Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony CMT-EP313 Executive Microsystem with Single CD Player

I live in an apartment so I am limited by not only size but also by the level of loudness I can extract from my stereo. I have only had a boombox for quite some time until I purchased this unit. My furniture, for the most part, is maple so this system fit well with my general decor. I have shopped for systems for sometime and then stumbled upon this one. Generally, in regards to what I have seen, I am either pleased with appearance and disappointed by the audio or vice versa. This system made the cut on both counts.
I have the speakers separated and while I can understand folks that may wish to keep them together I would say that for the best sound you need to space them apart.
Another thing that is great is the analog input. I have all my video components (TV, DVD/VCR, GameCube) all routed through the stereo if I wish to listen to it that way. So while it is not 5.1 or 6.1 sound it is a definite improvement over my TV's speakers.
The only negative thing I could say is that the tone control is very limited. You can only bump up the treble and/or bass by three "clicks". To counter that the DSG feature adds a nice depth to the sound.
For 100 bucks you cannot go wrong...and it looks smart.

I'm a college student and didn't have a lot of money to spend on an expensive system. This one was cheap and it looks really good. The sound is great and it doesn't overwhelm my small room. Easy to use, easy to set up (including the clock, that is if you can read the manual) and the remote is bigger than a credit card, thank god. The display is orange and small, so it doesn't light up my entire room when I try to go to sleep with it on. A Perfect Circle sounds amazing right now as I am typing up this review.

Only 4 stars because I wanted a changer, and this only takes 1 cd. Also, the tape player just pisses me off. Who needs a tape player? Minor things.

I've had stereo components for over 15 years, really good ones, too. But I don't have a whole lot of time to spend cleaning cords anymore, plus I live in an apartment. I can't really turn my stereo way up in an apartment. Well, I *could* if I was a big ol' jerk, but I really try not to be...

I was buying a new TV and picked this up on the spur of the moment. I got it for $89, I figured I couldn't go wrong. I didn't know how right it was going to be. I put a 20 year old tape (Purple Rain!) in the cassette player and it sounded better than it did in my old TEAC dual cassette deck. I put a couple of classical CDs on, and I thought the sound was wonderful. I have a recording of Barry Tuckwell playing some Czerny pieces, and both the horn and piano parts sounded crystal clear. So far, I can't find anything wrong with it, I even get better reception with the radio than I did with my JVC receiver.

I haven't tried the clock portion, but I didn't even care about the clock when I bought it.

I think this is a handy solution for a person who wants to save space and simplify, AND have high quality sound on the stereo.

I've had this system for a week now and I really like it. The sound is good and the price can't be beat. It really is small enough to fit on a bookshelf. I agree with a previous reviewer that you do have to separate the speakers to get the best sound. I don't know what problem a couple of reviewers have had with the clock, but my 11-year-old daughter set the clock with no problem and I found it very easy to reset. AM and FM reception are both very good. I like the fact that you can use the timer to tape programs off the air. For someone who wants a small system and/or inexpensive system, but with good sound, this is an excellent choice.

I've bought a sony stereo before and loved it. This one looks really sharp but the sound just didn't sound good. It was kind of hollow and hissy. Nothing sounded as good as it should. So I ended up spending more to get a much better sound. It really failed at higher volumes especially, although even low ones weren't right.