Line in battle of the "mid" sized boxes!

[docs]

Line in battle of the mid sized boxes.

Equipment used:-
mp3 player with either jack to phono lead or 5 pin DIN to jack.

The Line Up:-

Radiotone BlueStar RRC-1000
Hitachi TRK-8200
Sharp GF-9595
Philips D8614
Hitachi TRK-8600
Toshiba RT-S932

Radiotone BlueStar RRC-1000 - Audio was not properly presented from the DIN socket input, arguably a tiny bit above mid sized.
Hitachi TRK-8200 - Decent sound quality for this box but did lack clarity and highs. Overall a little lightweight but easily passable for a stereo of this size.
Sharp GF-9595 - Did not work on line in properly, needed pre-amp.
Philips D8614 - Superb clear and deep quality of sound from the phono input. This has a warm and deep clear sound with great highs and mid range to match with subtle bass this sounds somply superb.
Hitachi TRK-8600 - Really nice sound from the DIN socket giving a great example of audio from this unit. Good highs with a nice bassline, not too much bass giveing great clarity. Lovely sound.
Toshiba RT-S932 - Superb clarity from the Toshiba. Really nice definition on the high points and great bass. The mids are sometimes soft which suits the bass and highs perfectly, this outputs a tough sound quality to beat.


But who is the winner ?


Well, it all comes down to opinion ofcourse. If I were to give the marks out of 10 in terms of quality this is how I would do it. This is also based on the fact that I couldn't test all boxes because line in didn't work so they are marked zero.
This is not to say that the line in does not work per se, but not for this test and with the two cables I have. Nor does it reflect the overall sound quality of the stereo.

in reverse order...

0 out of 10 - Radiotone BlueStar RRC-1000
0 out of 10 - Sharp GF-9595
6 out of 10 - Hitachi TRK-8200
9 out of 10 - Hitachi TRK-8600
9.5 out of 10 - Philips D8614
10 out lf 10 - Toshiba RT-S932

More to follow, including "The Battle For The Crown"

 

[Fatdog]

9.5 out of 10 - Philips D8614
10 out lf 10 - Toshiba RT-S932

Before I even read the article, I suspected those two would be winners.

 

[redbenjoe]

thanks docs -
most of us have never heard that nice toshiba --
so your comparo is even more valuable

 

[restocat]

I've noticed the same thing. I have the toshiba S932, and for rock and roll (via a computer [cd or youtube] to line in), the Toshiba has one of the best sounds. Crown 950 is also great. Panny 5600 is also good. Not so good was the sharp 9595 and Sony cfs66 and cfs77.

 

[MONOLITHIC]

I said if before and I'll say it again... The Toshiba is a great sounding box!

 

[ghiok]

Can someone tell me the difference between hitachi trk-8600 and hitachi trk-8190?

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Can someone tell me the difference between hitachi trk-8600 and hitachi trk-8190?

They are completely different boxes. For starters the 8190 has 4.5" woofs and it's a 2 way, the 8600 has 6" woofs plus it's a 3 way speaker system.

TRK-8190:

TRK-8600:

 

[monchito]

excellent comparo

 

[Gluecifer]

Very cool comparisons! We should do more of this type of thing, it's a great way about learning more about boxes than almost anything else before you buy one.

Great work, Docs! And I like even more that I have the top 3 as well!



Rock On.

 

[stormsven]

Strange my 9595 work fine with phono input . And have nice bass . Did not agree with this 0 points . When i want some bass its always weapon of choice from the midsized. At list its perfect for electronic music . Nice comparo thanks. Its interesting others to put own "battles" so we can make some right choices when buying . My absolute favorite in mid sized so far its GF515Z ( i bought it "in first hearing") , it have absolutely flat, clean sound. Im joking always - it is studio quality midsized bbx .
Thanks for this "battle". Helps a lot .

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Good read...I do enjoy these. Sometimes it's an obvious out come, But I do like to read about the details. Ya just can't get that from a picture! There are some great LOOKING boxes in that line up, but sound quality is always the most important thing.

Speaking of pic's GREAT STACK!