Sharp - XL-MP130 Five Disc CD Changer Review

In the fall of 2005, I finally decided that my old shelf stereo system would need to go.  It was struggling to read CDs, making my music listening nearly impossible unless I wanted to listen on my at the time very old computer.  For someone as into music as I am, this was completely and utterly not going to work.

I started looking around at prices.  I had decided I wanted a five disc changer, just to avoid having to put in and take out discs repeatedly.  However, I was on something of a tight budget, so I didn't want anything too ridiculously priced.  I was perusing the selection at Circuit City when the XL-MP 130 Five Disc Changer by Sharp caught my eye.  At $150, it was right in my price range.  I did a bit more research on it, found that most people who bought it loved it, so I went back and grabbed one.

Two years later, I've gotten a good amount of use out of it.  The sound is crisp, even when the volume is being blasted.  There's no static feedback from it being too loud.  And it doesn't seem to matter what type of music I'm playing on it: be it rock, metal, punk, R&B, rap, jazz, it all sounds excellent.

Hooking the speakers up to the main body was simple, and hooking in the antenna was almost as easy (though it did present a couple of minor issues). 

The system comes with a tape deck, meaning you don't have to throw out all of those old cassette tapes (of course, if you're like me, you're embarrassed by what you have on cassette in the first place, hence you never upgraded to a digital format).  And the radio tuner is digital, which is quite nice for those of us who seem to have trouble finding our favorite stations with the classic knob tuner.

It also comes with a remote, although to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the remote that comes with it.  It's too small with way too many buttons in way too small a space.  But maybe that's just me.

It's proven to be quite sturdy as well.  My cat knocked down the shelf this was on this past weekend and it came crashing to the floor.  I was horrified at the thought of my stereo being broken (to hell with the damn cat; if he wasn't being such a furry little dink he wouldn't have been in that mess...but all joking aside he was fine), but it is working perfectly fine with no problems whatsoever thus far.

If you're looking for a new stereo but are on a relatively small budget, I'd highly recommend this model from Sharp.