I haven’t posted for a few weeks as my house is undergoing a considerable amount of building work – leaving very little time to sit down and relax. Part of this building work involves the construction of a Conservatory. This is entirely the wife’s idea – but it does mean that I now have the opportunity to fill another room with entertainment equipment. I’m not too sure about putting a TV in a room made of glass – so I decided it would be a good opportunity to get a nice new speaker dock for my iPhone.
I would have been happy to continue using my old JBL On Stage for a while, but it doesn’t work with my iPhone 3G – so I went on the hunt for a new stylish and compact speaker with excellent sound. I took my iPhone to Costco and stuck it in a number of different speaker docks to try them out.
The system I came home with wasn’t just a speaker, but a fully fledged bookshelf Hi-Fi system – the Panasonic SC-HC3DB. It won me (and the missus) over with its excellent sound quality and its ingenious solution for neatly storing the iPhone away whilst at the same time keeping it’s display visible.
As usual, I’ve put together a short video and I suggest you give this one a look if you are thinking of getting a new iPod/iphone speaker or a bookshelf HiFi – It really produces an amazingly detailed and rich sound which belies its modest £175 price tag. I’d have happily paid that just for a speaker this good and I had to check the shelf price twice when I saw that this included a CD and DAB/FM radio as well.
Highly recommended.
Saw this today in Comet for £199 – it’s fantastic and reckon I sold at least 2 of them whilst I was in there as I had my iPod touch on me and people kept stopping to look as I had a play with it. Nice to see the remote as there aren’t many buttons on the unit. It sounded just as good to me as an iPod speaker would at that price, and a busy shop is never the best place to listen to audio gear. Seriously impressed.
By: Andy on August 8, 2009
at 9:56 pm
Get one…………bought one at Costco today, reduced to 149 +vat, but also had another £20 deducted with an instore voucher………so about £150 all told. Great value
By: Neil on September 27, 2009
at 8:59 pm
Good news – what do you think of it – do you think the sound is good?
By: Techmoan on September 28, 2009
at 10:33 am
How well does it work with the iPhone 3G?? This looks like it has everything I have been looking for in a shelf speaker dock but I can’t find many reviews of iPhone 3G compatibility. Does it charge the iPhone as well?? Your input will be very much appreciated!!
Thanks
By: Brandon on November 3, 2009
at 5:43 pm
It works perfectly with my iPhone 3G (that’s what I was using in the clip) – it also charges the phone whenever the input is switched to the iPod setting. There are some more comments on Youtube itself under the video that go into a bit more detail as well.
By: Techmoan on November 3, 2009
at 9:05 pm
Your video was fab! I think I have made my mind up to buy this mini hi fi but originally I started out looking for a product which was primarily a DAB radio alarm clock with an Iphone dock… do you think this would serve the purpose well? i.e. does it have an alarm function? If so can this be set to both DAB radio and Ipod music? Also, is there a snooze function as I’d be lost without one! Finally, and sorry to ask sooo many questions (!) does the LED display scroll the artist and name of tracks being played if listening to DAB radio stations? I’m one demanding girl arent I!!!
Thank you so much in advance
By: Sophie on December 1, 2009
at 5:22 pm
I’m not sure its the right device for you unfortunately. It won’t charge an iPod when it’s in standby – only when its playing it and it doesn’t have a snooze function.
It will play whatever device was last on when the alarm was set and the display does scroll the artist and song etc.
By: Techmoan on December 1, 2009
at 8:16 pm
Thanks for your prompt response Techmoan, and for answering my many questions. On further research of the functions I have found something on the comet which contradicts the info you kindly gave regarding charging iphones when the unit is on standby… http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/560723/PANASONIC-SC-HC3DBEB-S/tab/askandanswer#askAndAnswer
Do you think the author is mistaken or might there be an option to charge whilst on standby?
Also, and finally I forgot to ask if the clock is still visible when on standby. I have been looking at the intempo RDi but decided against buying this as the clock disappears when the unit is not in use.
Thanks once again
Best regards
By: sophie on December 2, 2009
at 12:41 pm
You are absolutely right – I’ve checked again and it actually does charge the iPod when it’s on standby – but I’m still not sure it does this when the other inputs are selected (CD/radio).
The clock vanishes when it’s on standby – if you press the Clock button on the remote it turns on for about a second then vanishes again (I think it’s all about saving power – one of it’s selling points is that it uses next to no power in standby).
By: Techmoan on December 2, 2009
at 9:19 pm
I tried this with my 3gs and the phone reported it was not compatible. Is this correct? Was really hoping it was going to work.
By: Derek on December 6, 2009
at 11:29 am
Don’t worry about the warning it will work perfectly. You see me cancelling the same warning in the video. It just means that Panasonic haven’t paid Apple to become an officially licenced partner and therefore don’t have the Apple authentication chip inside who’s sole purpose is to make this warning screen disappear. My old Apple Ipod dock connector flashes up the same warning and it was made by Apple themselves. Nothing to worry about.
By: Techmoan on December 6, 2009
at 12:18 pm