Price Paid:  $120.00 from Best Buys

Summary:
I was looking for a boom box that has a CD player for my office. I usually listen to music at a low volume, so mega bass wasn't necessary. I looked around and set a budget of $150 and this one fell into that range. It sounds ok (3 out of 5 stars for sound quality, my factory 4 speaker system in my 98 Ford Explorer sounds better than this Sony by a whole lot...this Sony has no low end and despite the "MEGABASS" button on it, it sounds flat...this CD player sounds like a $30 boom box from Radio Shack). There are some older JVC boom boxes with their "3D" sound mega bass that sounds 10x better than this silver wonder from Sony. I didn't want a 3 disc CD changer/tray nor the double cassette decks.

One month after buying it, it began to make a rhythmic scratching sound when I popped in some of my cds. Now it makes that sound with almost all of my CDs (6 months later). It would make the noise more loudly on tracks #1 and less so on the last few tracks of the CD, which makes me think that the CD was rubbing against the laser which moves from the edge of the cd to the center of the cd with each progressive song. When I pounded it furiously with my fist, it stopped making that scratching sound. I think the tray is so poorly made that the CD sits improperly when it is deployed to be spun and then it spins at an angle so that one edge of my CD is rubbing against something inside this infernal machine. When I hit it strongly, it "help" to realign the cd on the motor and alleviates the scratching.

6 months of this cd player left me with a slightly sore right fist and probably a ton of scratched CDs. I listen to a lot of imported CDs (expensive and hard to find), plus a lot of 80s CDs long since out of print and impossible to replace if damaged. 10 of those CDs are worth more than this piece of junk. I'm in the market for a single disc CD player, no trays and I'll up my budget to get a quality product rather than to loose out by buying a poorly made product. I'll probably use this in my bedroom for it's radio only..no more CDs for this thing. I noticed that Best Buys no longer carry this model...thank goodness. Please don't buy this CD player.

Strengths:
Price, looks (beautiful blue display) and sounded slightly better than other sub-200 boom boxes (however...see below).

Weaknesses:
Doesn't sound great enough, makes this horrible scratching noise with most of my CDs (see below), skips easily.

Similar Products Used:
JVC ghetto blaster from the late 80s.

Price Paid:  $90.00 from Sony Direct

Summary:
My Sister had a four year old Sony 6 disc CD system that some how jammed. She sent it into Sony and they told her it was to old to repair. They sent her the CFD-C1000 unit in stead of repairing the old unit. They did this with out any communication thay were doing so and they also lost all six of her CD's. She's going to switch to a Bose system. I don't think I'd ever buy a Sony again.
V.

Strengths:
NA

Weaknesses:
Sony's Service and product quality

Summary:
I needed something for the kitchen/dinning room area, that I could take outside onto our deck. I looked at many boomboxes.The sound on this one seemed closer to a mini shelf,probably because it has a lot of bass for a portable.
We have had this one for almost a month and are very satisfied with the sound and the cd changer.Plays cd-r without any skips.The speakers seem well matched to the 26 watts.Surprisingly decent bass.No analog tuning or equalization to wear out. Not as good sounding as most 200 dollar mini shelf systems. If you can still find one for 130 or less and need portability, you cant go wrong. I haven't found anything with a cd changer that sounds as good in that price range.

Strengths:
Sound is decent for filling a 14 x 24 room. Bass boost really helps outdoors. 3 cd changer an 10 preset FM stations.
Remote controls everything except the cassettes.Speakers dettach easily.13 watts per speaker.4 equalizer presets .

Weaknesses:
Large for a boom box. Cassettes are not auto reverse.ac power only.

Similar Products Used:
Other boomboxes and mini shelf systems.

Summary:
Well, i was excited when i first picked it up...but after a while I was shocked at how shoddy some of Sony's products can be. I guess name brands aint what they used to be. As it is, the crappy speakers really butchered the music.

peace

gum2me?

Strengths:
Well, you can switch CD's while listening to the third.

Weaknesses:
Crappy speakers. Horrible sound quality. Really sensitive to shakes.

Similar Products Used:
None.