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Review NaN of
, from Brasilia, DF, Brazil
Price Paid:
$300.00
from Asaftas Ardendoem Summary:
I don't know about other Nakamichi products, but this one was probably made by engineers with a drink problem.
While the SS3 is in itself a great concept (a clock radio-cd that sits on both sides of the bed) and looks impressive, it has many flaws. It seems to me that it wasn't built the way it should have been. I see hardware and software problems with the design.
A - HARDWARE PROBLEMS:
A1 - THE LID NIGHTMARE EXPLAINED: Many people have problems with the lid mechanism, which seems to have a mind of its own. It really suffers from poor design, and it took me quite some time to figure what was wrong, since I'm not a technician. After we push the lid control button, in order for the unit to "know" that the lid has actually opened or closed, it relies on two tiny switches that are inside the unit, attached to the lid. Over time, these switches wear out and stop sending the message properly. The result is that it keeps bouncing up or down (depending on which one is bad), to the point where you can't use it any longer. As the nearest Nakamichi repair center is about 600 miles away frow where I am, and convinced it shouldn't be rocket science to fix it, I decided to do it myself. It's not exactly hard but is quite tricky.
UPDATE: after receiving more than one hundred requests for information on how to fix the lid from desperate owners of the SS3, I've put together a web page describing the process to make it easier for everyone:
http://www.geocities.com/cagamba/index.html
Just for the record, I've heard of people stacking up books on the unit to keep it closed, people shelving their units, giving them away or throwing them in the trash altogether and so on.
A2 - Too many cables connecting the units. They make up a lot of clutter and are great... to collect dust under your bed. Don't know what's the deal here, but it seems like they wanted people to awe at the many connections needed. They should have condensed all the cables into one only cable.
A3 - The remote control can only be used on the main unit. It totally defeats its purpose since if you are the "chosen one" to get the side of the bed that gets the auxiliary unit, the only control you have there is the "snooze", so you cannot change stations, play CDs and so on. You eventually can bounce the signal from the remote control on the wall, but it doesn't work all the time and it's very aggravating to do it as you wake up. In order to fix this, I'm dead serious into considering connecting both units with fiber optics.
A4 - Remote control design is not intuitive, many buttons have more than one function. It's confusing.
B - SOFTWARE PROBLEMS
B1 - The memory for radio stations is divided in "FM1, FM2 and AM1", each with 10 presets. Why not unite the FM presets in one only program? You end up forgetting there are more stations on the dial since you always use the same division.
B2 - Radio station programming is awkward and if you unplug the unit for a few seconds, the memory is gone. It should have a battery-operated backup.
B3 - Alarm programming is awkward. Besides having to push too many buttons in order to get the programming straight, the volume can only be set in jumps of 5: 0,5,10,15,20 and so on. I understand that after 20 (as one listens to music during the day) the loudness of the music gets blurred, but between 0 and 15 (where we normally would set music to wake up) we should have access to all volume levels, since each CD and radio station play at a different level. For me, the optimal level for waking up is BETWEEN 5 and 10. Lame, lame, lame.
Note: I appreciate any comments or suggestions. And while we're at it, why not "rate this review" using the drop-down menu on the left?
Thanks Strengths:
Good concept
Good looks
Good sound quality, with subwoofer. Weaknesses:
Lid mechanism
Radio presets
Too many cables
No memory backup
Repair is a pain
Remote control confusing and works on main unit only
Programming awkward
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