Decent quality shelf or wall mount system
Pros:
Looks nice, good sound quality for the price, 4CD Players
Cons:
Membrane keys on remote, stops at unused presets, presets lost if power is lost
The Bottom Line:
This is a good looking system with decent sound for this price level. The controls could be a little better, but they're usable.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Specifications
The Jwin JX-CD8700 is advertised as "400 total watts", but this should be taken with a very large amount of salt. If you don't already know why, see this informative Post Gazette article: http://www.post-gazette.com/interact/20021219lindich1219bnp1.asp. Having said that, the JX-CD8700 has enough power to fill a decent sized (say, 14' x 20') room with sound that probably won't astound any audiophiles, but is plenty adequate for the rest of us.
The unit has four CD players (two on the left side of the main unit, and two on the right). There are two buttons on the main unit marked "L" and "R" to open/close the left or right covers, respectively (only one cover can be open at a time.) Besides the regular playback mode, which will play through 1 to 4 disks, there are also playback modes for Repeat 1 track, Repeat 1 disc, Repeat all discs, Random and Intro (Intro plays the first 10 seconds of each track -- might be useful if you are trying to locate a track that you don't know the name of, or if you don't have the disk case with the track listing.) The CD Players will play audio CDs and MP3 CDs.
The AM/FM/Stereo receiver has seek and scan functions, and 30 presets. One slightly annoying mis-feature here is that if you have programmed less than 30 presets, the unit will still stop at the unprogrammed presets when you press the "Preset" button to go from one preset to the next. I made this less annoying by programming my preset list twice (with a few omissions the 2nd time) to exactly fill the 30 presets.
There is a built in "equalizer" with 5 presets (Flat, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Disco)
There are connections for the two (included) speakers, an optional subwoofer, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Main Unit Dimensions(WxHxD): 17.3" x 14.0" x 4.4", Speaker Dimensions(WxHxD): 5.8" x 13.6" x 2.9" (each speaker)
Appearance
The unit has a nice post-modern look that I wanted. The main display is a round, chrome ringed LCD panel with a blue backlight. There are also 4 blue LEDs (one for each CD player), one of which will shine on whichever CD is playing at the time. The unit comes with stands that "click" into place on the bottom of the main unit and speakers, or you can wall mount the unit and/or speakers.
User experience
The controls of the JX-CD8700 are fairly easy to understand, and the manual is definitely above average, having been either written or at least reviewed by an English speaking person before it was published.
The remote control is powered by a watch battery rather than the more common pair of AA batteries, but this does not seem to have affected its range (though time will tell in regards to battery lifetime.) The remote control has a membrane keyboard (anyone remember the old Timex 1000?) which doesn't give as nice of tactile response as the more common "rubber button" remotes.
Overall opinion
I think this unit is a good buy for the price. The sound quality won't impress any audiophiles, but is up to par for the average listener. The unit is lightweight and plastic, which is to be expected in this price range. The speakers use standard speaker wire and connect to standard wire clips on the back of the main unit. The optional subwoofer connects to an RCA jack on the back of the unit. FM reception is above average.
It's a good idea to decide where to plug the unit's power connection in before you program the clock and presets, because if you unplug the unit it will lose all of the presets (again, not surprising at this price level.)
