Rating: 
Summary: The Good, the Bad, and the Sleazy
Review: The Good:1- The unit is cute, if you think a Chinese-made vague miniature impression in shiny black plastic of an oldfangled bench oscilloscope is cute.
2- The speakers sound decent, with only moderate distortion, and mercifully without the tubby midbass often found in mediocre tuned-port designs, but the HF drivers are laughably directional -- I estimate about -6dB at less than 10 degrees off-axis.
3- The CD player works well, and synchronously starts with the tape cassette recorder for easy dubbing to tape.
4- The separate AM loop antenna works (as it should, considering that it's nearly centenarian technology). The Bad: 5- Tape hiss (no Dolby here, folks) and FM radio noise are painfully obvious when listening directly in front of the speakers, and there is not even switchable HF attenuation or switchable mono FM to mask these faults.
6- The FM radio needs a clean, VERY strong signal to work acceptably, and is outclassed in this respect even by a cheesy little GPX boombox with a whip antenna. The supplied mini-zipcord dipole is pathetic.
7- The remote uses a single tiny, presumably short-lived battery that I have as yet been unable to remove following the printed instructions. As another user wrote, this remote controls important funcions that are not accessible by other means.
8- There is evidently ZERO backup for station memory or clock settings. When the power line burps all user-set information evaporates The Sleazy: 9- Philips warranty requires carry-in to service center, the nearest to Portland evidently being San Francisco. Translation: the customer pays shipping both ways.
10- Philips instructions ask customers to call an 800 number before returning the product to the vendor. I called the 800 number and asked how to remove the week-old remote control's battery by the method described in the instructions, and was informed that this model required a FIFTEEN DOLLAR FEE FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT. Then I asked for the location of the nearest service center, and was asked for my credit card number. A full and forthright expression of my opinion of this example of Philips "customer service" would be unprintable here. Suffice it to say, there's probably a reason Amazon doesn't list this item as free shipping - they probably don't want it returned.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty nice
Review: The sound is good and it has an auxillary in for other systems. The radio could be better.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellence for the price
Review: Well, I read the longer review about how the FM antenna requires a strong signal and I concur. However, the features the reviewer is talking about are found only on higher priced boxes and rarely in a system designed for ease of use. So, I'd say that for the purposes we bought TWO of these systems, they cannot be beat.
1. The remote is simple and you can feel the buttons - with a little time you'll learn the ones you need in the dark. It's not back lighted.
2. The sound is really, really good. Now, don't think $50 (I bought @ WalMart) buys a $1000 stereo, but hey, it's really good. We returned two other systems because the hiss at low volumes was louder than the music. This system has dynamic, tight bass, decent sound field enhancements, good control over the sound, and did I mention it sounds really good?
3. The price - how can you go wrong with a box this good for about $50? I matched it with two other systems costing $100 and $145 - this one was by far their superior. 3. The design - simple, uncluttered and in 3 small pieces that can be seperated and still look good. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I'm not one for the current crop of industrial, chrome, and steroids that denote most current stereos.
4. The CD loads in a sort of fold out tray - fun and easy for the kids to load. They can touch the laser eye though - careful!
5. What else is there to say? It's a great system for $50, you really can't go wrong with this selection.
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