PTTCSM70BT
I purchased hit unit for our vacation cabin. It looks just like the stereo I had when I was in college and I so want something to play records on. My first impression pulling it out of the box, this is made out of real wood. The housing of the unit and the speakers are a real black lacquer wood finish. The main unit has a beautiful chrome plate on front where the controls are. Very attractive with Blue light digital display.
Performance: The sound is good for the size of the speakers, they are only about 10 inches high with about 3 feet of speaker wire in the back. The speaker wires plug into the back of the stereo with simple RCA jacks so set up is really easy. The manual is very thorough and is actually written by someone whose first language is English which is a plus. Just plug it into the wall and everything works. It fills our cabin with plenty of sound. My favorite thing about this unit all of the features combined in one unit. I enjoy streaming music from my phone via Pandora but this stereo has double cassette, record player, USB and SD card readers for MP3. AM/FM Stereo has good reception if you unroll the wire antenna in the back. This is important because our cabin is a long ways away from any local stations. The stereo lets you record your old CDs, cassettes and records into MP3s. That is awesome, I play my MP3s in my car and on my phone so I can’t wait to be able to listen to songs on my way to work I haven’t heard since the early 80s.
Pros: Easy Set up, beautiful, sturdy design and every audio feature you can imagine all in one unit.
Cons: The speakers are smaller than I was expecting, but they sound really good for the size.

I just received this product yesterday after purchasing it on sale through Woot. I wanted to write a review for it here since it was very hard to come by reviews for it when I was deciding whether or not to purchase it a couple of weeks ago. So here goes:

I was really excited when I ordered this because it had everything I was looking for. My record player/2 cassette deck combo system went to sleep with the fishes over 15 years ago. So, I was looking for something that not only allowed me to record new mix tapes, but would also let me convert my records and cassettes to mp3 format. After testing the system out last night, I can say that I am happy with this product, even with the several faults it does have.

Here’s the good:
– Everything works! (I was worried…)
– You can convert every source to mp3 format with different bit rates to choose from. (records, tapes, cds, and even radio I think)
– Using the remote, you can insert file breaks while recording to mp3, which comes in handy when you don’t want to stop down your records and tapes each time to make a new mp3 file.
– The Bluetooth connection works great. I used my cellphone to play music wirelessly through it.
– It has a line-in connection if you want to play another device. (fyi: the manual says to not have the line-in connected if using phono, as it is on the same selection setting.)
– There is one RCA line-out so you can connect the system to a larger audio unit (I will try this tonight to see how it works)
– Tape to tape recording to make old-school cassette mixtapes!! And you can convert old mixtapes to mp3!

Here’s the Not-so-Good

– The overall build and materials are very cheap looking and feeling. It is very light plastic and I have to say I’m a little worried that the tape decks might not stay latched after extended use. This definitely doesn’t compare to the build of the older systems from the 80s & 90s.
– The speakers are pretty bad. They hardly produce bass and you have to crank up the volume to 80% when listening to tapes to get decent level. For some reason, the radio and bluetooth settings sound the best.
– The sound when using the turntable leaves a LOT to be desired. It is all treble and no bass and sounds a little "tinny". It also records to mp3 that way. I’m pretty sure this is a stylus issue. I am going to see if I am able to change out the needle with one from one of my dj decks to see if it improves the sound.
– (Much like old decks) The tape decks put out a lot of hiss when playing cassettes. However, I compared a brand new cassette I bought off of a band at a recent concert, and this system produced a lot more hiss than when I played the tape through my old Panasonic Walkman (yes, I still have a usable walkman!). I will see if this improves when connected to a larger audio system. It also seems the mp3 recording of the tape had less hiss in it, so it could be due to the fact you have to turn the volume up so high to get the same output level as you would with the other sources (which amplifies the hiss).
– When recording mp3s, if you don’t immediately press play on the tape deck, or drop the needle on the record, you will have some dead air at the beginning of the file. I don’t know if other products are the same way since this is the first one I’ve owned where you can convert your vinyl to mp3. To remedy this after the fact: If you use iTunes, you can make it start playing the file after the dead air by changing the file’s settings (just an fyi).

So, that’s the good and bad of it. Whether or not the bad outweighs the good is strictly determined by what you are looking to get out of the system and why you are even considering it.

Overall, I am happy with it simply because I was wanting a single system that could convert my old tapes and vinyl to mp3 format, without having to buy a converter that you have to connect to the computer. Plus, I wanted to be able to make old cassette mixtapes again since my old Aiwa and GE systems haven’t worked in over 15 years. I do consider myself an audiophile with high standards for sound, but I’m willing to live with the faults in this system due to all of the features it offers. I’m hoping that connecting it to my main amplifier and nice speakers will make it even better. It is a nice package that can accommodate every type of media that there is (with the exception of an 8-track and reel-to-reel player), so that counts for a lot in my book!

Incredibly, for such a low price, I found that virtually everything works great on this little system! (and it does quite a bit!) And even though the speakers, though they won’t play as loud, they indeed, sound much better than my two 100 Watt RMS speakers on another system of mine. Normally a critic, I am absolutely pleased and delighted with this purchase! Glad I own one now!