Customer Reviews

Philips MCM530 150-Watt Micro Shelf System with 5-Disc CD/MP3 Changer and Digital AM/FM Tuner

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I was a more than a little leary of ordering this. I've not had good luck with Philips electronics in the past, but this little wonder put those fears to rest.

First of all, it looks great. I love the styling, although I'm still not real fond of the blonde speaker cabinets, but it's growing on me.

The unit sounds like a washing machine when you first turn it on, I guess it's checking each of the CD drives. The main reason I bought this was the MP3 capabilities, and I believe Philips has optimized it for that purpose. Instead of a single platter type changer, it has FIVE separate cd trays. You can play all 5 CDs straight through, but shuffle and repeat modes only apply to the current disk. So, if you load this thing with 5 CDs, it won't shuffle between all 5 disks, only the current one, then it switches to the next CD. This is fine if you want to shuffle through a homemade MP3 CD each with hundreds of songs, but not so good for plain old audio CDs.

The best feature of the unit is the sound, it is enormous for such a little thang. I have a big Sony system in my with den with huge JBL speakers, and this little dynamo sounds darn near as good.

I've compared standard audio CDs versus my homemade MP3 CDs, and I really can't tell the difference in sound quality. It has 4 equalizer and 4 reverb settings, they all sound great to me. The MAX SOUND is basically a loudness button on steroids, boosting both the highs and lows and adding some reverb. Again, I hate to keep repeating this, but it sounds great for such a little unit.

It has a clock display and a timer feature. The FM tuner is okay, it comes with one of those dopey wire antennas, I wish it had a telescoping type instead.

Overall I am very happy with this unit and would recommend it to my friends.

I definitely like the sound quality of this mini stereo. After buying and returning several mp3 stereos, i decided upon this one, and was surprised that it was able to rewind/fast forward through mp3 files (something critical that most mini stereo manufacturers touting mp3 capability have yet to add). Although the sound isn't audible while rewinding on mp3s,(minor drawback, but the positives outweigh the negatives).

I finally invested in a stereo in which, i feel the manufacturers made mp3s their main focus. Other manufacturers treat mp3 capability as an after thought. With a large collection of mp3 cds, i enjoy being able to listen to them without changing cds all the time. (have yet to hook it up to pc via usb,though)--My main concern was mp3 cds.

The sound quality is excellent. It produces a clean, balanced sound, not too bassy(more natural). DVD movies sound very good through the auxilary inputs. Only issue, is the stereo has a fan built in it, in order to keep from overheating (i guess), which isn't noticeable unless you have very quiet songs or volume turned down low. (the fan is built at the back of the unit and turns on when the unit is on(similar to a computer drive).

Have to rate this 3 stars -- averaging the very best and the worst.

I go along with almost all the favorable reviews posted here. The sound is awesome and the excellent speakers are driven exceptionally well for my music tastes (65% classical and opera therefore a very wide dynamic of sound, with single selections going from extremely soft passages to forceful crescendos over a wide tonal range that will put any sound system to the test). This comes close to matching my home system which cost easily five or six times the price of the Philips unit which I bought for my mountain cabin. The sound fills my large 18' x 22' bedroom impressively. For quality sound output I don't think you can do better for the money.

Despite some negative comments about the prefixed equalizations I feel Philips has done an excellent job here of giving enough selections to match almost any music to any room accoustic. The "Max Sound" however is overrated. I turn it on only when playing lo-fi radio programming that I get over the internet (there's no radio reception available at the cabin), but much as it boosts highs and lows, for my money it takes all the subtleties out of decent recordings that this unit is capable amplifying well. Even at low volume levels the sound reproduction is excellent -- rarely the case with inexpensive electronics.

My speakers are placed about 8 feet off the floor on a recessesd wall shelf about 7 feet apart with the player/tuner box across the room on my work table. The wires are concealed inside the walls. I would never have gone to the trouble of this type of installation if the quality of sound weren't as excellent as it is. Unfortunately although the speaker wires clip into the main box they're permanently attached to the left and right speakers which means that unless you splice additional speaker wire you can only place them about a yard left and right of the main unit. There should be clips on the speakers as well so you could substitute your own better quality cables. Speaker placement is important because the unit lacks left and right balance controls. I don't miss an extra subwoofer...perhaps if my taste ran to rap or hip hop I might.

The cabinetry is fairly plain and belies the low price of the unit. Yes the CD changer clatters and grinds like a noisy clockwork toy, but I've gotten used to that.. in fact it kind of amuses me, lendng the MCM530 as it does, its own quirky personality. The remote has all the features I need and works well -- I often turn the machine off at night from my bed that is some distance away and out of direct line-of-site. I've used the wakeup feature once, but as someone else observed, it is the changer clatter that wakes you--not the music. Still I've heard a lot of alarm clocks that sound much worse.

FIVE STARS so far... Here is the ZERO STARS part:

About three weeks after I installed the player, it locked up on me with four CD trays containing fairly rare out of print recordings. I called Philips -- they told me to unplug the unit and to wait 30seconds before repowering. The trays ground but wouldn't release. I was next told to send the unit to Arkansas at my expense and after it arrived Philips would ship me a replacement, but they wouldn't be able to extract my CDs. My only option for that was to take it to an authorized service center and pay $25-$30 to get the discs salvaged. I was told not to attempt to take them out myself or I'd void my warrantee (!!???) I asked if I could just pay to have the service center repair the unit and Philips told me NO. These machine are ONLY swapped out --they have no parts to supply the service centers. UPS would charge me close to $30 for ground shipping from the Sierras. Bummer. I was about to remove the disks myself and junk the machine when I remembered reading on this site about how helpful Amazon had been to someone else who's also had a changer lock up. Luckily I purchased the unit from AMAZON and THEIR RESPONSE WAS ABSOLUTELY GREAT. They sent me a label to return the player at their expense and immediately shipped a replacement which I received in a couple of days. The Philips route would have taken weeks. THANK YOU AMAZON!

I really love the sound quality and the look of the MCM530, but I have taken to duping every CD I play, because if this one locks up on me I can ship it back or toss it and only be out a buck and a half maximum for the music. So BUYER BEWARE! For every dozen satisfied reviewers on this site there seems to be at least one who's had my exact experience with tray lock up and that is way way too many.

This is very good sounding for a small room, I have it in the basement, gets the whole family dancing. It plays CDs (CD-R and CD-RW) with MP3s on them as well as normal audio CDs. And hooked up to the computer with USB cable I can listen to the music before burning CDs, also internet radio.

We may have just had an isolated bad experience, but the system worked for two days before it stopped working. I hope others will write in so that we can tell whether or not this was a very rare occurrence. More about that later.

Aside from the system breaking after a few hours of use, here's what we did not like about it:

1. The five CD drawer-holders are very noisy when you use them. They sound like the system is already close to breaking.

2. There's almost no control over the sound other than a MAX Dynamic button. This boosts the overall sound quality substantially! Without it, the system sounds much worse than it should for this price. Furthermore, there is no equalizer, just that one button. If you're attaching this to a stand-alone equalizer or to one on a computer, you'll be at a big advantage. When you look at all the features this machine doesn't have (see specs. section above), you'll be in a better position to decide whether this is the right player for you.

3. Sorry, but the metal housing (not the speakers) is not very attractive; the speakers, however, look great.

4. That said, most reviewers here enjoy the product, and I hope you won't get a repeat of our experience, described below (you may regard this as unrepresentative until more reviews come in to confirm similar situations).

A Holiday Story:
This system was bought for our 10-year old, who has a burgeoning interest in music and a total of 5 CDs to call his own. After just a few hours of use over two days, the power button stopped working. Nothing, nada. No lights go on, and the 3 CDs inside the 5-CD stack are stuck there now. The included remote will not turn the player on either.

The people at Philips were not very helpful. After a long wait (well, it is post-Holiday season), we were given such useful suggestions as unplug it, then plug it back in again. Sorry, already did that. J and R, the seller, was much better. They will be mailing prepaid postage, and we can either exchange or get our money back. They will attempt to get the stuck CDs out, but no guarantee. They also initially insisted that we had to return the player in both the inner box and the original outer box. The outer box was wrecked in the rain. When we asked for a supervisor, the representative relented and said it was ok to send it back in any outer box we can find. We also called Amazon, and they said to call them if anything did not work out to our satisfaction, including the stuck CD's. Thank you, Amazon!

If you are looking for a small stereo with BIG sound, this is it! It does have its problems, so I'll list them first.

1. When you turn the unit on, it searches through ALL 5 trays to see what cd's are loaded. While it does take some time, which is a little annoying, it is loud when there is no other noise in the room! If you have this stereo in your bedroom, your other half may not appreciate the shuffling noise late at night when they are trying to sleep!

2. When you are in the shuffle mode, you can not hit the left arrow to go back and replay the last song. No big deal, just have to learn that's the way it is.

3. The color of the speakers! I would have prefered Black, Dark Wood Grain, Cherry, or something else.....The pale-blonde-looking speakers are just corny, especially with the funky grills. Why couldn't Philips cover the entire front of the speaker with the grills like just about any other speaker I have ever seen?


4. Unlike my expensive Pioneer Home Theater System, when you plug your headphones in, you can still select bewteen all the available audio modes. Why is this bad? Because it is easy to kill your hearing, this thing rocks!

Ok, now for the good points.

1. This thing rocks! It puts out some really strong tunes with such puny speakers. Yes, it isn't a Bose, but it also costs FAR less than anything else for the sound quality it delivers.

2. No Bass/Treble controls needed. There are plenty of preset equalizers and sound modes available that any type of music will sound great. I have everything from Folk, to Country, to Classical, to Jazz, to Rock, etc.... on MP3's and they all sound great!

3. This unit will actually display the MP3 information correctly, so you will know the track # on the CD, the group/band, and the name of the song. You can also re-display this info at anytime, not all units will allow you to do this.

4. See number 4 above. Just watch the volume when you're wearing headphones. It's easy to over-do your ears with this baby!

I liked this thing so much I bought a second one!

As everyone has pointed out this system has excellent sound output. I was shopping for a decent stereo with Auxilary inputs that I could run my computer's sound through for background music. I came across this device and was set back by the sound, the auxilary input and the surprising USB PC Link.

I was wary with the PC Link as an avid computer user because I felt it had to be some gimmick and a cheap "network stereo" However I got it running and it works well. All of the remote controls work exceptional across the USB, shuffle, skip, etc.

However there are two major downfalls to interface.

1 - The stereo system becomes a USB sound device. Windows dosen't actually send files nor does the device read your computers files. It just becomes the equivilent to an internal/external sound car. Because of this if you have an internal sound card there is a "battle" so to speak as to which device has priority. When the stereo is in USB mode it takes priority. When you are finished and wish to use the computer's main sound device you have to manually reset it, which requires navigating menus.

2 - The included software - Musicmatch is very awkward at best. It's slow to respond on less equpped machines such as mine, routinely on closing the program it asks you to purchase and upgrade your player. The organization of the music and soundtracks is annoying as there is no manner to cue up several playlists or organize your music in a decent manner.

I'd so give this device a 5 if they would fix the sound priority bug (handing it back to the original preset sound device) and if there was support for more MP3 players (Windows Media Player, WinAmp, RealOne, etc) The way I see it, MusicMatch is the lowest of the low in terms of money grubbing for inferior quality of product/ease of use

I bought this unit from a local retail store as it caught my eye and was on sale. I have this unit set up in my bedroom, connected to my Roku M1000 Soundbridge to listen to online radio stations.... and the sound is amazing.

I listen mainly to high energy rock/dance... with the occasional evening of jazz and downtempo... and all genres sound fantastic on this thing.

They say "You get what you pay for". But this mini home audio system is quite contrary to this generalization. I bought this system from amazon.com about 7 months back and I feel that if you're looking for a low priced system with a very decent quality output, you've come to the right stop.

Pros: The sound quality is more than decent and jars very little at the high end on most of the stuff that you play. Good build quality. Doesn't look tacky with a lot of cheap plastic sticking out from all ends. Plays CDs, CD-Rs and RWs. Plays MP3s and CD-audio formats.

This audio system is good for students who would want to have one in their dorm to hook up to a computer system. The PC-Link is pathetic and not really impressive. The PC-Link software installation is not intuitive and I had a small driver installation problem on my laptop. I fixed this later on after realizing that I had a conflict with another device. It worked well with the desktop system though. If you're interested in wi-fi PC Link connectivity check out another model MCM770. Remote is full functional. Sleep timer feature is convenient. Radio reception is decent.

Cons: The startup process takes quite some time. With the CD player grinding from tray to tray before initializing. It gets a little irritating at times but one can still tolerate it considering the sound quality at a low price. Limited no of presets. You have to chose between the standard ones.

Nice system overall in it's class.

First off, I have to agree that the sound quality of this unit is impressive for its size and price. It looks OK, too. Even though the display is a bit busy, it can be dimmed so as not to be too conspicuous. I haven't yet tried an mp3 disk, so I can't comment on that aspect. What drives me nuts is, when I turn it on to the tuner, why do I have to listen to 15 seconds of plastic shuttling in the CD drives before it turns on the darn radio? I have not noticed the fan mentioned by other reviewers.
I've also tried streaming music from my desktop (Win98SE). This feature uses a specially modified version of MusicMatch Jukebox, included on the installation disk. (Note that the streaming audio only requires 98SE or better, but there's a utility called Philips Sound Agent 2 on the disk that requires Win2K or XP.) When it works, it sounds quite good, surely much better than simply amplifying the sound card output, but for me it's a hit or miss proposition. To get this thing to work, I usually wind up rebooting the desktop 4 or 5 times before it "takes," and then everything works well. I'm probably doing something wrong, but I have not found the manual very helpful in troubleshooting this feature.
All in all, though, I'm quite pleased with this unit.