Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony CMT-SPZ90DB Micro Hifi System - With DAB Radio and Cassette Deck

We bought this system to hook up to a DVD player and provide a bit more "oomph" to the pathetic built-in speakers of our telly when watching films, as it seemed that surround sound systems were either too expensive or had a lot of untidy cables to trail around the room.

Delivery was prompt, but when unpacking the stereo I was a bit concerned about the cheap plasticky finish of the unit. I would expect better from a £170 (on Sony's site) bit of Sony kit. There were also a few problems, which I list below;

1. We live in a reasonably weak area for radio reception, and could only pick up one or two stations with our previous stereo. This stereo picks up more than our last stereo with it's FM tuner, but it's still not great at tuning into things (other stereos around the house do a better job). The RDS system is handy though.

2. However in common with some reviewers we have had numerous problems with the DAB radio. Doing a scan for channels will result in no services found one minute, then about ten (which all sound like they're being broadcast from underwater) the next minute with no repositioning of the aerial. I would write this off as a problem with the unit, but have no idea whether it's the area so am giving it the benefit of the doubt - still, I couldn't recommend this unit as a DAB radio especially in a poor signal area. And yes, we did plug the aerial in properly and even tried the manual's suggestion of turning off the "CD power", whatever that is.

3. As other reviewers have commented, this is chock-full of pointless proprietary Sony connectors. The aerial lead socket is proprietary, so you can't buy a better aerial. The speaker sockets are also proprietary, which leads me to my next point.

4. The speaker wires are really, really short. Having read some other reviews I got the impression that they were trying to position the speakers quite far apart, or something, but no they really are short. Unless you want the speakers immediately either side of the unit, you'll need an extension and because the speaker connectors are proprietary you can't just go to Maplins and buy one. In fact I've had enormous difficulty finding any for sale anywhere, including from Sony - and the cheapest extension I could find was 5m for £16. One of the other reviews says you can also make your own using off-the-shelf components from Maplin but this will involve cutting the speaker cable of one of the speakers from what I can tell.

5. The line in socket is on the front of the unit. There are no connections on the back except the two speaker sockets and aerial socket. If you want to connect this unit up to anything apart from an MP3 player this might be a problem if you mind cables sticking out of the front of your unit. However we can connect it to our DVD player fine, albeit with the cable sticking out of the socket on the front.

Generally, sound quality is reasonably good and the CD/radio work as expected. I haven't used a cassette tape for years so couldn't comment on the performance of this part.

If you want a cheapish but reasonably powerful DAB stereo and live in a good signal area, this might suit your needs, however there are probably competing products just as good for a similar price or cheaper.

Regarding the issues with the digital channels. I had the same problem with the unit only tuning into about five digital radio channels, even though the local tv/radio transmitters can be seen from the window of the room it was in. I contacted Sony customer care who said the unit was probably faulty and to ask Amazon for an exchange, which I did - this replacement unit is fine and tunes into all the available local and national digital radio channels. I can only advise anyone who is experiencing problems to contact Sony customer care as they were very helpful and knowledgable about their product!

i brought this micro for my dad who mainly uses it to listen to dab radio and listening to old music, so i put it through a few tests using various modern Cd's including mp3s, i have to say i was very impressed with the clarity of the sound of the Cd's, which it played in great detail. The speakers reproduce the sound brilliantly, i myself have a £700 Cambridge audio hifi azur 640 and the dab tuner on the Sony picked up more dab stations then on my Cambridge hifi. overall i would recommend this item you get a lot for your money, the 2x50 watts will be enough for most average rooms, the build quality is very good to and you also have a line in socket at the front so you can play your mp3 or md player through the unit. Also comet have this unit for sale at £175 so your saving yourself £45 buying it from amazon.

Great value stereo, bursting with features and phenomenal sound quality for such a compact unit. No problems with DAB signal; I can receive all stations available in my area (about 25) clear as crystal. Extremely glad I liberated some moths!

I also read the reviews, but bought it in January anyway.Some DAB stations seem to be broadcast from underwater, but I get all the ones I wanted, and many I never knew existed.I think the sound is great, and fills my 15ft by 13ft lounge on medium volume. Love the facility to alter Bass and Treble. I wish I could connect my separate record player, as I could on my old cheap Sanyo unit, but this is a small sacrifice to pay for the far superiour quality.I get a strong DAB signal, so perhaps I'm lucky.