I recently bought the Sony component system and I have go to say, it is the best investment yet! I bought it for about $500 which is really a steal considering the retail is $850. It has 50 watts of total power.. boy, you can crank this baby up and wake the neighbors across the street! About the sound? It is great, above average for Sony. I might be a little biased since I simply love Sony products. They make quality products and this one is no exception! There is some distortion when the volume gets too high but that doesn't matter... it has a triple CD changer as well as a triple MD changer... quite a potent device. The MD quality is superb.. slightly less than that of CD's but definitely a whole lot better than the best analogue tapes out there (except DAT, of course). It has an intuitive interface and it takes some learning to procure all of the cool features, but if you have patience, this system is for you! The best thing about this system is the "remote commander" remote control. You can detach the 'brains' of the system and control it from quite a distance away. Or if you don't like people touching your system, you can just hide it and the system becomes inept. It is quite a feature. I love it.. If you are looking for a system with above average sound, this is it.. and especially if you can get it for less than 600, that would be sweet. The only complaint is that it does not have the bass alot of people are looking for. But I am satisfied. It is a great system with features that would turn heads. I was going to purchase the JVC EX-MD9000 over this one but I am glad I bought this. It may be twice as large, but it has more than twice the features with a powerful amplifier to boot. I've been looking for a compact system for the bedroom for a long time and I can't say enough about this one. As I write this, it's on sale at Crutchfield for $599. I got a dealer to match that, but he was out of stock, so I ended up buying his display unit for $550. I'd probably consider it a bargain at the list price of $850. The most obvious features are the triple minidisc and compact disc changers, which can be programmed to play in any order and to record CD's or radio onto minidisc (digitally - no need to set levels) automatically and using the most recent ATRAC technology. That alone makes the system extremely useful (there is a cassette deck add-on, but I've never seen it). But I'm equally impressed with some other features, such as the control panel, which can be detached and used as a remote (if you want to have it both ways, you can leave the control panel attached to the head unit and still use another Sony or universal remote). The control panel/remote is a particular pleasure to use, having dials instead of buttons for the volume and search functions. Also a pleasure to use is the tuner, which has 20 FM and 10 AM presets, any of which which can be quickly dialed in from the remote's search dial instead of having to find the right button or wait for a scan. A wonderful feature for bedroom use is the clock/timer, which allows you to go to fall asleep and wake up to music, all programmable from the remote. There are no doubt many other great features that I haven't mentioned - it's a remarkable system. That it is so compact, and the head unit so attractive, is a great bonus. The sound is what you would expect from a compact system - excellent for its size. Although I'm using it in the bedroom, this would probably serve most people very well as a primary system.

Some minor quibbles: the speakers aren't bad looking, but they do have some of the space-age styling qualities common to the compact-system genre. I would like to have seen something a little more elegant, but these should blend in reasonably well with most environments. The remote could use a mute button, although the volume dial works very quickly. It would be nice if the remote had some sort of lighting feature - the most important controls (volume and search dials) are easy to use in the dark, but some of the programming controls are more difficult. A few features could be simplified. For example, it would be nice if the remote had the typical one-step "sleep" button. As it is, you have to hit 3 or 4 buttons to program the sleep feature, which can be inconvenient in the dark, which is when you're most likely to use it (don't they test for these things?). However, once you've done it a few times it gets easier. It would be nice to have a digital in/out and a pre-amp out - the head unit could then serve very nicely as an adjunct to or even as the center of a more powerful system. Finally, I would prefer simple bass/treble controls instead of the phony sound effects and bass boost, which just give me a headache. Fortunately, these effects can be turned off, and the system sounds quite nice without them.

Congratulations once again to Sony for being way ahead of everyone else. I've been waiting for years for a compact system with these features. If you're looking for a compact system, I can't recommend this one highly enough. I originally started shopping for a mini system because I saw it as the only way to get a MiniDisc changer. I didn't care so much about how many discs it had in the changer, just so long as I had the changer. When I got the unit shipped to me in the mail, I was very excited as I unwrapped it. Once I hooked it up, I couldn't believe how great a system it was.

The system has a 3 MD changer, a 3 CD changer, a world-band (76.0-108.0 MHz) radio, and you can purchase an optional single cassette deck as well. The first thing that made it stick out above the crowd was its cool remote control. The entire main control panel you see on the front of the unit is detachable, so you can control every function of the unit you want from anywhere! This also is a great way to keep your system safe. I always lock the remote up in a desk drawer when I'm away for long periods of time. Without the remote, all you can do is turn the unit on and eject discs. Makes it a great security feature, sort of like a car radio's removeable faceplate.

The speakers that come with this system are amazing. The bass response is incredible, far more than I ever expected to get out of a mini-system. There are a total of 15 different settings for the pre-programmed graphic equalizer, which is plenty to pick out the one that best suits you.

I also purchased the optional TC-TX515 cassette deck. I mainly got it so that I could record to a media that is more widely used (such as giving tapes to my friends and such), but it really rounds out the system well. I recommend purchasing it along with the main system. Unfortunately Sony doesn't sell the TC-TX515 in the United States; its only available in Japan (I had a friend pick one up for me). If you're interested in purchasing one, I'd recommend trying to strike a deal with one of those gray-market Japanese import companies.

The only downside to this unit is its lack of a digital output... there is only an analog line out (which is supposed to be used with the optional tape deck). And the CD changer takes a rather long time to change between discs. But overall, the DHC-MD515 is the best bang for your buck if you're looking for a relatively inexpensive MiniDisc changer. It has been the backbone of my music listening ever since I purchased it. I promise you won't be disappointed! I have purchased on of these units and am very, very disappointed. I have also read the other reviews in this section and have to say that I think they are attempting to justify their purchase. The features are OK and controls are OK but the sound and the CD changer stink it up bad!

There is plenty of Bass and if that is all you judge you may like it but it is hurt your ears harsh in the upper mid range and there is no setting to change it without killing the high end. There is no user tone control, only preset curves. These are mostly useless as they appear to be designed for video game sound. Of the 15 presets, there are only 5 for sound and poorly chosen at that. 10 of the 15 options are for video games with the title of - Adventure, Battle, Racing, Shooting, Sport, Science Fiction and - well you get the idea. The sound of this unit for anything but RAP and Hard Rock is disgusting for a list price of $850.

The CD changer is clunky, slow and antiquated. It will not play CDs that need multi read capability. (anything you burn in your CD burner will not run) I have 6 other CD players (including Sony Car units) from 1 to 6 years old and they all play CDs that this Sony will not play.

Crutchfield finally had to blow them out at $350 to get rid of them but if you still want one I will sell you mine for 1/2 of the $600 I paid before they started discounting to unload them! Well said, Gilbert. I bought this system a few months ago because and ONLY because it was the first and only system on the U.S. domestic market (don't know about international) with a MD and CD changer and I thought that was pretty cool because I'd always thought to myself "I'm sick of cassette tapes...I'll by a MD/CD system when it comes out." Well, first generation of anything is always mediocre but that's ok. The only real pluses of this system are the removable controller and the direct recording features. you can only record off the radio or another CD and there is NO optical out...that really disappointed me. Funny thing is, I bought it from Crutchfield and they started displaying details (in the packaging, on the unit, etc) only AFTER I'd bought it. Interesting coincidence...

What Gilbert says about equalizer presets--he's wrong. It's worse; all the presets basically suck except for "Rock," which amplifies only that type of music. If i play classical, it's better to turn off the presets. What I don't get is why couldn't they have user-defined presets? Those presets are named for things like movies and games but I doubt they're much use for those at all anyways.

And what really sucks about the cd changer--you can't even open the drawer when you're playing a CD! That really pissed me off (again, something Crutchfield only added to their website after I had already bought it). Not many CD-play options are given; my dad has one of those first or second generation CD players from '83 or '84 and I swear it has more CD-play options. Like repeating from point A to point B, index-track search (skipping to a particular part of a song, useful for classical music but only if the marking is built into that particular CD). The changer mechanism is also god-aweful slow.

Frankly, the Bass sucks; I live in a dorm room and if you live in a very tight space, the power of the speakers doesn't matter too much.

Then they come up with the DHC-MD555, which has the improvements i've a had major beef with; I'm pretty sure it has an optical output (if that's what MD link means) and a PC interface (titling is a PAIN IN THE ASS with the controller on the MD515) as well as 5MD/5CD changer. I think it also allows continous of play of CDs while your's changing the other four. But it's also larger in size. and it doesn't have the removable controller, which I really do like. The speakers still suck, tho--25W/channel so I don't feel so guilty for buying the 515.

Bottomline, don't buy this system--it's already a relic. Bright side: it has the removable controller, it was the first MD/CD changer mini-system in the U.S. (as far as I know) so it's got sentimental appeal, and THANK GOD I didn't buy it when it was $800.

one last thing, if anyone reads this and owns an MD515, WHAT THE HELL DOES "CD LOOP" DO???