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Review 3 of 5
Price Paid:
$299.00 Strengths:
MD and CD playback, relatively easy and intuitive to use, loaded with useful features. Attractive unit. Weaknesses:
Weak remote, 4 or 5 more RMS watts per channel would be nice, as would a parametric EQ or some type of signal processing, but let's not be greedy. Summary:
Personally, I feel that MiniDiscs are a superior format compared to CDs, but with my previous car stereo, a Sony MD deck, the lack of CD-playing capability was a big drawback. Friends couldn't bring their music along unless they were part of the limited MD crowd, and when I'd buy a CD, I couldn't listen to it on the way home!
This JVC unit solves all that, and does it very well. I ordered this refurbished unit from an online retailer for a scant $299, about the same price as a good-quality CD deck, and installed it myself, which was actually pretty easy. The quality of the unit is above-average from my experience (one clue: the detachable face is actually easy to remove and replace), and I can only imagine all of the myriad electronics squeezed into the single-DIN chassis!
Obviously, the biggest appeal of this product is its amazing ability to play both CDs and MDs. It does this flawlessly. The sound quality is good (16 watts per channel RMS, 40 watts peak, all at 0.8% THD) and one feature that is tiny, but appreciated: The display lighting doesn't dim and brighten in rhythm to the bass line of the music. The display is great and the "spectrometer" part is only slightly cheesy and annoying (and can be turned off)... doesn't even come close to some of the wacky crap that's on the market now. How some of those displays don't cause car accidents is beyond me. The alphanumeric title display is 12 characters (I believe my Sony only had 10), and the scroll feature has several settings. The display is easy to see and has an auto-dim function (when the lights are turned on) which works well in my vehicle (Grand Cherokee).
Having a rotary knob is a great plus... no fumbling for little 1/2-inch buttons to adjust the volume. JVC has also incorporated their "auto cruise" mode feature into this unit, which picks up voltage fluctuations off your car's alternator and increases the volume as the engine's RPMs increase. I had a JVC CD player many years ago that had this feature and it was just annoying. It was blatantly obvious when the volume adjustments were made, and it was easier to just leave it off. Things have changed for the better as technology has improved. The cruise mode now is much more transparent and is a definite nice touch. JVC has thrown in some preset sound settings, no more than a combination of stored bass/treble/loudness settings. These are fairly worthless, I think, but you can store a custom setting of your own, which might be a good thing.
Another nice touch is that you can assign names to CDs and to your assigned radio stations. And again, with the 12-character display, there is sufficient room to do this well. The unit stores in memory the titles for up to 46 CDs. Something else that is kind of nice is the direct-access feature, utilizing the radio preset buttons to provide direct access to tracks 1-12 on a CD or MD. Yet another good feature is the inclusion of RCA input cords which can hang down from behind the unit. Personally, I have no use for this, but for people who refuse to give up cassettes, this could be used to plug in a Walkman. You could also probably connect a portable MP3 player as well. The JVC unit also has full MD/CD changer control capability, should you be compelled to add one.
If you can lay your hands on one of these units--I understand they were made only in limited production--by all means, pick one up. Having the means to play MDs and CDs in the same single-DIN unit is fantastic! Similar Products Used:
Nothing like this one on the market!
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