Sony ICFCDK50 Under Cabinet Kitchen CD Clock Radio

I was pleased at the sound and features of this unit. It picks up FM really well and does good on the distant stations. On AM, it does well. It picks up the locals well, and the distant ok. Great sounding for talk-radio- not too much bass. Can be heard well enough to listen through the hums and static. The presets set easy, and is quite simple to run the whole thing.The CD player lacks a little for me. Just plays, and fast-forwards. No random, or repeat or program. When it plays to the end of the CD, it shuts off. Strictly plays CD's. No MP3, or anything else like that.From inserting a CD to playing, it could play a little quicker.The line-in feature is really cool. The cradle would hold most players. It does have a timer that plays louder than the music. Good if you like it loud.As far as the sound in general, it really will surprise you how well it sounds. I had an open mind the first time I turned it on, not expecting to have my hair straightened or anything. It has plenty of volume- enough to hear in several rooms or over the kids at least. The only equlization it had was a bass boost. That gave it a more full sound. I do wish there was at least a treble/bass setting to adjust.I had the location of mine down to two places when I bought it. I turned on the FM radio and held it in one place that was in a corner. Ok, but it sounded like it was in a cave. The next place was from hanging cabnets with no walls around it. GREAT! I recommend doing the same before actually drilling the holes. The cord is 5 feet long. The local hardware store had the tracks to hang/hide the cord to make it look classy. Make sure to test the radio and CD player before installation. My first unit had a defective CD player. No problem returning it- good job Amazon!They supply a template of paper to get the holes right. The best way to do it is to lay the paper in the bottom of the cabinet.Its a great radio/ CD player. If you want to feel the music around you in 6.1 Dolby, then get a system like that. This is a great space saver that sounds great.

I installed this in my kitchen underneath a cabinet and it looks great. It's only about 4 inches in height or seemingly less, and was easy to install with the paper hole alignment guide provided. You put the paper guide into the cabinet and then you use a drill to make the holes through the bottom of the cabinet. I countersunk the screws into the wood by using a slightly larger drill bit to make small areas for the screw head. I didn't use the provided spacers, and instead just mounted the unit flush against the cabinet, and it looks great!Now about the unit, the sound is great for our kitchen. I always leave the megabass setting on, without it it does not fill them room as well. I can crank this unit way up and hear it in all the rooms of my house, and it does not sound bad or like the speakers are going to break. So that's great, you can crank this baby!!!The CD player works great, just like you would expect. Clock is fine. Timer is fine. Also hooked up to my ipod through the audio-in cord provided and that worked great as well.Five presets buttons (actually 10 FM and 5 AM) make it really easy to switch around. The remote controller is neat, but don't really need to use it as I can reach the unit just as easily. Controller does not reflect off walls or anything like that, so you need a clear line-of-sight to make it work.Overall, this is a great product and my wife and I love it!

The installation of the ICF-CDK50 is a 20 minute task using the adjustable spacers to compensate for front lip of cabinet, screws provided and template to drill four 3/16" holes. The Aux input is a 10" pigtail stereo audio cable well concealed that can be used on any MP3 type player left in a clip-on hanger or any other device with an audio output jack. The sound, with the built in Bass boost far exceeds typical table top radios with speakers of this size, enhanced by facing down and being reflected by the counter top, sort of a bass reflex effect. In a 12x16 home kitchen, any volume level above 50% is excessively loud. The <-> manual tuning is very slow, be sure to program favorites in the 5 preset's. The timer function is easily used, set to even minutes; it counts down in seconds and sufficiently louder than the radio volume to gain your attention. The remote thankfully is not a credit card type, it is more like a roll of nickels and while IR, it has a full 180 degree range, likely not used in an active place like the kitchen but convenient if kept beside the telephone if more than an arms reach from the K50. In store comparisons with the twice thicker and expensive Sony ICF-CDK70 model proved it to be total overkill unless used in a work environment like a machine shop or sheltered outdoor/patio location. The 4+" thickness of the K70 vs the 2+" of the K50 reduces the typical 16" counter top to cabinet space to 12-", a significant consideration where Canisters or counter top appliances must exist under it. Other brands found at local store's sounded like pocket transistor radios while the K50 is comparable to a quality boom-box of 4~6' speakers. The rear of the case includes dogs to wrap excess power cable if you must power it from a receptacle in the counter backstop. However, from a performance standpoint, it appears that the FM/AM antenna is embedded in the power cord and coiling the excess length reduces signal strength, routing it up though or outside the cabinet to above, ideally if a gap or plate rail exist atop the cabinets routing the cable up and extending to any available power (like in a range hood) greatly enhances performance. The CD player is adequate, easy to use and when installed under a cabinet with a lower lip, easily accessed. The K50 is the optimum choice as a kitchen AM/FM radio, while offering excellent CD and MP3 player compatibility in a kitchen environment. Of note; there are other radios presently on the market that offer AM/FM/TV/Weather. None advertize the fact that the TV is an NTSC tuner that will be obsolete in Feb 2009 when TV moves to digital ATSC or that the weather alerts become terribly obnoxious after the "new' wears off.