Sony CMT-M333NT
A compact bookshelf system that crammed a CD player, an MD recorder, a cassette deck and a tuner into a single 160 mm-wide chassis.
Overview
The CMT-M333NT is four separate components - CD, MiniDisc, tape, tuner - squashed into one box roughly 160 mm wide, 217 mm tall and 345 mm deep. Sony built this kind of all-in-one for the bedroom or study, and the spec sheet reads like a checklist of every format that mattered at the turn of the millennium. The CD section has a 2 Hz - 20 kHz frequency response. The MD deck has a 5 Hz - 20 kHz response and a 44.1 kHz sampling frequency. The tape deck is 4-track 2-channel stereo, and the tuner is an FM/AM superheterodyne.
The MiniDisc side is where the machine earns its keep. Sony's own manual describes the MD player as supporting 4x extended recording and playback (MDLP), 4x high-speed dubbing from CD to MD, and a Group function that lets owners organize recorded songs into groups treated like albums on the disc. The dubbing speed is the useful part in daily use. A whole disc moves across in a fraction of real time instead of a one-to-one copy. The MD deck also carries a 44.1 kHz sampling frequency and a 5 Hz - 20 kHz frequency response, so the digital side was never the weak link.
The tape deck is the more modest section, and the manual is honest about it. It has a 60 - 10,000 Hz frequency response (±3 dB) using Sony TYPE I cassettes, with wow and flutter quoted three ways: ±0.15% W. Peak (IEC), 0.1% W. RMS (NAB), and ±0.2% W. Peak (DIN). Those are the numbers of a convenience deck, not a tape enthusiast's machine. The tuner covers 87.5 - 108.0 MHz on FM, with a 100 kHz step on the North American model and a 50 kHz step elsewhere. AM tuning varies by region. The European model runs 531 - 1,602 kHz on a 9 kHz interval, while the Pan-American model covers 530 - 1,710 kHz on 10 kHz or 531 - 1,710 kHz on 9 kHz.
Amplification is quoted per region in the manual. The Canadian, European and "other" models all list a continuous RMS power output (reference) of 25 + 25 W into 6 ohms at 1 kHz and 10% THD. The European and other models also have a DIN rating of 20 + 20 W (6 ohms at 1 kHz, DIN), and the European version lists a music power output (reference) of 45 + 45 W. Total harmonic distortion is stated as less than 0.09% (6 ohms at 1 kHz, 6 W). The speaker outputs accept 6 to 16 ohms. The supplied speakers are 2-way bass-reflex designs with a 10 cm cone woofer and a 2.5 cm balanced dome tweeter, nominal impedance 6 ohms. Each weighs about 2.3 kg, against the main unit's roughly 5.6 kg.
Connectivity is where the system shows its age. There's an analog input with 250 mV sensitivity and 47 kilohm impedance, and a digital optical input that accepts 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz sampling frequencies. The supplied accessories include a USB cable, paired with M-crew and SonicStage for Net MD software on CD-ROM. Sony's manual spells out the pitch: connect the system to a personal computer and you can play back songs from the computer's hard disk or CD-ROM drive through the system's speakers, and operate the system from the computer with the supplied software. The USB/Net MD bridge is the most period-specific feature, and probably the one most likely to be useless today, since the software was built for Windows of that era.
Power requirements vary by market: 120 V AC, 60 Hz for North America; 230 V AC, 50/60 Hz for Europe; 220 V AC, 60 Hz for Korea; and 220 - 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz elsewhere. Consumption is listed at 65 W, dropping to 0.3 W or less in Power Saving mode on the European model. The system ships with a remote commander, FM wire and AM loop aerials, the USB cable, and the software disc.
The self-diagnosis display is worth knowing about before you panic at a code. The manual lists C11/Protected (MD write-protected - slide the tab), C12/Cannot Copy (an unsupported disc format such as CD-ROM), C13/REC Error and C13/Read Error (recording or disc-information read failures, often dirty or scratched MDs), and E0101/LASER NG, which points to a damaged laser pickup and a trip to a Sony dealer. The manual also warns that condensation on the lens inside the CD player or MD deck will stop the system working properly. The fix is to remove the disc and leave it powered on for about an hour. The laser warning is the serious one, since a dead pickup on a machine this integrated is not a casual repair.
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