Sony CMTCX5BIP 40 Watt Slim Hi-Fi System with iPod/iPhone Dock and DAB/DAB+ - Black

Excellent value, neat and compact, good sound quality for the price (but no better than a 20 year old Panansonic portable unit which it was bought to replace, though in fairness that cost £100 more then!)
The remote control is rather poor, though. It feels cheap and nasty in the hand, the buttons are small and the whole thing is completely unintuitive. I mean what on earth does 'Tool Menu', 'Clear' or 'EQ' mean?. Come on Sony, you can do better than that - why not have buttons marked 'CD' and 'DAB' and 'FM'. And you can't eject a CD from the remote - that would have been useful for an item which is supposed to be wall mounted - mine is to high to see the buttons so I have to guess. With a well thought out remote made of nicer plastic this product would have been a winner and worth five stars.

Sony CMTX5BIP Micro System :
I wanted a good sound system for the kitchen, and this fitted the bill - CD player, DAB,and Ipod dock all in one smallish box. I bought it in white(well, Sony call it white, but it's actually silver)and it's a classy-looking piece of kit, with nice, rounded lines.
Took me a while to set it up, as the speaker cables are not very long, so I had to cut them, splice in some more speaker wire, and run it around the walls. I wall- mounted the main unit and the speakers,- easy enough to do, and they look good. This done, I switched it on, and the radio tuned itself in. I set it to a station, turned up the volume, and stood back to listen. The sound is very impressive -rich, clear and dynamic, and no DAB reception problems. There is a loudness switch which boosts base and treble response, and this works well, adding some oomph to the music. The volume and clarity of sound would be ample for a large room, and in a smallish kitchen, it's terrific. Cds sound very good too. I haven't tried the ipod dock yet (I actually prefer CDs)but if the radio and CD player are anything to go by, it should sound good. The display is easy to read, and it comes with a remote control - very useful when you want to change stations and fry eggs at the same time!

I have long been a fan of Sony equipment, mainly for it's technical expertise rather than it's innovative design but wow did I get a surprise when I opened the box of their new CMT-Cx5BiP micro system, which I will just call the 'system' from now on.Instead of the usual cube this micro unit seems to have been inspired by a wedge shape with curved flat faces and that includes the speakers too. The system as supplied is finished in off-white and can be stand or wall mounted. It will look very well in my conservatory especially as Sony describe it as a 'second room' system.

The main unit measures approx. 20 inches square by 4 inches at the base. About 2 inches from the top is a sloping panel carrying the push button controls and iPod dock, the space above this sloping panel used for the display panel. The system allows you to access both DAB and FM radio broadcasts, standard CD material and MP3 CD's, iPod playback and there is an additional input at the back to allow signals from other line-level sources to be used.

The speakers are the same height as the main unit and approx 9 inch wide. The front is covered in material the same colour as the main unit and when placed alongside it the system looks a single unit.

Setting up is a simple process of connecting the speakers, the wire aerial and the mains unit which is a rectangular box similar to a laptop power supply. The remote control requires 2 'AA' sized batteries which are not supplied.

Switch the unit on, either on the main unit or with the remote and it enters 'demonstration' mode which consists of scrolling text on the display. This can be cancelled by pressing the display button on the remote. Set the clock, and tune in the DAB and FM stations which is a very simple affair if you allow the unit to do it automatically. Both DAB and FM have 20 presets each and while I saved the FM stations I found it just as easy to scroll through the DAB stations till I found the one I wanted. To play a CD it is inserted vertically into the slot with the label facing you, once the table of contents are loaded the material can be played as is the norm. MP3 CD's are handled in a similar manner with the option of being able to navigate through folders. Pressing the 'eject' button causes the CD to rise vertically from the body of the unit which is quite a novelty in itself. Inserting an iPod onto the connector, an assortment of iPod adaptors are supplied with the unit, causes the unit to display 'connecting' which appears to take a little longer than the norm. Playback can be initialised via the remote, indeed I was pleasantly surprised to find the remote allowed me to navigate through the menus on my iTouch, something that my far more expensive Bose Soundock won't.

Now to the crunch, sound quality, and again I must admit I was surprised. The sound was detailed whilst lacking a little in the bottom reaches but given the supplied speakers delivered far more than I was expecting. If the control unit was paired with a pair of decent budget speakers I'm sure the sound would be even better, that's something I will try later, but for a 'second room' system it is more than adequate. The system also goes loud and without distortion or introducing rattles into the speaker systems.

A couple of little niggles, it would have been nice if the speakers could be attached to the main unit which would allow it to be moved easily and I found the layout of the remote a little confusing, indeed there are a couple of buttons I haven't tried yet!

Overall, very impressed, from the originality of the design, the features it offers and the sound quality. In fact a couple of friends popped round last night, saw it and went home to order one for themselves. Enough said.