Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Back in the mid-90s I invested nearly $500 on a sweet new Sony which filled the new niche of "bookshelf stereo system"; a genre that is all too familiar in 2008. When that Sony gave up the ghost in the early 2000s I went looking for a replacement, only to met with the shock of discovering that the design aesthetic of the mid-90s (matte black and reserved) had been replaced by a new style which appears to be cobbled together from the gayest (meant with love, Robo et al), most flamboyent Transformer robots in existence and the loudest Basketball shoes.... I mean, these things are cartoons of Monster Funny Cars.... they have HUGE RED KNOBS, plastic piping that looks like it's supposed to represent a racecar manifold, throbbing graphics meant to induce retinal bleeding, and more buttons than bare chassis.
WHAT happened to the clean, high-end look for these mid-priced systems, and is there any hope out there for people who can't afford the giant component pieces? At this point in time I'm unlikely to buy anything at all, but if systems like my old Sony did still exist it could've led me to make a impulse purchase.... but it sure won't be the "Super Haraoke Glowbot System of Electric Happiness Loud Loud"... I barfed when I tried to look at it straight-on... I think it MADE me epileptic, which just isn't right. ... |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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You wouldn't happen to be checking out the offerings at Best Buy, would you? Because I've had the same experience. Some of it just defies description.
Unfortunately, anything that the marketing people think hits a certain demographic (young, not looking to spend a lot of money, "hip" in the particularly horrible way marketing people mean) seems to share that esthetic. There are a couple of really practical, versatile cars on the market that I might consider if their interiors didn't seem designed to make Red Bull crazed 13 year old boys go "Aaaaawwwweeeessssssommmmme." Honda? Enormous purple digital speedometer shoved half way up into my field of view? WTF? Anyway, Yamaha, Onkyo, and Panasonic all make some reasonably low key models. This Yamaha, for instance, isn't super cheap but doesn't seem to think you're planning to use it for the sound track for your You Tube dance performances. I have a friend with this Onkyo (actually, a prior model that had a really nice looking "wood" finish, that, apparently, is truly gone) and it sounds pretty good. For some reason Sony, once the king of purposeful looking industrial design, seems to have glommed onto the speed racer thing with a vengeance. That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
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I like that Onkyo. I would actually get that set up and the iPod dock instead of getting something like the Bose setup for the iPod.
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OK Mr. Sunshine!
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Toronto
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
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I was going to bring up Yamaha too, which is the only company I can think of still doing nice mini hi-fi systems. Their models may not be outright beautiful, but they're not abominations like the systems you likely saw.
I think the market for classy-looking "hi-fi systems in a box" has simply disappeared. In the early nineties people who weren't all that interested in music or sound bought these things for their homes simply to do something with their disposable income. CDs were the new thing, the technology was sexy, and the music industry hadn't been killed/changed by the internet. Those people are now instead buying big televisions and dreadful surround-sound home theatre systems (with nice design). The people who now buy mini hi-fi systems are teenagers who want something loud for their bedroom. Ergo, it has to be cheap and tacky. Audiophiles go straight to component systems and niche brands. Quote:
This Sony PCM-D50 digital recorder costs about 500 bucks, has quieter preamps than anything below a Sound Devices 702 (thanks to four independently powered circuit boards), and in my opinion is beautifully designed and made: Sony's S-series MP3 players have great design and great sound. Their one remaining MiniDisc model is beautiful too: As are the MDR-EX500 in-ear headphones: |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Sony does still make some great things. But they also have a lot of really bad designs like:
Stereo? Or are are they washing machines? Or this thing that probably came out of the Star Wars droid factory: Hehe? "Xplod!!" A lot of the Sony products that integrate with iPods seem to be designed with sleeker lines. I think these new designs are just a reflection of the newer generation of equipment buyers. Outside of iPods, I haven't bought ANY Audio products for several years. These newer folks seem to like all this robo-look an everything. They are the ones buying the new gear so Sony is just answering them not me, because of my age (42)... Its capitalism... JTA |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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Dorian Gray: Yep, that's the kind of Sony stuff I was thinking of. Not always the easiest to figure out how to use, but a very pleasing, no-nonsense kind of vibe. Funny, I was thinking that I've seen some really hideous Sony items lately, but when I went looking I couldn't really find any. Maybe I was hallucinating.
However, in my experience Sony's quality control has gone completely to hell, and you'll be lucky to get 6 months of service out their average consumer item. The decline of Sony is a whole other thread, but they really need to cut back on the number of different things they make, clarify the choices they offer in each category (how many ear buds and headphones do they make? 1,000?) and make sure stuff is reasonably robust. For starters. EDIT: Oh, hey, there are the nasty ones, snuck in right above while I was posting. Yeah, those. I thought you were better than that, Sony-- those look like no name Walmart specials. That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Addabox, those are EXACTLY what I'm looking for and the prices aren't at all past what I'm willing to spend! The saddest thing is that my Sony still sits exactly where it was because I couldn't bear to get rid of the proof that I'd once owned a really nice gizmo
Kind of like living with the mummified remains of a relative or something.... If I'm going to make broad, sweeping, controversial word decisions like that I need to go all the way!!! [edit] Thanks Johnny!! those are exactly the juvenile designs I saw today!! ::barf:: ... |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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You know, I'm moved to post a picture of the single greatest piece of now completely obsolete tech ever made: The Sony TCD5-M:
Super high quality, super rugged portable cassette deck. I think it cost about $500, which was a piece of change for its day. I used one for wild (non-sync) location sound, in another life. A joy to use. That was the Sony that was. (stares ruminatively off into space) That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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I shot the sherrif.
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I know this is a crazy suggestion in this day and age, but have you thought about looking to have the Sony you currently own repaired? If just a single component/resistor failed it might not be that expensive, and would be a higher quality item than you're going to find without spending a fortune.
Google is your frenemy. Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Melbourne
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This is what they've got listed on their US website under Micro Systems...
CMT-BX20i $130 CMT-BX1 $100 The website also has free ground shipping on orders over $100 . |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Now, now. Not all of Sony's stereos are fugly. Some of their more compact (dare I say..."bookshelf"?) systems actually look quite nice. Observe:
Of course, it does appear to have a purple display. I'm not sure if you could handle it, drew. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Ooh that is a nice looking system... They sure have a huge array of products.
JTA |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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What are people's experience with the longevity of Sony's consumer stuff, these days? I swore off them a while back after having yet another nice looking piece of kit stop working after less then a year. Well, that and one of the most horrific repair experiences I've ever grimly endured.
That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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I've actually had more problems with Apple gear than with Sony gear. Maybe I'm just unlucky. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
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My wife's Sony Vaio 10" laptop lasted for about four year before dying. It may be fine now. I still haven't had time to check it with another power supply... During that four years it worked perfectly aside from the fact that it had Windows running on it...
JTA |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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It's been a while since I've hazarded any Sony stuff, so they may have well gotten that particular act together.
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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What was it that broke, by the way? The way you described it (with a horrible repair and all) makes me think it might have been a camera? In that case, I should probably mention that my experience with Sony's cameras is sort of limited (I've been fiercely loyal to my Digital Elphs for years). It could be that every Sony camera that's not a cameraphone (or the Webbie HD <3 <3) is a steaming pile of shit, for all I know. But their video stuff seems to get pretty good reviews, and like I've said - I've never really regretted buying any of the other Sony products I've used.
In fact, the opposite is probably true. Whenever I decide to save money and not buy a Sony product (see: my first HDTV ), I will regret it. And not just eventually, but almost immediately. So maybe it's not that Sony is all that great, but that everybody else just sucks. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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The tipping point for me was a camcorder, but at the time I was buying a lot of audio and video gear (cameras, various sound recorders, video monitors, etc.) for a school, and the stuff just didn't hold up. This was a good 15 years ago, so they may have been going through a bad patch.
The camcorder repair involved a Sony service center taking the camera apart, deciding it had sand in it, putting it back together the wrong way, then refusing to do anything about it because once they had determined it had sand in it they wouldn't "guarantee the repair." I had the most surreal series of conversations at the far end of tear your face off phone trees about how sand really didn't have any bearing on misassembling the back plane so the camera couldn't be focused anymore, with the Sony rep just endlessly repeating "sir, we found sand in the unit and cannot guarantee the repair, that's Sony's policy." I finally just blurted out "Holy fucking shit, are you retarded?", and got hung up on. Thus ended my relationship with Sony and her doings. That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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But the early nineties were a pretty shitty time for electronics (NeXT eXcepted.) It's funny to see which companies were taken totally off-guard by the rise of the internet, though and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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9" monochrome
Join Date: May 2004
Location: 🇦🇺
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
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I don't need this kind of system, but I think it could be quite nice for a dorm room environment:
Squeezebox Boom |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Just buy a set of Klipsh 2.1's.
You will never go back. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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I like the Klipsch as well, but I think drewprops was looking for an all in one, CD+tuner type shelf system, or maybe something with an iPod dock.
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Yep. The all-in-one-but-nice setup is what I was thinking of... and even the units we've seen from Yamaha and Onkyo haven't seemed to have the same degree of control as this old Sony (which, to answer an earlier questions, no, I haven't had looked at by a repair shop because I just don't hold much hope from repair shops).
My old Sony is sitting across from me right now. It has two mini-components: the lower half is a dual cassette deck and the top half is the radio tuner and CD player. Between the top and the bottom mini-components there are tons of buttons... far more than I've seen on any of these other units!! Here are some of the buttons and controls visible on the front of this thing:
And I'm sure there are a few more on the remote! ... |
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Travels via TARDIS
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Earthsea
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tl;dr.
Seriously, what the hell. That's way too much crap in one system. I don't have a bookshelf system, but I'm quite happy with my Harman/Kardon receiver that I use to drive my other speakers. Unfortunately, it's a lot larger than the "bookshelf" form factor I'm sure you seek, but at leaset the interface is manageable/pleasant. The display even dims when you're not working with it, so all you see is the glow of its power indicator. Apparently I call the cops when I see people litter. |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Dallas
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How about Tivoli? I have a Model One and I love it.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
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Slightly different form factor, but there's this guy from Cambridge Sound Works:
DVD/CD, AM/FM radio with alarm, iPod dock, lots of buttons! It even has a video out. Not bad looking, either. EDIT: The Tivoli is great but kinda spendy by the time you get to stereo models with CD. That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated |
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