Customer Reviews

Panasonic SC-HC30 Compact Stereo System

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this sleek Panasonic Stereo System primarily to use with my IPOD and the IPhone that I have pre-ordered. I am using it in the kitchen and it takes up very little space on the counter since it is only 3-4 inches deep. For it's size, it produces a rich sound and the clarity of the speakers is superb. It has a full-function remote with buttons for many features that I'm sure I'll never use that others might appreciate. In addition to the remote, there are buttons for the main functions on top of the system that can be easily memorized (by placement) and accessed.

After attaching the AM and FM antennas, the various stations were easy to preset and sounded good. I have yet to play the CD player, however with the IPOD, I don't really plan on using it much. The system can be mounted to the wall if you want to put holes in your walls and have the power chord hanging down from it, however it takes up so little space, I didn't really feel the need.

The system looks high-tech and it sounds great. The bass sounds much better than you would expect given the slimness of the speakers. It has an AUX-In port on the back of it if you have an MP3 player as well. The only minor negative is accessing the IPOD dock. The first thing you need to do is hit the IPOD button which slides the front panel to the right exposing the IPOD dock. Once open, it has a lever that needs to be pushed and then it tilts out toward you for easy removal. While not difficult, it all takes time which I'm a little concerned about when I get my IPhone and I hear it ring. If you leave the IPOD dock open the silver CD portion of the front panel covers more than half of the right speaker and there is a noticable difference in sound.

All in all, I'm very happy with it and when not in use, it just sits there and looks cool! If you are only concerned about the quality of sound, I'd suggest a boom box with larger speakers such as the Sony MHC-EC69i Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System which is much cheaper, has an additional 60 watts and has a deeper bass sound that fills up a room (I have one of these as well).

7/19/10 UPDATE: Received my pre-ordered IPhone 4 and it is not compatible with the dock in the Panasonic. It displays "NODEVICE" despite being snuggly fit into place. Plan B: Buy an IPOD dock and an audio cable and plug it into the AUX port on the back of the unit. Still sounds great!

It is a beautiful design, great sound for a little unit, convenient that it plays radio, CD, ipod, etc. and love that it can be wall hung - pretty and discreet for a bedroom.

BUT! I purchased this to replace a CD/clock radio alarm unit, and would have liked to have known that this unit DOES NOT display the time! You can use the remote to display the time, and it will momentarily display the time when you turn it on, but once you've stopped listening, i.e. turned the unit off, there is no time display, which means that you can't use it to see the time in the middle of the night/early morning. This seems like a huge design oversight on the part of Panasonic - most portable models even 20-30 years old routinely display the time.
Also, Panasonics customer service cannot tell me how to turn the alarm OFF if I want to sleep in! This seems like it should be very basic to figure out from the manual, or an easy question to answer for a tech rep, but no....30 minutes on the phone, and then disconnected with no answer. I am a university professor and am fairly adept at reading the english language, and the manual does not contain this basic information. Still deciding whether to return it or not (I purchased it elsewhere). Maybe someone out there has figured it out?

Weak tuner. Radio reception is horrible. I live in a big city, and unable to get stereo, just static filled FM.
This unit replaces a sony in the kitchen, that did not require an antennae. Even the wire antennae supplied with this one, strung to the ceiling, will not get me stereo reception.

I bought this to replace a JBL OnStage iPod dock speaker that was malfunctioning. Today's bookshelf stereos like this one, that include iPod docks, make it totally unnecessary to buy a unit that can *only* function as a speaker for your iPod. This unit is quite thin--thin enough that it can be mounted on a wall and not look weird. It does include wall mounting hardware. In spite of this, it produces satisfactory sound; output is around 30w per channel. The sleek design is nice, and I especially like the motorized sliding front panel. It slides one way to allow you to insert a cd, and the other way to allow you to plug in your iPod. iPod controls from the remote are intuitive and straightforward. Minus one star for the quirks with the clock and alarm as another reviewer had mentioned. Don't buy this unit to replace your alarm clock.

We were looking for a compact CD/Radio player for our bedroom that also had and Aux. channel for our XM radio unit. After looking all around our small town we came to the conclusion that what we wanted was either priced too high or was not in stock (which happens a lot here) we found this system on Amazon. The company offered a fair price and great shipping. The stereo was shipped right away and when it arrived, we found that the sound quality was excellent. It also comes with a remote and a "sleep" option of 30 minutes or 60 minutes or longer, which is great for the bedroom. It also comes with a wall mount if you want to use it, although it doesn't take up much room on top of a dresser. One other great feature is that the display lights can be dimmed down so if you are bothered by lights in the bedroom, you can turn them way down. (We have an alarm clock that has display lights so bright, even on the "low" setting, that I swear you can see them from outer space.)

I recently purchased this item and am disappointed. I do like the sleek appearance and ease of use, but the antenna system for AM radio leaves much to be desired. No matter the location or arrangement of the wire antennas, I cannot get any decent clarity or tone. There is much static in the background and the voices are garbled. I have resorted back to using my cheap-o portable system for AM reception. But, now for the good news: playing CD's are a delight. There are enough options to set the system to produce your desired sound and tone. Ditto for FM reception: the clarity and big sound are definite assets.
Take a chance - you might have better luck than I did.

I received this as a Christmas gift and use it in my one-bedroom apartment. The sound easily fills the entire apartment, with ample room to crank it up (if your neighbors allow). It has a decent bass response for a small unit, does a good job with CDs, iPod and iPhone, and has better radio reception that I expected from a consumer radio in the $100 range. Some minor nitpicks keep me from giving it 5 stars,
1. There are several equalizer presets but no true equalizer controls, so it is difficult to get the best sound for different types of music.
2. Some of the remote functions for controlling an iPod/iPhone are a bit obscure. I can't figure out how to choose a playlist and get it to shuffle.

This is a great cd/ipod/radio for the kitchen as you can wall-mount it. It fits nicely between the backsplash and the upper cabinets so you get it off the countertop, safely away from any liquids you will inevitably spill. It has incredible sound for such a small system (just like the reviews said) and is slim, stylish and easy to use. No, it doesn't have a clock and with 4 appliances in the kitchen already displaying the time, we didn't want another one. It is quite cool-looking and all our guests comment on it and insist on putting their ipods in it, altho we bought it to play old CDs.

i have had this for about a month now, as everyone here agrees, it looks really good and has a good sound quality for the price. however, there are a few minor annoyances that i noticed
1. When playing a MP3 CD, if you stop it and play it again, it starts from the first song.
2. The CDs have to be really dust free, even a little bit of dust it would start skipping

I bought this unit for my girlfriend so she can have a good platform to play her Ipod from. I just went over and took a look at it for the first time. I am very impressed. You can access the playlists and song titles and info and it just looks great. The sound was impressive from such a small unit. it seems very sturdy and is stylish and classy on her mantle. Thumbs up to panasonic for delivering what I hoped was to be a good looking good sounding product. I am not disappointed in any way. Now I am going to buy one for myself!