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Hands-on with the Philips MCM772 hi-fi

We've been playing with the mid-range model in the Philips Heritage hi-fi range -- the MCM772. It loses the valve pre-amp of it's older brother, but it doesn't lose its looks

Nate Lanxon Special to CNET News
2 min read

The flagship Philips MCM906 Heritage series hi-fi will snag the highest price point within the series, but it has two younger, smaller, more affordable siblings. We've just played with the MCM772 -- the model sitting in the middle of this three-model spread of audio systems.

Like the MCD908 we reviewed at the start of 2008, and the MCM906 we mentioned earlier today on Crave, the MCM772 rocks a more traditional hi-fi CD player design, with solid wooden speaker enclosures housing a two-way drive system -- a silk dome tweeter backed up by a large woofer. Together, they deliver two channels of 50W sound.

Unlike its older brothers, however, the amplifier is all solid-state -- no valves here. It still sounded very good in our brief listening session here at IFA in Berlin, with a prominent mid-range and balanced bass being instantly noticeable. We heard a very slight weakness in the high-end, but given the environment and recording demonstrated, this may well not be the case when we get the system in our labs for review.

We feel this will be a great bedroom CD player, and we really love the stylings -- its brushed aluminium separates and chunky silver knobs complement the speakers beautifully. The only thing we didn't really like was the LCD display, which was rather bland.

It won't be one for the grilling audiophiles, naturally, but we expect its smart design, attention to detail and decent performance will win it a home in many, er, houses.

Prices and availability details will be released soon, but we'd expect it in shops before Christmas. -Nate Lanxon