Sony MHCEC909iP Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

The Story: My Mom, Sister, and I all chipped in and bought the Sony MHCEC909iP as a joint Christmas gift for ourselves. And OMGoodness what a gift it is!! We paid $159.99 minus roughly $25 that I earned through shopping. I've read a lot of reviews for similarly priced systems where the people say that the system has good sound "for the money". This thing's sound quality far surpasses its price tag. Honestly, had we spent $500-800 on it, I would say the quality is appropriate for the price. So the fact that we ended up getting this thing for only about $135 just blows my mind.Strengths:Sound comes out so clear, it sounds live. Any musical genre sounds excellent. You don't even need to fiddle with the EQ.Guitars, vocals and drums sound marvelous, as does the bass (read below for bass and subwoofer elaboration).Amazing detail and clarity! You'll hear things you've never heard before even in songs you know like the back of your hand!Wonderful bass!!! It manages to come out full, clear, and rich without causing any rattling or vibration sounds (assuming you have it placed on wood as I have, rather than glass or metal. There are 2 versions of this system to consider: this one (4-piece) which consists of the console, 2 speakers and subwoofer, and the 3-piece which is the same just minus the woofer. And in case you're still thinking about it, here's your answer: Yes, you want the Subwoofer! It makes all the difference. There's a button on the console that turns the woofer on/off (as though you'd ever want it off), and I must say, after a side by side comparison of a song with and without the woofer, I can't imagine buying the version without it. Besides, I read a review on the 3-piecer which said low bass notes cut out without it. The subwoofer is kind of a guardian angel of low range notes that makes sure that each bass note comes through full and awesome. I'm sorry if I'm rambling about the bass, but it's just THAT good!I love how it's mp3 compatible so we can finally ditch CD's once and for all and forge ahead into this glorious, clutter-free age.Weaknesses: I'm sorry, what?IMPORTANT NOTES:(1) This system is compatible with non-Apple mp3 players as long as you buy a stereo auxiliary cord (it must be stereo or only half the sound will come out).(2) You may run into the same "problem" as we did: you attempt to try out a non-Apple player and the new cord with the player and stereo both at normal volume only to find that it doesn't work! No sound comes out! How awful! Relax. If your mp3 player is like ours, you just need more volume. Realistically, you're gonna want the stereo on MAX and your player almost on MAX. Don't do this with CD's or the radio because those come out at regular volume and WILL melt your face off. Only mp3's seem to come out quietly.(3) You can't really use this as a home-theater system, being that the wires are kind of on the short side and you therefore can't spread the speakers across the room for surround sound (but let it be said that if the wires WERE long enough, it would make a killer home-theater system for sure!) But since this wasn't made for that purpose, I didn't think it would be right to put this under "weaknesses".Conclusion: Buy this system! Even if it’s the first one you’ve looked at in your search, buy it. You won’t be disappointed. If you buy this and you’re not 100% in delirious awe of its splendor, reply to my review and let me know so I can punch myself in the jaw repeatedly (I’m that confident in this machine). I might have to get a job at Sony because of this purchase.PS: I highly recommend playing “Golden Years” by David Bowie on this system. It’s so groovy it’s sick.

The first thing I noticed after firing this system up for the first time was the overall clarity and “fullness” of the sound it produced; the highs are crisp, the mid-range is more than adequate, and the bass is full and rich thanks to the dedicated external subwoofer. Although I don’t consider myself to be a serious audiophile, I do expect better than average sound quality, and this system performs well up to my expectations. CDs sound rich, radio is exceptional, and the iPod control with my 4th gen iPod Touch is seamless and produces full sound as well. The auxiliary in (Sony called it “PC In” on this system) is nice when you want to plug in the computer or TV.The volume achievable by this system doesn't fail to impress me, either. This thing gets LOUD, and any volume level above 20 (range is MIN-1-2 … 29-30-MAX) can easily shake the walls with no noticeable distortion. The bass produced by the speakers when the sub is disabled is sufficient, but enabling the sub is great when you really want to make those lows more noticeable. The ability to disable the sub is useful so that you can listen to your tunes without annoying everyone else in the house with the bass, especially at night.Although this system does not have a graphic EQ or any manual levels adjustment, I have not found that to be a major drawback as its built in EQ presets (FLAT, ROCK, MP3 SUR, HIP HOP, POP, TECHNO, and JAZZ) should allow you to change the sound around enough to suit your taste.This system, I've found, is especially user-friendly. Setting the time, alarm, sleep timer, radio presets, playing CDs, controlling iPods, etc. is a breeze, and if you ever run into a problem, the manual is well written and covers all of the system’s functions and troubleshooting. Just be careful that you don’t lose or break the remote as most of the functions of this system can only be controlled with the remote; a minor design flaw in my opinion, but no big deal.I would also like to mention that this is NOT designed to be, and really shouldn't be used as a portable, take-it-everywhere system.Others have mentioned that the iPod dock seems very fragile or flimsy. Sure, it might not feel particularly sturdy, but you probably won’t break it if you are a little careful and use common sense.The only thing that I don’t like about this system is its slightly noisy cooling fan that always runs when the system is on. It makes listening at low volumes a little more difficult.All in all, a great system with great sound, great features, and a great price! I am very satisfied and I highly recommend this system to anyone looking for a great sounding bookshelf system without breaking the bank.

There sure were a lot of nay sayers out there who expect I think to much for very little. This Sterio Sounds beautiful, yes the cords arent as long as I would have preferred however, I personally spliced mine and added longer speaker wire and made them as long as I needed them. This has an equalizer in it preprogrammed and it does pretty good, and has another sound improvement button that you push and wow does that do great!!! This is very very powerful, I use it in my bedroom and I have a three bedroom ranch and when I turn it up it blasts the entire house. Yes this is a very large system, much larger than I ever thought it would be, however, that just made me even happier. Its got a crisp, clean, clear, high quality sound and even though I have placed the sterio on a book shelf on the wall next to my roommates, the subwoofer will rock my floor to where I can feel it yet theres hardly even sound in my roommates room. You will not be dissapointed when purchasing this product this sounds much louder than my RCA Home Theater Surround system, and believe me when that thing is turnned up my neighbers can hear it. I bought at Radio Shack for $44.00 a HD Tuner to pick up all the free stations and hooked it up to this sterio, the only thing is it doesnt have audio input like an RCA Audio plug but it does have a PC in plug on the front if you get a plug for it and hook it up to what ever device you choose it works just as good but sadly no outputs or inputs and the speakers have plugs not the typical black and red wire you use with most systems so you must cut the cord, seperate the black and red and add your own wire than put back the other end. Yes a hassle but worth it. I havent used the CD, or anything like the IPOD unit yet I just got this.