Philips MCD908 Wow! Amp Micro Hifi System

Philips Valve Amp Micro Hifi System
Model: MCD 908


My Comment

Pros: This is a good-looking HTIB. Three-way speakers with high-gloss rosewood sides and black glass tops, same rosewood on the sides of the amp and player, an amber window backlit with a red LED highlighting the “glowing” tubes, and blue LED accents that turn on briefly when changing functions. Three way speakers look great without their grills. Compliments the high gloss black of my TV beautifully. Not true “audiophile” sound, but I think better than most comparable priced 5.1 HTIB in two channel mode. Great option for listening to the music channels on cable. I think the 720p picture quality over hdmi is first rate, but I haven’t compared it side by side with other players.

Cons: Big problem: Audible hiss with null input that is noticeable during playback of quiet passages. This is in the amplifier and not a ground loop. Too much effort into flash, not enough into designing a good power supply. The DVD playback hangs when doing a cold start at 720p; no problem with a warmed up system or at 480p. Single disc system without repeat play; eco-power turns system off if no input for 15 minutes. Doesn’t have the massive I/O of some systems; just one AUX input connected to the TV audio out. All sound from cable, VCR, etc must go through TV. No fake surround sound processor. Addition of a sub-woofer is essential for theater-like LFE with DVDs. 10 sec pre-heat for the tube amp before any sound. CD/DVD tray is flimsy, disks can be misaligned.

Other Thoughts: All-in-one solution to adding DVD & better audio to my small TV on built-in bookshelves. I have it teamed with a Sharp Aquos 20” LCD-TV and an Aperion Audio S8APR sub woofer. This isn’t a fake surround sound system, it’s a stereo with a sub woofer output. Amp & player combo is small, but the 3-way speakers are much larger than typical HTIB (make sure they’ll fit your space). This is a strange thing, with a tube pre-amp and a class D power amplifier. Red LEDs that slowly increase in intensity during the warm up (The tubes themselves don’t actually glow, just Chinese fakery). Up converts to 720p, which is fine for small screens. Sound for CDs is more musical than typical HTIB.

Feature

- Premium Hi-Fi tubes for perfectly pure and natural sound
- Class 'D' digital amplifier for quality sound performance
- Picture enhancement: High Def (720p, 1080i),Video upsampling,Video upscaling
- Playback Media: DivX,DVD+RW,DVD-Video,Picture CD,Video CD/SVCD
- Playback Media: WMA-CD,MP3-CD,CD,CD-R,CD-RW
- Picture compression format: JPEG
- Neodymium Ribbon Tweeter for impressive audio fidelity
- Dome mid range speakers and woofer for crystal clear sound
- Gold-plated speaker connector for finest signal transmission
- 2x75W RMS/ 2x150W music power
- Video Output - Analogue: Composite CVBS (yellow cinch),S-Video (on Hosiden),Scart
- HDMI out for digital high-definition video and digital audio
- 12-bit/108MHz video processing for sharp, natural images
- Main Speaker: 3 way,Ribbon tweeter,Dome mid range,5" woofer,Gold-plate speaker connectors,Speaker grilles detachable
- Tuner Bands: FM Stereo,MW

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