Saxguy's Full Review: Sony CFD-ZW755 Radio/Cassette/CD Boombox
I got this unit several years ago, to provide sound in my studio and also to provide the background music during small one man band gigs.
This unit had great functionality when it first came out in 2000. I was looking for fairly big sound for my music room, in playing CDs for myself and my students to play along with. The sound quality was nice for a $100 boom box/stereo. The speakers were detachable, but could also be fastened. I used them attached at home and detached when I was doing one man band gigs. Speaker height was about 10”, which was a little tight on my shelf and, worse, the CD was top load, which made it hard, but not impossible, to use.
The unit’s dimensions are 25.5” w x 10.5 h x 10.125 d and it weighs 14 lbs.
It came with dual cassette decks, which could be synchronized in recording from a CD or from the other deck. I remember duplicating a couple of cassettes and that being done well.
Other features included an AM/FM tuner, which I didn’t use much, and a remote control unit, which I didn’t use at all. It also has programming and shuffle play features, which I did not use.
I didn’t have much experience with batteries, as I was generally using the plug.
The sound was adequate, but generally I had to have the volume up about 8 or 9 (out of 10) to get the power I wanted. The sound was better with the mega bass feature and the jazz equalizer setting. Imagine that!
This functioned pretty well, until CD deck started skipping. Several rounds of cleaning CDs and solution had no effect, so I retired it. However, I felt like I needed a unit with more volume at that point. I also was looking for a unit that would take up less space and would be less bulky and heavy to move around.
It did each job adequately, but I ultimately replaced it with a boom box that was more powerful in a smaller size, the Sony CFD-G500, which was not only smaller but much more powerful. For example, the CFD-G500 replacement sounded as loud on the 5 volume setting as this unit did on 10.
The CFD-G500 has been replaced by Sony the G505, which I do not have. The G505 is much more powerful but also a lot bigger and still has the $99.95 list. This unit, the ZW755, remains available at a $99.95 list. It’s currently $84.99 at Circuit City.com
This unit will not play any audio files. It can oly play CDs and cassettes.
So, it worked well for a few years. However, there are units out there that are more powerful and smaller with line and USB-in connections, including a Sharp UH-240 shelf unit which I just bought at Circuit City. That has 5 cd bays and a USB input from which it will read MP3 and WMA files.
So, this unit gets 2 stars. It will work OK if you get one, but there are much better alternatives out there.
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