5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Sony CFD-SO1
Date of Review: Feb 5, 2008
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a CD and Cassette combo, this is it. Radio is poor quality. I would not buy it if radio is important.
The CFD-SO1 has a remarkable set of features that are not offered by other manufacturers. The fact that it has both a CD and cassette along with the AM/FM radio was a feature I was looking for. The incredible low price for all of this was another plus.
BUT, you get what you pay for.
The biggest negative is the radio section. The AM/FM tuners are poorly designed. This was a thrown together bunch of parts that resulted in poor reception and terrible selectivity performance. It was difficult to receive medium powered stations and when I tuned to higher power stations they would be heard up and down the dial.(Poor selectivity) My tiny Sony Walkman can pull in AM stations as far as 1500mi (night) with excellent selectivity. Sony would have been better off to utilize the Walkman tuner design and produce a superior boom-box radio.
Sony customer service only offered several obvious suggestions on how to improve the reception (i.e. positioning the radio, extending the antenna, distant/local switch, and using the headphone wire to improve the FM signal)None of this worked.
Sony went on to explain that the limited warranty does not cover reception issues!! And, no offer to refund the purchase.
The poor radio design has resulted in a mediocre product;something we are seeing in this new world society-The acceptance of mediocracy in everything .
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