Dr Gadget - Gadget Shop - Sony CMT-SPZ90DB Micro Hifi System - With DAB Radio and Cassette Deck

	List Price: Our Price: £119.99 Your Save: £ ( % ) Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Manufacturer: Sony
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Binding: Electronics Brand: Sony EAN: 4905524338034 Feature: 3 Disc Multiplay CD Label: Sony Manufacturer: Sony Model: CMTSPZ90DAB.CEK Publisher: Sony Release Date: 2006-09-11 Studio: Sony
Features 3 Disc Multiplay CD 50 Watts RMSPer Channel DAB / FM RDS Tuner With Digital Presets S-Master Digital Amplifier CDR/RW Playback
Accessories SanDisk 1GB ULTRA II Secure Digital Card DYMO LabelWriter CD/DVD Label Applicator Hama Retractable Adapter Cable, 3.5mm Jack to 2 x RCA (phono) Belkin SurgeMaster, 4-Way, 1m Cable Belkin 4Way Surge 2 Meter
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Very satisfied customer Comment: I required a micro system that could play my collection of cassettes and also provide me with DAB radio. Having read previous reviews on this item, it appeared to give me everything I needed. I was not disappointed and I am very pleased with the system. The overall sound quality is very good, it is easy to operate and install. I would not have any hesitation in recommending this Sony system. Customer Rating: Summary: An excellent little machine for the money Comment: Needed a new machine and it had to have a cassette deck (as I still have a lot of homemade tapes from my youth!) and a DAB radio too so this was a perfect machine on paper and the price was excellent too! I read a lot of the reviews and was a little worried about the sound quality and the DAB signal. But the machine was for my kitchen and wasn't going to be my "state of the art machine." Arrived very quickly from Amazon (many thanks!) Very easy to set up, it is indeed correct that the speaker cables are not very long. I didn't appreciate this. They are about 1 metre in length maybe a little longer so please take note, it could be a problem. Switched on the auto tune for the DAB radio and oh-no, no BBC DAB stations as all. So re-tuned again and again and again. At that point my husband said "this is crap it's going back, that cheap DAB radio from Asda can pick up DAB and we live on top of a hill with a massive TV / radio mast nearby!" But I asked him to try moving the DAB aerial and interesting when he placed it horizontally rather than vertical and then retuned the BBC stations appears as did many more stations. So that maybe something for others who have made problems worth DAB to try. I have switched the machine on a few times since and the stations are still there. Very happy with the features, the sound quality and the price of the machine. No complaints so far and would recommend this. 5 stars. Customer Rating: Summary: Do not buy Comment: Repeating the warning about the poor aerial. All my attempts to get reliable reception have failed in this fairly poor reception area, whereas my other portable DAB radio does OK. Since there is no proper socket to insert a dipole, and wire lengthening has so far been unsuccessful I seem to be stuck. The FM stations that are sometimes weak, e.g. Radio 4, cannot be turned from stereo to mono, either, so it is not viable to abandon DAB for FM. Unless you live in a GOOD area, don't risk it. If Ihad not destroyed the box, I would have sent it back. Customer Rating: Summary: OK, but a few gotchas Comment: We bought this system to hook up to a DVD player and provide a bit more "oomph" to the pathetic built-in speakers of our telly when watching films, as it seemed that surround sound systems were either too expensive or had a lot of untidy cables to trail around the room. Delivery was prompt, but when unpacking the stereo I was a bit concerned about the cheap plasticky finish of the unit. I would expect better from a £170 (on Sony's site) bit of Sony kit. There were also a few problems, which I list below; 1. We live in a reasonably weak area for radio reception, and could only pick up one or two stations with our previous stereo. This stereo picks up more than our last stereo with it's FM tuner, but it's still not great at tuning into things (other stereos around the house do a better job). The RDS system is handy though. 2. However in common with some reviewers we have had numerous problems with the DAB radio. Doing a scan for channels will result in no services found one minute, then about ten (which all sound like they're being broadcast from underwater) the next minute with no repositioning of the aerial. I would write this off as a problem with the unit, but have no idea whether it's the area so am giving it the benefit of the doubt - still, I couldn't recommend this unit as a DAB radio especially in a poor signal area. And yes, we did plug the aerial in properly and even tried the manual's suggestion of turning off the "CD power", whatever that is. 3. As other reviewers have commented, this is chock-full of pointless proprietary Sony connectors. The aerial lead socket is proprietary, so you can't buy a better aerial. The speaker sockets are also proprietary, which leads me to my next point. 4. The speaker wires are really, really short. Having read some other reviews I got the impression that they were trying to position the speakers quite far apart, or something, but no they really are short. Unless you want the speakers immediately either side of the unit, you'll need an extension and because the speaker connectors are proprietary you can't just go to Maplins and buy one. In fact I've had enormous difficulty finding any for sale anywhere, including from Sony - and the cheapest extension I could find was 5m for £16. One of the other reviews says you can also make your own using off-the-shelf components from Maplin but this will involve cutting the speaker cable of one of the speakers from what I can tell. 5. The line in socket is on the front of the unit. There are no connections on the back except the two speaker sockets and aerial socket. If you want to connect this unit up to anything apart from an MP3 player this might be a problem if you mind cables sticking out of the front of your unit. However we can connect it to our DVD player fine, albeit with the cable sticking out of the socket on the front. Generally, sound quality is reasonably good and the CD/radio work as expected. I haven't used a cassette tape for years so couldn't comment on the performance of this part. If you want a cheapish but reasonably powerful DAB stereo and live in a good signal area, this might suit your needs, however there are probably competing products just as good for a similar price or cheaper. Customer Rating: Summary: Nice Little System Comment: I have just spent a few hours tinkering with this and I must say that overall I am pretty impressed. At first I couldn't pick up any DAB stations but once I re scan I got a few but not as many as I should. This was rectified by switching off the automatic power to the CD - this doesnt' have any adverse affects it just takes a few seconds longer for the CD player to read the discs. I must add though that I live in an area where it is very difficult to get good reception anyway and if the weather is bad I sometimes can't get any without hiss or get any tv stations without interference. I went for a DAB radio because I couldn't pick up Radio 3 and 4 properly. With this system I get perfect reception and couldn't be happier. I can now get all the stations I should. I need to move the aerial a bit to listen to a few of the commercial stations but as I never listen to them anyway I don't mind. The sound is much crisper and richer than my old system. The cd player is great, I particularly like the fact that you can change a cd whilst still listening to one of the other discs. A slightly longer aerial would have been appreciated, or a way of putting in a digital aerial. Overall for the money I am really pleased; it does exactly what I wanted - which was to be able to listen to more than one CD (this one has a 3 CD multi changer)and to be able to pick up Radio 3 crisply. I would give this 4.5 stars but as there isn't that option 4 will have to do. A better aerial would have given it 5 stars though. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: With its 2 x 50 W Music Power amplifier and high-performance stereo speaker system, the CMT-SPZ90DB micro stereo system delivers exceptional sound quality, so you can enjoy your favourite music the way it was meant to be heard!This Sony micro-system is equipped with a DAB digital radio tuner, an MP3-compatible CD player and a tape deck to play music in any format, while its Bass Adjustment system really enhances the sound of your favourite tunes!Fill your house with music with the CMT-SPZ90DB from Sony!