Reviewing a ten-year-old product? Yes, as I explained in my other review for a RCA RS1282. I scrounge my audio from thrift stores and garage sales. In this case I wanted a slightly better bookshelf stereo system to replace the RCA, whose CD player had died of old age. But I wanted one on the cheap.

You take your chances with mid-range bookshelf systems. For this Sony, the $29 price justified taking it home after making sure in the store that a least the AM and FM worked.

Turns out, for the price, I am getting decent enough sound and a 3-CD player that works. Its 30 watts combined output means the top volume is a bit better than the former RCA unit put out. So is the sound quality -- marginally.

Reviews at Epinions have been mixed for this Sony unit. Some find the sound quality as I find it – OK for a small space. (My Sony with its two speakers sits on the desk in my den, so I'm only 2-3 feet away from the speakers.) Others like its understated wood-grain looks; I agree.

On the down side, and as another reviewer found, it produces a white-noise hiss. That will be a show-stopper for many, and may be why the CMT-EP707 did not last long in the Sony lineup. But for my thrift store $29 purchase, the hiss is OK.

Other reviewers lament its lack of treble and bass controls, and only four pre-set EQ settings.

Its other use for me was for listening to Internet radio stations of classical music. This became more important after CBC Radio in Canada cut back its classical offerings, forcing me to the BBC and Radio Suisse Classique via the Internet. The Sony adds no hiss to an external input, so it served well until I chanced upon a real find: Altec Lansing computer amplifier to take over the Internet-listening job (that is for another review). So now the Sony CMT-EP707 just plays local radio and the occasional CD. At that level, it earns its keep. Good enough value if you happen to find one. Just make sure it does not eat CDs and you don't mind the soft hiss.