Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Good Questions: Small, Well-Designed Stereo?

Dear AT:Home Tech,

Can someone suggest a well-designed and simple home stereo, small, high design, decent sound, with a tuner and cd or dvd?

My mother-in-law would like something nice but we're having trouble finding anything.

Thanks,
Moo

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to: hometech(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)

Dear Moo,

A quick look at Target.com yielded Panasonic's 5-CD, 180 watt Micro System for $149.95. (Picture of system is by the question, above the jump.)

Then we placed a call to Crutchfield, where Bryce was on the ball and showed three possible options to us:

JVC's UX-EP25, which plays CDs loaded with MP3s or WMA files, and has 45 radio presets.

Onkyo's CS-V720 comes XM-satellite radio-ready, as well as plays a host of DVD and CD options.

Denon's S-81 does have quite as many options as Onkyo's, but is still XM-ready, is more powerful and tiny--check out the size compared with the remote.

Our own personal favorite site to drool over is Bang & Olufsen.

The BeoSound 3200 would be a great option because it also includes the ability to store up to 400 hours of music, and can be customized with your choice of speakers.

One other B&O option is the BeoSound 1, which allows you to customize the color of the encompassing front to one of 5 choices to match or blend into most decors.

Readers--any suggestions for Moo?

Good luck!
-AT:Home Tech

I bought an Insignia brand dvd/stereo from Best Buy, 2 speakers and a subwoofer, it's no bose but it's got good sound and was extremely affordable, small and good looking.

posted by Ana on April 11th 2007 at 4:13am
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TIVOLI MODEL 2

www.tivoliaudio.com

posted by matthew w on April 11th 2007 at 6:14am
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denon stereo w/ mission speakers.

posted by -kellen on April 11th 2007 at 8:32am
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Another vote for the Denon stereo with Mission speakers. I've had one for about 5 years and its still the best sound I've heard relative to its size.

posted by nylon on April 11th 2007 at 9:48am
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I've had a BeoSound 2300 (which seems to be an earlier version of the BeoSound 3200) for many years, and I'm quite happy with it. I didn't get Bang & Olufson speakers, though.

posted by Jeri Dansky on April 11th 2007 at 12:01pm
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Yup. Denon with Mission Speakers. I originally purchased one for my bedroom. But such a full rich sound from a bookshelf system that I ended up ditching my clunky components in the living room in favor of this system--with an addition of a subwoofer to fill out the bottom end sound.

posted by Enrique on April 11th 2007 at 8:08pm
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Good call on the additional woofer.....

that's it- three votes for Denon/Mission. shit's gold (literally, mine is in a gold finish).

posted by -kellen on April 12th 2007 at 12:02pm
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Tivoli Audio Music System:

http://www.tivoliaudio.com/images/P/MSYPIANO_main.jpg Looks wonderfull, sounds wonderfull

http://www.tivoliaudio.com/product.php?productid=244&cat=267&page=1

posted by AlexHoogeveen on April 12th 2007 at 1:06pm
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Bose Lifestyle 3-2-1 system does the trick for me.

2 speakers, a sub, a receiver with dvd/mp3/etc player. Sound bounces off walls yadda yadda yadda..

good product. Would be on bose's website.

posted by thisbmine on April 13th 2007 at 1:59am
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JVC Lifestyle Micro Systems are all excellent with great sound. Also the Cambridge Soundworks radios sound fantastic. B&O are incredible little systems but VERY expensive

posted by yippie on September 26th 2008 at 11:07am
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I can't recommend Bang and Olufsen enough. I have a couple of B&O systems, and they are fantastic. Beautiful in every regard.

I also cannot recommend AGAINST BOSE enough. Bose is a terrible, slimy organization who produces terrible, shapeless plastic garbage. Don't be sucked in.

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

That will explain all you need to know about how much Bose Blose.

posted by Citizen Gain on September 28th 2008 at 6:53am
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Yamaha Pianocraft Series...lookin nice, not that expensive and some very good sound for that price.
I have the e320 in white, can only recommend it. Nice feature: you can plug in usb sticks.

posted by Svennoe on September 28th 2008 at 10:18pm
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The Cambridge SoundWorks i765 is a hard system to beat. It's an iPod Dock/DVD player/fantastic radio/alarm clock and 2.1 system all in one sleek, small box. It's running about $300 these days. It used to sell for $500 new (I think!). Oh, and, yesh, stay away from BOSE ("No mids, no lows, must be Bose.")

posted by David ben-Avram on January 26th 2009 at 3:22pm
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For the price of a b&o you can piece together a phenomally good consumer music system (denon/onkyo/hk/etc... receiver with good NHT, Mission, Infinity, etc..bookshelves and optional subwoofer) that will far exceed b&o's products.

Bose is junk. Cambridge Soundworks has gone completely downhill these past 10 years. They are now junk as well. If you're the craigslist kind of person, there are plenty of high-quality used pieces that can be had for a song (audiophiles are like technogeeks that get the upgrade itch at least every season). Check audiogon.com as well as ebay.

posted by Thomas on July 18th 2009 at 3:45pm
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