Philips MC235 Mini Audio System
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Similar in Audio Shelf Systems
- Included Accessories: Remote Control Batteries FM Antenna AM Loop Antenna
- Playable Disk Types: CD (Audio) CD-R CD-RW
- Number of Discs: 1
- Sound Type: Stereo
- Functions: CD Player Radio Tuner
- Output Power: 10 Watt
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Nice Style, Surprisingly Good Sound, Bad Controls
Pros
Visual style, compact, lightweight, wall-mountable, good sound.
Cons
Unreadable display, non-intuitive controls, questionable instructions.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
We would only recommend this with warnings to friends with no visual challenges.
We went to the big box discount store looking for a small stereo for our bedroom, the only air-conditioned room in the house. On hot days (and summer was coming on), we shut the door and windows, and turn on the a/c. This means we couldn't use our digital system in the front room with the three foot tall speakers with the crawl-through woofers. We had been using the DVD player and TV, but that was humbug as well as watt-gulping and heat producing.
After looking at the eight styles for under a C-note, we settled on this one.
First, we could hang it on the wall. Furniture and therefore table space are in short supply. We could keep books in the bookcase if we hung it up. That wasn't difficult, but I'm real good at marking where to put the screws. It's the usual slots that slip over screw heads routine. The speakers hang nicely, though they will also detach without effort if you are going for better stereo separation. We were just going for something better than the TV, and the big system has us spoiled for what we consider top-end sound.
Second, it had eye-appeal. The others looked boxy, sometimes too compact: squatty, heavy. This had that appealing curve to the whole unit that kept it looking light and thin. One barely noticed the boxes behind the extended fronts of the speakers. This was going to hang above the head of the bed with some other black items, and it looked good.
We got it hung and were pleased to find it included a wire radio antenna: reception can be almost impossible in this town without it. The position of the headphone jack on top would be good if this sat on a table and we sat next to it in a chair--a more likely set-up for most people. As it is, finding it requires standing on the bed, and you'd better have a good deal of cord. Too many headphones are being made with the blithe assumption that you'll plug them into something in your pocket or within arm's reach.
Most of the controls are on the remote, and relatively few on the front panel. The instruction booklet is not really clear, or else not describing this actual system of things like programming in radio stations. We followed it exactly and stupidly, item by item, and it just doesn't work.
It has a nuisance hiccup: when you insert a CD and the lid closes, it spins up to see what's there. If you hit Play, it ignores the control and spins down. Every time, you have to wait for it to get through its little routine before hitting Play. This is a stupid little delay of maybe 45 seconds, but you know how long a 45 second red light seems.
The blue-on-blue display used for everything is horrible. If you aren't right up close and at the exactly right angle, the writing is just invisible. What good is a remote control if you have to be in exactly some right position to read the display? My eyesight is excellent for this, and I have a hard time. When you consider my husband has visual impairment, this is really frustrating. It's like they never heard of accessibility or ease in designing displays, only kewl. Even with brand-new batteries, the unit doesn't always read the remote's signals, so you need to be able to see from across the room that it's switched to Repeat All rather than sticking at Repeat One, or what station you're on.
If we had known these problems, we might have bought something else. Programming lack is annoying, display unreadability not really acceptable. But the sound's plenty good and we mainly treat it as a simple CD player.
After looking at the eight styles for under a C-note, we settled on this one.
First, we could hang it on the wall. Furniture and therefore table space are in short supply. We could keep books in the bookcase if we hung it up. That wasn't difficult, but I'm real good at marking where to put the screws. It's the usual slots that slip over screw heads routine. The speakers hang nicely, though they will also detach without effort if you are going for better stereo separation. We were just going for something better than the TV, and the big system has us spoiled for what we consider top-end sound.
Second, it had eye-appeal. The others looked boxy, sometimes too compact: squatty, heavy. This had that appealing curve to the whole unit that kept it looking light and thin. One barely noticed the boxes behind the extended fronts of the speakers. This was going to hang above the head of the bed with some other black items, and it looked good.
We got it hung and were pleased to find it included a wire radio antenna: reception can be almost impossible in this town without it. The position of the headphone jack on top would be good if this sat on a table and we sat next to it in a chair--a more likely set-up for most people. As it is, finding it requires standing on the bed, and you'd better have a good deal of cord. Too many headphones are being made with the blithe assumption that you'll plug them into something in your pocket or within arm's reach.
Most of the controls are on the remote, and relatively few on the front panel. The instruction booklet is not really clear, or else not describing this actual system of things like programming in radio stations. We followed it exactly and stupidly, item by item, and it just doesn't work.
It has a nuisance hiccup: when you insert a CD and the lid closes, it spins up to see what's there. If you hit Play, it ignores the control and spins down. Every time, you have to wait for it to get through its little routine before hitting Play. This is a stupid little delay of maybe 45 seconds, but you know how long a 45 second red light seems.
The blue-on-blue display used for everything is horrible. If you aren't right up close and at the exactly right angle, the writing is just invisible. What good is a remote control if you have to be in exactly some right position to read the display? My eyesight is excellent for this, and I have a hard time. When you consider my husband has visual impairment, this is really frustrating. It's like they never heard of accessibility or ease in designing displays, only kewl. Even with brand-new batteries, the unit doesn't always read the remote's signals, so you need to be able to see from across the room that it's switched to Repeat All rather than sticking at Repeat One, or what station you're on.
If we had known these problems, we might have bought something else. Programming lack is annoying, display unreadability not really acceptable. But the sound's plenty good and we mainly treat it as a simple CD player.
