Customer Reviews

Philips FWC577 5-CD Mini Stereo System

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A while back I was roaming the shelves and the many stores in my area looking for a Great System at a low price. I ended up choosing this one although I didn't have the money at the time it gave me something to save up for while working and going to high school. Unbeknownst to me my parents were paying very close attention and got this system for me for Christmas.

I should note that I am not an audiophile and require the best for music or whatever, as long it sounds good and works ok I am happy.

Now I've recently hooked up my system to a USB hub, along with a M$ Multimedia Keyboard and Logitech Marble Mouse, to hook up to my ASUS N81VP Laptop that is running Windows 7. I have noticed a couple of hiccups where the sound will sound distorted for short periods of time. I am thinking that this is a pc driver issue and not necessarily the Hi-Fi systems fault. But this particular has popped up in a while mostly due to, I think, a lighter work load on my laptop with just listening to music and light multitasking. When I play a game, I.E. Roller Coaster Tycoon, I'll notice the same distortion creep up after some time while in the game, say an hour or two.

*edit*
The distortion I mentioned wasn't coming from the system. The mp3s that I ripped from cds that I had had somehow become degraded over 4 years being transferred from one computer to another over 3 computers. Re ripped the songs and updated my library and everything sounds great. Understatement of the century, sounds pretty good as pc speakers lol.

As stated in a earlier review I too noticed the rattling of the screens in front of the woofers and determined that I should just take them off. However if you prefer the look of the safety screens or need them you can pull them out slightly so that the screen is still attached but doesn't rattle against the housing.

Sound quality is good although I haven't gone out to listen to any of the new modern systems but at the same time I don't really care as this system is good enough for me. It's load, clean, and does everything that I want a Hi-Fi system to do. The simplfied EQ system is quite easy to expect more than is given. Also if you don't read the instructions like most people do it came be quite frustrating for some.

The DBB controls are independent of DSC and VAC and DBB has 4 levels of bass, off 1, 2, and 3 being the loudest.

DSC has presets for Rock, Jazz, Pop, and a forth setting called Optimal. Not sure if optimal is self adjusting or is set but if you listen to a wide variety of music like me it is the best setting to have. Rock has slightly more bass and is closer to Max Sound in loudness. Jazz is softer and has less bass which brings out the higher notes while pop seems to be just all bass with little treble.

VAC has presets to give it a certain sound as if in a different location other than your room. You will also have to choose between either VSC of DAC as a choice of one will override the other. There are 5 presets, Concert, Cyber, Arcade, Hall, Cinema. The easiest way that I can describe is how muffled each sounds starting from Cinema which seems to be the most to concert, arcade, cyber, and Hall being the clearest. Ultimately I think that this is a wasted feature for a system in a bedroom but there might be some benefit if you were to use these presets at the different locations.

I like the fact that it has a sound mixer and 2 seperate inputs for game systems or other RCA(Yellow, Red, White) cable type devices and a auxilary back just for audio. The Aux can be used to hook up your ipod, zune, other mp3 player or audio device as long as you have a cable that has the RCA ends. The gameport has three seperate sound settings that is indpendent of DBB, VSC, VAC, and Max Sound. The gameport is also the only one that can be mixed with either radio, cd, aux, or usb.

Even after X amount of years I still like the overall design of the speakers and the system itself with the lights and gauges. Although now I kinda wish the system Head unit was a little bit smaller and a little more modular so I could fit it on my computer desk or shelf without it looking somewhat out of place. But that is pretty much my only gripe, except for the distortion which hasn't happened again for a good long while.

Overall a great system that isn't available new anymore in stores.

This stereo has awesome sound and withe that MAX dynamic boost button makes it sound alot better. It is one of the best stereos i have owned.

I looked evrywere for this stereo and sams club has this same stereo for 169.95 and it amzes me that it could get cheaper.

I got this new back in 2003. While this unit is old and doesn't appear to be in production anymore I wanted to give the system its credit. Alas, I will admit I did not use all of its features and there are a lot of cools ones, especially involving the PC. I used it mainly for a CD player and "kid" speaker system for gaming on N64 to today's PS3. Now that I am an adult and have a job (I'm 25) I felt I "deserved" an adult system for my gaming and movies etc.

This system has great sound, good wattage and was very convenient. If you can get it used or at a good price, you will be very happy.

So my mother bought this for me back in 2002 and I left this thing on for hours on end, and did use the sleep mode to turn it off when I was going to bed.
It would be on gamemode mixed with USB 95% of the time for 4-16hours a day! Volume level at about 20% of the highest volume but did crank it up there a few times.

Never once overheated, never once had any issues.

After using the system for 2hours, I went to bed, next morning it is having software issues. The unit works! Plays sounds, but is acting funny, sound eq is auto switching, any key pressed also flips to "dim mode".

The sound quality was amazing.
The only complaint I had was over time the vibrations moved the speaker guards so they rattled, i simply removed them to solve that issue. There is no need for them anyways for any responsible adult

I will be buying another one of these if I can find one!

I got this stereo for my 12 year old son. He loves it; it has so much bass. He sends his friends out of his room and turns it up, so they can feel it shake the walls and the floor.

This sound system is just overall an awesome one. Great sound, apearence, and options. You couldn't go with much others.
The sound quality and bass, is awesome with this. Great for any teen lookin to blast there music, any videogamers to listen to there game with great quality, and awesome, for anyone just looking for a type of a line, way above average sound system.

This shelf system by Phillips is just what the gaming community has been looking for: A standalone speaker system that combines both the functionality of a normal self stereo system along with the sound quality of a high-end set of computer speakers.

I saw this at wal-mart for 100 dollars. dont waste you money buyin it for 140. you should be able to find it cheaper just about anyplace else.

i have gone to many stores and i did like it i always crank it up and by far of the ones i got to turn up before i got yelled at this wuz the best im kind of leery of buying it for the reason that i love loud music and will prolly keep the speakers real close to my head and go deaf but thats a small price u gotta pay METALLICA FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!