HCD-MJ1 flat component system main unit: The main unit contains a CD player, a minidisc recorder, a tuner, an amplifier, and a silent cooling fan. It is 17 inches wide, 11 inches deep, and 3.75 inches tall. The display and almost all controls are located on the top surface, which is made of a thick piece of real aluminum. There is a jog dial which is used for character entry, FM tuning, track selection, and bass/treble/clock adjustments. The unit has one set of analog inputs and one set of analog outputs. There are also connectors for FM and AM antennas. The front of the unit has the CD and MD eject buttons, and a motorized door which opens to reveal the CD and MD slots. A built-in clock provides daily wake-up timer, record timer, and sleep timer functions. Amplifier: 35W RMS per channel. There are bass and treble (+/- 10dB) controls as well as a balance control. There is no loudness or bass-boost feature. The display has a 13-character text display, a 20-track music calendar, a volume bar graph, a timer mode indicator, and animated CD and MD icons. When the volume is adjusted, the text display shows the volume level in dB. The unit's buttons have LEDs next to them that illuminate or flash (presumably to give you a hint as to which button to press). There is a 2 year warranty.

Tuner: There are 20 FM presets and 10 AM presets. A tuning mode button selects the function of the jog dial (it can be used for manual tuning, automatic (seek) tuning, or preset selection). Radio stations can be given 10-character titles. The display has "TUNED", "STEREO" and "MONO" indicators to indicate if a station is properly tuned in and whether or not it is in stereo.

CD player: The MJ-L1 has a single-disc CD player. Discs can be given 10 character titles, but the disc title cannot be displayed while the CD is playing. The disc title is copied to MD when a recording is made. There is an animated spinning CD icon in the display. The display shows elapsed time, remaining disc time, or remaining track time as well as a 20-track music calendar. The manual claims 2Hz to 20kHz frequency response.

MD recorder: The MD recorder performs all of the usual edit functions (divide, combine, erase, title, and move). There is a rehearsal mode for track division (just like on the Sony MDS-JE510) where the jog dial is used to move the division point forward or backwards in steps of 60ms. Program-play and shuffle-play modes can be selected. There is a 20-track music calendar. There are only two recording level settings for analog recordings from the unit's RCA-jack inputs: normal and "attenuate". A "REC LEVEL OVER" indicator lights if the input signal is too loud. The recording level of the radio is set automatically. CDs can be digitally copied to MD, and the CD title is copied automatically to the MD. Track marks are copied properly for CD-MD recording. The "Level Sync" feature can be used to automatically set track marks for analog recordings. An animated spinning minidisc shows in the display (it even spins in the correct direction and at the correct speed depending on if you press play, >>, <<, or pause). Track title, elapsed time and remaining time can be displayed.

SS-MJ1 Speakers:The speakers are silver with blue grilles. They are passive 2-way bass-reflex type speakers, with a 5.125" woofer, a 1" tweeter, and a front-facing flared port. They are relatively thin (6" thick, 7" wide and 15" tall), and they are surprisingly heavy for their size (8lb 13oz or 4kg).

RM-SMJ1 Remote Control: The remote control is very slim (as thin as a minidisc!) and tiny, with a silver face to match the MJ-L1 system. It can control most of the functions of the unit. The remote control commands for CD and MD transport functions, power, volume, and tuner preset +/- are the same as those used for standard full size Sony audio components; numeric buttons are not. Remote control range is adequate but not exceptional. It requires one CR2025 3 volt lithium battery. The sleep timer can only be enabled from the remote control.

My favourite feature of the Sony MJ-L1 is the excellent daily timer, which I use as an alarm clock to wake me up. When you set the timer, it will turn on the CD, MD, or radio at whatever volume level you like. The volume increases gradually when it turns on (to avoid startling you). If you set the timer to "Radio", you can pick a preset station for it to tune to. This lets you fall asleep listening to one radio station and wake up to another. You can set the turn-on time and the turn-off time. If you want the timer to play a specific CD track, do the necessary procedures for program-play mode before setting the timer.

There is also a timer to record radio programs to MD. If you record from a preset radio station to which you have assigned a station name, the name, start time and stop time are used to title the MD track automatically.

So far, I am very pleased with this product. Sound quality is quite good (excellent when connected to a subwoofer), and it operates flawlessly.