Panasonic SC-HC3DB Bookshelf Hifi & iPod Dock
Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 4:13PM 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.
Reader Comments (21)
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.
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
Good news - what do you think of it - do you think the sound is good?
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
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.
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 :)
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.
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
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).
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.
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.
Fantastic video. Pushed me over the edge to buy one for myself (in the U.S.) for Christmas. Using this with an iPhone 3G. Went to the Apple Store today and purchased the 3-pack of iPhone Universal Dock Adapters. Fit's perfectly in the Panasonic and makes inserting the iPhone a more confidence inspiring exercise.
Here's the adapter if you're interested:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA722LL/A
Thanks Scott, I'd forgotten about the dock adaptors - good idea, I'll pick one up myself the next time I'm in the Apple shop.
Bought one of these today and am very pleased with it apart from one thing. When an ipod is in place and the door closed there is an audible hum from the unit. It stops when the door is open and is only present when an ipod is in situ.. I've tried with an iPhone 3G, a Nano and a Touch. Sure, it is fairly quiet and drowned out by the music but between tracks and if I pause the music it is really quite noticeable and distracting. Is this just my machine or do others have this issue?
I've checked mine again and you are right there is a hum when the door is closed that isn't there when it's open. I really have to put my head right up against the machine to hear it though - if yours is audible from more than a few inches away I'd get it swapped out - it sounds faulty. Just one thing to check - try it on a different plug socket - I had a sub woofer that made a weird noise on one plug that it didn't make on another - just an idea.
Hmmm... thanks for that. I think I'll pop it back to the Panasonic Shop tomorrow. The hum is still audible from the other side of the room. Bizarrley I discovered today that it is present at all times even when the machine is switched off as long as the iPod is charging. As soon as the iPod is fully charged, it stops but if I then switch the machine on again to play music, the hum comes back.
MGB,
I have the same problem and as you say it appears to be linked to the iPod charging. I bought one for Christmas and returned that one because of the hum to Amazon for a replacement, unfortunately the replacement is the same and it’s also going to be returned. It’s not a loud hum but if you listen to podcasts with just speech it really starts to get distracting.
It’s a shame because I really liked this bit of kit.
Thanks counterstrike. Sounds like a batch issue maybe. I'm going to pop into the Panasonic shop later today and get their take on it and test out their in-store model. I'm so familiar with the hum now, I'd soon hear it even in the noisiest of shops!
What comment did the Panasonic shop make?
After a lot of listening and fiddling (waiting for the shop to be empty and quiet enough!), I could hear the same hum on the display model in the store. Guy admitted it was a fault and that it would be communicated to Panasonic, together with this thread. I've decided to keep the unit and live with the hum... as you say the only time it is an issue is when listening to speech on the Ipod which we rarely do.
I have this model and it just does not operate ...shows 'No Dev' . I left it a few weeks and no it works for a few hours and then stops again and I cannot use any of the options. Any ideas what this could be. Bought it at Christmas 2010.
cheers John