Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My son has recently become interested in music, and has been listening to local radio stations on his clock radio when getting ready for school in the morning, and before bed at night. The last few months have demonstrated that this is more than a passing phase, so we decided to get him an actual stereo for his birthday. We wanted something relatively small, with radio / CD / Bluetooth, with two speakers, and decent enough sound to last him from his pre-teens through college - or whenever he was old enough to appreciate the sound of a better system, and go earn enough money to buy one. I had no idea what mini component systems cost nowadays, but I did have a budget in mind of around $100-200. I was willing to spend less if stereos had become such a commodity that good ones could be had for a song, or perhaps a bit more if I found a significantly better "adult" model that would really last him for a long time. As it turns out, cheap stereos are cheap, and good stereos are expensive. Surprisingly, there wasn't much competition in the segment of the market where this Yamaha MCR-B020BL model sits. There were a lot of lower-end models that had similar specs for around half the price as the Yamaha. The ones I saw in-person had a you-get-what-you-pay-for sound and build quality, with commensurate reviews online. Most of those also seemed to have a 1980s, bigger-is-better boom box motif that favored excessively large plastic parts and garish aesthetics designed for impressing impressionable onlookers with their heft. On the other end of the spectrum, there were small units for more discerning listeners - and even veritable audiophiles - with audio capabilities that increased linearly, and price tags that increased exponentially. In the sweet spot where I was looking, there were really only two stereos to choose from: this Yamaha MCR-B020, and the Onkyo CS-265. The Yamaha seemed to be a new model at the time I was shopping, so I found no reviews of it. After reading the user manuals for both the Yamaha and Onkyo, and reading many reviews of the latter, I ultimately chose the Yamaha for a variety of factors that I won't itemize here. I will, however, include my list of pros and cons for the Yamaha MCR-B020: PROS + Great value, as measured by functionality and build quality relative to the sale price, as one would expect of a Yamaha audio product + Small size; big enough enclose its functional parts, without excess + Two speakers that you can place right next to the receiver for an all-in-one look, or separate more widely for a better stereo experience + FM / AM radios, with antennas. Note that the North American model does have an AM radio, even though some descriptions of the unit say that it's FM-only. + CD player (1 disc) + Bluetooth connectivity - and Bluetooth 4.0, in particular. I wanted a stereo system that my son could use for playing songs from his tablet. We have all of our CDs ripped to our mobile devices, and he's also discovered YouTube and Pandora. I've been a long-time Bluetooth hater due to its abysmal performance in many of my personal and work devices, but since Bluetooth 4 came out, I've changed my tune. I specifically wanted a stereo with Bluetooth 4, and this one has it. + Remote control, including sleep timer and alarm. I wanted to set the stereo up across the room, facing the bed, for listening in the morning and night. The remote makes it easy to enjoy when lounging in bed, as do the sleep timer and wake-up alarm feature. + Large enough display screen to use as a clock. When playing music, the words on the display are too small to be read from across the room. This is fine, and reasonable for a compact system such as this. Fortunately, when you turn the stereo off, the entire display turns into a large clock which is easily visible from across the room. This feature allowed us to reclaim some of the limited shelf space that was being occupied by a clock radio and repurpose it for housing this stereo. + Simple controls. This is particularly true of the onboard buttons and dials; they're appropriately simple, and obvious for a child or non-technical person to use. Note, however, that many of the features are available from the remote only. I find the remote easy-to-use too, but just realize that you'll need to hang on to the remote, even if you don't use it frequently, to do things like auto-program the tuner. + 1/8" stereo and USB inputs. You can also connect devices via a 1/8" stereo port on back, or a USB port on top. We probably won't use these much, given the availability of the Bluetooth connectivity, but I like to have a wired option on all of my speakers/receivers, just in case. I'm sure this stereo will outlast the current Bluetooth spec, if not Bluetooth itself, and it'll be nice to be able to use it as a general-purpose audio amplifier in the distant future. CONS - Boomy bass. My only real complaint about the MCR-B020 is that it has that typical ported-speaker, boomy bass sound. There's a lot of low / low-mid sound, but it's muddy. Yamaha does a fine job of coaxing a decent sound out of a single, affordable 4" driver in each speaker, but physics ultimately how good the system is going to sound. This is a great stereo for what it is, and fits perfectly with our intended application / budget. If you're looking for hi-fi performance, though, you're going to have to spend more. - No RDS or manual labeling for radio stations. Our big receiver in living room allows us to label the tuner presets with the station name / call letters / etc. so we see those instead of the frequency when scrolling through stations. It's a nice feature that I wish the MCR-B020 had, but not a big deal that it's absent. - Black only, in North America. The MCR-B020 seems to come in several colors, but apparently the North American model is available in black only, at least at the time of purchase. Again, it looks like this model is brand new right now, so maybe the options will broaden as time goes on. - Mono-only when manual tuning. Per the documentation, the FM tuner only yields a mono output when manually tuning. For whatever reason, you need to use preset tuning to get stereo output. Over the past few weeks, it seems that we use the preset tuning almost exclusively. So, in practice, this isn't an issue (for us). I was just caught off-guard by this limitation, and figured I'd mention it here. Overall, the Yamaha MCR-B020 is a great stereo system for the price. It's feature-rich and solidly-built, yet still simple to use and affordable. The sound is big (albeit a bit bassy) and the physical size is small. It's by far the best of the entry-level systems that I tried (though I didn't get to hear an Onkyo CS-265 in person). At this price point, the market for mini component stereo systems is pretty thin, with more options to be had in the cheaper and the more expensive segments. Fortunately, the MCR-B020 finds a sweet spot that meets our son's needs today, and will certainly find a use as a secondary system as he grows into better audio equipment over the years. I would recommend this stereo unreservedly to others with similar needs.