Customer Reviews

Philips MC 320 - Micro system - radio / CD / cassette - black, silver

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am extremely pleased with this purchase for a number of reasons.

1-Unlike 95% of comparable systems, this unit doesn't look like its a nuclear reactor. Infact Its style recalls the 70's era of plastics...when plastics had integrity and solidity. The unit is simply beautiful to look at, and even if retro isn't your thing, I think the flexibilty inherent in this design will impress. The speakers and the main unit are all the same size and shape which makes them interchangeable. You can stack them or shuufle them in any order to suit your space requirements. The units themselves sport clean lines and are inspiring to look at (in fact this particular model won design awards this year)

2-The sound that comes out of this unit is simply amazing! I used to thump 4 15" subs in my car so I know about bass. It only uses 4" speakers (plus tweeters). How is this possible? Design and engineering. The speaker boxes are properly engineered for the speakers and the plastic cases are very rigid which means that these babys are efficient. More than can be said for most other brands... Also, the gain on the amplifier has been set at a rather low level so the amp will not clip, even at highest volume. In fact, I was surprised at how little distortion occured when cranking up heavy bass music. I think this shows attention to engineering and concern for longevity of the product on the part of Philips.

3-Price. I can't believe all this is possible for [the price]. Some glorified boomboxes go for more than that and they simple don't compare. I actually felt empowered walking out of the store knowing I had gotten more than I paid for (or more than I could have with another brand!)

Is this product perfect? No. It has some flaws, the most glaring one for me being that some of its basic features like base enhancement and eq settings are only available through the remote. Lose or break the remote and you are SOL. I aslo think they could figure out a way to connect the speakers to the body, giving the user the option of using it as a boombox (though I realize that is not what this unit was designed to be). Also, being able to create your own eq rather than using standard presets ( like "jazz" "rock" etc...) would be nice. But hey for [the price] I can't complain.

I always considered Philips to be a bit Euro-Trashy. It was overpriced and under-specked. I now stand corrected. While its true I could have had more features for the same price, it wouldn't sound or look as good, nor be as solidly built as this unit. My Sony days are over...Thanks Philips!

I reviewed lots of small stereo options before making this purchase, and I'm really happy with this product. I bought it just so I could have a small stereo in my bedroom with fairly good sound quality. This system has exceeded my expectations. It's small, easy to use, was inexpensive, and sounds great! It's perfect for a bedroom or office. The remote is really small and chincy-looking, but it all works great.

Great price, good sound and classy, low-key design all in one package. The issues I have are only minor and may or may not influence your decision but I'll let you know what they are.

Pros:

- The picture Amazon shows is a little different. It actually comes with plastic grills that cover the speakers. These can be removed easily but it's best to leave them on so you don't accidently puncture the speakers.
- Buttons on the unit are firm and very responsive. They require only a light press.
- Remote is flat and has useful features. You can mute, reverse a tape, and if you press shuffle, CD play begins automatically. It's also responsive and worked from 25ft away.
- Alarm clock and sleep are nice bonuses. You can wake to any track on a CD. The sleep gradually lowers the volume when you get near the end of the timer. I thought this was a nice touch.
- Auto powers down after a few minutes if there is no tape or CD activity.
- Has aux input. You can use these as computer speakers if you buy a mini plug to RCA audio cable.
- Clean and crisp sound. Bass is adequate. (Don't expect chest-thumping.)

Cons:

- Clock is in 24 hour format which most people are not used to. But it doesn't matter since the clock font is too small to be of any use.
- Easy to accidently press record since it requires only one button.
- Headphone jack is on top and towards the back. This was inconvenient for me since I keep the unit in a computer desk shelf and it was difficult to access.
- Not much difference between the classic, jazz, rock tones but this seems pretty common with sound presets.

Even with the nitpicks, I gave it 5 stars due to the low price and sound quality you get. [...]

Well, I read the longer review about how the FM antenna requires a strong signal and I concur. However, the features the reviewer is talking about are found only on higher priced boxes and rarely in a system designed for ease of use. So, I'd say that for the purposes we bought TWO of these systems, they cannot be beat.
1. The remote is simple and you can feel the buttons - with a little time you'll learn the ones you need in the dark. It's not back lighted.
2. The sound is really, really good. Now, don't think $50 (I bought @ WalMart) buys a $1000 stereo, but hey, it's really good. We returned two other systems because the hiss at low volumes was louder than the music. This system has dynamic, tight bass, decent sound field enhancements, good control over the sound, and did I mention it sounds really good?
3. The price - how can you go wrong with a box this good for about $50? I matched it with two other systems costing $100 and $145 - this one was by far their superior.

3. The design - simple, uncluttered and in 3 small pieces that can be seperated and still look good. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I'm not one for the current crop of industrial, chrome, and steroids that denote most current stereos.
4. The CD loads in a sort of fold out tray - fun and easy for the kids to load. They can touch the laser eye though - careful!
5. What else is there to say? It's a great system for $50, you really can't go wrong with this selection.

I am still amazed by the quality of sound. I played Flamenco guitar music and every pluck of the string is felt. No muffled high or mid range sounds. It's Clarifty redefined! I am tired of the old boombox, base only sounds, coming out of most 300W systems with no attention paid to tone quality. This little 40W system has a total sound range with less distortion than almost all the higher priced systems. I had a Brazillian women marvelling and spellbound over the grande sound coming out of such a small box. You know how much Brazillians like their music,dancing and carnival. I pack it in my large suitcase if your wondering. I have received a few such comments if you know what I mean.

Perhaps the best shelf system in the $40-60 price range, and pretty sexy looking to boot. Where it delivers best, of course, is in the sound, and it is terrific for a normal sized room, especially a bedroom, den, or office. The mechanics of it do not have all the whiz-bang motor drive doors and such, and the vertical mounted CD player does not make the disc visible except through a nickel sized viewing slot...... but again, the sound is what is delivered, and the overall package looks great! Phillips has been designing some very interesting, contemporary looks to their micro systems, and this being one of them is sure to please!

The design is nice, the mechanics a little awkward, the tape drive is funky, and the remote is flimsy but the SOUND, oh, my, the SOUND is wonderful. It's far better than my $250 Sony and better overall than any other stereo that I've owned.

I know, I know, it's hard to believe a $50 stereo sounds great but this one does. Try it in the store, if you can. I'm not sure how or why it sounds so much better than everything else available for less than $250 but it does.

First off, don't let the price deceive you: without Amazon.com's super saver shipping your looking at a final pricetag a dime short of a dollar (if you catch my drift). On to the product itself: It looks great. It sounds awesome. The product picture doesn't show the rubberized speaker protectors- which look pretty nifty but come with a drawback that will be mentioned later.
That was pretty much the good. Everything else is pretty lousy. Primary gripe: The controls. Like other reviewers mentioned, many of the machines functions are accessible only through the remote. And even if that were not the case, whatever happened to simple controls? You can only change the sound through the remote with preset sound parameters- And balance function? Nope, not even an option. The speakers sound
really great, but if your off to the side of them those great sound qualities all but disappear. And those cool looking rubberized speaker covers? If you stand above the speakers the sound degrades considerably because of them.
It comes with an am antenna loop, unbelievably. -It works well. And and an fm two line wire rabbit ear kind of affair. -It gets the job done; but in this day and age we shouldn't be seeing these obtrusive extensions when technology has risen so far beyond them.
All functions, from clock to volume, are displayed on a backlit lcd readout window; Unnecessarily annoying to use and mine (after only a few weeks) is already showing a couple of dim pixels.
The way the front loading cd tray folds in and out is neat, cd's play perfectly, and cd to tape dubbing is fairly decent(especially the synchro start), which is hard to find. It's also nice to know I can always plug in an auxilliary source should the need arise. But do yourself the favor and get something else. This machine was designed with aesthetics as the primary forming factor, and as a result it got an extra dose of good looks but a pathetic lack of intelligent controls. If it wasn't such a hassle, I would have returned it already and got something with some decent human interface qualities.
Update, Sept. 2010 -Unit had a lifespan of six years. CD player became faulty.

It looks wonderful and sounds great. Perfect for a small room. Phillips is really designing some beautiful products. Great bold use of materials.

This stereo sounds great! The base is spectacular and is almost comparable to my sony 240 watt stereo. This would be great for a bedroom or office. Although it doesn't seem like it can play cd's from the outside, it has an unique loading design unlike any other stereo. The design of it seems much more sturdy and durable than other space-saving designs such as slot loading cd players which seem to break extememly easily (i've broken a few of those in the store... oops!)