iLive Studio 2.1-channel Speaker System for iPod, IHT3807DT 4 5 29 32
iLive = iLove Pros:Has outstanding audio quality. you can tell this thing has some build quality to it by just lifting up the box. It's heavy! I am very much an audiophile, and am amazed at the sound quality this produces. It has a very rich sound, made possible by the built in "sub", and a great sounding high end as well. It has two tweeters, two mid range woofers, and the sub in the back. I was listening to kenny G last night on it, and it just sounded beautiful. Norah Jones sounds incredible. No complaints either listening to country or pop. It has several EQ presets, but I seem to just prefer FLAT. This radio has excellent dynamic range, and doesn't sound compressed AT ALL. I do not have an IPOD yet, and have plugged my non-ipod MP3 player (Creative Labs Zen M) into it using one of the aux inputs in the back. The radio tuner is fine, and with a strong signal sounds excellent.Cons:Small amount of hiss when using the aux inputs on back. This really isn't abnormal, and is inaudible when you move a few feet away from it. I really suspect this would be absent if using an actual IPOD, as it would be a digital connection to the amp. The radio antenna is just a cheap piece of wire. The display is a little cheap in appearance. The remote is very weak and needs to be pointed directly at the unit. I suppose it's also a little unattractive, but that's really subjective.Problems:I returned one unit thinking it was defective. If you plug in the unit, unplug it, and the plug it back in ( like if you move it to another room), the LCD display becomes unreadable and looks shorted out. This doesn't happen every time though. What I've found is that if this happens, leave it unplugged for a few hours and plug it back in. Once I had to leave it unplugged overnight. Seems to correct it. The sound quality to me is so good that I can look past this, but it is most definitely a glitch, and I suspect it's in all of them (it is in the two that i've owned).Other notes:I firmly believe the great sound is directly related to having the two tweeters and the sub. I have listened to many ipod docking radios, and the sound is always lacking. Even those $400 Bose ipod docks don't produce much high end- and nevermind the fact that they are $400. This is < $100, and in my opinion actually sounds much better. 07/16/2008
Good Base but that's it This was the least expensive product that I have seen with excellent base response. To bad you have to press the remote multiple times to get it to register a command. Additionally the radio tuner is poor at best. Philips 910/37 worked much better. As cool as the motorized dock is I wonder about its longevity. I returned for the Philips sound bar which sounds great, radio receiver works well and remote was very user friendly. The base isn't bad either 09/18/2008
Frustrating I received this as a gift in January 2008. The most peculiar and confusing deficiency about these iPod speakers is that it DOES NOT INCLUDE an instruction manual. When I opened up the package to set it up, I searched and searched and searched. All I got was a little booklet with some diagrams. Setting it up was an annoying exercise in guesswork. Push this button, that button. Does it work? No? Try again.Once set-up, the sound itself isn't so bad and there are a number of options for hooking up your TV or computer. AM/FM receiver. It charges your iPod. There's a clock, alarm, and sleeper function. Unfortunately all those functions were rendered useless when for unknown reasons the front LCD display went dead! This is less than 3 months old! So, more guesswork, more button pushing to figure out what function the stereo is on. iPod? Computer? TV? Am/FM?Additionally, these speakers are big and bulky like something out of the 1980's boombox era. Compared to a number of sleek and slim competitors, these speakers take a big chunk of table space and is not so aesthetically pleasing.If you're looking to buy - look somewhere else! 03/25/2008
A Lot of Pros and Cons I've only owned it about two weeks and the LCD screen is already out, but every review I read on it said that would happen so I wasnt' particularly surprised. So if the LCD screen is important to you this isn't for you. The sound is shockingly great! This thing gets LOUD! You can hook it up to your TV for football games and movies to get the great sound, however you'll need to buy your own connector because the one that comes with it makes a crackling noise, not very good quality. There were assembly instructions with mine, but it was pretty self exclamatory. I just put my ipod on the doc and plugged it in and it worked. I don't know what other people were talking about when they said it was hard to assemble. It also looks really good too! When people come over they walk right over to it and want to know what it is! 09/01/2008
