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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating -
Average user rating:
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Product summary
The good: Irresistible hand-lacquered cabinet; relatively simple design; slot-loading CD player; alarm clock with dual alarm functionality; auxiliary line-in.
The bad: Lacks a slew of advanced features--including a satellite radio, an HD Radio, an iPod dock, streaming digital audio, and DVD playback--at least some of which should be included at this price; front-panel controls and remote layout aren't as intuitive as they should be.
The bottom line: The Tivoli Audio Music System sounds good and looks great, but its lack of any advanced features will make the sky-high price tag hard to swallow.
Specifications: Product type: Radio tuner, CD player; Remote control type: Remote control; Dimensions (WxDxH): 14.125 in x 8.5 in x 5.375 nm See full specs
Price range: $1,199.00
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 01/05/2007
With few exceptions, Tivoli Audio sticks to what it knows best--making tabletop radios that look and sound great. Having hit many of the niche markets--satellite radio, portable, and iPod-friendly--Tivoli has gone in the other direction and come out with a tabletop radio for the Lexus set, the Tivoli Audio Music System. Though the price is certainly high-end--$600 list price--feature-hungry buyers are certain to feel shortchanged: the Music System offers only an AM/FM radio, a CD player, an alarm clock, and an auxiliary input. While that's competitive with tabletop CD radio stalwarts such as Bose, Boston Acoustics, and Cambridge SoundWorks, the feature set is downright meager compared with our current tabletop favorite, the Polk I-Sonic. Of course, there's a certain segment of the population who prefers elegant simplicity over a bullet list of features they'll never use, and we suspect that will be the primary target demographic for the Music System. Its extremely attractive design is the Tivoli's headline attraction--the look and feel is arguably best in class, though there's room for improvement insofar as the controls and ergonomics are concerned. The audio quality didn't blow us away; it was fine, but we were just a bit disappointed relative to the extremely high expectations generated by the luxurious design and price. At the end of the day, we were looking for more features and even better sound to justify that hefty price tag. But if you're looking for dead simple operation and the best-looking radio in town--and price isn't an object--the Tivoli Audio Music System is worthy of consideration.
Design
The Tivoli Audio Music System comes in three colors: dark walnut/classic beige, piano black/silver, and piano white/silver. Our review sample was dark walnut/classic beige, and when we first pulled away the cloth sheath it came wrapped in--a nice touch, by the way--we were immediately wowed by the finish. In fact, almost everyone who saw the lacquered wood exterior was impressed. Similar to most glossy products we review, the Music System is susceptible to dust and fingerprints, but Tivoli includes a small cloth to keep it looking fresh.
While there's no denying the exterior cabinet oozes with style, the front panel is more of a mixed bag. We had no problem with the vintage color scheme, but what did turn us off slightly were the numerous small buttons that littered the front panel. We're not sure why Tivoli went in this direction, and it definitely brought our excitement down a notch--we couldn't help but notice a more-than-slight resemblance to Lasonic's dud, the MSU-2020.
Aesthetics aside, small buttons aren't our favorite way to interact with electronics. We would have preferred, for instance, a couple of knobs to handle source selection and tuning--the latter is particularly clumsy to handle with a couple of buttons. While the smallish keys all having the same size does give the player a nice symmetry, we prefer when more important buttons are more easily distinguished. However, even with our knocks, the Tivoli Audio system is by no means difficult to use. In fact, we think it is a good middle ground between the extremely easy but untweakable Bose Acoustic Wave Music System II and the customizable but sometimes difficult Polk Audio I-Sonic.
Aside from the small buttons, there's also a large knob on the front that's used for adjusting volume, as well as (with a quick click) adjusting the treble. Above the knob, there's an LCD screen that displays both the date and time when the unit is off. Further up is the slot-loading CD drive, with an eject button to the right. At the top of the unit is a large button that doubles as both a snooze for the alarm and a mute button for everything else. We definitely liked how easily accessible it was, especially for shutting off the early morning alarm. The rest of the controls are around the back of the unit--a knob to control the subwoofer level as well as a switch to alternate between using the internal and external FM antenna.
Also included is a remote control, which has the slim credit-card style design common with tabletop radios. For the most part, it does its job, although we wish there was some more differentiation between the buttons. Additionally, some of the buttons are oddly placed--for example, play and stop are on opposing sides of the remote--but it's nothing too egregious.
Features
The Tivoli Audio Music System has a strictly basic feature set for a tabletop radio. There's the aforementioned slot-loading CD drive up front, which can play audio CDs and home-burned CDs encoded with MP3 or WMA files burned on them. It can also pull in both AM and FM signals using its digital tuner and can hold six FM and six AM presets. For a product this expensive, we would have liked to see more of each, but in reality there's not enough good stuff on AM or FM that we'd realistically use more than six of each. Sound is pumped through the two 3-inch speakers up front, backed up by a down-firing subwoofer with bass ports in the rear.
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