RCA RS2052 Compact Bookshelf System with Lyra 128 MB MP3 Player

by RCA

Product Details

Product Manual [1.12mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 15.8 x 20.3 inches ; 3.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 29 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0009FUAME
• Item model number: RS2052
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,699 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #86 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Stereo Components > Tuners

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

You'll be amazed by the sound and the features that the RCA RS2052 Compact Bookshelf System with Lyra 128 MB MP3 Player offers. In addition to a five-disc changer system that can load and play simultaneously, and that takes up much less space than carousel designs, the RCA RS2052 features a 128 MB Lyra MP3 flash player that uses the unit's docking station to transfer and store up to 4 hours of music. In other words, you don't need a PC to upload your MP3 and WMA digital files. You can simply "rip and go," and you'll have hours of music at your fingertips.

With 160 watts of total system power, full-range speakers, and a Dynamic Bass Boost System, the RCA RS2052 ready to fill your space with rich, full music. To round out these outstanding features, the RS2052 also includes a digital AM/FM tuner with 32 presets, a built-in alarm clock, and a single LCD display with orange backlight. So whether you want to crank your old rock CDs, upload your latest MP3 files, or wake up to the soothing sounds of jazz in the morning, the RCA RS2052 has you covered.

What's in the Box
RS2052 bookshelf system, remote control, AM loop antenna, MP3 player, carrying case, and headphones.

Product Description

This digital music studio bookshelf system features an MP3 player. The Rip and Go technology means no computer is needed - just dock the included 128 MB MP3 player directly into the top of the main unit. The Neo-5 CD changer system gives you easy loading

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great unit for mp3 use, nifty for Podcasts, pretty good sound., July 24, 2005

By 

Alexander Cutshall "Alex" (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RCA RS2052 Compact Bookshelf System with Lyra 128 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

First off, I bought the unit about a week ago and am still putting it through it's paces...

Audio wise the 2052 is pretty good, delivering crisp treble response and rich bass. Lack of a subwoofer would preclude it from being used as the hub of a home theatre system, but for general listening it is pretty good. The EQ allows five settings; flat, pop, rock, jazz, and custom. Custom merely means you can manually adjust the bass and treble settings.

The tuner is pretty standard for a modern stereo system. 32 presets, FM/AM. The timer record function, not really prominent in any of the literature I had read prior to purchase, is a fairly unique feature. This unit will record either live or at a specified time (much like a vcr) directly to the included personal MP3 player. While the other sources allow bitrates of 128kbps, the stereo only will encode at 96kbps. A wire FM antenna and loop AM antenna are both included.

The CD changer is a fairly unique design. I describe it as a 5-disc accordion. When you press the eject button, all five discs become easily accessable. You can open the "accordion" while one disc is playing and change the other four. The unit will play CD-R and CD-RW encoded with either MP3 files or WMA files. According to the enclosed literature (and I have had no opportunity to test this) the unit correctly handles DRM issues with Windows Media files. It is important to note that the unit will rip CD's directly to MP3 files and store them on the included player, but only does so at single-speed. If you are looking simply to rip CD's to MP3 files, there are much faster computer based solutions than this unit.

Another underreported feature is the SD card slot on the front of the unit. Similar to the CD player, the SD card slot will allow you to play MP3 / WMA files directly from a SD card up to 1GB. (The manual specifies up to 1GB, I have no access to or ability to test a 2GB card.) While playing MP3 / WMA files, the unit scrolls Title and Artist information from the ID3 tag. It is important to note, the unit only records to the MP3 player, and not to the SD card.

The MP3 player is a fairly generic 128MB portable Lyra player. I have been searching for an extra player to use with the unit, it seems it is exclusive to this unit. The MP3 player has a built in USB fold-up connector that docks into the top of the stereo unit. The stereo will play files directly from the MP3 player. As far as my tests can tell, the USB connector on the top of the device will only recognize the included Lyra MP3 player (although the manual hints that a 256MB version of the player might be in development or available as an accessory.) The MP3 player easily connects to your Windows / Mac / Linux based machine for download / upload of files.

Auxillary connections are available for DVD player / any other type of outside device. The unit will record from the auxillary device to the MP3 player at 128kbps. There is also a complex multi-function remote (as a side note, the remote works on the same codes as the Norcent DP300 DVD player... I found this out first hand. If you are intending to use both units together, this would be good to know.)

Overall, good (but not great) sound quality. I tend to use the MP3 player and SD card slot to listen to podcasts in the mornings, but other applications are certainly possible. If you are interested either in being able to play lots of MP3 media, or having a device that will record MP3's without needing a computer, the RCA RS2052 is for you.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than meets the eye!, January 3, 2006

By 

Joe Crescenzi "From CouponPages.Com" (Staten Island, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RCA RS2052 Compact Bookshelf System with Lyra 128 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

After doing a fair amount of research, I ended up buying this unit based upon a few core features:

1. You can play songs directly from an SD memory card.

2. You can play CDs with MP3 files, so you can cram about 11 hours onto each of the 5 CDs it holds for a total of about 55 hours of continuous music.

3. You can change the CDs while the unit is playing, so you can get even more than 55 hours of continuous music.

4. You can record almost anything directly to the included Lyra MP3 player. This includes recording from a CD, the radio, or from the AUX Line-In.

I had seen the unit in person, and saw that the MP3 connector was a regular USB port... so I decided to experiment with it.

What I found was that the USB port at the top of the unit accepted just about any USB storage device with a regular USB cable.

For example, I plugged in a simple 1GB flash (Jump) drive. It played... AND RECORDED to the drive. I then plugged in an 8-in-one memory card reader and plugged in an SD card. Once again, it allowed me to play AND record to the memory card.

This means that although as the product description and some reviewers stated that you cannot record to the SD slot in the unit, you can easily plug a regular memory card reader into the USB port, then record to the SD card... or Compact Flash... or whatever other cards you may have... or to a USB flash drive.

This means that this unit is highly expandable. As USB storage gets bigger and cheaper, it means you can bring your PC MP3 library directly to your stereo.

The only drawback is that with such a large potential library of digital music, you may find organizing the songs to be a bit more complex. The navigation is pretty basic, but it does allow you to select and play either folders, sub folders or individual songs.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hoped for more with this thing, February 3, 2006

By 

Jadecat (Lake Orion, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: RCA RS2052 Compact Bookshelf System with Lyra 128 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

This was a Christmas present for a 10 year old who wanted a little stereo in her room, and an MP3 player. I was hoping to get two in one with this item, but I am disappointed in the MP3 player. It does work, and sounds OK, but the menu and instructions for it are baffling. This morning I recorded one of her songs onto it from the RCA stereo (after 2 tries), but it doesn't shut off the recording when you hit the stop button, and now there is a few seconds of the next song on the MP3 player, and you would think I could easily delete it. No, I can't. The instruction booklet has never been put away because you always have to refer to it to work this system. It is not intuitive at all. The book does tell you how to delete files, but doesn't explain how to get to the file to delete. It is very irritating to me, and I am currently looking for a regular MP3 player to replace it. Plus the RCA MP3 player that comes with it is 128MB and isn't too overwhelming in style and features. I have been able to record 6 songs to it, but the first second or two of the songs get cut off because there is no way (that I have found) to start the song and recording simultaneously. Pausing the song and hitting record don't work. Often it takes 3 or 4 pushes to get the record button to register I want it to record and the song has already started.

AS for the stereo, it is fine, plays the CD's well and I can't complain about that. It looks like a neat system with its own style, but just don't buy it to get the MP3 with it. It wasn't worth the headache for me.