Sony MHC-MC1 Audio Shelf System
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- Number of Discs: 51
- Functions: CD Player
- Output Power: 80 Watt PMPO
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The Quiet Man.....meets his match....Sony MHC-MC1
Pros
Fine sound quality.... coupled with intelligent design
Cons
The jog dial takes some getting use to when entering cd text
Recommended it?
Yes
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm no audiophile, and my unsophisticated sense of musical perfection limits my ability to discern great sound throughput from the more pedestrian offerings of many sound units. I'll go to a Circuit City stereo section with my teenage son, and find myself thinking that all of the displayed systems sound pretty decent.
In fact, I'm seldom the one to even turn on our stereo at home. Perhaps its the fact that my job is a constant stream of words in the air, and the peace and tranquility of a quiet house is comforting. Call me The Quiet Man as far as music preferences go - although I'll occasionally play the Music Match Jukebox on my laptop at the office if I've just come from a lengthy corporate meeting. Sometimes music does sooth the savage beast.
With that as background, I'd like to give you a purely layman's view of the stereo that resides in our dwelling. It's a Sony MHC-MC1 Mini Hi-Fi Component System. Purchased for under $400 recently, and a fine piece of electronic gadgetry. Oh - and yes - it sounds pretty good as well when it delivers fairly robust sounds within our home.
Yes - we looked at many brands. Aiwa....Panasonic....even Bose - although the price tag on Bose made us shudder. And we went with the Sony. I know....I know. Sony has more than it's fair share of detractors who call it overpriced and a possessor of a great brand name, and not much more. But what swayed us was simply the design and capabilities of this particular unit. You see, we wanted a mini-system that could store a ton of cds within the unit itself. And yes - there are some larger systems out there that can hold 200 cds at once. But we had a relatively small space for our stereo, and we were anxious for a small "footprint".
Sony delivered with it's compact size - the footprint is approximately 11 inches by 15 inches, and the unit stands a little over 17 inches in height. And within that small arena is a system that holds 51 cds in a carousel arrangement. We were able to store our most popular cds with room to spare. And on top of that, it came with a easy to use remote that offered all the functionality of the base unit - fast forward, reverse, skip forward, pause - from across the room. And that is something we've used often - whether sitting at the dining room table and wanting to turn on some soft background music....or sitting in the living room and hitting the pause button as the phone rings.
This particular unit has a "jog dial". This circular multi-function dial allows you to input the title of each cd - albeit one letter at a time - so that the title appears on the display screen instead of just the number of the cd. That's very handy when you are trying to remember where you placed that Robert Earl Keen album that you want to play for a visitor. And if the music cd you've just purchased happens to be from Sony music....then the title of not only the album, but also each track, is displayed automatically for you without any manual input.
And yes - there's a tape cassette as well that allows you to dub from a music cd at high speed. It can actually tape a full 50 minute cd in about a third of the time, and the tapes that we've created come out sounding pretty darn good. See - that's my highest compliment for any stereo - sounding pretty darn good. And this one does - whether you are playing Sinatra or The Eagles.
The speakers can be disengaged from the base unit and placed apart for better sound division, and the unit also includes an auto timer function that you can use to turn the music on (or off) at anytime you prefer. A couple of times we've used this relatively easy to use setting to create sounds within our home when we're away for a long weekend. Never can tell when something like that might just foil a potential burglar - and it delivers that "peace of mind" for a few moments of your time.
Another feature incorporated within is an FM/AM radio with a 20 station preset capability. Once you find your favorites, you can program them to respond at the touch of a button. Because of our home's location, the quality of the radio reception varies greatly. But it does deliver good sound response when you key in on a strong station - and once again it's ease of use makes for a couple of happy consumers within our abode.
And yes - although we're not prone to use them often - it does offer both groove functions (which allow you to set the tone to jazz, country, dance, etc.) and bass boost (which the younger members of our household enjoy when we are gone). And yes - when they really want to listen to the latest cd from their favorite heavy metal group - it offers a wonderful headphone jack that works perfectly. Thank goodness.
My overall verdict? Well, this particular Quiet Man actually believes that the expected price/value ratio is met handily by Sony with this stereo. Plenty of good features that actually offer user benefits....good sound quality from cds, tapes and even FM radio....and a small size that allows you to place the unit unobtrusively in any room within the house.
Isn't it nice when electronics equipment actually exceeds your expectations? It doesn't happen very often, but when it does you'll find this consumer happily admitting the fact.
Nicely done, Sony...very nicely done!
In fact, I'm seldom the one to even turn on our stereo at home. Perhaps its the fact that my job is a constant stream of words in the air, and the peace and tranquility of a quiet house is comforting. Call me The Quiet Man as far as music preferences go - although I'll occasionally play the Music Match Jukebox on my laptop at the office if I've just come from a lengthy corporate meeting. Sometimes music does sooth the savage beast.
With that as background, I'd like to give you a purely layman's view of the stereo that resides in our dwelling. It's a Sony MHC-MC1 Mini Hi-Fi Component System. Purchased for under $400 recently, and a fine piece of electronic gadgetry. Oh - and yes - it sounds pretty good as well when it delivers fairly robust sounds within our home.
Yes - we looked at many brands. Aiwa....Panasonic....even Bose - although the price tag on Bose made us shudder. And we went with the Sony. I know....I know. Sony has more than it's fair share of detractors who call it overpriced and a possessor of a great brand name, and not much more. But what swayed us was simply the design and capabilities of this particular unit. You see, we wanted a mini-system that could store a ton of cds within the unit itself. And yes - there are some larger systems out there that can hold 200 cds at once. But we had a relatively small space for our stereo, and we were anxious for a small "footprint".
Sony delivered with it's compact size - the footprint is approximately 11 inches by 15 inches, and the unit stands a little over 17 inches in height. And within that small arena is a system that holds 51 cds in a carousel arrangement. We were able to store our most popular cds with room to spare. And on top of that, it came with a easy to use remote that offered all the functionality of the base unit - fast forward, reverse, skip forward, pause - from across the room. And that is something we've used often - whether sitting at the dining room table and wanting to turn on some soft background music....or sitting in the living room and hitting the pause button as the phone rings.
This particular unit has a "jog dial". This circular multi-function dial allows you to input the title of each cd - albeit one letter at a time - so that the title appears on the display screen instead of just the number of the cd. That's very handy when you are trying to remember where you placed that Robert Earl Keen album that you want to play for a visitor. And if the music cd you've just purchased happens to be from Sony music....then the title of not only the album, but also each track, is displayed automatically for you without any manual input.
And yes - there's a tape cassette as well that allows you to dub from a music cd at high speed. It can actually tape a full 50 minute cd in about a third of the time, and the tapes that we've created come out sounding pretty darn good. See - that's my highest compliment for any stereo - sounding pretty darn good. And this one does - whether you are playing Sinatra or The Eagles.
The speakers can be disengaged from the base unit and placed apart for better sound division, and the unit also includes an auto timer function that you can use to turn the music on (or off) at anytime you prefer. A couple of times we've used this relatively easy to use setting to create sounds within our home when we're away for a long weekend. Never can tell when something like that might just foil a potential burglar - and it delivers that "peace of mind" for a few moments of your time.
Another feature incorporated within is an FM/AM radio with a 20 station preset capability. Once you find your favorites, you can program them to respond at the touch of a button. Because of our home's location, the quality of the radio reception varies greatly. But it does deliver good sound response when you key in on a strong station - and once again it's ease of use makes for a couple of happy consumers within our abode.
And yes - although we're not prone to use them often - it does offer both groove functions (which allow you to set the tone to jazz, country, dance, etc.) and bass boost (which the younger members of our household enjoy when we are gone). And yes - when they really want to listen to the latest cd from their favorite heavy metal group - it offers a wonderful headphone jack that works perfectly. Thank goodness.
My overall verdict? Well, this particular Quiet Man actually believes that the expected price/value ratio is met handily by Sony with this stereo. Plenty of good features that actually offer user benefits....good sound quality from cds, tapes and even FM radio....and a small size that allows you to place the unit unobtrusively in any room within the house.
Isn't it nice when electronics equipment actually exceeds your expectations? It doesn't happen very often, but when it does you'll find this consumer happily admitting the fact.
Nicely done, Sony...very nicely done!
