Whoa, hold da phone! Sony has kept the best for itself. I came across thismodel at a liquidation sale and has it been a gem in disguise. This is an
international model, better than anything I have heard from Sony or any other mini-system for that matter. Seems the best is saved for the local market. It has 100w of bi-amped power. Yes, I said this little unit is bi-amped. It has the higher end digital servo control on the Cd and even has a digital out (toslink only - so its not perfect). Also included are dual cassette with auto-reverse, tuner that also brings in the TV channels, sub-woofer out and rear surround outputs. These are all mini-seperate components. The gem of course in the amp which says on the front "High Performance Bi-amp" This is the cleanest sound I have heard from a little system. Detail in rendered like a large high-end system. I don't know much about the speaker (manual in Japanese) but they are heavy indicating some real magnet power inside. For a small room setup I have not heard its equal (appearance of ignorance on this statment is only in your imagination). Bottom line, if you are looking for a mini-system and you can find the little gems from the asian coast, GO FOR IT. I even bought a Sony standard audio/video component remote which works just fine.