Customer Reviews

Philips MCM570 5-CD Shelf System

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've owned the Philips MC-M570 shelf system for a few months and I am generally satisfied with its performance and features. I especially like the USB PC Link that allows you to play your PC sound through the system. However, there are several features missing that I find are really necessary for me. The unit lacks a balance control, separate bass and treble controls (not even a tone control), a cassette deck, and there are no line out jacks.

A balance control is a necessity if you put the unit's speakers in any place other than the "ideal" positions. The lack of bass and treble controls can be tolerated if you are happy with one of the nine preset equalization settings. The problem is that you can select only one of these at a time and cannot "mix and match" combinations of them. I am not particularly happy with any one of the preset settings, primarily because they all produce too much bass for my liking. A separate bass control would correct this.

Although the unit has 5 CD trays that are nicely arranged, a single cassette deck would be beneficial for recording from CD or the tuner. If it at least had "line out" jacks you could pipe the output to another device. The headphone output can be used for this but then the sound is muted. Since I only paid about a hundred bucks for the unit I decided that it was not worth returning it but I will probably relegate it to the guest room as soon as I find somrthing better. Paul Holliday 040719

Re-written on September 4, 2009: Not that it will be helpful to anyone, as this stereo is not on the market anymore, but why now. I had it for about 5 years now, maybe even more. At first I would always listen to CD's, and 5CD Changer with MP3 support and a text for Artist/album/song is a huge plus. Sometime after that I just connected it to my computer and used ever since as speakers. This idea to connect your stereo to a computer is absolutely genius. If you ever see this stereo buy it. Over 5 years or so, I used it daily, and it still works perfect. I hope it will work for many more years. The sound is great and it has very powerful speakers. Watching movies, listening to music, even editing video is a pleasant experience all around!

I purchased this system April 2005 and was quite pleased with it until it stopped working on 8/11/06. The sound had been good and the clock was so handy. However, then it stopped -- I can hear it shuffle, but nothing happens and the only way to turn the power completely off is to unplug it. Now there's 5 CDs stuck inside and the only way it appears to get them out will be to break each of the individual CD trays. I will never again purchase a player with this kind of loading system.

I have owned this system for a few years(3-4) now and I am quite impressed. The sound is great and I like the USB PC link. I also am glad that there is a line-in plug. It looks like there is also room for a line-out plug in the case, but there is not. I use this to play music from my laptop. Excellent construction, and the speakers can go pretty loud. Perfect for parties too.

A solution to no Line-out: Buy one of those 1/8" to r/w RCA adaptors. Then, If you want to record CD's or radio, all you have to do is connect it to another unit or stand alone tape player/recorder. I have never needed to play tapes, so this is not a problem for me. I dont even think I own any!

Overall, a great product.