I'm in the market for an ordinary decent quality receiver, with a
built-in AM/FM tuner and a CD player. The only thing is that I
would like it to be small, to fit in a particular space. (I do
have vinyl records, but I plan to get a new turntable with a pre-amp,
so that shouldn't be a problem). I wouldn't think this would be
so hard, but so far everything I've looked at is either the usual
17" form factor (too big), or part of a mini-system that includes
speakers (which I don't need). The closest I have found so far is
this Yamaha A/V receiver:

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/HTIB/DVRS150.htm

This appears to do everything I want, but seems hideously
overcomplicated, full of bells and whistles that I'm never going
to use and would rather not be burdened with, and almost totally
reliant on the remote for most of its features. So can anyone
direct me to a reputable maker who makes something simpler, and
with a form factor smaller than 15" W x 15" D? (The height is less
important, but a significantly smaller width and especially depth
would be welcome). My preferred price range would be somewhere
between $150 and $400.
--
John Brock
(E-Mail Removed)

On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 19:01:18 GMT, Joseph Oberlander
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I suggest the Denon D-M50S. It's small and simple. Plays CDs
>and has 30WPC. The included speakers are okay - you can get
>much better ones, of course.

Yup or the D-M30S which is even smaller but is only a single-disc
player, rather than a 3disc changer.

Kal

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Kalman Rubinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 19:01:18 GMT, Joseph Oberlander
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>>I suggest the Denon D-M50S. It's small and simple. Plays CDs
>>and has 30WPC. The included speakers are okay - you can get
>>much better ones, of course.

>Yup or the D-M30S which is even smaller but is only a single-disc
>player, rather than a 3disc changer.

Good thought. The Denon web site shows a D-M31S, which may be a
replacement for the D-M30S. I actually prefer a single-disc player.
There is also the Onkyo CR-305TX, and the JVC EX-A1, and some
others. But none of them appear to be available in the United
States except in combination with speakers, which I don't need.
I could always buy a mini-system and dump the speakers, but that
just doesn't seem right. How annoying! Have the vendors missed
out on a niche, or is there really no market for compact stand-alone
components? Everything else seems to be available in compact sizes!
--
John Brock
(E-Mail Removed)

"John Brock" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d0jat9$pp$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm in the market for an ordinary decent quality receiver, with a
> built-in AM/FM tuner and a CD player. The only thing is that I
> would like it to be small, to fit in a particular space. (I do
> have vinyl records, but I plan to get a new turntable with a pre-amp,
> so that shouldn't be a problem). I wouldn't think this would be
> so hard, but so far everything I've looked at is either the usual
> 17" form factor (too big), or part of a mini-system that includes
> speakers (which I don't need). The closest I have found so far is
> this Yamaha A/V receiver:
>
> http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/HTIB/DVRS150.htm
>
> This appears to do everything I want, but seems hideously
> overcomplicated, full of bells and whistles that I'm never going
> to use and would rather not be burdened with, and almost totally
> reliant on the remote for most of its features. So can anyone
> direct me to a reputable maker who makes something simpler, and
> with a form factor smaller than 15" W x 15" D? (The height is less
> important, but a significantly smaller width and especially depth
> would be welcome). My preferred price range would be somewhere
> between $150 and $400.

I saw exactly the item you want. It's a portable AM/FM radio and CD player.
It will also play CDRs encoded with mp3 or wma files, and it only cost $40.
Now all I have to do is remember who made it. :-)

Norm Strong

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:17:05 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (John Brock)
wrote:

>In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
>Kalman Rubinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>Yup or the D-M30S which is even smaller but is only a single-disc
>>player, rather than a 3disc changer.
>
>Good thought. The Denon web site shows a D-M31S, which may be a
>replacement for the D-M30S.

Right. I reviewed the DM30S for Stereophile and bought the DM31S for
my wife's office. It's a quite competent unit and, rather than
replace the speakers with something bigger/better, I recommend adding
a small powered subwoofer (there is a mono output jack for it). The
reason I suggest this is that I tried it and the tone controls on the
Denon mate well with the provided speakers.

Kal

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Kalman Rubinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:17:05 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (John Brock)
>wrote:

>>In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
>>Kalman Rubinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>Yup or the D-M30S which is even smaller but is only a single-disc
>>>player, rather than a 3disc changer.

>>Good thought. The Denon web site shows a D-M31S, which may be a
>>replacement for the D-M30S.

>Right. I reviewed the DM30S for Stereophile and bought the DM31S for
>my wife's office. It's a quite competent unit and, rather than
>replace the speakers with something bigger/better, I recommend adding
>a small powered subwoofer (there is a mono output jack for it). The
>reason I suggest this is that I tried it and the tone controls on the
>Denon mate well with the provided speakers.

Ah, since you seem to know something about these matters, let me
ask you a question. The reason I don't feel I need speakers is
that I've already got the speakers in my digital piano (connecting
the piano's aux-in to a headphone output jack). To my ears this
works rather well, and it seems to me that speakers on a digital
piano that cost a couple of thousand dollars -- speakers that need
to be good enough to convincingly reproduce the entire range of an
acoustic piano -- are probably going to be superior to any mini-system
speakers I'm likely to find. Does this make sense to you, or do
you think I'm fooling myself? Using the piano this way happens to
be extremely convenient in my situation, so I'm probably going to
do it no matter what, but still, it's an unorthodox setup, and I'm
wondering if you have any thoughts.
--
John Brock
(E-Mail Removed)

The TEAC Reference series includes small receivers and other AV
components. See:

http://www.teac.com/ref/500/500.html

http://www.teac.com/consumer_electro...nceSeries.html

Onkyo and Yamaha also make some nice minisystems that include
receivers. Examples:

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=2987030

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4021112

Marantz has also made some nice small audio hardware recently. Others
in this thread have already mentioned Denon. Some Denons:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

http://search.ebay.com/dvd-receiver-...trypageZsearch

You might not care about playing DVDs, but it won't hurt you to have
that capability.

I realize you don't need the speakers that come with some of the above
systems, but you could sell those.

What would I do, if I were you? I'd search eBay every week or so and
look for good deals on products such as the above. You might even be
able to find them on eBay without the speakers.

Examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

I'd also look at local stores and pawn shops.

A lot of makers have made small, good audio separates and sold them in
the US, but there doesn't seem to be a big market for them here, so
there aren't a lot of them. TEAC probably has the most US models, but I
don't have a dealer in my part of the US, so I've never seen them.

If you look at UK magazines such as "What HiFi?," you'll find some
interesting small hardware that's not sold in the US.

I think you're fooling yourself as those speakers are probably voiced
to make the synthesized sounds seem like a piano and not to reproduce
other sounds accurately.

OTOH, if you buy one of these and compare the provided speakers with
what's in your piano, you can decide for yourself. Then you can sell
the extras, if you want to, but I doubt you will.

Kal

On Wed, 9 Mar 2005 04:33:46 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (John Brock)
wrote:

>In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
>Kalman Rubinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:17:05 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (John Brock)
>>wrote:
>
>>>In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
>>>Kalman Rubinson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>>Yup or the D-M30S which is even smaller but is only a single-disc
>>>>player, rather than a 3disc changer.
>
>>>Good thought. The Denon web site shows a D-M31S, which may be a
>>>replacement for the D-M30S.
>
>>Right. I reviewed the DM30S for Stereophile and bought the DM31S for
>>my wife's office. It's a quite competent unit and, rather than
>>replace the speakers with something bigger/better, I recommend adding
>>a small powered subwoofer (there is a mono output jack for it). The
>>reason I suggest this is that I tried it and the tone controls on the
>>Denon mate well with the provided speakers.
>
>Ah, since you seem to know something about these matters, let me
>ask you a question. The reason I don't feel I need speakers is
>that I've already got the speakers in my digital piano (connecting
>the piano's aux-in to a headphone output jack). To my ears this
>works rather well, and it seems to me that speakers on a digital
>piano that cost a couple of thousand dollars -- speakers that need
>to be good enough to convincingly reproduce the entire range of an
>acoustic piano -- are probably going to be superior to any mini-system
>speakers I'm likely to find. Does this make sense to you, or do
>you think I'm fooling myself? Using the piano this way happens to
>be extremely convenient in my situation, so I'm probably going to
>do it no matter what, but still, it's an unorthodox setup, and I'm
>wondering if you have any thoughts.

So what you're saying here is that you already have powered speakers
that you're happy with? Speakers with a built-in amplifier?

If so, instead of a receiver, another solution would be a preamp that
has a built-in radio tuner and a CD player. There was a Cambridge
Soundworks model that I think is no longer available. It was maybe $150
and was designed to work with powered PC speakers.

Here's another possibility:

http://www.brookstone.com/shop/produ...me&prodtemp=t2

Maybe you could use the main unit as a radio tuner/CD player?

Assuming you can get to a Brookstone store, you could probably look it
over in a minute or two and figure out if it meets your needs.

It's definitely small enough and the price is right. I saw it in a
Brookstone store a few days ago. It has some extra inputs, so you could
connect your turntable's preamp. I didn't really examine the Brookstone
unit, but I'm guessing it might use powered speakers that you could
replace with your powered speakers, or you could connect your powered
speakers to the Brookstone's headphone output.

With the included speakers, the Brookstone sounded good to me when I
listened very briefly, although the sub distorted when the volume was
turned up. That's probably just the limitation of the sub being so
small and wouldn't reflect any problem with the radio/CD player.

Yet another (and even cheaper) solution would be a CD boombox or home
radio/CD player, with the headphone output connected to your powered
speakers. You'd need a CD boombox or home radio/CD player with an
auxiliary input for your turntable's preamp. Cambridge Soundworks makes
some nice table radios CD players and auxiliary inputs. But I think
using a CD boombox or home radio with CD player would be pretty clumsy
looking.

If I were you, I'd probably start by going to a Brookstone store and
looking at the model I mention above.

yup,you have Teac crl600,it is much stronger than Denon.
"John Brock" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d0jat9$pp$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm in the market for an ordinary decent quality receiver, with a
> built-in AM/FM tuner and a CD player. The only thing is that I
> would like it to be small, to fit in a particular space. (I do
> have vinyl records, but I plan to get a new turntable with a pre-amp,
> so that shouldn't be a problem). I wouldn't think this would be
> so hard, but so far everything I've looked at is either the usual
> 17" form factor (too big), or part of a mini-system that includes
> speakers (which I don't need). The closest I have found so far is
> this Yamaha A/V receiver:
>
> http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/HTIB/DVRS150.htm
>
> This appears to do everything I want, but seems hideously
> overcomplicated, full of bells and whistles that I'm never going
> to use and would rather not be burdened with, and almost totally
> reliant on the remote for most of its features. So can anyone
> direct me to a reputable maker who makes something simpler, and
> with a form factor smaller than 15" W x 15" D? (The height is less
> important, but a significantly smaller width and especially depth
> would be welcome). My preferred price range would be somewhere
> between $150 and $400.
> --
> John Brock
> (E-Mail Removed)
>