Music in the cube. Philips microsystem overview

Something for a long time I did not publish reviews and did not hold contests with valuable prizes. It is time to fix it. So, today I am submitting to your judgment a post about the Philips MCM1055 microsystem. What is a micro system? In fact, it is a reduced music center from the 90s, with the ability to listen to music from flash drives and CDs. And compact, besides, it is not necessary to allocate a lot of space for it. All the details read under the cut. Well, at the very end of the post there is a competition in which you can get such a system for yourself home for everlasting use. The contest is over. Won RedShark

Appearance

So, what is meant by the name of the microsystem and why it is so called. If you remember the big audio centers that took up a lot of space, then you will understand that they were not very comfortable. Yes, they had powerful speakers, a control unit with the ability to listen to music from cassettes, and subsequently from mp3-disks. But our world is striving for minimalism and today to see such a music center with someone in the apartment is the same atavism as the CRT TVs. Yes, they are still there, but they are already dying.


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Specifications

• Main unit: single block system
• Optical drive: CD
• Speaker design: white
• Main unit design: white
• Speaker Set: 2.0
• Total Output Power (RMS): 24 W
• Front speaker power: 2x12 W
• The diameter of the speakers front speakers: 1x76 mm
• Loading / mechanic method: vertical on 1 disk
• Supported media: CD, CD-R, CD-RW
• Radio: FM
• Number of radio stations in memory: 20
• Inputs: stereo audio
• Outputs: headphones
• Interfaces: USB Type A
• Acoustic system: 140x143x198 mm
• Main unit: 140x143x210 mm
• Supported formats: WMA, MP3

In place of the old devices come new. So with the music. centers - they were replaced by small players, which were called microsystems. If you look at its size, it becomes clear that such a system will fit into any design and will take up very little space.



So, for example, this system is on the windowsill, occupying only its sixth part. Agree, compact, at least for her, you can definitely find a place at home.



The microsystem comes in two classic colors: white and black.



The microsystem consists of three elements of the same size. This is, accordingly, the main unit, which contains all the electronics and two columns. In general, everything is very simple. By the way, I apologize for being a little misleading. Elements are not made in the form of a cube, but in the form of a parallelepiped.



The columns are made the same, without any differences. They are made of white glossy plastic (which is difficult to photograph), pleasant to the touch. Alas, there are prints on the cases, so sometimes you have to wipe your “music box” to keep it intact.



Behind the speakers, too, everything is simple. A hole for resonance, 4 holes for the screws that hold the speaker in front, and the wire with which they can be connected to the main unit.



The main unit of the microsystem looks the same as the speakers, but with the only difference that the front panel is not a speaker, but control units. So, the control panel consists of 4 equal circles. In the upper left there is a screen with a bright blue backlight, which shows information about what is playing now. On the right is a circle with buttons for adjusting the volume and changing playback modes. Directly below it are the “Forward”, “Back”, “Play / Pause”, “Stop” buttons.



Well, at the bottom left there is a circle with a system power button, a flash drive connector, an infrared port and a 3.5mm port for connecting an MP3 player via cable (not included).



Since there is an infrared port, then there is a remote control. It, in principle, duplicates all those functions that are displayed on the front panel of the main unit of the system. But you must admit, it is much more pleasant to control the music without getting up from the sofa.



Naturally, there are ports for connecting wires from the speakers, a place for connecting the power cable, and a 3.5 mm port for connecting headphones. Strange, by the way, a place to connect headphones, but what can you do. And here comes the “tail” of the FM radio antenna.





Above is the CD receiver. So, if you decide to put this system in a column ( and yes you can, yes ), then the top unit should be the main one, otherwise you risk not opening the drive cover. Open the lid by pressing the right corner, in general, problems with this will not arise. It is a pity, of course, that there is only room for one disc, but stereo systems with three slots have long since sunk into oblivion.



In general, I liked the look of the system. Yes, the glossy surface and bright white color confuse a little, but these are trifles. Such a micro system will fit into the design of any interior, because white is a classic. Conveniently, you can put the blocks as you like: at least vertically, even horizontally, in general, the imagination is not limited by anything. And of course, the main advantage is compactness. At my place, for example, speakers from a computer take up twice as much space as this entire microsystem. But the quality of reproduction, of course, is different.

Opportunities

Let's now consider what features Philips has stuffed into this micro system. Naturally, it is not worth waiting for a warm tube sound from it, it is not here. But she can create a nice background or let her relax to the sound of Mozart. No wheezing or cod was noticed. Yes, there is practically no bass either, but they are not really needed. It is unlikely that you will listen to AC / DC on such a glamorous thing. A little later, however, it turned out that this system has a special feature that increases the number of bass.

Dynamic Bass Boost mode highlights the bass component of the music at any volume level with the touch of a button. Frequencies at the bottom of the bass range are usually lost at low volume. To avoid this, you can turn on the dynamic bass boost, then the sound will remain full even at low volume. Indeed, after turning on this mode, you can listen to music with bass, this is very cool. But to powerful systems with subwoofers, of course, does not hold out.

There is an equalizer in the micro system. It is a set of pre-configured modes: Jazz, Rock, Pop or Classic to optimize the sound for specific genres of music. Each mode uses a graphic sound equalization technology to automatically adjust the sound balance and underline the sound frequencies that are most important in the chosen music genre.

You can directly listen to music from an MP3 player. You just need to have a wire and a player, then connect the player with a cable to the MP3 Link connector. This is very convenient, because It is not necessary to record a USB flash drive with music, but you can simply listen to songs from your player.

The rest of the set of functions is standard. In general, the sound of the speakers satisfied me. Yes, the bass is not enough, the sound is not as “warm and lamp” as on large wooden speakers, but for its price the device plays very well.

Advantages and disadvantages

I liked the micro system itself. As with any product, there are pros and cons, and, very subjective. There is, by the way, this device around 2900 rubles. And for such a price you can forgive him a lot, even gloss, which I really don't like.

Stylish appearance
Wide range of features
Compactness
Good sound quality

No wireless connection
Glossy case

I would advise such a micro system to anyone who likes to listen to music at home, but who does not have a lot of money and space in the apartment to install a cool and powerful audio system. And in terms of price / quality ratio, this system is perfect. So, if you are ready to put up with some minuses, then it is for you.

PS Philips showed a lot of interesting new products at IFA in Berlin. I was pleased with the vintage radio. We must wait for release in Russia.

Competition with a prize

If you like this micro system, then now there is an opportunity to win this one to your home. So what do you need to do for this? The rules are very simple. You must tell why you need this micro system. The form of filing, the volume, in general, everything else choose yourself. If you want - you can write an essay or verse, if you want - you can draw a comic or take a photo in your room where the micro system will fit perfectly. You can even write a song. I limit only the topic and time. Dates: from September 4 to September 11 inclusive.

To make everything as transparent as possible, write all the entries in the comments (well, there you can text and pictures and video). Only at the end sign "For the competition." Thus, in a week (September 12), I and a Philips employee will collect all the comments and choose the most interesting. Its owner will receive a prize. Good luck!