... This was probably a good choice, firstly because the Denon speakers aren't very good. And secondly because the Wharfdale Diamonds are.
I also purchased (seperately) the matching tape recorder (DRR-M33). The CD receiver was £200, and the tape deck was £110. The Wharfdale speakers were £100. ... Read review
Advantages: Size, neatness, good sound quality. Disadvantages: Not as small as I thought - it goes back quite a way.
...good choice, firstly because the Denon speakers aren't very good. And secondly because the Wharfdale Diamonds are.
I also purchased (seperately) the matching tape recorder (DRR-M33). The CD receiver was £200, and the tape deck was £110. The Wharfdale speakers were £100. All purchased from Superfi (www.superfi.co.uk). So the total, including some QED micro speaker cable was around £420. Postage was free.
Anyway. What's ... ...Sony hifi system. And the denon certainly is much smaller. It extends back about the same length as traditional hifi seperates, but is only half the width. The tape deck sits neatly ontop. So the full system takes up very little space. Although I haven't done so yet, I will probably buy a turntable for it. The Denon system doesn't have a built-in phono input, so a seperate phono stage, or a turntable with built-in phono preamp will be required. There ... more
The RCD-M33 is a CD receiver. In other words it is an amplifier, tuner and CD player combined. It is available with or without the speakers (SC-M33). I bought it without the speakers. Instead I added a pair of Wharfdale Diamond 9's. This was probably a good choice, firstly because the Denon speakers aren't very good. And secondly because the Wharfdale Diamonds are.
I also purchased (seperately) the matching tape recorder (DRR-M33). The CD receiver was £200, and the tape deck was £110. The Wharfdale speakers were £100. All purchased from Superfi (www.superfi.co.uk). So the total, including some QED micro speaker cable was around £420. Postage was free.
Anyway. What's it like? Well, the main reason for buying it was to save space. It was bought to replace a much larger Sony hifi system. And the denon certainly is much smaller. It extends back about the same length as traditional hifi seperates, but is only half the width. The tape deck sits neatly ontop. So the full system takes up very little space. Although I haven't done so yet, I will probably buy a turntable for it. The Denon system doesn't have a built-in phono input, so a seperate phono stage, or a turntable with built-in phono preamp will be required. There is also a matching MD (minidisc) recorder which can be connected in place of the tape deck if desired.
Soundwise this system is excellent. Your choice of speakers will make a big difference of course, but the amplifier can manage much better speakers than the standard ones supplied, and that's why I would recommend buying something else. Wharfdale Diamond 9.0 or 9.1 would be a good choice (around £100 and £150 respectively). If you want to push the boat out a bit more, then go for Quad 9L2 speakers. These are utterly superb, and have been designed specifically for these micro systems. They cost £299.
Because the CD player is part of the receiver, there are no connecting cables. This is excellent, as you don't have a clutter of cables at the back, and you won't need to consider buying expensive interconnects for sound improvement. The CD player will also play MP3 files stored on a disc, and the receiver can handle Windows media files and folders.
The tuner is an FM/AM tuner. This particular model does not have a DAB tuner (see the RCD-M35DAB). I chose the non DAB version deliberately. Firstly FM radio is much better quality. And secondly, as it turns out, they may be changing the DAB format at some point, due to the dreadful quality of current DAB radio. Consequently todays DAB radios will become obsolete. So far I have had no need of a DAB tuner. I mostly listen to BBC radio. A good alternative is to use a Freeview box plugged into the back of your hifi, which carries various digital radio stations.
The features of the Denon CD receiver are numerous. And honestly I don't know, and have no need of, most of its features. It can sync with the attached Denon tape recorder/MD recorder to make recording easy. It can play CD, CDR, CDRW, MP3 and WMA. It has the usual tone controls, programmable CD functions (random, shuffle etc), the tuner has RDS text, the display has a clock, the display is dimmable, it has a sleep function. This brings me neatly to a downside. The remote.
Are all remotes this complex? Usually. I still have no idea what most of the buttons on the remote do. Each time I look up how to do something using the remote, I've forgotten next time I need it. It's fairly easy to change channels on the radio, or tracks on a CD, and to adjust the volume, and turn everything on/off. But other than that, please don't ask. So, this remote is ridiculously complicated. You only need one for the whole system though. Including the attached tape recorder.
The nitty gritty details are:
Power output - 22W per channel. Input/Output sockets - TAPE in/out, AUX in/out, MONO out, 3.5mm jack (headphone) CD output - 1.2V RMS Power consumption - 50W Dimensions - w x h x d - 210 x 95 x 328mm Weight - 4.3kg
The remote is the RC-999.
The overall rating is "excellent value for money, don't buy the matching Denon speakers".
