Value Ease of use Rotary volume Useful features

Partial display washout in sunlight

The Aiwa WD-X500M is a double-DIN combination CD/Cassette receiver. The sound is definitely much improved over the old stock radio/cassette unit. I can hear sounds from music CDs that I couldn''t hear before with the old unit. Even though I''m still using the same stock speakers, the sound is quite good. A nice feature is the bass boost that can be set to three different power levels. Where before with the old unit the bass was a bit boomy and muddy, its now stronger and more precise. The treble response is crisp and stereo imaging is also very good. Even on the highway, sound reproduction is full and clear. I''ve enjoyed the CD player so much that I have listened to the radio very little since I installed the Aiwa. A nice feature is the unit will set stations automatically at the touch of a few buttons. Station reception is better than my old unit, but I don''t know how it compares to other comparable ones. A nice feature of the unit is the rotary volume control. A must-have. It also comes with a remote control you can mount on the steering wheel. I was also surprised at the quality of the cassette player. I guess I half expected that combo CD/cassette units would sort of include the cassette player as an afterthought. Quite the contrary. The sound quality coming out of the cassettes is very good, and volume is almost the same as CDs. The unit has a feature where you can set different comparative volume settings for the CD, cass, and radio, but find I don''t need to use it. As a bonus, this is the easiest-to-use cassette player I''ve ever had in a car - not bad considering it shares controls with the CD player. The unit hasn''t skipped yet, even though I drive a stiff car (91 Eclipse GSX) over railroad tracks every day to work. I bought the unit because it had the features I wanted at the best value. I was looking for the capability to play both tapes and CDs (including CD-RWs), an aux-in jack, CD changer control capability (in case I get a changer someday), removable faceplate, and a nice-looking display. The Aiwa has all of this, plus has one of the higher power ratings for its price range at 180 Watts peak. Although parts of the display gets washed out in sunlight, you can still read the main info line that displays the time/track number and playing time. At night the unit looks simply awesome with its many multi-colored LEDs. Note

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