Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

While the machine looks nice and has function, I had my wife and child playing with the radio running (this is 3 months after purchasing the machine) and it stopped. My debugging found that this is a cut rate production product with poor quality control standards. As the unit is out of 30-day return period and I am an electrical engineer, I decided to debug it as a return was slim to impossible. Problem: Sound coming out of the speaker was less than a whisper and the volume control didn't change the volume. Though the unit display functioned correctly (transfer from radio to sound therapy, change radio station, alarm set, etc), the speaker didn't function. Troubleshooting: I knew that the manufacturer probably wouldn't warrent the item, so I unplugged it, and I opened it up (Don't do this at home unless you are a trained professional). What I found were printed circuit boards that were well made with 100% through board components. I tested the speaker with a multimeter, looking for resistance of 8ohm for the speaker and a variable resistance when the volume wheel was turned. I found both had good numbers. I flipped the board over and found something you should never see on a product with such a well designed shell. Findings: The thru board components were obviously hand soldered and with very poor workmanship. Many of the solder joints were incomplete, and there were a few solder bubbles which I can say would not pass any reasonable inspection. The cause of the board's failure was that the handsoldering left a few whisps of solder between terminals. Two of the terminals on the OP AMP which controlled the speaker volume were jumpered together by a bad solder joint. I took a pocket knife, cut the solder bridge, reassembled the unit, and it functions as it did prior to my event. Suggestions: Unless the manufacturer makes a tooling change and uses a solder-wave manufacturing technique to create their boards (which causes a high quality, uniform product) I would not suggest this product to people who want a 95% chance that their product won't arrive DOA or will cease to work from a bump or jar 2-3 months after you buy it. Their QA standards are lax or non-existant by inspection of the internals of this product, as it should have never been shipped from the manufacturing facility due to it's horrible production quality. Would I buy it again? No...I'd pick another brand.