I'm lying in bed not feeling well, and it's amazing that I don't even know what you're going to talk in this but I know I have a video to cheer me up. Or at the very least keep me distracted....!
Sony products can be a bit of a hit or a miss. We are glad to see that this one is a hit! You, Mat, are the very first person to now own our new album, Second Sight, on the MiniDisc format! Thanks for including our compact disc in yet another awesome retro product review. 🎶
@DexedrineRush Thank you so very much for the kind words! We just put out a new track this week called Baby Blue (Matt Pop Mix). Check it out when you have time. I think you might like this one too
Recently restored and sold a couple of Japanese made mini systems and I'm really impressed by the build quality and audio. Its amazing how much sound you can get out of them too. A section of the hifi world that should not be dismissed
Those were the days, you'd psych yourself up when buying anything from there so you were ready for the hard sell, then look around the room with a bored face to put them off once the pitch started.
Really love your latest video. As a guy grewing up in the 80s and 90s all this brings back so many memories. Even over here in Germany these Mini- and Micro-Systems got popular in the mid 90s and replaced the 45cm HiFi components... Missing these times so much - your videos are like a time machine back to better times
Partially due to having seen this video, and partially because I inherited a collection of pre-recorded MDs, I went looking for a nice mini system myself. I found a SP55MD that still looks awesome, and everything works :) Simply said: I have removed my soundbar and replaced it with the mini system, it sounds sooo much better and it looks much nicer. And for only €35,- it was a steal :)
4 months on, and in the mean time I have bought 2 more mini hifi sets, one more compact one (MD373) and another SP55MD. This is an affordable hobby at roughly €50 each but with great sound quality. Now all the rooms in my house have good sound, and at a lower price than one modern system.
Having lived in Japan for over 30 years I've run across a lot of this style of mini system, and many of them were quite good indeed. Definitely more sound than you'd expect for the price. Thanks again.
@@nickwallette6201 Retail Specialist for the North East US. I would travel to places like Circuit City (RIP) Best Buy, Walmart and other retail places that sold Sony equipment and train the floor guys on how to use the sony equipment. Bullet points to tell to a customer etc. Was an amazing gig that I did for about 5 years. They pulled the plug as soon as brick and mortar retailers started shutting down. Sony REALLY took care of us. We had yearly conferences at a Disney resort, open bars, brand new company cars with a gas card. They gave us tons of items every year so we had hands on knowledge of how it worked. I still have a MiniDV Cam and a couple of stereo components. Good times.
wow, i worked in an audio/video store around that time...what a horrible gig...pure commission, dirty advertising tactics, always lying and hustling.. ugh had a lot of fun playing with the equipment tho. We didnt sell sony though so we'd get what they called "grey market" sony products occasionally...never figured out what that meant but i know it was something shady lol.
I worked for Sony as well back in 2002. I remember going to Sony training seminars. The Sony Mini disc always had issues with loading and stripping gears. I replaced tons of tact switches on them. Sony took care of us back then. It definitely brings back memories.
We bought this exact system new for my late grandmother back in the early 2000's. I was into MD's at the time and realised this system could do just what she wanted... She had established her arthritis was worsening and would soon loose the dexterity and coordination to use her ancient goodmans record/casstte deck. So we rigged up an external turntable to the Sony with the phono ins and she was able to record all her old records and cassettes onto MDs which were nice and easy to load without the need to line things up. It was a relief to her that she could continue listening to the old tunes that she loved for as long as possible. Sadly when she passed away it was given to a charity shop as it was obsolete tech by then.
My mind was particularly blown by the ability to record to tape + MD at once! Also amazing to think about the timed record feature included here vs the vintage Pioneer timer model you featured. Unbelievable amount of goodies packed into a consumer level product.
Hey Mat, I think that statement on the back of the unit about Dolby patents is related to the MiniDisc deck -- IIRC Sony had to license some patents from Dolby when creating the ATRAC codec. I've seen that same statement on my portable MD players.
@@EVPaddy Omg!!! I did not expect to see you here Does Not Compute!!! How insane!! I never expected you to wacth videos just like me!!! 😁😁😁😭😗🙃🥳🤗🤭🥺🤯🤯🤯😝😝😝🤓🎧😗😱😱😱
The Techmoan effect is what I have on a Saturday morning when I become very happy watching your latest video. I introduced my young pupils to your channel yesterday. They were blown away by mechanical calculators. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. This is the best channel on TH-cam.
While we are still in lockdown there was a TV series with a similar theme, with a family spending a week in each decade. Search on TH-cam for "BBC electric dreams tv series". A bit of a shame they ended in 1999 with a Millennium Party back when Hi Fis like this were still in the shops.
in the netherlands there's a guy who set up a computer museum, but he also put wallpaper and furniture that was in style at the time those computers around/under them
Memories. I had this exact system, and loved it. Would spend hours copying CD’s to Minidisc for trips away in the navy. Only got rid of it 5 years ago when I moved house and it all still worked.
I didn't like it, the text especially. But the rest of the video was excellent though, so would never dare complain. Did I miss how much this unit would of cost originally?
It's strange really that RIAA basically made minidisc unobtanium in the US. I mean, it's not just something that can be used to illegally copy music, but many bands also used minidisc recorders to record their practice sessions or to make cheap demo recordings or even self released albums. It's an excellent way of making audio recordings that sound a heck of a lot better than a cassette, while also being easy to use, reusable etc. The humble minidisc deserved more attention than it got.
Though admittedly ATRAC sounded just as bad as MP3 in many cases. Useful for portable music and radio stations, but certainly horrific as a distribution format.
@@VideoArchiveGuy If using Longplay modes, then yes, ATRAC can sound quite compressed in a similar way to mp3. When running in standard mode, it generally sounds better than mp3. And I do see minidisc mostly as a portable format personally, where perfect sound quality is less important.
I've never had an issue with mp3 (or minidisc) compression. Maybe that because I grew up listening to AM radio and progressed on to dubious quality 'hi fi' systems in the 80s... I moved on to relatively good quality equipment as I got older, but even lower rate mp3 was certainly on a par with cassettes, and minidisc was barely distinguishable from cd... Or maybe its the fact I'm old enough to remember such things means my top end hearing isn't up to scratch 😕
@@1171karl MP3 (and ATRAC) artifacts are nothing like the more natural analog rolloffs found in AM radio or cassettes. They introduce weird flanging artifacts and an artificial "crispyness" to the sound.
@@johndododoe1411 I find it incredible that they used Susan Vega "Tom's Diner" as their reference when developing MP3. I can't think of a more atypical track. Where compression tends to start sounding bad is when thinking get very busy, with sunth sweeps drums etc. Audience applause is when it completely falls apart.
I've had three and all clicked. All also randomly skipped the 1st track of the CD so special thanks for taking yours apart and identifying the click! I'll need get the brave pills and have a proper dig to 'fix' the cd. All in all I think these are great! PS new /clone remotes are available c £15.. Great video!!
I studied music in the late 2000s and these units were used in practice rooms to allow students to record themselves (without the need to rent an actual studio for higher quality stuff). These were great because back then CDs, MiniDiscs and cassettes all co-existed, and allowed for anyone to use the machine to record on whatever format they used. I was one of the students still using cassette because I was too broke for minidisc.
@@johndododoe1411 right, which is why they were used in what I'd describe as mid-tier practicing rooms. Basic had nothing, fancier rooms had professional grade equipment on racks with lossless digital recording. People on minidisc were stuck using the machine in this video though.
This was my first 'at home' MiniDisc player. I specifically wanted it for MiniDisc, tape, cd and radio. Got it for my 18th birthday in September 2002. It's still my main stereo, to which my record player is connected. I love it. Still works like a charm, only the MiniDisc eject button malfunctions. Should have that fixed.
These Mini systems are still relatively popular here in Japan. You may still find lots of these for sale at electronic shops. Also when you step into a friend's house you may find one of these so called "Konpo" or component audio lying in the living room. Considering the stats that 50% of Japanese still listens to CDs nowadays and those Platinum certified albums that have CDs sales over 1 million copies. I would consider that quite understandable. Sadly just no ones is making any "konpo" for MD now.
@@namesurname4666 The Chinatown in Kobe has box sets of Chinese TV series on VCD for cheap. Old and sun-damaged boxes, mind, they're not releasing stuff on them nowadays! Finding a working VCD player is another matter
I have a similar model Sony CMT-CPX1. It's basically the same as the one in the video, but without MD (since in my country MD's weren't popular at all). Can confirm, it's a very good little system with very decent sound. And considering it's about 20 years old and every single function still works as it should, I'd say it's also a very solid and reliable device. I bought mine for $50 and there are plenty on sale second hand in my country for dirt cheap.
Sony had some truly remarkable (and expensive) products, and also had a line of cheap (but not ultra cheap) black plastic crap. Their higher tier stuff is always a favorite of mine.
Sony has generally always been good with affordable decent gear. Not the highest end, and they do put out some cheap junk, but mid range stuff is their bread and butter. Nowadays for headphones, earbuds, bluetooth speakers, etc. it's hard to beat Sony for the money, and back in the 80s their headphones were great, too. Compare with Bose, which is good but overpriced, or Beats, which is garbage marketed for image.
I've got myself a nice DAC and headphone amplifier to listen to CD quality FLAC files on some Sennheiser headphones. It's a good set up and not stupidly expensive. The PC speakers sound awful in comparison.
@@tomstickland When you say "not stupidly expensive" what are we talking? Because good senny's are a few hundred, a dac was more like 5 hundy (in $NZ). Curious what your benchmark is.
I do a little, but I also lived through the midi system phase; 99% of them were even worse thana bad bluetooth speaker, if that's possible. I mean, the first models weren't so bad, but then they descended to unbearable before some company brought out one which sounded fine without breaking the bank. And then the mini system era arrived.
I had this exact system in my room as a teenager! Fond memories of having to insert the CD with the unit upright, and then having to turn the whole thing on it's side for it to actually be able to play
Very true. And they made some terrible ones as well. I had three Sony MiniDisc recording decks that all died the same way (some stupid little bushing in the transport system). Great sound and features, very short life.
@@hughaskew6550 I still have my MD S1Z1 with optical recorder. Great for recording live shows (we can have them in in parts of the US) albeit only stereo. I recorded a friend of mine's band about 20 years ago...it still sounds like it was done yesterday. I think MD's got a bad rap. MP3's just don't cut it and streaming is even worse.
@@spuds6423 I think MDs may be the best digital storage media ever. I was so disappointed when my Sony deck ( I forget the model number) quit loading MDs. I sent it back to Sony and got a replacement, which promptly died from the same problem within a few months. I bought another one and damned if it didn't die the same way within a year. All due to a little plastic part in the transport mechanism. I finally got a portable recorder and loved it, but as my primary usage for the MD recorder was as part of my home stereo setup it was just clunky to use and I finally gave up.
@@hughaskew6550 Hugh (cool name,btw) I agree... Unless you were doing sample demos of songs in a small studio or your bathroom, I can see where they could be clunky. I don't use it often but it's a media I hope will stay around in some form or another.
Yes, such a crazy idea; there are already over 100K people watching wanting to play these old physical media! I'm one of them! Thank you, as usual, for a great detailed and informative video!
My Dad got my Mum the SONY CMT-CP505MD and she passed it to me in recent years and I still treasure it. To me it sounds great - especially with my Sony Turntable, does everything I need it to with my physical media and looks really nice. It has sentimental value to me also so I keep it in excellent condition
Dear Matt, I'm happy to see you in good mood again! I very much love this video, it is detailed as well as entertaining, and it brings back memories from - as it feels - a different world. Great work, thank you!
This video is a masterpiece in itself, the amount of detail, explanations, etc that went into it and the sheer way of organizing it all baffled me, cheers, well done.
A great review, Mat. Last month I bought its even more compact twin, the MD373 for £20 in a charity shop. No remote but a compatible is about £12 I see, and much needed to access all of the facilities as you state so clearly. I've paired it with the AE powered sub with its two tiny satellites, and the sound is now pretty impressive. As you say, having the ability to play MD (mine is only SP) along with Dolby B auto reverse cassettes, CDs and FM is really all you need in a den.
When you talked about the evolution of sound systems in the home over the years in the UK, I still recall the warm lovely sound of our family's Radiogram. I'm sure the large teak cabinet had an effect on the speaker cabinets but whether that was design or co-incidence those old units had a very rich deep sound playing the Sunday evening chart show or playing the motley selection of LP's we had in those days (Connie Francis, Elvis, Pat Boone and Andy Williams etc ) I've always wondered if my memory was playing tricks on me as we didn't of course have anything to compare it to.
I love the look of this little beauty so much I bought it twice! I sold it on eBay, missed it, and a year or so later, bought another to replace it 😅 My CD player makes that same sound, btw!
There are A LOT of TH-camrs I love, and race to see a vid when they pop up in my feed. Your channel is the only one I go out of my way to check for vids every Saturday morning
I've had internally warped plastic parts during my repairs. I've had success in reshaping the part by immersing it in boiling water for 5 minutes then using tongs to fish it out, the plastic becomes malleable & less prone to breakage, carefully put it in a vice after sandwiching it between 2 small pieces of wooden board & carefully tension tighten as not to crush the part & leave to cool, or you might have to craft yourself a vice mold from scratch to reshape the piece. I've had good success in reshaping warped parts using these methods 😊👍
Another shout for audio bargains: iPod docks. They've all got a line-in, and it's easy enough to find a nice 30w+ unit (with neodymium drivers, and often a remote!) to fill a room with sound for under 15 quid.
I love watching your videos on Saturday mornings. It reminds me of being a kid getting excited to see new cartoons. Looking forward for the Japanese import episode.
My family had a Sony mini system which looked quite similar to this, except without MD. As a kid, I was tasked with copying CDs to cassettes so we could play them in our late '90s Ford Falcon. Less than 20 years later, I mainly listen to Spotify over Bluetooth in the car. How technology has changed in such a (relatively) short time...
This was my first hi-fi! I still have it. The tape deck is busted but it's a great bit of kit and has lasted me 20 years! Cost me £550 in the old Irish punt. actually it was a slightly different model with standard speaker connections and also had a digital input! I added a Bluetooth receiver for Spotify and gave it a new lease of life
Maybe there isn't a "Techmoan effect" but in Denmark there is an "8-bit guy effect": Recently the price for Yamaha keyboards have risen quite considerably and most of the adds have a link to the 8-bit guy video "Meet the little known soundblaster keyboards".
Will the 'techmoan effect' happen for junky systems like this? I should buy them in droves for $10 each at thrift stores now. They'll be selling for $300 on eBay in the coming months.
Me and another guy did websites about Beatles original cassettes and other tape formats, and not long after, the prices of those shot up astronomically.
I bought this very model back in 2003 when I was 18.. at the time the most expensive thing I'd ever bought, using money from my weekend job. Still going strong to this day and now lives in my living room providing better sound for my TV.
After watching this, I picked up a CMT-CP500MD from eBay for £25. Not much was working when I got it - cassettes didn’t play, there was an MD stuck in the drive, the CD tray got stuck and CDs skipped. After replacing all the belts and clearing off some gunk from the cogs in the CD mechanism, everything is now working great! And it sounds great! I still need to find myself some matching speakers and a remote, but I’m very happy with it and and feeling pretty pleased with myself for getting it all working again. Thanks for bringing these units to my attention and all of the great content on your channel.
I was born in 1966, so my experience of 'through the ages' is exactly the same as yours Mat. I too was fascinated by the new tech in hifi systems and the like. Thanks for giving us your experience throughout the decades, brings back all too familiar memories. All the best
I am very happy if people like it:). Was just for me to start with as I had watched all the videos and was getting TM withdraw symptoms and was either his intro or create the Monkey for Nothing video which I've done before.
@@stupidfanboyph the original original one was from an old Video Disc Tech Moan discovered and edited in, if that's the one you are talking about. I've done two versions, one with the TV and and with the reel to reel and logo built in.
Excellent little Hifi that sounds great, Re: the stain on the speaker cloth, hot soapy water in a bowl will get that out, takes 4+hours to dry though..
DSG was Dynamic Sound Generator. It was supposed to enhance the bass, treble and the clarity of the vocals. They claimed that it would work with all genres of music.
You’re not wrong Mat, we used to have a great big Matsui Hi Fi back in the mid 1990s which was huge, and gathered dust towards the end. My parents then swapped it with a Sharp Mini Hi Fi which they bought from John Lewis in 2001, similar to the Sony there minus the Mini Disc. But it did the job and lasted them a lot longer than the Matsui system. Loads of people from memory did the same at the time. Great video as always.
Could you please make more of these videos, where you compare systems like this to a modern day equivalent, this is fantastic...your channel is deffo the best on TH-cam....respect
I loved these mini systems back in the late 90s. They did seem like a really hi tech and convenient way to access your music. Great to see it again, even thought I'll be keeping my Sonos.
In Eastern Europe its quite popular to have old mini system purely to play music from computer through AUX. Its like better alternative for computer speakers. These are usually Technics or Aiwa systems with broken CD and tape decks, but amplifer and equalizer still works after all these years to provide decent sound. I'd really prefer that thing over some soundbar or cheap 2.1 computer speakers.
Wife wanted music in our home gym and was browsing streaming speakers in €200-300 range. That would have given her mono sound and not really the loudness she expected when lifting heavy things. I started to think about alternatives and went to our close by flea market. I found a Phillips mini system for €8 and bought a Bluetooth receiver for about €10 more. Even though our Phillips system likely is a bit more budget than your Sony one it sounds excellent for the purpose and wife is really happy with it!
I'm an American, I've got two of these systems that I found at thrift stores complete with speakers and remotes that I paid less than $30 each for. Both included MiniDisc drive modules, neither included cassette modules. One is a trooper and worked out of the box, the other keeps rejecting the CD tray until I replaced its belt. Both are beautiful looking units that sound fantastic and I recommend these to people all the time. I see them at thrift stores pretty regularly, though they are often separated from their speakers or remotes so don't be afraid to go hunting for those, too!
I worked at a big box retailer from 2001-2010. I used to always steer people towards systems like these. They sounded great, decent value and looked much nicer than the bigger midi systems of the time. They used to look pretty garish with loads of stickers and weird colouring.
@@dcan911 If you are referring to the big plastic "shelf systems" with garish spectrum analyzers, speakers that look like missile launchers, and stickers on the tape doors saying 10,000 watts PMPO, yes those were crap.
Greetings from Brazil. Bought a Sony FH-B900 around 1993, it was indeed my last mini-system. Superb sound, had it for 20 years until the power supply had some problem and termites were already eating the speakers, so I discarded it. Nothing had a sound as smooth as it had. Lots of midbass, as I like. Now I use monitor speakers which is the closest I found.
@Techmoan I was able to get a Sony CMT-CP500MD from a British eBayer two months ago for £199, taxes and shipping to Spain included. Mint condition, totally worth the money. Great piece of advice, thanks!
The hi-fi system I bought back in 2005/06 had a mp3, disc and cassette player on it. I am pretty sure most of the other hi-fi also had those functions.
I found a Panasonic mini system very similar to this lying on the street about 15 years ago. It was wet and dusty, but it worked. I still have it in my kitchen and use it every day. It’s a good wee system. The tape deck needs serviced but I don’t use it much - mainly I use the CD and the FM radio. I think Matt is right - these are good for physical formats and they sound pretty good too. Cheers for the video!
In the nineties I bought an JVC portable boom box that had CD, tape and radio. It got 5 stars from What HiFi magazine and the sound was remarkable. It wasn't cheap but nor was it very expensive. The stereo separation was incredible.
This thing looks like a PC inside, big simple separate components all simply installed with a few screws. Nowadays it would all be condensed down to the cheapest nastiest little boards all glued in, everything connected to everything else, no way to repair or replace anything.
Good timing! I fairly recently picked up a used Sony CMT-NE3 "bookshelf" system with remote (but no speakers) for super cheap. The radio works great, the cassette needs a little work like head cleaning and possibly de-magnetizing and head alignment. The CD refuses to play anything, needs more time than I've been able to put into it. I already had speakers, so it's a great small-sized radio for now. And as you pointed out with your unit, many functions _require_ the remote; this unit has AUX line input RCA jacks, _but you can't select that from the unit!_ As always, thanks for producing quality entertaining content.
Few years back i got myself a similar model to yours, a CMT-CP500MD, from a boot sale for £7, cost about £20 for a remote, was in really good nick, really was impressed with it, finally able to play all my old CD's/MD's from yesteryear, alas the CD/MD has the typical sony disc error issues now, and wow is it a minefield inside to try and attempt a re-greasing or proper lens cleaning. that said, im just using it now for the optical in from the Xbox, and the line In from my PC, it still sounds tremendous, great video. thanks.
I had that exact same Sony MD mini hifi when I was a teenager it was absolutely amazing sound and bass and we were all around that bass having massive technics etc and when moved to one these just couldn't believe the sound from so small speakers! I upgraded or you could say down graded from the jvc gigatubes hifi but the sound was just as good and the bass! 2003 that was!
The early 2000s were indeed the golden era of mini HiFi systems. I remember dragging my mum into Dixons every week when I was small just to see what new HIFI systems they had in. I have a PHILIPS FWM372 which I have had for years now. I only ever really use the AUX function now just to play music from my phone but I would never give it away or sell it as I think its still a really nice thing to have around.
I plugged a chromecast AUDIO into my aux unit on my panasonic SA-PM19 and it works so luxuriously as a chromecast wireless speaker device. it's so lush!
Mini systems are so underrated. JVC made some incredible ones in the 90's. I used to have an MXJ-900 which was incredible sounding. I'd love to have one again but they are very rare and expensive now!
i was just thinking this same thing a couple days ago. bring back the puppets! there's no way in hell that those _people_ who make up the lowest common -demoninator- denominator of technoman's viewership have gotten any better at commenting; what with the overall number of comments and views growing pretty significantly since way back in puppet days
@@livingo0mtlvision204 I think it’s partially about the way TH-cam tries to algorithmically find “for kids” content... that entire thing was a mess. TH-cam took a settlement that started out reasonable and managed to push most of the responsibility and consequences off to creators while adding a bad algorithm after explicitly being told not to.
A really nice little system for the price and, from what I could tell, listening through my phone speakers, it sounded pretty damned good too. I remember when these were everywhere, and once they did start to become popular the choice became huge, ranging in price from around £50-60, for some nasty, tinny sounding thing from people like Alba or Goodmans, in that nasty black scratchy plastic, up to a few hundred quid for some beautifully made and great looking compact systems from the likes of Denon or JVC etc. But it was a time when you didn't have to spend a small fortune just to get a music system that sounded good, usually contained some pretty decent components, (the fact that this featured Sony is nudging 20 years old and was filthy inside, but still works almost perfectly says a lot), and they didn't take up half of your living room, needing 6 miles of cable to connect it all up. I still much prefer separate systems though.
Sony did use those speaker connectors in more products. I had a larger, less-fancy version of this, with the same plugs. It was an odd beast: you could use it as a shelf system like this, or as a boombox, because the speakers could attach to the stereo body, and there was a handle you could carry it by. Had dual (non-auto-reverse) cassettes, too.
Really enjoyed this video. I've got the slightly earlier CMT-CP500MD purchased from Comet (there's a name from the past), in September 2001 for £330! It's still used most days for CDs and radio. I listen to digital stations via a bluetooth receiver and cheap tablet. Sound quality has always been great - better than the JVC stack it replaced when the JVC died quite suddenly and was beyond repair. It'll be a sad day when the Sony finally dies.
At least there is something out there, if you go into the local shops, it's bluetooth or earbuds etc., the world has turned to pot. I used to enjoy checking out the various electronics retailers whilst the wife did the grocery shopping, not any more - there is nothing left.
@Duke Hugh Johnson There is a need for High-Fidelity, quality sound systems... For those of us that want to listen to older music that wasn't quite so crappy, on something other than a cell phone. lol
I am convinced that is a factor in the decline of the High Street. How many men like clothes shopping ? Beale's Department store (who went bankrupt last year) cleverly had the men's clothes and AV department next to each other on the same floor, up until about 2005. Now the only place where you can see anything interesting in Bournemouth is CeX, a computer games shop that also sells old consoles, second hand laptops etc.
@Duke Hugh Johnson The trick is to find the independent/small label artists. Unfortunately, a lot of what I'm listening to is Touhou doujin "circles" and various Japanese trance/techno, most of which is released in limited runs on CD, often at Comiket. So that means finding the original CDs here in the US is highly unlikely, and ordering used CDs from Japan is going to be quite expensive. So my only option for buying them is through Booth, Bandcamp, etc. Which means downloaded media which you would just as readily play through the computer (or copy as MP3s to a USB stick for your car) rather than having to burn to CD or record to tape. As for AutoTune; the purpose of it is to use a computer to compensate for a crappy human singer. I'd rather just remove the crappy human singer from the equation, and I listen to "Vocaloid" instead (my own favourite being Megurine Luka).
It's sad I Kno exactly what your saying though. It's all because of Walmart knocking everyone out the park. U can't compete with the prices as no more mom and pop shops. Flea markets are the only place to find gems like this. And yes u do still find them cause people haven't a clue in what they have. SMH dark days we live in dark days. 😥
That whole time zone thing still gets some people. Its getting on to Saturday afternoon in the UK while its around 7:30 a.m. on the east coast of the U.S.
I think we could just better abolish this time zone nonsense, so everyone just uses the same time. We could call it "Universal Time Coordinated" or something. 🕑
"Most Americans". So millions of people will watch this video and ask that question? Really? Pretty cringe my dude. I really can't wait for these meme comments to lose popularity.
Indeed. I was heartbroken when my Sony bookshelf system (that was similar to this one) finally gave up the ghost. The speakers were purpose built for the units, but are so good they are the mains for a hand me down set of components my daughter is using. Sony gets the award for not forgetting about speaker quality at any budget level.
Absolutely. Picked up a mini hi fi system at a charity shop for about £12 and while it's probably no audiophile setup it sounds pretty decent. It has both a CD drive and tape deck although without the remote if you want to record to cassette you have to do so via CD. I did however have an issue with the CD drive not recognising disks but after adjusting the diode power everything worked fine!
Love the video!! Here, in the USA, I got big into MD about halfway through it’s hay day. Mic input was great for recording live music and portability was great for ripping a friend’s cd on the fly. There was a nice system similar to this however, I believe it was Sharp branded, available in my local electronics shops that I wish I would’ve purchased. It would made a nice little bedroom unit.
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I'm lying in bed not feeling well, and it's amazing that I don't even know what you're going to talk in this but I know I have a video to cheer me up. Or at the very least keep me distracted....!
Hope you're feeling better!
Get well soon.
Take care !
Get well soon. A Techmoan vid always makes you better...!
Get better soon!! There's lots of electronic jibbles to mess around with out there!
3 years ago...." Don't really like to take things apart" Now strips everything down ... Complete with Dr.Who sonic screwdriver 😂
What is with that screwdriver?
@@joedeegan3870 Xiaomi Wowstick
Quite a wowstick indeed, made me want one as well
7:44 „more hairs in here than there is on the top of my head“ A classic. Thanks Mat!
must have been cat or dog hair lol... iam thinking cat sitting on top of it
what classic?! for 20+ years i've been saying that every day when i'm looking down while taking a piss
Sony products can be a bit of a hit or a miss. We are glad to see that this one is a hit! You, Mat, are the very first person to now own our new album, Second Sight, on the MiniDisc format! Thanks for including our compact disc in yet another awesome retro product review. 🎶
Great that Techmoan uses your music to show off physical media formats of music to help fly under the copyright radar... 😆
@@stephenemmett9753 We deliberately make our music TH-cam friendly so that influencers like, Mat, can freely use it. Our music indeed has a copyright ©️. We do own and control it 100%. We just do not allow TH-cam to monetize our music. This process is mutually beneficial for all parties involved. Thank you for your comment Stephen. 🎶
Are you guys fans of Husker Du? I ask because of the similarity of your band name to Husker Du's 5th album.
@DexedrineRush Thank you so very much for the kind words! We just put out a new track this week called Baby Blue (Matt Pop Mix). Check it out when you have time. I think you might like this one too
Certainly an acquired taste.
Recently restored and sold a couple of Japanese made mini systems and I'm really impressed by the build quality and audio. Its amazing how much sound you can get out of them too. A section of the hifi world that should not be dismissed
The Panasonic, Aiwa, and Onkyo systems are the way to go.
Interesting fact: the DSG button used to summon a bored Dixon’s employee to sell you an extended warranty.
Aha! Nice one.
Those were the days, you'd psych yourself up when buying anything from there so you were ready for the hard sell, then look around the room with a bored face to put them off once the pitch started.
Hey now we have robots calling us about our cars extended warranty
@@BilisNegra The joke was all the sweeter because DSG is the stock market listing of Dixons Store Group. It was a great gag.
Did it stand for Dixon's Sales Gimmick? Or Disinterested Sales Guy?
Really love your latest video. As a guy grewing up in the 80s and 90s all this brings back so many memories. Even over here in Germany these Mini- and Micro-Systems got popular in the mid 90s and replaced the 45cm HiFi components... Missing these times so much - your videos are like a time machine back to better times
here in india these were so popular, i was small did not have money couldnt buy even one, now i am buying used ones
This is where being a certain age is fantastic. I remember growing with so much great stuff. The Time Machine metaphor is perfect!
I agree
Audio equipment gets smaller and disappears, TVs get bigger.
Partially due to having seen this video, and partially because I inherited a collection of pre-recorded MDs, I went looking for a nice mini system myself.
I found a SP55MD that still looks awesome, and everything works :)
Simply said: I have removed my soundbar and replaced it with the mini system, it sounds sooo much better and it looks much nicer. And for only €35,- it was a steal :)
4 months on, and in the mean time I have bought 2 more mini hifi sets, one more compact one (MD373) and another SP55MD.
This is an affordable hobby at roughly €50 each but with great sound quality. Now all the rooms in my house have good sound, and at a lower price than one modern system.
Having lived in Japan for over 30 years I've run across a lot of this style of mini system, and many of them were quite good indeed. Definitely more sound than you'd expect for the price.
Thanks again.
Oh man! The nostalgia! I worked for sony in 2002 and remember this exact unit at our sales conferences. Thanks for yet another trip down memory lane
What did you do there? :-)
@@nickwallette6201 Retail Specialist for the North East US. I would travel to places like Circuit City (RIP) Best Buy, Walmart and other retail places that sold Sony equipment and train the floor guys on how to use the sony equipment. Bullet points to tell to a customer etc. Was an amazing gig that I did for about 5 years. They pulled the plug as soon as brick and mortar retailers started shutting down. Sony REALLY took care of us. We had yearly conferences at a Disney resort, open bars, brand new company cars with a gas card. They gave us tons of items every year so we had hands on knowledge of how it worked. I still have a MiniDV Cam and a couple of stereo components. Good times.
wow, i worked in an audio/video store around that time...what a horrible gig...pure commission, dirty advertising tactics, always lying and hustling.. ugh had a lot of fun playing with the equipment tho. We didnt sell sony though so we'd get what they called "grey market" sony products occasionally...never figured out what that meant but i know it was something shady lol.
I worked for Sony as well back in 2002. I remember going to Sony training seminars. The Sony Mini disc always had issues with loading and stripping gears. I replaced tons of tact switches on them. Sony took care of us back then. It definitely brings back memories.
We bought this exact system new for my late grandmother back in the early 2000's. I was into MD's at the time and realised this system could do just what she wanted...
She had established her arthritis was worsening and would soon loose the dexterity and coordination to use her ancient goodmans record/casstte deck.
So we rigged up an external turntable to the Sony with the phono ins and she was able to record all her old records and cassettes onto MDs which were nice and easy to load without the need to line things up.
It was a relief to her that she could continue listening to the old tunes that she loved for as long as possible.
Sadly when she passed away it was given to a charity shop as it was obsolete tech by then.
My mind was particularly blown by the ability to record to tape + MD at once! Also amazing to think about the timed record feature included here vs the vintage Pioneer timer model you featured. Unbelievable amount of goodies packed into a consumer level product.
Hey Mat, I think that statement on the back of the unit about Dolby patents is related to the MiniDisc deck -- IIRC Sony had to license some patents from Dolby when creating the ATRAC codec. I've seen that same statement on my portable MD players.
I'm surpried there is not a comment under yours that says omg a famous youtuber did not expect to see you here and your comment is 5 hours old.
@@bland9876 There is one now…
@@EVPaddy Omg!!! I did not expect to see you here Does Not Compute!!! How insane!! I never expected you to wacth videos just like me!!! 😁😁😁😭😗🙃🥳🤗🤭🥺🤯🤯🤯😝😝😝🤓🎧😗😱😱😱
This is correct.
It is on each of my Minidisc Devices. Is there some information about this somwhere in the net?
7:42 "There is more hair in here than on the top of my head"
- The Baldmoan
Thank you for the shout-out and I'm glad I was able to contribute! Been watching since 2016, and have always enjoyed your content.
The Techmoan effect is what I have on a Saturday morning when I become very happy watching your latest video.
I introduced my young pupils to your channel yesterday. They were blown away by mechanical calculators.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. This is the best channel on TH-cam.
I bought a similar mini-system at a thrift store for US$ 8 and it is a champ, great sound from the radio and CD.
when you can travel again, I recommend "the museum of the home" in London. you can see rooms decorated from earlier years/ages 40 50 60 70 80 90 etc
While we are still in lockdown there was a TV series with a similar theme, with a family spending a week in each decade. Search on TH-cam for "BBC electric dreams tv series". A bit of a shame they ended in 1999 with a Millennium Party back when Hi Fis like this were still in the shops.
in the netherlands there's a guy who set up a computer museum, but he also put wallpaper and furniture that was in style at the time those computers around/under them
@@MrDuncl Well considering the show was recorded in 08, not exactly like they could do the 00s.
Memories. I had this exact system, and loved it. Would spend hours copying CD’s to Minidisc for trips away in the navy. Only got rid of it 5 years ago when I moved house and it all still worked.
New intro looks pretty rad,if this word still exists.
Everything still exists here - for better or worse
New intro? I got more than I HiFi bargained for in this video 😂
Mint!
EPIC
I didn't like it, the text especially. But the rest of the video was excellent though, so would never dare complain. Did I miss how much this unit would of cost originally?
It's strange really that RIAA basically made minidisc unobtanium in the US. I mean, it's not just something that can be used to illegally copy music, but many bands also used minidisc recorders to record their practice sessions or to make cheap demo recordings or even self released albums. It's an excellent way of making audio recordings that sound a heck of a lot better than a cassette, while also being easy to use, reusable etc. The humble minidisc deserved more attention than it got.
Though admittedly ATRAC sounded just as bad as MP3 in many cases. Useful for portable music and radio stations, but certainly horrific as a distribution format.
@@VideoArchiveGuy If using Longplay modes, then yes, ATRAC can sound quite compressed in a similar way to mp3. When running in standard mode, it generally sounds better than mp3. And I do see minidisc mostly as a portable format personally, where perfect sound quality is less important.
I've never had an issue with mp3 (or minidisc) compression. Maybe that because I grew up listening to AM radio and progressed on to dubious quality 'hi fi' systems in the 80s... I moved on to relatively good quality equipment as I got older, but even lower rate mp3 was certainly on a par with cassettes, and minidisc was barely distinguishable from cd... Or maybe its the fact I'm old enough to remember such things means my top end hearing isn't up to scratch 😕
@@1171karl MP3 (and ATRAC) artifacts are nothing like the more natural analog rolloffs found in AM radio or cassettes. They introduce weird flanging artifacts and an artificial "crispyness" to the sound.
@@johndododoe1411 I find it incredible that they used Susan Vega "Tom's Diner" as their reference when developing MP3. I can't think of a more atypical track. Where compression tends to start sounding bad is when thinking get very busy, with sunth sweeps drums etc. Audience applause is when it completely falls apart.
I've had three and all clicked. All also randomly skipped the 1st track of the CD so special thanks for taking yours apart and identifying the click! I'll need get the brave pills and have a proper dig to 'fix' the cd. All in all I think these are great! PS new /clone remotes are available c £15.. Great video!!
I studied music in the late 2000s and these units were used in practice rooms to allow students to record themselves (without the need to rent an actual studio for higher quality stuff). These were great because back then CDs, MiniDiscs and cassettes all co-existed, and allowed for anyone to use the machine to record on whatever format they used. I was one of the students still using cassette because I was too broke for minidisc.
@@johndododoe1411 right, which is why they were used in what I'd describe as mid-tier practicing rooms. Basic had nothing, fancier rooms had professional grade equipment on racks with lossless digital recording. People on minidisc were stuck using the machine in this video though.
who cares
@@ercanylmaz967 me
@@ercanylmaz967 me too
This was my first 'at home' MiniDisc player. I specifically wanted it for MiniDisc, tape, cd and radio. Got it for my 18th birthday in September 2002. It's still my main stereo, to which my record player is connected. I love it. Still works like a charm, only the MiniDisc eject button malfunctions. Should have that fixed.
These Mini systems are still relatively popular here in Japan. You may still find lots of these for sale at electronic shops. Also when you step into a friend's house you may find one of these so called "Konpo" or component audio lying in the living room. Considering the stats that 50% of Japanese still listens to CDs nowadays and those Platinum certified albums that have CDs sales over 1 million copies. I would consider that quite understandable. Sadly just no ones is making any "konpo" for MD now.
I also heard that VCD is used in asian hifi for karaoke or even movies
cd's sound better then some Mp3 files
@@MrJob91 like all mp3s
very interesting! thanks glacier :)
@@namesurname4666 The Chinatown in Kobe has box sets of Chinese TV series on VCD for cheap. Old and sun-damaged boxes, mind, they're not releasing stuff on them nowadays! Finding a working VCD player is another matter
This one actually seems to be a very decent piece of equipment, its basically very good at everything it has
I had and used this stereo for well over 10 years. Still works and sounds great
@@TheRorski that is truly amazing, it really is a quality piece, just as one would expect from Sony
I have a similar model Sony CMT-CPX1. It's basically the same as the one in the video, but without MD (since in my country MD's weren't popular at all). Can confirm, it's a very good little system with very decent sound. And considering it's about 20 years old and every single function still works as it should, I'd say it's also a very solid and reliable device. I bought mine for $50 and there are plenty on sale second hand in my country for dirt cheap.
Sony had some truly remarkable (and expensive) products, and also had a line of cheap (but not ultra cheap) black plastic crap. Their higher tier stuff is always a favorite of mine.
Sony has generally always been good with affordable decent gear. Not the highest end, and they do put out some cheap junk, but mid range stuff is their bread and butter. Nowadays for headphones, earbuds, bluetooth speakers, etc. it's hard to beat Sony for the money, and back in the 80s their headphones were great, too. Compare with Bose, which is good but overpriced, or Beats, which is garbage marketed for image.
2:34 Loved that reveal, legitimately had no idea it was back there.
That's why it's called a mini system, so nice and compact! 😉 👍 (I had no idea ether)
Yep, had to jump back and watch it again to understand where it suddenly came from :)
Me too, it was such a pleasant surprise!
I find it incredibly sad, that in nearly all homes nowadays music is only consumed through some shitty mono bluetooth speaker.
Incredible! I cannot stand to the mono sound especially listening music 🤣🤣🤣
I've got myself a nice DAC and headphone amplifier to listen to CD quality FLAC files on some Sennheiser headphones. It's a good set up and not stupidly expensive. The PC speakers sound awful in comparison.
@@tomstickland When you say "not stupidly expensive" what are we talking? Because good senny's are a few hundred, a dac was more like 5 hundy (in $NZ). Curious what your benchmark is.
Speak for yourself. My Bluetooth speakers are B & O and they can be linked to play in stereo! Lol. Big Bucks unfortunately.
I do a little, but I also lived through the midi system phase; 99% of them were even worse thana bad bluetooth speaker, if that's possible. I mean, the first models weren't so bad, but then they descended to unbearable before some company brought out one which sounded fine without breaking the bank. And then the mini system era arrived.
I love that you unwrapped and used a brand new minidisc for this video.
I had this exact system in my room as a teenager! Fond memories of having to insert the CD with the unit upright, and then having to turn the whole thing on it's side for it to actually be able to play
Sony made brilliant hi-fi products in the 90's.
@@DoubleMonoLR I had one of those. Dreadful things!
Very true. And they made some terrible ones as well. I had three Sony MiniDisc recording decks that all died the same way (some stupid little bushing in the transport system). Great sound and features, very short life.
@@hughaskew6550 I still have my MD S1Z1 with optical recorder. Great for recording live shows (we can have them in in parts of the US) albeit only stereo. I recorded a friend of mine's band about 20 years ago...it still sounds like it was done yesterday. I think MD's got a bad rap. MP3's just don't cut it and streaming is even worse.
@@spuds6423 I think MDs may be the best digital storage media ever. I was so disappointed when my Sony deck ( I forget the model number) quit loading MDs. I sent it back to Sony and got a replacement, which promptly died from the same problem within a few months. I bought another one and damned if it didn't die the same way within a year. All due to a little plastic part in the transport mechanism. I finally got a portable recorder and loved it, but as my primary usage for the MD recorder was as part of my home stereo setup it was just clunky to use and I finally gave up.
@@hughaskew6550 Hugh (cool name,btw) I agree... Unless you were doing sample demos of songs in a small studio or your bathroom, I can see where they could be clunky.
I don't use it often but it's a media I hope will stay around in some form or another.
10:20 foreshadowing...is Techmoan going to make a video about that screwdriver? Stay tuned!
Yes, such a crazy idea; there are already over 100K people watching wanting to play these old physical media! I'm one of them! Thank you, as usual, for a great detailed and informative video!
My Dad got my Mum the SONY CMT-CP505MD and she passed it to me in recent years and I still treasure it. To me it sounds great - especially with my Sony Turntable, does everything I need it to with my physical media and looks really nice. It has sentimental value to me also so I keep it in excellent condition
I can't imagine how much fun will be to do a tour around your house to see all of these devices in action. Thank you for your videos sir.
Dear Matt, I'm happy to see you in good mood again! I very much love this video, it is detailed as well as entertaining, and it brings back memories from - as it feels - a different world. Great work, thank you!
I noticed that he does seem much more cheery in this video, too! He put a lot of work into this one, and the quality is great.
This video is a masterpiece in itself, the amount of detail, explanations, etc that went into it and the sheer way of organizing it all baffled me, cheers, well done.
A great review, Mat. Last month I bought its even more compact twin, the MD373 for £20 in a charity shop. No remote but a compatible is about £12 I see, and much needed to access all of the facilities as you state so clearly. I've paired it with the AE powered sub with its two tiny satellites, and the sound is now pretty impressive. As you say, having the ability to play MD (mine is only SP) along with Dolby B auto reverse cassettes, CDs and FM is really all you need in a den.
When you talked about the evolution of sound systems in the home over the years in the UK, I still recall the warm lovely sound of our family's Radiogram. I'm sure the large teak cabinet had an effect on the speaker cabinets but whether that was design or co-incidence those old units had a very rich deep sound playing the Sunday evening chart show or playing the motley selection of LP's we had in those days (Connie Francis, Elvis, Pat Boone and Andy Williams etc ) I've always wondered if my memory was playing tricks on me as we didn't of course have anything to compare it to.
Excellent video as always 🤙
Ya boi!
I love the look of this little beauty so much I bought it twice! I sold it on eBay, missed it, and a year or so later, bought another to replace it 😅 My CD player makes that same sound, btw!
There are A LOT of TH-camrs I love, and race to see a vid when they pop up in my feed. Your channel is the only one I go out of my way to check for vids every Saturday morning
I've had internally warped plastic parts during my repairs.
I've had success in reshaping the part by immersing it in boiling water for 5 minutes then using tongs to fish it out, the plastic becomes malleable & less prone to breakage, carefully put it in a vice after sandwiching it between 2 small pieces of wooden board & carefully tension tighten as not to crush the part & leave to cool, or you might have to craft yourself a vice mold from scratch to reshape the piece.
I've had good success in reshaping warped parts using these methods 😊👍
Another shout for audio bargains: iPod docks. They've all got a line-in, and it's easy enough to find a nice 30w+ unit (with neodymium drivers, and often a remote!) to fill a room with sound for under 15 quid.
Sony made consumer budget devices very well back then. You can get repairing manuals cheaper devices too, that is not so common. Very nice video!
I used to have that Sony!
Edit: Looking at the pet hair, it very well might be my old one. 😅
I love watching your videos on Saturday mornings. It reminds me of being a kid getting excited to see new cartoons. Looking forward for the Japanese import episode.
My family had a Sony mini system which looked quite similar to this, except without MD. As a kid, I was tasked with copying CDs to cassettes so we could play them in our late '90s Ford Falcon. Less than 20 years later, I mainly listen to Spotify over Bluetooth in the car. How technology has changed in such a (relatively) short time...
This was my first hi-fi! I still have it. The tape deck is busted but it's a great bit of kit and has lasted me 20 years! Cost me £550 in the old Irish punt. actually it was a slightly different model with standard speaker connections and also had a digital input! I added a Bluetooth receiver for Spotify and gave it a new lease of life
Maybe there isn't a "Techmoan effect" but in Denmark there is an "8-bit guy effect": Recently the price for Yamaha keyboards have risen quite considerably and most of the adds have a link to the 8-bit guy video "Meet the little known soundblaster keyboards".
Glad somebody else noticed this. Mini disc players shot up in price after techmoan started featuring them
Will the 'techmoan effect' happen for junky systems like this? I should buy them in droves for $10 each at thrift stores now. They'll be selling for $300 on eBay in the coming months.
Me and another guy did websites about Beatles original cassettes and other tape formats, and not long after, the prices of those shot up astronomically.
I bought this very model back in 2003 when I was 18.. at the time the most expensive thing I'd ever bought, using money from my weekend job. Still going strong to this day and now lives in my living room providing better sound for my TV.
That layered FM radio jingle actually hits the aesthetics 😁
@@BilisNegra haha, sounds like something he would, yeah
After watching this, I picked up a CMT-CP500MD from eBay for £25. Not much was working when I got it - cassettes didn’t play, there was an MD stuck in the drive, the CD tray got stuck and CDs skipped. After replacing all the belts and clearing off some gunk from the cogs in the CD mechanism, everything is now working great! And it sounds great! I still need to find myself some matching speakers and a remote, but I’m very happy with it and and feeling pretty pleased with myself for getting it all working again. Thanks for bringing these units to my attention and all of the great content on your channel.
I was born in 1966, so my experience of 'through the ages' is exactly the same as yours Mat. I too was fascinated by the new tech in hifi systems and the like. Thanks for giving us your experience throughout the decades, brings back all too familiar memories. All the best
Nice find. The lines on the side are mainly to strengthen the panel and reduce rattling.
Woah, love the new intro. Brings something new while keeping the feel of the old ones, nice!
That’s been done by Graphics Monkey - one of your fellow Patrons. He’ll be happy you like it.
I am very happy if people like it:). Was just for me to start with as I had watched all the videos and was getting TM withdraw symptoms and was either his intro or create the Monkey for Nothing video which I've done before.
@@ReLive_Photos - nice job :)
@@ReLive_Photos did you also make the first one/the one earlier than this?
Nicely done. :)
@@stupidfanboyph the original original one was from an old Video Disc Tech Moan discovered and edited in, if that's the one you are talking about.
I've done two versions, one with the TV and and with the reel to reel and logo built in.
Minisystems were pretty big in the US too. Especially in a secondary room such as where people kept the computer.
They still are and are still sold today.
For example, the Denon D-M41.
www.denon.com/en-us/product/cd-players/dm-41
Excellent little Hifi that sounds great,
Re: the stain on the speaker cloth, hot soapy water in a bowl will get that out, takes 4+hours to dry though..
It would be cool if you buy one of these, pop in an old cd, and you find out the old owner listened to that cd and named it.
Best is when you find good mixtapes
Party Mix 6 has now been made digital and still a playlist I use
DSG was Dynamic Sound Generator. It was supposed to enhance the bass, treble and the clarity of the vocals. They claimed that it would work with all genres of music.
Would that be similar to the QSound setting found on some Aiwa minisystems? I've found it to be hit-or-miss on mine.
I love that new intro! Looks really retro and futuristic.EDIT: at the same time of course
Pretty sure what happened is someone left the cassette deck open and a cat thought the door made a nice back scratcher XD
You’re not wrong Mat, we used to have a great big Matsui Hi Fi back in the mid 1990s which was huge, and gathered dust towards the end. My parents then swapped it with a Sharp Mini Hi Fi which they bought from John Lewis in 2001, similar to the Sony there minus the Mini Disc. But it did the job and lasted them a lot longer than the Matsui system. Loads of people from memory did the same at the time. Great video as always.
Could you please make more of these videos, where you compare systems like this to a modern day equivalent, this is fantastic...your channel is deffo the best on TH-cam....respect
Now that you called for it, won't be a bargain anymore ! :D
I loved these mini systems back in the late 90s. They did seem like a really hi tech and convenient way to access your music. Great to see it again, even thought I'll be keeping my Sonos.
In Eastern Europe its quite popular to have old mini system purely to play music from computer through AUX. Its like better alternative for computer speakers. These are usually Technics or Aiwa systems with broken CD and tape decks, but amplifer and equalizer still works after all these years to provide decent sound. I'd really prefer that thing over some soundbar or cheap 2.1 computer speakers.
Wife wanted music in our home gym and was browsing streaming speakers in €200-300 range. That would have given her mono sound and not really the loudness she expected when lifting heavy things. I started to think about alternatives and went to our close by flea market. I found a Phillips mini system for €8 and bought a Bluetooth receiver for about €10 more. Even though our Phillips system likely is a bit more budget than your Sony one it sounds excellent for the purpose and wife is really happy with it!
I'm an American, I've got two of these systems that I found at thrift stores complete with speakers and remotes that I paid less than $30 each for. Both included MiniDisc drive modules, neither included cassette modules. One is a trooper and worked out of the box, the other keeps rejecting the CD tray until I replaced its belt. Both are beautiful looking units that sound fantastic and I recommend these to people all the time. I see them at thrift stores pretty regularly, though they are often separated from their speakers or remotes so don't be afraid to go hunting for those, too!
I worked at a big box retailer from 2001-2010. I used to always steer people towards systems like these. They sounded great, decent value and looked much nicer than the bigger midi systems of the time. They used to look pretty garish with loads of stickers and weird colouring.
Those garish midi systems are probably a big reason why hifi is so unpopular now.
@@dcan911 If you are referring to the big plastic "shelf systems" with garish spectrum analyzers, speakers that look like missile launchers, and stickers on the tape doors saying 10,000 watts PMPO, yes those were crap.
My mum has that exact system.
It is used every year, once a year to play Christmas songs on Christmas day :)
Freaking riaa. Every time I watch and see minidisc I'm so jealous the format wasn't in the US.
Greetings from Brazil. Bought a Sony FH-B900 around 1993, it was indeed my last mini-system. Superb sound, had it for 20 years until the power supply had some problem and termites were already eating the speakers, so I discarded it. Nothing had a sound as smooth as it had. Lots of midbass, as I like. Now I use monitor speakers which is the closest I found.
@Techmoan I was able to get a Sony CMT-CP500MD from a British eBayer two months ago for £199, taxes and shipping to Spain included. Mint condition, totally worth the money. Great piece of advice, thanks!
Growing up in the early 00s, tape was still used at least in my family so I can see why they still included tape decks in the system.
The hi-fi system I bought back in 2005/06 had a mp3, disc and cassette player on it. I am pretty sure most of the other hi-fi also had those functions.
Yeh, was still common on all in one units up until maybe '05ish
Now that's a nice little HairFi unit!
What a brilliant little machine and I'm sure many people would have been really happy owning one.
I found a Panasonic mini system very similar to this lying on the street about 15 years ago. It was wet and dusty, but it worked. I still have it in my kitchen and use it every day. It’s a good wee system. The tape deck needs serviced but I don’t use it much - mainly I use the CD and the FM radio. I think Matt is right - these are good for physical formats and they sound pretty good too. Cheers for the video!
In the nineties I bought an JVC portable boom box that had CD, tape and radio. It got 5 stars from What HiFi magazine and the sound was remarkable. It wasn't cheap but nor was it very expensive. The stereo separation was incredible.
This thing looks like a PC inside, big simple separate components all simply installed with a few screws. Nowadays it would all be condensed down to the cheapest nastiest little boards all glued in, everything connected to everything else, no way to repair or replace anything.
Me: I need this.
Also Me: But you don't even own any tapes or MDs....
A few minutes on eBay can fix that lack of media. Believe me, I know all to well.
If that CD were called Phil Collins, it would have exactly the same name as the man who made the CD in the 1980s.
Good timing! I fairly recently picked up a used Sony CMT-NE3 "bookshelf" system with remote (but no speakers) for super cheap. The radio works great, the cassette needs a little work like head cleaning and possibly de-magnetizing and head alignment. The CD refuses to play anything, needs more time than I've been able to put into it. I already had speakers, so it's a great small-sized radio for now. And as you pointed out with your unit, many functions _require_ the remote; this unit has AUX line input RCA jacks, _but you can't select that from the unit!_
As always, thanks for producing quality entertaining content.
Few years back i got myself a similar model to yours, a CMT-CP500MD, from a boot sale for £7, cost about £20 for a remote, was in really good nick, really was impressed with it, finally able to play all my old CD's/MD's from yesteryear, alas the CD/MD has the typical sony disc error issues now, and wow is it a minefield inside to try and attempt a re-greasing or proper lens cleaning. that said, im just using it now for the optical in from the Xbox, and the line In from my PC, it still sounds tremendous, great video. thanks.
“There’s more hair here than on my head!”
As a bald man, I can relate, sir! 🤪
Aahhh, Mollari!
Bald is best.
"We're all born bald, baby!" -Kojak
@@Oldgamingfart That's not true. My newborn son had a full head of hair when he was born. In fact, he was born in dire need of a haircut.
@@HUNDOLOS What do you want? You moonfaced assassin of joy! 🤣😉
I had that exact same Sony MD mini hifi when I was a teenager it was absolutely amazing sound and bass and we were all around that bass having massive technics etc and when moved to one these just couldn't believe the sound from so small speakers!
I upgraded or you could say down graded from the jvc gigatubes hifi but the sound was just as good and the bass! 2003 that was!
You have reminded me, Matt. It's time to take the case off my computer and blow out the accumulated dander from our parrot.
The early 2000s were indeed the golden era of mini HiFi systems. I remember dragging my mum into Dixons every week when I was small just to see what new HIFI systems they had in. I have a PHILIPS FWM372 which I have had for years now. I only ever really use the AUX function now just to play music from my phone but I would never give it away or sell it as I think its still a really nice thing to have around.
I plugged a chromecast AUDIO into my aux unit on my panasonic SA-PM19 and it works so luxuriously as a chromecast wireless speaker device. it's so lush!
Mini systems are so underrated. JVC made some incredible ones in the 90's. I used to have an MXJ-900 which was incredible sounding. I'd love to have one again but they are very rare and expensive now!
my grandmother still has a JVC mini system from the 90s but she no longer uses it.
I heard you play the puppet music, but no puppets in a long time...I miss those quirky puppets!
i was just thinking this same thing a couple days ago. bring back the puppets! there's no way in hell that those _people_ who make up the lowest common -demoninator- denominator of technoman's viewership have gotten any better at commenting; what with the overall number of comments and views growing pretty significantly since way back in puppet days
@@livingo0mtlvision204 I think it’s partially about the way TH-cam tries to algorithmically find “for kids” content... that entire thing was a mess. TH-cam took a settlement that started out reasonable and managed to push most of the responsibility and consequences off to creators while adding a bad algorithm after explicitly being told not to.
A really nice little system for the price and, from what I could tell, listening through my phone speakers, it sounded pretty damned good too. I remember when these were everywhere, and once they did start to become popular the choice became huge, ranging in price from around £50-60, for some nasty, tinny sounding thing from people like Alba or Goodmans, in that nasty black scratchy plastic, up to a few hundred quid for some beautifully made and great looking compact systems from the likes of Denon or JVC etc. But it was a time when you didn't have to spend a small fortune just to get a music system that sounded good, usually contained some pretty decent components, (the fact that this featured Sony is nudging 20 years old and was filthy inside, but still works almost perfectly says a lot), and they didn't take up half of your living room, needing 6 miles of cable to connect it all up.
I still much prefer separate systems though.
Sony did use those speaker connectors in more products. I had a larger, less-fancy version of this, with the same plugs. It was an odd beast: you could use it as a shelf system like this, or as a boombox, because the speakers could attach to the stereo body, and there was a handle you could carry it by. Had dual (non-auto-reverse) cassettes, too.
Really enjoyed this video. I've got the slightly earlier CMT-CP500MD purchased from Comet (there's a name from the past), in September 2001 for £330! It's still used most days for CDs and radio. I listen to digital stations via a bluetooth receiver and cheap tablet. Sound quality has always been great - better than the JVC stack it replaced when the JVC died quite suddenly and was beyond repair. It'll be a sad day when the Sony finally dies.
At least there is something out there, if you go into the local shops, it's bluetooth or earbuds etc., the world has turned to pot. I used to enjoy checking out the various electronics retailers whilst the wife did the grocery shopping, not any more - there is nothing left.
@Duke Hugh Johnson There is a need for High-Fidelity, quality sound systems... For those of us that want to listen to older music that wasn't quite so crappy, on something other than a cell phone. lol
I am convinced that is a factor in the decline of the High Street. How many men like clothes shopping ? Beale's Department store (who went bankrupt last year) cleverly had the men's clothes and AV department next to each other on the same floor, up until about 2005. Now the only place where you can see anything interesting in Bournemouth is CeX, a computer games shop that also sells old consoles, second hand laptops etc.
@Duke Hugh Johnson The trick is to find the independent/small label artists. Unfortunately, a lot of what I'm listening to is Touhou doujin "circles" and various Japanese trance/techno, most of which is released in limited runs on CD, often at Comiket. So that means finding the original CDs here in the US is highly unlikely, and ordering used CDs from Japan is going to be quite expensive. So my only option for buying them is through Booth, Bandcamp, etc. Which means downloaded media which you would just as readily play through the computer (or copy as MP3s to a USB stick for your car) rather than having to burn to CD or record to tape.
As for AutoTune; the purpose of it is to use a computer to compensate for a crappy human singer. I'd rather just remove the crappy human singer from the equation, and I listen to "Vocaloid" instead (my own favourite being Megurine Luka).
It's sad I Kno exactly what your saying though. It's all because of Walmart knocking everyone out the park. U can't compete with the prices as no more mom and pop shops. Flea markets are the only place to find gems like this. And yes u do still find them cause people haven't a clue in what they have. SMH dark days we live in dark days. 😥
Most Americans: "Why does he upload at such a weird hour?"
Me on Lunchbreak at my 3rd shift job: "Sweet, just what I needed for entertainment"
That whole time zone thing still gets some people. Its getting on to Saturday afternoon in the UK while its around 7:30 a.m. on the east coast of the U.S.
They can always use their VCR to time-shift the video and watch it latter.
I think we could just better abolish this time zone nonsense, so everyone just uses the same time. We could call it "Universal Time Coordinated" or something. 🕑
"Most Americans". So millions of people will watch this video and ask that question? Really? Pretty cringe my dude. I really can't wait for these meme comments to lose popularity.
@@BillBixby8888 Also waiting for people who say "my dude" to lose popularity.
Might this have been called a bookshelf system in the US? They are bookshelf-size speakers.
Indeed. I was heartbroken when my Sony bookshelf system (that was similar to this one) finally gave up the ghost.
The speakers were purpose built for the units, but are so good they are the mains for a hand me down set of components my daughter is using.
Sony gets the award for not forgetting about speaker quality at any budget level.
Absolutely. Picked up a mini hi fi system at a charity shop for about £12 and while it's probably no audiophile setup it sounds pretty decent.
It has both a CD drive and tape deck although without the remote if you want to record to cassette you have to do so via CD.
I did however have an issue with the CD drive not recognising disks but after adjusting the diode power everything worked fine!
Love the video!! Here, in the USA, I got big into MD about halfway through it’s hay day. Mic input was great for recording live music and portability was great for ripping a friend’s cd on the fly. There was a nice system similar to this however, I believe it was Sharp branded, available in my local electronics shops that I wish I would’ve purchased. It would made a nice little bedroom unit.