Panasonic SC-PM86D

Good – At $400, the flexibility of this system is fantastic, the sound is great (and yes you can crank it pretty loud without distortion, the speakers are so small you wonder where all that bass comes from!), so overall I rate this very highly, especially considering the relatively minor cons listed above. Good in your bedroom, or in your lounge (given… Read more

no better alternative). Surprisingly powerful sound for such a little unit. Also very flexible with DVD output, we use the unit all the time either for music or movies. Best of all, everything works and nothing has broken yet!! Remote works fine. USB port for mp3s is handy. Build quality seems very good. USB port only takes mem sticks, it's a pity you can't hook a laptop straight into the port. Also occasionally doesn't recognise memory sticks, may take an insert or two to get it going. Slightly confusing menu structure (TV display) and slightly unusual alarm set procedure, but you get used to it. Stereo display is fairly minimal, still can't decide if that's a plus or a minus - but it would be nice to have the option to show some more details. Also, even on "flat" equaliser settings, sound is a bit bass heavy - probably wouldn't bother most people though, but small speakers have obviously been engineered to amplify low frequency sounds the most. DVD video output has lower dynamic range than television signals (black is more like a dark grey), but this may be due to the TV inputs - haven't had chance to swap TV or DVD player to compare.