Design
The AJ300D may lack the distinctive spaceship contours of products like JBL's On Time, but its minimalist white design is unobstrusive enough to suit
all manner of bedside tables.
The unit is square with rounded corners, and is quite compact at 191 by 161 by 164mm. The front houses a dock that will cradle your iPod (any flavour as long as it sports a dock connector) or Philips GoGear MP3 player. One thing to note: a supplied set of adaptors allows your player of choice to slot snugly into the dock, but there's no adaptor for the second-generation iPod Nano. It will still sit on the base, it's just a bit wobbly -- have a look at our video review on the right to see how it fits.
On either side of the dock are some track navigation buttons as well as selector keys that switch between audio sources. These buttons are replicated on the sleek and light remote control, which also includes Mute and Sleep buttons.
An LCD sits in the centre of the speaker grille, and is large enough for you to be able to discern the time through half-lidded eyes or a Sunday morning hangover. You can also adjust the brightness of the blue backlight should it present too much of an optical assault.
On the back is an auxiliary input, which allows you to plug in anything with a 3.5mm stereo output -- good for those impromptu house parties. The included cable is quite short though, so you may need to invest in a longer version for more flexibility. We didn't like the placement of the auxiliary port and the neighbouring power socket, as when you plug cables in they stick up and look a bit messy.
The top of the AJ300D has a nice big snooze button that will withstand an enthusiastically applied fist.
Features
In addition to providing a speaker system and charging dock for your iPod or GoGear
player, the AJ300D offers an FM radio, track navigation buttons and not one but two
alarms to rouse you from a heavy slumber. You can choose to wake up to music from
your MP3 player, the radio, or the more conventional and infinitely more abrasive buzzer
noise.
A feature we didn't like was that when you place your player in the dock, music immediately starts blaring out of the speaker. (The current track resumes, or if there is not one selected, the first song in the line-up will play.) One way to get around this is to set the source to Aux before plugging your iPod in, then switch back to the dock input once you have queued up your playlist.
The unit does not function on batteries, and there is no replaceable back-up battery for keeping track of the time and date should the power go out, but the manual promises time and date will stay current for a few minutes in the event of an outage. We tested this claim by unplugging the AJ300D for five minutes, and were relieved to discover the unit made good on the instruction book's promise.
Performance
We found the alarms easy to set and appreciated the choice of what to wake up to. The volume of the buzzer is not adjustable, but it is sufficiently loud to stir you from a solid sleep.
Sound quality is surprisingly good given the compact size and 12-watt RMS power -- perhaps due to something Philips calls
wOOx loudspeaker technology, which pumps up the bassline. We were particularly impressed with how the audio stacked up against more expensive dock systems such as the On Time, On Stage II and Altec Lansing's M602.
One downside of the low price is that there's no equaliser, so you'll need to adjust settings on your MP3 player if you want to tinker with the audio. Overall though, the AJ300D offers great bass-rich sound, looks good on your bedside table, and doesn't require a hefty cash outlay.
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kiki
22/07/2008, 06:58 PM
rating
1/10
that thing sucks!
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sree77
25/03/2008, 06:28 PM
rating
9/10
Just bought one last week. I love it. I wanted to get logitech, I was almost billing and saw this unit. Got good deal since this was a last/display piece.
Pros: Great Sound
excellent bass
Charges the Ipod and FM!
Worth the money
Cons: No complaints.
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jimspiva
24/02/2008, 06:00 PM
rating
9/10
Great Great Product Use it nearly evry day love it. In the Film it says that the 2nd gen nano doe not fit this is not true just use the dock addapter that comes with the ipod it fits perfectly
Pros: Great sound quality, Loud, easy to use, nice remote
Cons: THE ALARM IS SO LOUD and the diplay has to be switched off at night
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Al
04/02/2008, 09:48 AM
rating
2/10
This unit has two major flaws. You cannot control the alarm volume, which means it gets ridiculously loud, and has to be turned off immediately. Also, the LCD backlight is so bright it has to be turned off to sleep, but then you cannot see the time late at night.
Pros: looks good.
Cons: blazing backlight or nothing, and positively the most ridiculous 'feature' ever, the inability to control the alarm volume.
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mysteryshopper88
28/11/2007, 11:17 AM
rating
6/10
I bought myself one just after receiving an iPod as a gift. Really liked the space saving design and white/silver colour of the unit
Pros: space saving and stylish design, dust resistant colour, good sound, iPod connection for charging and listening, will play other MP3's with special (short) plug - included, large digital number display
Cons: VERY, VERY loud radio alarm volume (Philips please, please fix this - and can I swap this one for the first one that has alarm volume that's adjustable, cos I'm now thinking about returning it this one), and with variable display brightnes (3 levels), is OK, but why? brightest level will probably double as a reading light (almost), lowest level will not allow you to see the time in the dark at all ??? and what would it cost to include AM radio ? why just FM (that's not logical)
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elantraelite
15/10/2007, 12:40 AM
rating
9/10
I purchased the Logitech mm50 at first, I thought it would be a good little unit and for double the price of the Philips AJ300 I thought it would have surprior sound. I was very wrong. Took the Logitech back and purchased the Philips AJ300 after hearing its sound when I sold it to another customer (I work at Myer) For half the price of the Logitech and all the extra features, It's excellent value for a good quality little unit
Pros: Great sound for its size.
Nice looking remote control
Stylish design
Cons: Huge power adaptor
Poor FM reception quality
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marty
29/09/2007, 10:27 PM
rating
7/10
We just purchased this model, slightly better than the previous model as this years model aj300d/79 has solid numeric digits for the display rather than the silly dot-matrix display they had last year. The sound is great, but now having just tested the alarm and discovered the "gentle wakeup" feature, I'm amazed that this product got out of the factory. The designers must have been deaf.
Pros: Great sound, good interface with iPod
Cons: NO VOLUME CONTROL ON ALARM. Come on Philips, fix this, this is not an acceptable design decision. This is a single flaw that could sway many peoples decision on buying this product or not.
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mjress
27/09/2007, 01:51 PM
rating
3/10
I received one for my birthday. Thought it was great until I woke up to the blasting alarm and my wife yelling at me for turning it so loud. I turned it down, she snoozed it and again it came on blowing our ear drumbs off. (It's right by our heads in the headboard!). We exchanged it thinking it was defective, only to find the new one did the same thing. Googled for instructions and low and behold found this site and the common problem.
Pros: Great sound, easy to use
Cons: Not being able to control the volume of the alarm!!!!! What were they thinking???
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garyvee
08/08/2007, 06:48 PM
rating
9/10
Good value for those who want to buy an ipod speaker yet don't want too spend too much money
Pros: Great price, Excellent sound for a compact speaker
Cons: Can't tweak bass or treble, No option for batteries
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matt_86
24/07/2007, 07:31 PM
rating
8/10
sound is awesome. bought logitech mm50 aswell and compared, took mm50 back. 300d sounded better, especially at high volume, and its $100 cheaper.
Pros: great sound at all volume.
pretty stylish
Cons: no battery power capabilities.
position of power plug into unit.
when using mp3 player as alarm, volume goes to ridiculous level.
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