A Modest Performer!. Review on Thomson VTCD8355

I bought a Thomson VTCD8355 in August, 2000 and I have been using it since then.

The first thing that strikes to you when you see the model is that it has an old-fashioned, all-black finishing, with a down-to-earth two colour fluorescent display. It lacks all those flashing lights and multi-colour displays. There is the conspicuous lack of the usual, dancing spectrum-analyzer on the front-panel as well.

Not withstanding this, the model is loaded with features.

The model is a combo of an AM/FM tuner, twin cassette recorder, and 3 ACD changer. In addition to these functions, the set can work as an AV-Receiver also, as it has inputs for two additional devices marked as Video-1 and Video-2.

The cassette recorder section is equipped with one normal, and one auto-reverse deck. Soft-touch buttons have been provided for all the functions, and there is a soft-eject as well. Integrated into the system is a pseudo-surround technology patented by the SRS Labs. An option has been provided to toggle between the two channel stereo mode, and the four channel pseudo-surround mode. There are features like karaoke, vocal fader, and multiplex, but till date I have not felt the need to use them. The cassette deck has synchro-dubbing facility, that helps in dubbing from another cassette (normal/high-speed), or a CD, with minimum loss of quality.

The tuner section has a self-scanning AM/FM tuner with a programmable memory of 20 stations, supported by the external AM and FM antennas. The reception is pretty good, and I spend some of my past time listening to RadioCity 91 FM on the tuner section.

The CD section has a quiet and smooth, 32 track programmable, 3-ACD changer with simultaneous play and load. The self-demo (intro) and the sample-play features are built into it, as is the shuffle and play feature wherein the CD player picks and plays tracks in a randomized manner on its own. The CD player's sound quality is found to be warm, and quite satisfactory.

The model is provided with three preset equalizer patterns (Rock, Pop, Jazz), and one three-band, customizable, equalizer pattern. The model also boasts of bass-boost feature. But this feature has been found to be totally useless, and it introduces a lot of distortion into an otherwise pleasant sound when switched on. It is found that at higher volumes, the speakers provided with the system are not able to handle the bass-boost at all.

On the other hand, the active-subwoofer-out RCA socket provided at the back of the set is very useful, and works perfectly in harmony even with a low-end multimedia sub-woofer.

The model is not capable of playing MP3s which is a major handicap!

There is a full-function remote-control to go with the model. A clock, and a timer have been incorporated into the system. However, no battery back-up has been provided for the clock. Therefore, whenever the power goes off and comes back, the clock starts displaying 12:00 a.m., and thus under the Indian conditions, it is rendered useless.

Coming to the most important part, the speakers, it is surprising that apart from stating that the model has a PMPO of 1000 watts, Thomson chose to remain totally silent on the specifications like RMS, impedence, distortion, and sensitivity of the speakers, which certainly does not augur well for a brand that compares itself with Sony (It was cursorily mentioned on the Thomson - Singapore's website that the model has 50+50 watt RMS output).

The main speakers are of two way, book-shelf type, and their frequency response is stated to be from 40Hz to 16KHz (+-3dB). The interconnectors are of clamp-on spring type, and are not the RCA ones, which indicates that Thomson economized alot on the speakers. The build of these speakers seems to be sturdy though! The speakers cones are made up of butylene, in contrast with Thomson Altima series' Kevlar cones.

Though the speakers are heavily built, while performing they fall flat on the bass side. Judging from the fact that the stated lower frequency response goes down to 40Hz, perhaps one may get better response with a pair of third-party speakers.

On the day I purchased the set, I observed that the cassette-deck's speed was abnormally high. When I telephoned to their service centre in Guwahati, the response was immediate! Within two hours, the service engineer was at my door-step, and aligned the speed correctly. But I felt that it was too silly a defect to be left undetected by Thomson's quality control in the first place.