The system is visibly pleasing but it is under the hood that's great! Sound quality is excellent. User friendly controls. Easy set-up. The FM antenna quality allowed us to receive the FM channels we like. Can record cd's to tape. I have old and new cassette tapes. They seem to play fine. If you can, have it delivered to the closest ingress area, unpack it and place items one at a time. The individual components are a bit heavy and tall. That said, I would buy it again in a heartbeat. Speaking of which, be careful where you purchase this. I had originally planned to buy this from Amazon, as usual. But I became adventurous and purchased it from SonyStyle.com (a subsidiary of Sony.com). The most generous evaluation I can give them is that they ship quickly but they would only get one star for that.

Let's ignore all the silly flashing lights that appeal to my 3-year-old...this feature has been well covered by other reviewers, and can be disabled.

When this arrives at your house, your first impression will be, "Hey, somebody has mailed me a Buick." Some compact stereo systems have to be assembled, this one is only in three pieces: the unit and the two speakers. But all three pieces have been placed into one enormous box, so that it cannot possibly be carried by one person without dragging it around like Linus' blanket. If you're buying this at a store, you'll need a pick-up truck or a hearse to get it home.

In regards to the cassette deck, the manual makes many references to "Type I" cassettes. That's right, this unit cannot handle the advanced technology of the "Type II" cassette that became widely available in the 1970s. This is just sad, did Sony have a bunch of 1968 tape heads in a warehouse that they needed to get rid of? Here in the 21st century, most $99 stereos handle "Type II" cassettes if they play cassettes at all, never mind all of my "Type IV" tapes.

I'll be holding onto my 10-year-old JVC compact stereo system, it doesn't play MP3 discs, but is superior in nearly every other way.

When I purchased this stereo as a gift for my wife, I was concerned by some reviewers distaste of its appearance. One even returned it because, though he said it sounded awesome, it looked too ugly to keep!
Shockingly, my wife loves the look of this old-school-style beast!
SO, now about the sound...
It can get LOUD! The speakers are really great quality and can punch it out without sweating. Cannot find the distortion level because our ears bleed before we can get to it!
Some of the other components may last or may not.
Disk tray seems flimsy, as well as cassette door.
This seems typical of any stereo put out these days.
Will not know about reliability until a few more months/years down the road. I would assume that something will go wrong with this stereo eventually. They don't make em like they used to in the 70's folks.
Overall, this stereo has some real kick to it. It might not look like the high-end stereos from the 70's, but it sure can sound like one!
This stereo was the perfect choice for us.

I don't know it is really a big guy."It is an amazing stereo."
That is my neighbors' words.

I bought this item the day after I reveived my JVC HX-D77 540-Watt DVD Mini System. why? The JVC has a HUGE sound and is great, but a couple things rubbed me wrong. First, none of the good sound settings work with video input i.e. theater surround type settings. Second the "sound turbo" function is hardly noticable on the JVC! Third, the JVC was cosmetically cartoonish. Don't get me wrong...It's a killer system for my 17 year-old son! (that's where it ended up.) The SONY is a better all around system, sounds great at all volume levels, crystal clear highs and HUGE punching bass as well! Further, it looks like a stereo system as much as it functions like one. It has the old-school dual tape player/recorder, a much sturdier build than the JVC, especially the CD changer, and most importantly, an EQ that I can dial in to my own liking and create a preset sound for ME, as well as 10 preset EQ's. Again, this system lacks the settings I would like for movies,i.e. theater surrond, hall, live, etc. (the echo type sounds that I loved on my old Aiwa). There is a surround button that adds a little fullness to movies, but no adjusting it. At one point I had both the JVC and SONY in the same room and I go with the SONY! It's just better IMHO. (my son would argue that the JVC wins.)