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Looks, Sounds Good
Pros
Excellent sound, understated appearance
Cons
a little flaky with CD-Rs, fair FM tuner performance
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Overall, I'm very pleased with the CD-40z. Not sure I would have gone for it at $349... but under $200 it's a great value.
OK, I'll admit, the main feature which drew me to the Nakamichi was it's understated appearance. After shopping around in the local car audio stores and at Crutchfield, I was very disappointed with the generally unattractive selection of car stereos being churned out by the major manufacturers these days. Who needs all the bright flashing lights, colors and curves?? I can see a 17 year old kid enjoying this look, but that's not me. Until I saw this unit on epinions.com, I was not aware the Nak made car systems. Shopping around on the internet, I found a fairly wide range in price for this model... some well over $300. However, the unit seems to be widely available on eBay for around $180 (new). This is where I got mine. It looks perfect in the dash of my Miata. I had a Clarion unit in there previously, but I was getting tired of the bright flashing lights, and the fact that it stuck out like a sore thumb. The CD-40z blends in perfectly.
The 40z also has a few nice features which I have not seen in many other units. In addition to bass and treble, it features a midrange control. Another nifty trick is that it lets you disable the clock (good if your car already has a clock in the dash). It makes an annoying beep sound when you operate the functions, but this, too, can be disabled. Overall, the controls are well placed and easy to operate.
Sound quality is very good - even with just two (better quality) speakers. It seems to have a fuller and cleaner sound than did the Clarion it replaced. The biggest downside to the unit that I've witnessed so far is that it does not always like CD-Rs. In fact, the owners manual says that it does not support them at all... but most of them that I've tried so far seem to work fine.
Tuner performance on the CD-40z is good but not excellent. It does not receive distant FM signals as cleanly as the Clarion. However, it does fine with the local stations. If you live in an outlying area where FM signals are weak, you might want to think twice about this unit.
Overall quality and finish appears good. If you believe a car stereo is for sounds and not for looks, then this may be the unit for you.
The 40z also has a few nice features which I have not seen in many other units. In addition to bass and treble, it features a midrange control. Another nifty trick is that it lets you disable the clock (good if your car already has a clock in the dash). It makes an annoying beep sound when you operate the functions, but this, too, can be disabled. Overall, the controls are well placed and easy to operate.
Sound quality is very good - even with just two (better quality) speakers. It seems to have a fuller and cleaner sound than did the Clarion it replaced. The biggest downside to the unit that I've witnessed so far is that it does not always like CD-Rs. In fact, the owners manual says that it does not support them at all... but most of them that I've tried so far seem to work fine.
Tuner performance on the CD-40z is good but not excellent. It does not receive distant FM signals as cleanly as the Clarion. However, it does fine with the local stations. If you live in an outlying area where FM signals are weak, you might want to think twice about this unit.
Overall quality and finish appears good. If you believe a car stereo is for sounds and not for looks, then this may be the unit for you.
