RCA audio jacks, it's marked "PC", and its use is not really covered in the instruction manual. The speakers connect with flimsy mini plugs similar to cordless phone battery connectors, so you have to cut and splice if you need to increase speaker separation. And finally, the factory manual is a generic document that's not specifically tailored to this unit. If not for the looks and the sound I would give this horribly awkward unit a one-star rating!
First the cons: I think the unit is ugly - too dark. Also, the display can be difficult to read. The remote has multipurpose buttons so it is not intuitive. While the unit does allow the user to hook up an iPhone or iPod, one must purchase separately (no mention of that in the product description) a piece of plastic that fits around the connection so the iPhone/iPod is held securely. Its a small item - why not include it? The speaker wires are short so forget trying to balance the sound. Also, no treble/bass buttons so you can't adjust the sound to your liking and this unit is VERY bassy. The CD player is on the top so you can't put the unit on top of an entertainment center.
Pros: The price was right, the sound is good if you don't pump up the volume too high (then the bass is very pronounced), and, if you move the antennae wire around, you can pull in a good many stations. If you don't want a huge system, but you do want something decent (good) for a low price - this is for you. It gets the job done well. Under the circumstances, I would buy it again.
It is what it is and that is: an AM/FM radio, CD player, with iPhone/iPod and PC hookup all for under $150.
Bought this stereo as my 13 year old's first stereo. The speakers detached nicely so you can perch them away from the main body. Good sound quality. I like the Ipod port. My only diss on the product, and it is my bad for not checking, there is no input for head phones. I bought a nice quality set of head phones to go with the stereo, but you have no where to input them... otherwise, it's a good little stereo that's not too big/small.
This stereo looks great and sounds great for the money yet suffers from a couple of bad design decisions.
I bought this unit for the computer room to add a little boost to my computer sounds and to allow me to play my iPod through.
Here are my thoughts on this stereo
The Good:
For sound quality: The sound on this unit is rich and deep and LOUD. It works perfectly with my iPod classic, the remote may be a little tricky at first, but you will get used to it, and with games and movies passed through it from my computer.
For Construction quality: The unit feels sturdy and well made and looks amazing.
The Bad:
For reasons I cannot fathom Sony's engineers decided to go against several decades of stereo design when they made this unit. As has been pointed out by other customers there is no headphone jack on the machine, which isn't a problem for me, but one must wonder why this classic staple of just about any other stereo ever made was left out. The second design issue is that the main stereo unit is quite long so although this is marketed as a "shelf unit" I do not know a single person with book shelves deep enough to fit this unit. To add insult to injury Sony decided to put two computer style fan exhaust ports on the backside of the unit which adds another inch to its length and means there must be a clearance of at least 15 centimeters behind the unit and the wall. So Sony has made the first "shelf unit" stereo that cannot be used as one. Oh well no matter, I'll just put the main unit out of the way somewhere and just run some longer speaker wire to the speakers which I can put where I like. Whoops. No I can't. Again it seems Sony's designers have decided to ignore the last 50 odd years of stereo history and instead of the usual "alligator clip" style connectors where you could use any length of wire you like, they have hardwired some very cheep wire to the speakers and added a special plug device at the end that connects to the unit, which are very much like the power connector of a computer fan. This means that the speakers can never be more than about 5 feet from the main stereo unit, and if a wire happens to go bad you are S.O.L.
Sony tragically missed the mark on this one. - Microsystem - Bookshelf Stereo - Mini-stereo - Mini System'
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