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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