Sharp XL-3600 Executive Microsystem

Rating:
Summary: Expensive, but with two hard-to-find features
Review: The XL-3600 is hard to describe as a "micro" system. It's actually rather large, given that it has only a CD player and radio, but no cassette player. (For scale, the circular window in the main unit is a hair larger than a CD.) It's got an appealing, angled design with a little gee-whiz illumination on the cd as its playing. The system puts out 40 watts total, which isn't enormous even at this size range, but it's respectable, and the system sounds nice.

What the XL-3600 really has going for it is are two features almost no other micro systems have. The first is magnetically shielded speakers. Speakers which are not shielded will distort the image of a TV or computer monitor, if they are placed close to it. This was important for me, becuase I wanted to use the system to replace both my previous mini system and my computer speakers. As I write this, the XL-3600 is playing away and all is fine with my monitor, even though the speakers are right next to it on either side. The second feature is auxiliary input--the XL-3600 has one stereo input (RCA jacks), which is how I actually connected my computer to it.

If all you want is a micro-system, there are probably better ones for the same or less money. But if you need magnetically shielded speakers and aux inputs, the XL-3600 does the job quite well.

Rating:
Summary: Expensive, but with two hard-to-find features
Review: The XL-3600 is hard to describe as a "micro" system. It's actually rather large, given that it has only a CD player and radio, but no cassette player. (For scale, the circular window in the main unit is a hair larger than a CD.) It's got an appealing, angled design with a little gee-whiz illumination on the cd as its playing. The system puts out 40 watts total, which isn't enormous even at this size range, but it's respectable, and the system sounds nice.

What the XL-3600 really has going for it is are two features almost no other micro systems have. The first is magnetically shielded speakers. Speakers which are not shielded will distort the image of a TV or computer monitor, if they are placed close to it. This was important for me, becuase I wanted to use the system to replace both my previous mini system and my computer speakers. As I write this, the XL-3600 is playing away and all is fine with my monitor, even though the speakers are right next to it on either side. The second feature is auxiliary input--the XL-3600 has one stereo input (RCA jacks), which is how I actually connected my computer to it.

If all you want is a micro-system, there are probably better ones for the same or less money. But if you need magnetically shielded speakers and aux inputs, the XL-3600 does the job quite well.