Sony ICF-CD555TV 7-Inch Under-Counter LCD TV/CD Clock Radio

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 20 x 22 x 11 inches ; 12 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 13 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0001NBHPI
• Item model number: ICFCD555TV
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,902 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

SONY ICF-CD555TV -- They say a "watched pot never boils," and the best way to keep your eyes of the pots and pans while remaining in the area is to update your kitchen's entertainment factor! The Kitchen LCD TV CD Clock Radio is designed super-slim, and mounts under the kitchen cabinet to keep your counter space free for food preparation. CD-R/RW playback capable FM/AM Digital Tuner Dynamic Sound Space / Mega Bass(R) Sound System 15 Station Presets (5 AM / 10 FM) Cooking Timer Frequency Range - AM - 530-1710kHz; FM - 87.5-108 MHz; TV - Ch. 2-13; Weather - Ch. 1-7 Antenna System - AM - Built-in Ferrite Bar Antenna; FM, TV, Weather - Wire Antenna Speaker - 3 1/8 (77mm) Power Requirements - AC 120 Volts, 60Hz Remote Commander Remote Control Dimensions (W/H/D) - 15 3/4 x 4 1/8 x 12 3/4 (400 x 104 x 323mm) Weight - 16 lbs. 7.2 oz (5.5kg) Color - White

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

290 of 294 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent design-features-quality-value balance!, June 23, 2004

By 

Daniel DOWNING (Lincoln, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony ICF-CD555TV 7-Inch Under-Counter LCD TV/CD Clock Radio (Electronics)

I have been shopping for several months for an under-cabinet LCD TV to replace our 18-year-old 5" RCA tube-type TV in our kitchen, which has served us well but has developed annoying on/off button problems and now looks old, clunky out-of-date.

Our requirements for a replacement unit were as follows:
1. Small, sleek, unobtrusive, LCD design that would blend in under our white cabinets
2. CD player so my wife could enjoy her books-on-CD in the kitchen (DVD and radio would be a plus but not essential)
3. We wanted to be able to view both local channels as well as satellite channels without needing to also install a DirecTV decoder box (this would take additional space -defeating our compactness goal -- and require more complicated wiring, not to mention monthly charges).
4. Quality (and warranty) that would ensure it would last several years.
5. Price under $500.
6. Given the limited selection and the poor quality reviews on other models, I needed to be able to examine it in person before buying.

I looked at these options:

1. Audiovox VE-1020 (and its older/smaller siblings). It way too pricey at $600-700 and read too many `poor' reviews on audio quality and overall durability.
2. RCA BLC524: Screen too small, and `poor' quality reviews, plus could not find it in a retail store.
3. Motorola/Moxell Tech KA-A13: Sounded good, reliable manufacturer, but could only find its announcement as it is not yet available.
4. Standalone 13" LCD (Gateway, Aquous, Sharp) with a separate swivel mounting bracket. I eliminated this option early because it would be too large, too expensive (~$100 for the bracket alone!), and it most cases would not include a CD player.

I bought the Sony as soon as I found its availability was advertised at a local electronics retail store. Bought it with an inexpensive 5-year extended warranty.

It's been in place for 2 weeks and we *like* it - it is living up to expectations, despite a couple of design flaws -- the absence of which would have earned the unit *five* stars.

First the flaws-all minor:

1. Fit and connections. As an earlier reviewer on this site pointed out, its installation is a tight fit under our cabinets, leaving only about an inch clearance to plug in the coax and a/v connectors. But this was easily remedied by purchasing right-angle adapters (Radio Shack, $4 each) that can be screwed in after installation with the 1" clearance. These redirect the cable and RCA connectors downward, making attaching the cables post-installation easy. Sony would do well to include these right-angle adapters.

2. Installation instructions. The alternative is to connect all your cables *prior* to installing the unit - something the instructions did not point out. In fact, the instructions could be improved in various areas. For instance, while the unit comes with variable-depth spacers so that installation under cabinets with doors that overhang the cabinet bottom, if you have flush-mounted doors (as we do), you *don't* want to use the spacers at all. Well, the instructions don't suggest this option, leaving you to think that the spacers are required in all cases. For me, this meant re-installing without the spacers, a minor hassle.

3. No built-in TV antenna. Unlike our old RCA, this unit does not have a built-in extending-wand antenna. This makes it a *requirement* that you connect TV and/or A/V inputs to another signal source to receive *anything* on the TV. While many people may be planning to do this, it *does* raise the ante on hooking it up. Sony would have a more versatile product for less experienced people if they included an optional "single rabbit ear" antenna that could be plugged into the TV/cable connector.

Now the good features:

1. TV: Sharp, noise-free wide-format picture, with settable options for standard 3x4 picture size and two wide-format variations. Just the right size. When not in used, screen is easily folded into a cavity under the unit and latches mechanically (more securely than magnetically, which may also wear out).

2. Sound: Perfect for TV viewing and CD story listening, and quite decent for FM or CD music, both in volume and fidelity. Two 3" speakers main the sound forward and downward, and the bass extender works as advertised. As long as you don't expect home theatre quality sound from this unit, you should be quite satisfied.

3. CD Player: Quality feel of its slide-out tray. Plays commercial and my home-recorded MP3s flawlessly.

4. Remote: Small, intuitive, well-constructed. Its bottom magnet attaches to our refrigerator nicely.

5. AM/FM presets: 5 of each, easily set, with manual tuning buttons on the unit and the remote.

6. TV/Video switch: Easily switches from the antenna/cable input to the a/v inputs. This is important, as the way we wired the unit, it only takes my technology-challenged wife one button click to switch from local channels to satellite channels coming in from our home theatre system.

7. Clock: Intuitive and easily set.

8. Timer: Doubt we will use - or care about -- this feature.

Bottom line: We like it a lot, both how it looks and how it works. The Sony name (and their 1-year manufacturer's warranty) - coupled with the inexpensive 5-year extended warranty we bought - should give us several good years of service...until it is again technologically out-of-date and needs upgrading again!

96 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good picture and sound., July 27, 2004

By 

Good Time in LA - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony ICF-CD555TV 7-Inch Under-Counter LCD TV/CD Clock Radio (Electronics)

Bad points:
1) As all of the other reviewers have pointed out, this unit is almost exactly the same depth as a standard cabinet -- with about 1/2 inch to spare at the back. Very funny, Sony... No room to connect the cables to the back. I would like to thank the previous reviewer who pointed out that you can buy a right angle coax adapter at Radio Shack. It works good with that.
2) The LCD screen is 'wide screen' format. In other words, it is not the shape of a normal TV picture. This would be good if you played DVD's in letterbox format, I guess, but who is doing that under a kitchen cabinet? You end up having to decide if you want the TV picture to be a) kind of stretched widthwise (even in what they call Full screen mode), OR b) with a smaller square 'normal shaped TV' picture in the middle of the screen with about 1/2 inch of black bars on each side, OR c) in a slightly ZOOMed full screen mode, with a little of the top of peoples heads slightly chopped off sometimes.
3) The screen should flip down to end up in a more forward position (and not half-way under the cabinet) in case you are standing closer the the cabinet with the TV.
Good points:
1) Good picture and sound. Good quality.
2) Very compact after it is installed.
3) It's cool.
4) Sony's Zoom mode can make up for the odd shape of the screen.

68 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Check your kitchen cabinet dimensions, July 25, 2004

By 

V Shakata (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony ICF-CD555TV 7-Inch Under-Counter LCD TV/CD Clock Radio (Electronics)

I was in the market for an under cabinet TV to replace an old GE Spacemaker. I considered the Sony. But this thing is HUGE! The dimensions are: 15 3/4 H x 4 1/8 W x 12 3/4 D inches. The width dimension was a problem for my desired corner installation but I could have made it work. The depth was a more serious problem.

I believe I have typically sized American style cabinets. My kitchen was remodeled about 10 years ago. My base cabinets are 24inches deep and my upper cabinets are 12inches deep. I have a tile backsplash that reduces the depth under the cabinets by about 1/2 inch. The cabinet doors are about 1/2 inch thick. What this totals up to is the Sony sticking out 3/4 inch past the front of my cabinets. Ugh! Now if you want to add space so you can attach the cables to the rear, add another inch. Barf!

I wonder if Sony even bothered to research the dimensions of the kitchens they were trying to fit into. I would really have loved to put a Sony in my kitchen (much of my hifi equipment is Sony) but this is plain bad design.

I got an Audiovox VE640 instead. It is not the greatest but it does the job and it fits in the kitchen space allocated for it.