JVC XL-FZ258 CD Players

JVC XL-FZ258 CD Players 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-7 of 7  
[Feb 11, 2000]
Steven Keeney
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great sound, great features, great price, not Sony

Weakness:

None yet

I bought this 5 disk CD changer at Circiut City last week and I must say that so far I am very happy with it. I also have a JVC receiver, cassette deck and VCR and they all work with one remote thanks to the compulink system. My TV also works with the JVC remote. I was reluctant to invest in CD (yeah, I still have a record collection and lots of cassettes) but it is the year 2000 and digital is definately where its at. I read lots of info on the web about this product and everything was very good, I guess a lot of people like JVC CD players. I especially like the random feature, you can load 5 CDs and it will play a couple tracks here and a couple tracks there until they're all played. Hey, this is my first CD so I'm impressed. The sound is clean and tight without the harshness I've heard on some friends players. There is also a digital output for dubbing on to minidisks. $140 at Circuit City. I think JVC makes the best products for the money - maybe not 'audiophile'- but damn good stuff.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 09, 2000]
Michael Levesque
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

PLAYS SCRATCHED CD's!!!!!

Weakness:

No Volume on Remote; A little Clunky/Old-fashioned

My Kenwood (which I only had for 5 months) was suddenly becoming very very sensitive to scratches, and I was noticing that most CD players were also having problems with all my favorite CDs. I tried WipeOut repair kit and honestly I think that made the CDs worse! I went to Circuit City early in the morning with my scratched CDs and none of the sales reps bothered me. I tried almost every model in the store (expensive ones too) and would you believe that this JVC was the ONLY one that played through the skips!!! Right through every skip that every other player had a hard time with! Don't ask me what the hell JVC put in it to make it work, but this thing is amazing!!!

As for other features, I guess I just wouldn't expect much for $129, so I don't have many other comments -- everything seems to work fine and it sounds great. The only thing that made me hesitate a little is that the design seems several years old (a little clunky) and I like to have the newest thing. But there really weren't any higher-end models to choose from, and I was so ecstatic that it played the skips that I bought it immediately.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood 404. Sony Carousels

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 12, 2001]
Hunter
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Compu-Link (if you have all JVC components)

Weakness:

non-intuitive interface
only track elapsed time displayed
can't skip tracks during a programmed play
doesn't display a total time of a programmed play

I am very disappointed in the user friendliness of this particular cd player. I don't have a lot of experience with rack systems but even my crappy Aiwa mini-system had more brains behind it than this thing. Obviously no one who designed this thing listens to music at home. The biggest complaint I have is that the only time display is elapsed time for that track. No disc remaining or elapsed is offered. Also, when programming a list of tracks to play, no running total time is displayed. I have to use my computer to make playlists for mix tapes and then put all the cd's back in the JVC. Also, once a programmed play begins, you can't skip tracks. When more than one CD's are in the system, the only way to play just one CD is to program all the tracks as a playlist (then you can't skip tracks). Overall it is the most unintuitive interface and will make owning it a nightmare. Other than that the quality seems good enough and maybe if I had a JVC receiver the Compu-Link system would be a nice feature.

Similar Products Used:

aiwa mini-system

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[Aug 24, 1999]
marshall
an Audio Enthusiast

clean clear,lots of great features when its run to a JVC reciever,good frequency response powerful and clean pre. out. Im 14 year old 9th grader as you can imagin im on a very limited budget since you cant get a job untill your 15 in florida but Istill have a jvc rx-664v reciever and set of used wharfedales. it all sounds great.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
[Sep 06, 2000]
XBONE
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Decent sound, ok price, ok features.

Weakness:

Midrange a bit harsh, cheezy black case with grey tray, oversize box doesnt stack easy.

Replaced a 6 yr old Kenwood single cd with this JVC when the Kenwood started skipping, this one plays those cds perfectly. Had to tweak the midrange and highs on my BSR eq to get back some of the warmth i lost with the Kenwood. I listen to mostly metal so its not a big deal, but i play bass and wish they had the fine ffwd and bkwd buttons on the case as well as the remote, easier to skip to certain song parts. Wish the case wasnt so big so it would stack on my other JVC stuff without a board under it. I think if you can get one for 125 bucks your doing ok. Im counting on JVC quality to make this a great deal, if i get 5 years from it ill be happy.

Similar Products Used:

Jvc receiver and cassette.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Oct 01, 2000]
Snakebit
Casual Listener

Strength:

has played every CD I have ever fed it, has programming features for those who like that stuff, remote is adequate

Weakness:

noisy tray, no display dimmer (display is exceptionally bright), and the sound quality is pathetic

This is my first CD player. It has never skipped or in any other way failed to recognize a CD. In that regard, the performance has been flawless.

But the quality has been awful flawfull. The sound is so tinny and brash. I have this CD player hooked up to a Yamaha receiver, and that only makes things worse. Can you say ear-piercing highs? I am beginning to believe that CD players do make at least some difference in the overall sound coming from the speakers. Or at least I hope so. Otherwise my receiver and speakers really suck. But I am pretty sure they don't. Obviously, the CD player is the weak link.

Similar Products Used:

none

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Dec 01, 2000]
alex
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good all around CD player

Weakness:

Gray color of carousel - otherwise, NONE!!

After reading countless opinions and reviews, I narrowed my decision down to the JVC and the Sony CDP-CE345/245. My decision was made primarily on price ($115 including shipping). The features were the same on the Sony's and the JVC.

Since I've had the JVC, I have no complaints to report at all. It plays all my CD's (scratched, CD-R's, etc) with no problem. At the moment (12/1/2000), I think this CD player is the best value!

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-7 of 7  

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