Panasonic SC-PM01 Executive Microsystem – Electronics
Panasonic SC-PM01 Executive Microsystem – Electronicsi’ve got the SC-PM03, which appears to be electrically the same but with slightly different finish (oak veneer speaker boxes, silver main body).this is a good choice for an office or small workspace. the AM and FM reception are both top-notch, and an external AM loop antenna lets you null out RF noise from nearby computers.the speakers are nice (removable grills, tweeter and woofer). the overall finish is good and not plasticy. there’s a minimum number of front-panel buttons, and some of the lesser-used functions which turn the unit into a rather expensive alarm clock are hidden behind a hinged door. the blue-backlit LCD display and little “night light” on the CD door assembly are cute.the problem (which has been noted elsewhere on the internet) is with the volume- and sadly both the 01 and 03 models suffer from it:there’s about 15-20 dB (on the volume readout) difference between radio levels and CD levels. this means setting the unit to full volume to get all the detail on many classical CD’s, only to have to crank things down to -20 dB to listen to the radio. when at full volume, the CD player does great, but it’s irksome that the amplifier could be pushed harder except for this design glitch.taking this beyound your basic “boom box” are bass and treble controls, an “audio expander” system which seems to do nicely on most of my classical CD’s, and the exclusion of a tape player.the remote was initially confusing, having far too many buttons. it also appears many functions are only available through the remote, so don’t loose it!for the bucks, a good little unit. maybe panasonic will fix the audio level glitch on the next model, which would make it an outstanding value.
