Good Value In A Boombox
Written: Dec 16 '02 (Updated Dec 23 '02)
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Pros: Digital tuner; good size
Cons: Average sound
The Bottom Line: This is the boombox if ease-of-use is important... you can find better sound with other units.
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| pvreditor's Full Review: Aiwa CSD-TD901 Cassette/CD Boombox |
It's the time of the year for Christmas shopping and it can be almost impossible to decide what to get for some people. I have an aunt and uncle who are elderly and have trouble seeing and getting out -- what do I get for them?
It's a long shot but I thought they might like the music that they grew up with, including that wonderful big band stuff of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as the great singers like Sinatra, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.
Unfortunately, while this music is readily available on CD, my aunt and uncle do not have a CD player. Thus began my quest to find a CD boombox that was reasonably attractive in a conservative way and -- most important -- was very easy to use. After searching, the Aiwa CSD-TD901 was the best choice for this gift.
The Aiwa CSD-TD901 is a conventional-looking boombox in a case of medium-gray plastic. It has a carrying handle that folds down around the CD well and a folding antenna that hides on the back of the unit. The overall size is not nearly as huge as some boomboxes are but it's not one of those cute purple jellybean units, either.
The CD well is on top and its cover pops up smoothly with a press on a corner of the cover. The well is a little deep and I'm a bit concerned that loading CDs might be tricky for hands that are not as steady as they used to be. But other boomboxes were similar or had other possible failings in this regard.
A cassette player is on the front of the CSD-TD901 and this door also pops open smoothly with a press of the "stop/eject" button. The cassette mechanism is very basic... there are no Dolby noise reduction or auto-reverse features to deal with.
What really attracted me is the simplicity of the CSD-TD901's controls. The controls are also well-marked with decent contrast, something very few other boomboxes had.
The on/off switch on top of the unit is clearly marked and right next to it is a decently sized rotary volume control, just like the controls that my aunt and uncle are used to. Once a CD is loaded, the big round button on the right side of the front panel starts the CD playing. The two rectangular buttons on the front panel are for skipping forward and backward among the tracks. This arrangement -- big round button to play and two rectangular buttons to jump tracks -- seemed like the best ergonomic choice among the many CD players I looked at.
The CSD-TD901 has two front-firing three-inch speakers of average fidelity. There is a bass boost switch, which I found necessary to engage to improve the somewhat boxy sound.
FM reception is very good with the antenna extended and the unit can tune to the audio carrier for TV Channel 6. (This is at 87.75 MHz.) The radio seemed very sensitive, which is a good thing.
Sound quality of the cassette player was okay... it was nothing special but at least there was no obvious flutter with piano music. The CSD-TD901 will play CD-R disks with no problem, although it does not play MP3 files.
The unit does not have a lot of power. I found that I had to turn the volume control up about halfway to get a decent level with the unit about three feet away on my kitchen table. This left ample reserve for the kind of volume that my aunt and uncle are likely to use. (Let's face it... these were the kind of people who were always telling me, "Turn it down!")
The CSD-TD901 comes with a power cord for standard AC power operation and it can also be powered by batteries. I did not try the batteries but the Aiwa worked perfectly from the power cord.
To summarize, the CSD-TD901 is a fairly traditional CD boombox with clear, easy-to-use controls and average sound quality. The unit was on sale at Best Buy for $40, which translates to a very good value for a name-brand boombox with a CD player and a digital FM tuner. This unit is a very good choice for a younger child or for the older adult.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
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