Sony MHCEC709iP Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System

• Powerful 360-watt (RMS) music system
• Two-way bass reflex speaker system
• Works with iPhone and iPod--charge, play and control
• Single-disc CD Player plays CDs and CD-R/RW recorded in audio or MP3 file formats
• Audio-in lets you easily connect MP3 players, PCs or other devices
• Powerful 360 Watt (RMS) music system
• Single Disc CD Player; CD, CD-R/RW playback recorded in audio or MP3 file formats
• Works with iPhone, Made for iPod;charge, play and control

This system is great. The only reason people are complaining about this system is because they didn't do the research before they bought the product, and I did. I'm currently in college in a Music Production program, and I bought these speakers to set up as my own "home studio." Everything you need to know is on the box, but for the people who complained about this, let me elaborate. The iPod dock ONLY, I repeat, ONLY works with a 2nd Gen iPod touch! If you don't have one and are buying it primarily for iPod connectivity, either don't buy it, buy a 2nd Gen iPod touch online (they're pretty cheap now), or be the smart person and buy an 1/8th inch to 1/8th inch cable (that means the headphone adapters), that way you can plug in your MP3 player, whatever it may be, without any complications. Note: make sure you get stereo, if you buy mono without looking at the details and only the price, you'll be disappointed, you need stereo so you can get the correct panning, mono won't do that. I actually have 2 different adapter cables, one for my laptop/iPad, the other for my TV, and it works great. Now, the speakers are actually really good, and I'm not surprised. The cables are thin, which isn't too good for the stability of the cable, but as long as you are careful with moving the speakers around then you're fine. I don't even move my speakers, they haven't moved since I got them (2 months ago) and I have had no issues. Now for the review about a headphone jack so you can plug your headphones into the system...look, if you buy a speaker system like this you shouldn't even think twice of plugging your headphones into it. It's a speaker system, either listen to your music over the speakers or over your headphones plugged into the device that has your music. If you plug headphones into a speaker system like this you'll just look like an idiot anyway so save yourself the embarrassment.

Now that I've talked about the other reviews, let me give you my opinion. These speakers are GREAT!!! They have great sound quality to them, it gets quite loud, and it's perfect for any application. I use it for listening to music, playing sound over my TV, and watching movies. It goes up to a volume level of 30, and I've used it on 13 with my laptop at full volume and my neighbors have complained about the booming sounds coming from next door. Everything is very simple to use, and it even has this DSGX setting. I don't know what it stands for exactly, but it makes the sound seem fuller, along with adding a TON of bass. It also has several EQ settings. I use the Rock EQ, because I listened through all of the EQs and chose it. You don't even really need the EQ changed though, only if you're picky, like me.

If there was one complaint I had about this system, it would be that some bass notes cut out. These speakers are excellent with most low, mid, and high frequencies, but once the bass notes start to get reallyyyyyyy low, it likes to cut them out. It's a little upsetting, but it doesn't happen that often, and for the money I spent on this system I couldn't be any more content with it. This system is a really great buy, and if you do your research and find that this is the one for you then great, get it! If not, then go your own way. If I had just a little more money when I went to go buy mine, I would've goten the next level up for 50 dollars more (the one with 3 speakers instead of 2, since the extra speaker is really for a bass boost and most definitely would've gotten me those missing bass notes). But either way, I'm glad I made the decision to buy this and you will be too.

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I brought a Thievery Corporation CD to Frye's and tested every system in there. This had the best sound for the money BY FAR. I like my music to have powerful base and thought about getting the same system with the sub woofer, but the highs and mids were not clear on that one. This unit had great comprehensive sound--clear mids and highs with great base. All of the other systems in this price range couldn't handle high volume and had around 150-170W, but this one maintained good sound as loud as I could turn it because of the 360W. The only drawback is that it's a little bigger than I wanted for a shelf system.

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This stereo looks great and sounds great for the money yet suffers from a couple of bad design decisions.

I bought this unit for the computer room to add a little boost to my computer sounds and to allow me to play my iPod through.

Here are my thoughts on this stereo

The Good:

For sound quality: The sound on this unit is rich and deep and LOUD. It works perfectly with my iPod classic, the remote may be a little tricky at first, but you will get used to it, and with games and movies passed through it from my computer.

For Construction quality: The unit feels sturdy and well made and looks amazing.

The Bad:

For reasons I cannot fathom Sony's engineers decided to go against several decades of stereo design when they made this unit. As has been pointed out by other customers there is no headphone jack on the machine, which isn't a problem for me, but one must wonder why this classic staple of just about any other stereo ever made was left out. The second design issue is that the main stereo unit is quite long so although this is marketed as a "shelf unit" I do not know a single person with book shelves deep enough to fit this unit. To add insult to injury Sony decided to put two computer style fan exhaust ports on the backside of the unit which adds another inch to its length and means there must be a clearance of at least 15 centimeters behind the unit and the wall. So Sony has made the first "shelf unit" stereo that cannot be used as one. Oh well no matter, I'll just put the main unit out of the way somewhere and just run some longer speaker wire to the speakers which I can put where I like. Whoops. No I can't. Again it seems Sony's designers have decided to ignore the last 50 odd years of stereo history and instead of the usual "alligator clip" style connectors where you could use any length of wire you like, they have hardwired some very cheep wire to the speakers and added a special plug device at the end that connects to the unit, which are very much like the power connector of a computer fan. This means that the speakers can never be more than about 5 feet from the main stereo unit, and if a wire happens to go bad you are S.O.L.

Sony tragically missed the mark on this one.

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I wish I had known that that there is no headphone jack! (Ronnie's review came too late for me, unfortunately). I was very pleased with this system -nice and loud so I can play drums with it with earplugs on, nice bass and overall sound quality. Then I discovered that there is no headphone jack. I didn't even think to see if it was included -a headphone jack is a most basic feature that should be on every stereo. So, if you never ever use headphones, this is a great stereo, especially for the price.

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This stereo looks and plays fine. That said, Sony really missed the mark. They didn't bother to include a headphone jack on the system. The audio input is a mini jack not standard RCA audio jacks, it's marked "PC", and its use is not really covered in the instruction manual. The speakers connect with flimsy mini plugs similar to cordless phone battery connectors, so you have to cut and splice if you need to increase speaker separation. And finally, the factory manual is a generic document that's not specifically tailored to this unit. If not for the looks and the sound I would give this horribly awkward unit a one-star rating!