Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you actually read the reviews on this item, rather than just counting the number of stars, there is a lot more revealed about 1) the rationality of people's expectations, 2) the variance in people's perceptions and 3) how people rate an item based on what aspect of the item's performance is important to them. Taking #1 first: This is a $125 item that plays records at 3 separate speeds; plays cassettes; plays CDs and has a radio. 99% of turntables ALONE cost more than $100 AND 90% of them require additional equipment to perform (an amplifier and speakers, minimum) which would cost a minimum of another couple of hundred dollars. People buy it and complain "Oh! The parts are plastic!" "Oh, the sound is tinny!" Well, many parts for $250 and $300 turntables are plastic AND while the sound quality is not at the audiophile level, it is not tinny at all. If you want perfection, go spend $20,000 on an entertainment system. Stop being ridiculous when you are referring to a $100 purchase. #2: Of the reviewers who directly mention such things, half of them say the sound quality is mediocre to poor and half say it is very good to excellent. Which is it? The same product cannot be both poor AND excellent. Half the reviewers say it is cheaply made and half say it is sturdy and well-made. Which is it? All this speaks to are people's individual perceptions. Is the item a piece of useless crap? Is it a hand-crafted masterpiece? Neither. It is a decently made and functional item that is a bargain at $125, but would be over-priced at say, $300 or $400. #3: A majority of the people who rate the item at 2 or 3 stars say that one or more functions are "very good", "pleasing" and "work perfectly", but one or more functions are "disappointing", "don't operate well" or are "poor sounding". My questions are: Do you expect (for $125) that every function of a multi-function music center will be of top quality? Maybe if you paid $1000 for everything, but be realistic. Also, what did you specifically buy the unit FOR? If you bought it for the turntable and the turntable functions well, is it tragic if the cassette player does not operate like a Tandberg? If you bought it for the CD player and it plays well, does it matter if there is a bit of a wobble in the turntable? If you bought the unit for the radio, you are probably nuts, but if the radio works but the CD player doesn't, is it the end of the world? Obviously, if the function or functions you bought the unit for do not work to your satisfaction, bring it back and get your money----but how many people actually are going to use this unit regularly to play cassettes, CDs AND records? I'd guess less than 1%. So, what it comes down to again is being realistic instead of angry and put-upon because you did not get $20,000 worth of audiophile equipment for $125. The 5-star raters probably have low expectations, but they are much more realistic in their ratings if the unit functions in a half-way decent manner. The 1 and 2 star-raters are clearly types that expect something for nothing. Good luck with that. Finally, me? I bought the unit simply to play 78 rpm 10 inch records from the 1930s through 1950s. The turntable works great, the fidelity is certainly acceptable. The cassette player works (for the 10 cassettes I still have, and which I will hardly ever play) and again, the fidelity is acceptable. The CD player works fine, though for CDs, I would expect the sound quality to be better (except, OH! I only paid $100 for this unit and I would NEVER EXPECT excellent sound quality from it, so I play CDs on my better system). The radio is a radio. It sounds like a regular radio (as long as you have radio reception, which I doubt that the people who complain about the static have), so it is fine. The unit is great looking, it works well beyond a $125 price tag. It is certainly one of the best units you can buy under $200 or $300.