Customer Reviews

H.H. Scott SMV300 Vertical 3-CD Stereo System (Silver/Black)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was looking for a new hi-tech look for my modern dining room. Most good looking units were $399 and up. I visited Scott's website - they look like they turn out quality products - so I decided to give the 3D vertical audio a try. Good decision! In addition to beina g a very attractive solid unit, it produces excellent sound. The glass doors enclosing the discs work noiselessly, and the audio produced, using a 4 option tone control, is excllent. Buy one - you won't be disappointed.

I went looking for something contemporary and different for my bedroom. Started out by looking at some units by Sharper Image and other brands such as Sony, Emerson and RCA. The prices varied from [price range] for single disk units, in some cases [price] and higher for 3 disk units.

In comparing the units I found that even though the other brands advertised 3 disks or more, in certain instances not all the units had independent CD drives and relied on a rotating carousel or a moving CD head unit. This looked neat when switching disks but increased the time delay playing between CDs. With the independent CD Drives on the Scott unit, playing between CDs are almost instantaneous.

The Unit itself is designed pretty solidly. From the smooth motion sensing - translucent blue glass door, to its cool blue backlit display and to the firm buttons on the control panels. Another plus, was the unit came equipped with AUX IN, Line Out and to top it off a Digital Out Jack so you can hook up a minidisk or CD recorder to the unit.

The Remote was designed to fit neatly in you hands with all the main function buttons within thumb reach. The only button that is missing from the remote is the sleep function, which is located on the unit anyway.

The Audio is pretty good for a unit of this price. On the other hand if you like deep bass you might want to get a powered sub and connect it via the Line Out jacks. The preset equalizer does a decent job.

Overall this is a great unit, if they had slapped the Sony or JVC label on there I would have believed it. The only caveat I have is the speaker design, could have been a little bit more aesthetically designed, but for the price I still gave it 5 stars. I am happy with this purchase and I am sure will be too. Go ahead... Get one... or two ....

I was first attracted to this system by its funky looks but now that I have it in my living room I am thrilled with its performance and sound. One thing to keep in mind when considering this unit is where you are going to place it. It has a VERY different shape than other CD players so cannot be placed IN a lot of shelving units but must be on top. This is only a consideration and should not neccesarily be a problem. I would definitely recommend this unit for someone looking for a unit that is easy to use, has a great sound, and is not fussy about dealing with the preset graphics equalizer, etc that you might get in a more expensive unit.

HH Scott is one of the few companies I found that made nice looking cd players that could be hung on the wall and do not look like big ugly boom boxes. I wanted a simple cd player for the bedroom to play cds at night. I like the style of the Bang & Olufsen but that is out of my price range. So after reading the few reviews I decided to give the HH Scott SMV300 a try. I was mildly surprised when I opened the box and found that it was not the silver and black that I had ordered online from Amazon, but instead the teal and silver that is shown on the emersonscott.com online store.

As in one reviewer's comments about another HH Scott cd/radio the FM stations do not come in very well and one station can be heard over another. I'm not sure if it's because the FM antenna wire on the back is flimsy or whether it's just the way the unit is made. I live in a big city with lots of FM stations, but only a few of those come in that well on the Scott radio. Fortunately, most of the stations I listen to do come in clearly enough. I wondered if buying an FM antenna would make a difference, but I wasn't sure where or how to hook it up if I did. The AM stations all seem to come in pretty good though, but my primary reason for purchasing this unit was to play cd's in my bedroom at night. So far everything else seems to be working well. And the important thing I was looking for is that I cannot hear the CD player "whirr" when it plays. It does have good sound to my non-audiophile ears.
Some comments:
When a cd is playing the doors cannot be opened to change the other two cds, you must first stop the cd and open the doors with a wave of the hand across the front near the sensors or by a button on the remote. The remote is nice and the buttons easy to push with all the features available except for the sleep button which is only on the main unit. The sleep timer is in 10 minute increments up to 90 minutes. There are extra buttons on the remote which you do most of your cd programming from. Also, there is an "intro" button on the remote that will play the first 10 seconds of all three cd's tracks. I'm not sure how useful that really is, but it is clever. In comparison, the Sharper Image's Slim CD remote is not easy to use at all when I tested it at one of the stores and was a detraction from me considering buying that one.

When the unit is turned on to play cd's or listen to the radio, the blueish lights are all rather bright and light up the room at night but I was able to play a cd and set the sleep timer to shut everything off after the cd finished. There is also a clock but it does not display when listening to cd's or the radio. This isn't a bother for me though, as I already have an alarm clock/radio in the room. There is also a timer that allows one to set it to come on at a certain time every day, like an alarm clock, perhaps.
The speakers can be mounted on the wall, but it doesn't look like the main unit can be. The speaker wires are a bright red and black, so that could be an issue if hung on the wall. Overall, I like the looks and am happy with the features on this cd player/radio.

I bought this item at a 'major discount store' a few months ago--used it less than 15 times and it's now sitting in my garage--cannot get the on/off switch to flip to 'on'--power goes to the unit since everything lights up, but no audio from the CD player or radio. Contacted the manufacturer and they are NOT standing behind the warranty--it will cost me as much to ship to Texas for a 'possible repair' + the bench charge for a techie to look at it as it will cost to simply replace with something better.

I have to admit, this is a beautiful stereo. It's got great sound and is pretty impressive to friends. One thing that I didnt like about it was how sensitive it is to cds. One lil dust mite on it seems to make it skip. So if your not very careful with your cds, I advise you to choose another stereo. Other than that, im pretty satisfied.

Looks nice and has nice features. I typically don't write review but in this case I had to return the stereo because disc 1 did not work. The player at times just would not recoginize and play a disc in disc 1. The doors had to be openned and closed for it to work then the tracks would still cut in and out. I've returned this one for a replacement. I hope this one works better!

I recently received this stereo as a Christmas gift. Two months after Christmas, it arrived. To my dismay, the first CD wouldn't play. It wouldn't even recognize a CD was in it after a preliminary spin of all 3 discs. While it is a pretty stereo to look at, it seems like a lot of people had similar problems with it. And for a CD player, it could be a lot more powerful. I'm returning mine for a gift certificate.

I bought my Scott stereo from Amazon and I've had it for over a year now. I got it because it looked cooler than all the other square stereos out there and was cheaper than Sharper Image. It looks cool sitting in my room and I get compliments about how it looks all the time. Putting aside looks, it's a pretty good stereo. I'm a girl and don't really need all the fancy stuff that most guys do. It's got decent bass and it handles pretty well when I'm angry and have it on full blast. Radio reception is okay without the radio antenna. The motion sensor cd doors is cool, but you can't close it the same way. I've got 2 complaints, the cd player itself and the remote. After about 4 or 5 months of use, the 1st cd went weird. It would play sometimes, sometimes not. After about another month, it totally quit working. Now the 2nd cd is starting to do the same thing. It'll play cd-r's sometimes, other times not. I love the remote control, I've dropped it so many times and it still works. My beef is, when i can't find the stupid thing, it's frustrating trying to play cds on the stereo itself. On the stereo, there are not enough cd player functions. It's pretty good cd player for the money, but if you want something that's going to last many years, spend the extra money and get something nicer.

I ordered this stereo and it took several months to arrive and then the doors didn't open. After returning that one, the second one arrived and the CD player didn't work.