Philips MC120

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Sound Quality, Price .  CDR/RW compatible
Disadvantages:	Small buttons/text on main unit

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

After many years of use, my old faithful, my 1988 Sharp Ghetto Blaster played its swan song. Well, not so much played it, more skipped and jumped its way through it.

Naturally, I was devastated, what would I do now? I have a hifi system in my lounge, one in the bedroom too. Living in a flat though, it means I can have neither on at a high volume. I like to listen to cds when I'm in the kitchen cooking and what have you. There was no other choice, a replacement had to be brought.

With it being the festive season, money was tight. However, I didn't want to buy the cheapest stereo available, I wanted something of quality, that would last me a while. I decided on a budget of £60, felt sure for that amount, I would find something decent.

I did have a list of requirements for my new stereo, most importantly was the ability to play both CDR and CDRW's, it also had to have a good sound quality, although maximum volume wasn't so important.

The first place I looked for a portable stereo was the Argos catalogue. They have a vast selection of portable stereos with several in my budget range. The only problem with buying a stereo or other such item from Argos is that, until you've made your purchase, you don't really know if the item will suit. They do offer a "16 money back guarantee" though. I took advantage of this fact, it meant I could purchase a stereo, take it home, try it out and if it wasn't suitable, return it for a refund.

I auditioned several portable stereos Argos stocked, none quite satisfied my needs though. Compared to my old ghetto blaster, modern portable stereos sounded very tinny, even those with "Bass Boost" systems sounded weak at low volumes, boomey and boxey at high.

Tired of travelling to and fro, having to take stereos home to try out, I next went to Currys and Comet. In more traditional electrical retailers such as these, you are able to test out hifis before you buy. I recommend taking along a selection of your favourite music to do this. Again, I auditioned several portable stereos in my price range, a couple more expensive models too, still, the sound quality wasn't able to match that of my old stereo.

I went home that afternoon feeling rather deflated," would I ever find a decent stereo for my kitchen" I wondered? It was seeming unlikely!

That night, I signed into 'Amazon.co.uk' to search for a cd. When you sign into Amazon, if you have an account set up with them, a list appears of recommended items, items that Amazon think you'll like, based on your previous purchases and searches. Now, you can call it what you want, I call it fate, in my list of recommended items, Amazon had put details of a "Micro Hifi System", it was on special offer for just £49.

I clicked on the link and up popped a "Phillips MC120". For those of you who don't know what a "Micro System" is, it's basically a small stereo system, similar to a "Mini Hifi" system which are commonplace today They usually have one or no tape decks and are about half the size of a Mini Hifi.

I'd not considered a Micro System before, only previously looking at portable systems. I clicked on the list of features though and was impressed. Firstly, I noticed it did have the ability to play CDR/CDRW, a must for me. It also seemed to offer many more features than any of the portable systems I'd auditoned. Those features are:

2 X 5 Watts (RMS) output
RDS Digital Tuner with 40 presets
Remote Control
Dynamic Bass Boost
Digital Sound Control
Incredible Surround
Bass Reflex Speaker System

I looked in the Argos and Index catalogue, this hifi is available from both, its original price is £79.99. Being the bargain lover I am, I ordered one. Amazon were offering free delivery, this would of taken 5 - 7 days though. I wanted the hifi NOW! lol I paid £5.95 for the 24 hour delivery instead.

The next morning there was a knock at my door and Parcel Force were there with my new music machine.

The hifi came packaged in a "double box", a plain brown cardboard box covering the actual "Phillips" box. The whole package was roughly 1.2m square and weighed around 7kg.

I eagerly unpackaged the hifi and was somewhat amazed by its size. The main unit is 23cm high, 14cm wide and 28cm deep. There are two speakers, they are the same height and width as the main unit, they are 20cm in depth though. With a speaker placed either side of the unit, the whole system is about the same width as a portable stereo, only a little higher. The cd player is "top loading", this means that if you're going to place the hifi on a shelf, you will need 6" clearance above the height of the unit, to enable you to open the cd player lid.

Pictures do not do this hifi system justice. The main unit is a silver colour plastic, the speakers are made of silver coloured MDF and have silver fixed grills on them. It all looks very smart, and quite expensive.

Not being one for instructions, I was pleased to find setting this hifi up was childs play. You simply attach the speaker wires into the colour coded speaker terminals, then attach the FM aerial and AM loop-aerial. Whilst doing this, I was pleased to notice that there's "Aux" input on the back of the hifi. This is a rare occurence on hifi under £100 these days. It means you are able to connect a turntable, mini disc, even your tv/vid/dvd to the hifi by means of a cable costing around £5!

The hifi also comes with a neat little remote control. The remote can be used to operate all the basic cd player functions, change the radio station, control the volume, mute the hifi, it even controls the "DSP", "DBB" and Incredible Surround. Batteries are not supplied however so you'll need to purchase two "AA" size to use the remote.

I wanted to test this little system out "properly". Not being able to play music at high volume levels in my flat, I took the hifi down to my parents house, they had gone out for the day and the neighbours were at work :-).

I placed the hifi on a table and set the speakers at their widest distance apart. The speakers have 2 meters of cable attached to them. This cable isn't removable, you are able to join more speaker cable to it though, as there are no plugs at the end of it.

Plugging the hifi in, the display and cd compartment come alive with a green glow. I decided now would be a good time to read the instruction manual, just to familiarize myself with the functions, and to find out how to tune in the radio.

The hifi has what's known as "Automatic Tuning". Instead of searching for radio stations, and then storing them, you simply press and hold the "programme" button. The hifi will then tune in every possible station and store them as presets. You can manually tune in radio stations too, the auto feature is rather cool though, it also sets the hifis clock! The hifi is also equipped with what is known as "RDS = Radio Data System". This means that instead of showing a stations frequency, the hifi displays the stations name. This sort of feature is usually only seen on more expensive hifis. You can of course have the stations frequency displayed if you wish, you can also have the "programme type" displayed too. For instance, if you're listening to a radio station playing "Pop Music" "Pop M" is displayed, if you are listening to the news, "News" is displayed. You are able to search radio stations by "programme type" too. A very clever idea indeed :-)

There is a clock/timer, once the clock has been set (which the hifi can do automatically), you're able to set the timer to turn the hifi on when you wish. This means you're able to use this hifi as a clock-radio. You can wake to either the radio or cd.

There's single cassette deck, it's controls are "manual". This means that it's not operable by remote control, you have to press the buttons on the main unit. You are able to record from cd, radio or any other scource you may have connected to the "Aux" input. I have not used this hifi to record on yet so cannot comment of the recording quality. I shall update this review when I do so though.

I opened the cd lid, you do this by pushing down on the right hand corner of the lid. I placed in a cd and closed the lid, again, by pushing down on the right hand corner. The cd compartment in illuminated, which is rather cool. On the front of the unit, above the main digital display, the is a window, you can see the cd spinning around. It's a fun idea and actually makes the hifi look quite expensive.

I hit the play button on the remote control, stood back and cranked up the volume. The volume can be controlled by remote control, or by the large volume control on the front of the hifi. The units digital display shows the amount the volume is set at, going from 0 = Min to 32 = Max.

The opening beat of Goldfrapp's Strict Machine started rumbling through the speakers.

There's what is known as a "DSP" control, this stands for "Digital Sound Processor", it's basically a preset graphic equalizer, there are four choices:

• Rock*
  This increases the "Bass" frequencies
  
• Jazz*
  This increases the "Treble" frequencies

*Pop*
This increases the "Middle" or "Vocal" range

*Classic*
This lowers both the "Bass" and "Treble" frequencies whilst maintaining "Middle/Vocal" range

Then there's "DBB" = Dynamic Bass Boost. Using this this feature increases the "Bass" frequencies.

Finally, there's what Phillips call "Incredible Surround". The "IS" function widens the stereo effect. I have found this feature works best with Classical music, when used with other types of music, vocals can appear echoey.

All these sound features can be used alone or together, in any combination.

I selected the "Pop" setting on the "DSP" and turned the "DBB" on.

The quality of the sound from what are two small speakers was very impressive. The speakers are only, what is known as "One- way". This means that they have just one cone. This one cone handle all the frequencies, the Bass, Middle and Treble. Two-way speakers have two cones, a "Woofer" that handles the low (Bass) and middle (Vocal) frequencies, and a "Tweeter" that handles just the high (Treble) frequencies. Speakers with large "woofers" usually produce a deeper Bass sound. Encased in the two small speaker enclosures of this hifi are just 3" cones. The speakers have a "Bass Reflex Port" at the front of the speaker, this is where air created by the speaker as it vibrates, escapes. This helps a speaker system produce more Bass. I don't know what Phillips have done in their design of this speaker, the sound they produce is suprisingly rich and with a tight, controlled Bass, despite their size!

The total output of this hifi is 10 watts (5w + 5w rms), twice the output of many portable hifis these days. Although not capable of producing thunderous amounts of volume, this hifi filled a room 13ft X 22ft with sound. Even at maximum volume, there was no distortion, although over #30 volume level, the Bass did decrease slightly. At lower volume levels, the sound quality doesn't diminish, the tone is still rich and a decent level of bass is produced.

Returning home, I set the hifi up in its new home and carefully packaged away my old Sharp. Call me a softy, I can't bear to part with it just yet, it will be put safely away in my parents loft :-)

The only gripe (and it is a small one!) I have with the Phillips MC120 is that some of the buttons/text on the main unit are very small. Someone with impaired vision might find it a tad difficult operate.

For £50 though, if you're looking for a decent sounding, feature packed little hifi, the Phillips MC120 should definitely be considered.