Sony MHC-EC99i Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System with Integrated iPod Dock 530W

A great buy, perfect for my dorm room. Pumps out the bass so that I have to be careful with my neighbors, but I can turn the sub-woofer off during quiet hours.

System has decent sound, but some quirks: Odd speaker wiring, 4 wires to each speaker saves Sony $$ on crossover design but you can't upgrade speakers. Antenna is a 3 pin plug, can't upgrade with 3rd party antenna, and reception is only average with included antenna. CD unit on top (can't set anything on top of unit), but not a simple drop in- slide out tray instead. Few buttons on the main unit, many only on remote (time/alarm/station presetting) so don't lose that sucker! Remote controls the iPod too but unless you can read your iPod display from a distance, only usefulfor skipping and rewinding songs. On the plus side, it's one of the few mini systems with subwoofer- but the Sony only quirks- speaker wiring, antenna, remote functions - mean you have to live with the system as is.

I picked up a Samsung 32 inch 1080p tv last year and the tv's only drawback was its subpar speakers. I finally got the money together to pick up a set of speakers to fix the problem and decide to get a shelf system rather than a surround sound system (who wants to deal with all the wires, right?). So I got this badboy and, I gotta say, my games and movies have never sounded so good. This system may actually have a little too much power as the bass can approach some crazy levels. If you're in a dorm room or live on top of people like I do then maybe you want to consider the 380 watt model. Seriously, I have yet to turn the volume up past 17 w/o fearing the police will come knocking.

My only complaint is that the system lacks an input for the red and yellow RCA cables. An optical cable input may be unrealistic, but no RCA input was a bit of a surprise. What I did was pick up a headphone jack with the red yellow converter, connect an RCA cable from my tv to the converter, and the sound is just as good.

Otherwise, the system's price, power, Ipod dock that charges my Ipod Touch while I play music, and the overall ease of use results in a very solid four out of five stars.

The item was shipped immediately and arrived earlier than expected. The item was accurately described and portrayed in the ad.

I was searching for a stereo to replace the one i had before and i bought an RCA from walmat because it seemed to have everything i needed. Needless to say after plugging it in later that night it started sparking from the back, so back to the store it went. I was cautious about this radio because it doesnt have direct Audio jacks tor connecting it to the tv... but here is a little trick for everyone who is looking for this in there stereo. Go to walmart or your local electronics store and get a stereo audio cable. plug it into the pc connection on the stereo and then plug it into your audio jacks on your tv and voila you have it running with your tv. This system rocks.