Teac reference 300 - best mini system under £1000

Advantages: Great Sound, Great Looks, Great Price
Disadvantages: Remotes a bit cheap, no USB port,

...Having been in the market to downsize my old hi fi for something more compact, I've settled on the Teac reference 300 mkIII with DAB tuner. Its a 3 box system as opposed to the other smaller one box systems manufactured by Teac and others such as Denon, Arcam and Onkyo. As such, although being larger, it is more user friendly to use and has more power at 45 wpc RMS. At around £500 rrp it stands up favourably in price to the Arcam Solo Mini and comes in silver or black finish with machined aluminium fronts and a classy blue display on each unit. It actually appears slightly retro in appearance although the remotes are a bit cheap looking. The silver units can be found for as little as £349 without speakers so its quite a bargain. Sound quality for such a small unit is really clear and well defined with a warm bass typical of Teac...

psilk 22.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Teac REF 300 DAB MK III

My Unbiased review of the Teac CRL600

Advantages: Compact, yet Powerful
Disadvantages: None

...After re-aranging our lounge a decision was made that the black clunky stacking hi-fi had to go, so a search on the internet and a visit to the Richer Sounds website led me initially to the Denon DM31. I visited my local Richer sounds shop in Norwich the following day with the intention of purchasing a Denon, but a very helpful assistant informed me if I was to run powerful speakers such as mine (Bose Acoustimass 5) I would be better off with the Teac CRL600 with a higher wattage. I hesitated as I had no info on this model, but decided to go with it when he assured me if I wasnt happy I could return it within 14days. I plugged it all in at home and WOW I was very impressed. Far superior than my stacking ugly system. This unit sits beneath my tv ontop of the DVD player and looks well at home. The audio quality from the CD and radio is...

IanOnline 10.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Teac CRL600

The revolution will not be televised - XMI X-mini II Mini speaker

Advantages: Great sound, bargain price, sleek look.
Disadvantages: The kids listening to happy hardcore at the back of the bus might find out.

...Revolutions: they aren?t usually very good, are they? Big promises by ego-crazed dictators, resulting in the butcher of millions of innocents. No, I?m not a massive fan of revolutions, so I was sceptical when the X-mini arrived on my doorstep, promising ?audio revolution in a box?. On the back, the big promises continued: ?Delivering on the promise of ?sound beyond size?, the X-mini II capsule speaker is petite in size but massive in sound?. By this point I was becoming very suspicious. The look of the thing worried me a little too. Not because it looks bad - it has a very slick look; the vivid red of the speaker poking out from the round, black casing like some demented 8-ball. It?s also very small, which is obviously handy. It?ll easily fit in your back pocket. The packaging too is very attractive (although if you lose sleep over...

Timi_Hendrix 15.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of XMI X-mini II Mini Speaker

Speakers which might do the job?

Advantages: Cheap, good sound
Disadvantages: reliability

...Hello, Welcome to my review. I had these speakers included with my lovely hp computer which I purchased back in 2005. These speakers came in a rather blank box, with HP written on it, they came nicely packed with a lovely and very easy to use instruction booklet. They looked very professional and they are a nice grey/silver colour with a tint of blue, you plug these into the back of your monitor and they run off the monitors power input which is very useful, they do not have a power cable themself because they use the monitors cable for power, meaning theres a saving of plugs when it comes to your two point plug way! The speakers are prevented in dark blue plastic, with a silver/grey with "Hewlett-Packard" on the front, with the soft cotton above covering the speakers themself, tinted at the top with a silver/grey strip. These...

Heretohelpyou 18.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hewlett-Packard PC multimedia speakers

iPod speakers

Advantages: Portable and lightweight
Disadvantages: You have to be very careful with them.

...I received these speakers as a Birthday present in March from a friend. I was thrilled with them as I had been desperate for a docking station or speakers to play my iPod on. The speakers: The speakers are very attractive and compact yet produce a rich deep bass sound, which is not always present on speakers of this size. They are very lightweight and fold to close at 15 ounces and 8 inches wide, 5.4 inches deep and 1.2 inches thick. The box the speakers come in quotes "With four AA batteries your speakers will play continuously for twenty-four hours" which sounds brilliant but in my experience on 2 x AA batteries they will play for 19 hours. As well as built in controls there is a wireless remote but you do have to be quite near to the speakers and at the right angle for the remote to actually work! The speakers also act as...

xxnatashaxx 28.10.2006 (29.10.2006) · Read review
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Review of Altec Lansing IM3 Ipod speakers

Teac SR-L30 Dab radio

Advantages: Qualty sound, attractive, relatively easy to use.
Disadvantages: Price? Not truly portable (no battery option).

...Stunning quality sound and build. This is a great little radio that looks good anywhere and sounds good as well. Relatively easy to use, though I still occasionally have to dig the booklet out when storing a new station. It's quality is obvious when you unpack it. The weight is dead right the assumption being that the speakers are responsible for much of this. They have little sub-woofers in the back which do a good job with the bottom end stuff, but this is not detrimental to the high end, as this is equally impressive. Definitely the best "portable" I have ever had. The downside might be price, but do shop around, and possibly that it is not truly portable, as batteries are not an option. Please note that in the menus that follow, the alarm question has been answered as excellent, but there is no alarm function and the same...

Rblock 03.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Teac SRL30

Champagne Speakers

Advantages: Looks stylish and produces excellent quality sound
Disadvantages: Price

...If you have a pc or laptop and are interested in music, you've probably got some computer speakers. Well I brought a desktop pc and I managed to break the speakers so had to purchase some more. I can't surf the Internet or write reviews unless I'm listening to music or the radio. That?s the great thing about pc's and the Internet is that you can listen to any radio station in the whole wide world! Or you put all your cd collection on to your hard drive and use your pc as your hi fi. Well, these speakers look the part for starters. The two side speakers look like champagne glasses hence the name, very sleek and ultra modern style unlike the normal box shape speakers. They don't look like computer speakers, as they are black in colour. Most of the computer speakers are either beige or a grey colour. You also get a super...

redballoon 20.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Harman International PC multimedia speaker system

Good replacement speakers

Advantages: Sound Quality
Disadvantages: Not very sensitive, crossover difficult to fit

...Firstly these speakers are known by various names, but they are basically the 6 1/2" or 165mm fit component speakers from Infinity. eg REF605CS or REF6500cs are two other names used. These are the cheaper component - the Kappa range are more expensive, but look very similar. Prices are generally between £90 and £120 I paid just under £100 including carriage from an internet reseller. The speakers came with a large amount of fitting accessories, including grills and tweater flush mount kits, I needed very little of this as I was replacing original fit speakers in a Vauxhall Omega - which were burnt out. Other things I needed were Vauxhall to 6 1/2" speaker adaptor kits, self adhesive pads, wire and a lot of time. There are not many instructions as fitting speakers is different in every car, I had to use the Haynes manual...

MartinImber 06.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of Infinity 605cs Component Speaker System

Portable speakers with a kick

Advantages: Relatively powerful
Disadvantages: A bit big

...You know how it is ? you go away from home for a week or so, but you can hardly lug your 6 hi-fi separates to the coast with you, so you take your tape/CD/minidisc player as a kind of more minimalist approach. It?s not really the same when you?re in your room though is it? So, what are your options? Well, you could go out and buy some of those little sports speakers, but quite frankly, the sound quality of those things is like playing your music with a plastic cup and string, and you could very easily break wind and drown out the music, so pitiful is the volume. What you need are some active(powered) speakers, which will plug into the wall and give you the quality and volume that you need. The Goodmans Active 45 Speakers are a godsend. 20 watts PMPO, they?re not exactly going to blow out any windows, but they sure do pack a punch...

Excelle 10.09.2000 · Read review
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Review of Goodmans - Goodmans Active 45 Speakers

Speakers

Advantages: Goopd sound
Disadvantages:

...Well I had seen a review on this kit in what hi fi and fell in love with the speakers purely on looks and others opinions. Big mistake, after saving the required £600 I bundled them into the car without a full demo from my local dealer, when I unpacked the sats I found a few badly finished edges and a lack of detailed set up instructions for the sub. Still full of excitement I continued with my quest and set the speakers round the room and wired them up to my amp. I spun a first disc with my heart racing for joy, then it dropped like a bomb. The speakers sounded like something pinched off a matsui mini system. I fiddled with the settings on my amp, then the array of controls on the back of the sub but to no avail, I contacted the supplier who said I needed to run the speakers in for about 36 hrs. 48 hrs later of continual running in...

itchylegs 09.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Pioneer SV-50-A Home Cinema Speaker System