Sharp CD-DH950 Mini Component System

I wanted to downsize and get rid of the 30 year old stereo systems that I had in my basement. Since I am in the process of getting rid of my records I knew that I did not want to get one of the compact systems that had a record player. I have cases of cassette tapes in my basement full of cassettes that are in great shape, I did not want to have to get rid of them. I decided that I wanted to find a compact stereo system, that would fit on a single shelf in my basement, ideally I wanted a af/fm radio/cd player and a cassette player, finding this combination proved to be a bit of a challenge. I soon discovered that the major manufactreres of these sytems, JVC, SONY, Panasonic, are in the process of phasing cassette players out of there systems, because only old timers like myself still listen to cassettes. I had found a system made by JVC that I wanted, but it had been discontinued by the manufacturer. I went into my local PC Richardson's, and  I found a system made by Yamaha, that had great sound, but like many of the new systems, it had no cassette player, and only a fm radio, plus the price tag was $279.00, I decided to keep looking. My mother has  a  Bose wave system, which sounds fabulous, but again, no cassette player is offered, and the price tag is looming near $500.00

I went into my local Best Buy to do some more comparion shopping, as I was walking down one isle I hit the jackpot. There in front of me was a system by Sharp that had a am/fm radio, 5 cd holder, a ipod dock, and a dual cassette player. This turned out to be the 2009-2010 model, the two models that the store had in stock only had a single cassette player, but I grabed one of them and took it home. The system took about 10 min set up time between conntecting the speakers and figuring out how the remote worked. I have read a few reviews on line remarking that the unit is cheaply made, distorted sound comes out of the speakers, and that the cd changer freezes up. I have only had my system for a little over a week, but I have not experienced any of these problems, this systen has 240 watts of floor shaking power, the sound that comes out of the speakers rich and full for their size. I will admit that if I had designed this I would only have made it a single CD player. Like most new electronics the moving gears that open and close the cd doors are made of plastic, and I could see this design becoming a problem with a lot of use, but I don't intend to have all five cd bays full at the same time. The reality of today's electronic products is that they are not built like they were in the 1970's, which was to last a lifetime. Things today are designed to be disposable, I kept this thought in mind when I purchased my Sharp system, but I believe that I will get many years of enjoyment out of it.