Aiwa Z-HT540

Author's product rating:   

How is the Sound Quality?
How is the Look & Design?
Range of Features
Durability
Value for Money

Advantages:	The sound quality is excellent
Disadvantages:	None as yet

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

After being 10 years without my own Hi-Fi system, last October I decided it was about time that I looked for one. Both of my boys had recently left home and although I knew I would miss them, I would miss their music systems most of all. I was suddenly left with a cheap sub-standard portable player which was tinny and vibrated terribly as soon as the volume was raised even a little. I only had limited funds to buy a new music centre so I spent a long time making my choice. My main priority is that I could play it loud with perfect sound quality. I wasn’t bothered about a DVD player as I could always add these at a later date when I could afford them. I finally decided on the Aiwa Z-HT540 from Comet. I could not quite raise the money so was delighted when I received it as my Christmas present.

♣ Aiwa Compact Disc Stereo System Z-HT540

♣ The Look

Why is it that they look so much smaller in the shop? I was amazed how large and bulky it was once removed from the box. The dimensions are 360 x 395.3 x 350.6mm. I was lucky that I had previously bought a large pine hi-fi cabinet. Well a few years earlier actually while I was just living in hope of one day filling it. The whole unit looks very modern and has silver speakers with tasteful blue fronts to compliment it. The separate turntable is also in silver.

♣ Speakers – Full range bass reflex type

There are five in all. Two large ones that stand on the floor to the left and right of the hi-fi. Two smaller ones, which we placed at the opposite side of the room facing the previous two speakers. The small centre speaker was placed between the first two speakers. The speaker wire supplied was adequate for the two larger and centre speaker but we did have to buy extra wire for the two smaller speakers. Printed on the speakers in black are the words High Power Sound and Bass Reflux System. I get excellent sound quality from these speakers.

♣ Turntable

The safety clip placed on the turntable whilst it was in transit, was nearly impossible to find and remove. There were no clear instructions so say where it was and the turntable was nearly dismantled before we finally found it. This has is an automatic turntable needle which basically means the needle places itself on the record playing and then returns to its stand when it has finished playing. No playing my old collection of 78’s records on this turntable as the speeds are only 33 and 45.

♣Radio

This has the normal choices of FM/MW/LW. I found tuning the radio very simply as the Radio Data System displayed the name of the station I had selected. It was very easy to set and store my favourite choices. The radio was previously stored with pre-set stations but these were also easy to delete or change. I did have to use the remote control buttons to do this though. I was supplied with MW/LW antenna and a separate FM antenna in the accessories pack. I did need to use both of these although with my Sons hi-fi we needed to use an outdoor antenna to pick up FM stations. No problem with this system though.

♣Remote control

The hand set is very basic with most of the buttons on the remote control having the same names as those on the hi-fi unit. This makes life easier for setting the clock or muting the system whilst on the phone. The buttons take two R6 AA batteries and these came supplied when new. I will not make a list of the different functions here as this is covered in the following sections.

♣Cassette deck

This system has an auto-reverse twin cassette deck. If I load both compartments with tapes deck 1 play first and deck two starts automatically when it has finished. If I only want to play one tape then I have to select which deck I am playing in. The direction of the tape I am playing will change automatically at the end of the tape so no need to turn it over. The functions are the basic stop, play fast forward, reverse and pause. There is a clock counter. I can record from another tape, a record, the radio or a connected external source. If I adjust the volume during recording this does not affect the recording volume quality. The dubbing of a tape can be done either manually or automatically

♣CD Player

You can load up to three discs and can either set the unit just to play one of them or one after the other. The functions include play, pause, stop, search, skip, random play, repeat play and multi jog. You are able to check how much remaining time is left until all tracks are finished playing. You have to press the edit button using the remote control. I really like being able to open the disc drawer and replace the discs that have finished without interrupting the one that is playing.

♣ The Installation

Show this household anything technical and we run a mile. I confess to getting my son to come home to set it all up. He found it quite easy once we had sorted which wires went with each piece of equipment. A large sticker did warn to check that the rated voltage did match our local voltage. This is also shown on the rear panel.

♣ Switching on

I was presented with a colourful display panel as soon as the cord was plugged into the socket. What had happened was a demo had begun. As soon as I turned on the power on the unit this stopped. Until I set the clock this automatically continued each time I turned the power off. There is also a game demo where you have to try and match three numbers. I soon got bored with this game and it is the only one available. The maximum total output of the unit is 200 watts RMS

♣ The Functions

●Eco mode – The hi-fi automatically turns off if not used for 10 minutes
●Demo and Games – See switching on
●Volume control – levels from 0-50
●Super t-bass system – choice of three levels
●Graphic equalizer gives five different equalization choices that are preset for you.
●Automatic preset radio – Scans through and stores the clearest stations automatically.
●Manual Presetting – As above but do it yourself.
●Traffic programme – The station broadcasts traffic information at regular intervals.
●Clock - Displays a 24 Hour setting. It is easy to update automatically by tuning into any RDS radio station
●Sleep timer – Set the timer up to 4 hours before the hi-fi switches off. You can also programme the unit as an alarm to wake you up.

♣ Basic operations

●Loading discs – you can insert up to three discs. Very smooth rotation.
●Playing discs – You are able to open the disc drawer even when a disc is playing.
●Random or Repeat playing – All the tracks on a disc or discs can be selected
●Programmed playing – Able to store up to 30 tracks
●Basic recording – Ability to record from a radio, disc or attached equipment
●Dubbing – This can be done manually or automatically.
●AI recording – This function calculates the track lengths so a track is not cut short.
●Adjust speaker balance – Bit confusing to explain and do but instructions are given

Well I have now had my system for over six months and I couldn’t be happier with it. I will eventually add extras such as a DVD player to it. I like the look, the sound is excellent and the price was brilliant for such a good system. A small manual is supplied with a basic section on troubleshooting. I know you are dying for me to tell you how much this highly recommended by me piece of equipment was. I think it is a steal at £249.95 from Comet. I checked this week and it is still on offer at this price. I did send the Ciao team a picture of my hi-fi but they added a different one. This looks nothing at all like my Hi-Fi but I can send you a picture if you are interested in buying this product.

Thank you all for reading this review. Fionaxx