Sony MHC-GX450 3-Disc CD Shelf System with Game Sync Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)...keep your expectations low!
For a cheap shelf system this Sony can certainly crank...BUT with an ungodly amount of distortion and resulting listener fatigue above 50% volume mainly due to the lousy speakers (typical of all shelf systems) and subwoofer. Keep in mind though that 90% of mass manufacturers like Sony, Phillips and Panasonic routinely inflate their watts-per-channel numbers to pull in the naive and uneducated consumer...Sony claims that the speakers do 125 wpc and the subwoofer 150 wpc but when you consider how quickly the sound distorts as you increase the volume, more realistic numbers would be closer to 40 wpc for the speakers and 70 wpc for the subwoofer. Still impressive compared to the shelf systems of just 10 years ago, which had no subwoofer and were barely pushing 15 watts per channel---but no comparison to what even the cheapest low-end component stereo system can do!
The subwoofer does not have its independent volume control so it does a good job as long as you stay well under 50% volume, go beyond that and it overpowers the music with its muddy boominess. At low to moderate volumes the subwoofer does a decent job, though. I ended up turning my subwoofer sideways away from the corner of the room where the shelf system sits, which did help to lessen the bucket-like boominess.
All of the above is normal at this price point, right? Well yes and no. Compared to similar offerings in this price range by Panasonic and Phillips (I won't even mention all the Walmart off-brands) this Sony more than holds its own---in fact if those were the only choices I'd take this one in a heartbeat.
HOWEVER...if you know where to look you can get a MUCH better component system for just an extra hundred bucks or so! Go to jandr dot com for entry level Onkyo or Sherwood stereo receivers under a hundred dollars, DVD/CD players like the Toshiba 3960 for fifty dollars and bookshelf speakers like the Polk R15 or JBL E20 for one hundred a pair. (As for a tape deck who on earth even uses cassettes anymore these days?) This setup by itself will already sound three times better than any all-in-one compact system costing three to four hundred dollars, even without a sub. If you must add a sub you can start with a cheap one hundred dollar Yamaha (or even better, a Dayton sub from partsexpress dot com) that will blow away this Sony's sub.
About the only justifiable reason to get any compact shelf stereo is if you are truly pressed for space and money, and if you only listen to music (not too closely) at low to moderate volumes.
With any compact system you will get a very limited range of sound-shaping options, for example this Sony only has 3 preset equalizer settings instead of allowing you to set bass and treble manually, and there is no balance control. Also because everything has to fit within a tiny little box, there is bound to be more electronic noise and interference in the signal as the miniaturized parts are crammed much closer together, which is why the sound becomes fuzzier the louder you play music, and the unit can heat up if pumped at high volumes over any extended period of time. Most importantly, there are much fewer connectivity options, meaning you can't hook up as many different things (video games, TV, VCR, PC, iPod, etc.) into the shelf system at the same time as you can into a standalone receiver...for instance with this Sony you only have one set of auxilary inputs.
So that's why I think the extra hundred or so dollars would be extremely well spent. But then again, if you absolutely cannot go over two hundred, this Sony is a very good choice in this class.

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Get the Hi-Fi features you want, but in a small package. The MHC-GX450 includes a 3 Disc CD Changer, CD-R/CD-RW and MP3 playback capability, 3-way main speakers with hybrid dual 5" woofers, Game Sync Mixing, dual cassette decks, and 30 station presets. Game Sync Mixing lets you control the volume of your music and game sounds, so you can get just the right mix. The CD-R/CD-RW and MP3 playback capability makes it possible to play your burned CDs and personal compilations, while the dual cassette decks add even more flexibility. And, the MHC-GX450 may be a Mini Hi-Fi system, but it still has 400 Watts of total power, with a 150 Watt Subwoofer.

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