Yamaha MCR-B043D Micro System Review

Like it despite all its problems....

Unique tiny square speaker pair that looks stylish and totally discrete in the dining room. I was coming more up from a sub £200 DAB/Bluetooth speaker than Hifi separate standpoint – not as portable but adds great stereo and USB playback option. I’m not a garden/pool party kinda person and UK doesn’t have that kinda weather for it.

It has all the music connection I need (USB is mp3/wma only, no wifi/network). I’m using the USB playback more than I expected but unfortunately there are occasional USB decoding crackles at the start of random tracks.

Speakers are not attached which is a bonus. Sound is surprisingly good coming out of the 11cm woofer in only a 4L box with 13cmx13cm square area. The overall sound quite balanced and imaging is ok. Serious air movement coming out of the rear bass reflex port and it can go quite low (registering even 30-40Hz bass) but playing Beyonce Deja Vu or Hotel California produced some crackling/clacking inside both speakers. It can be eliminated with foam/tissue port plugs but that reduces the sub bass for other tracks - just as well that you can up the “Eq Low” setting to compensate. For 4mx5m room filling sound, I upped the Eq Low and Mid setting a bit.

Comes with quality coax aerial and DAB reception is clean and sounds clear and warm. FM of the same station offers more reception resolution and depth but reception isn’t as clean. Slot CD runs quiet and sounds good. The speaker cables are 18 gauge stuff for spring clip but the system bass quantity is surprising if not the quality.

Other minus points: No track info for Bluetooth. It supports Ver. 3.0 / A2DP, AVRCP but display button has no effect. Probably most BT only implements the speaker BT profile. Slow to switch between inputs esp DAB/FM. Delay in USB track reading. Haven’t used the AUX in.

As an experiment, replacing the pair with premium Dynaudio DM 2/6 speakers (with 3X volume) certainly improves things – bass is now tremendous, soundstage really opened up, upper midrange slightly more recessed (sounds warmer with more lower mid and bass). Just proves to me what Yamaha 15W can offer when asked.

For the issues mentioned, Peter Tyson has replaced a brand new unit which unfortunately didn’t resolve the issues. But I’m keeping it anyway for the feature/sound you get for the size. The speaker issue is a real shame on an otherwise excellent sounding system. As such £200 without the speakers isn’t as good a value proposition.

Comments

  1. Anonymous14 December 2023 at 07:00

    With regard to the speakers i upgraded mine to a pair of Cambridge Audio speakers..The difference is night and day...the sound achieved is gorgeous

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10 September 2024 at 22:35

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    ReplyDelete
  3. Deals fashion shopping6 March 2025 at 19:06

    Your writing has a way of simplifying even the most complicated ideas

    ReplyDelete

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