Editorial Review:

Product Description:
From Sharp Minds come Sharp Products - products designed to help individuals, families, and corporate teams connect effortlessly, communicate clearly, and unleash creativity like never before. Sharp is dedicated to improving people's lives through the use of advanced technology and a commitment to innovation, quality, value, and design.

Amazon.com Review:
We recommend Sharp's XL-520 shelf system as a great low-cost upgrade to a bedroom, studio apartment, or dorm room. The system includes CD and cassette players, AM/FM tuner (antenna provided), and magnetically shielded two-way speakers that you can place near a TV or computer monitor without disturbing the picture. Working in tandem with the speakers is a two-channel line input on the back of the main component that can easily accommodate a VCR or PC audio output.

The speakers are fairly well balanced--not too bright, not too boomy or muddy--but all the same, an adjustable tone control would be nice. As it stands, the system comes with three preset EQ settings besides flat (no EQ): a bass mode that adds a little low end to the presentation, a mode that boosts the extreme low and high frequencies, and a mode that rolls off the highs (useful for softening particularly hissy tapes or noisy radio broadcasts).

One feature of the XL-520 that is unique to systems at this price is an optical digital output. Accessible from the front panel, this feature allows recording from CD to other digital media--such as MiniDisc or even a PC hard drive--where the digital feed can be compressed to MP3 or other reduced-storage audio formats.

The full-function remote is highly convenient in allowing you to adjust the volume, EQ, sound source, play mode (repeat or random), 20-track programmable memory, or sleep/timer all from the comfort of a bed or couch. When the memory is programmed but not playing any CDs, the display window shows the total time of the programmed material.

Pros:

• Shielded speakers can be placed near TV or computer monitor
• Auxiliary input can accept feed from VCR or PC
• Digital output helps with compilations on MiniDisc or MP3
• Volume control on remote

Cons:

• Cassette sound is below par
• No adjustable tone controls

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