Goodbye wires, hello Bluetooth: Panasonic SC-ALL7CD EBK stereo reviewed

I have a shock confession to make. I have never been a fan of the vinyl, long-play record.

While the artwork was great, I found they were too easy to damage. Any comments about the sound being warm have always washed over me.

When CDs came out I thought they were awesome. Then I started driving and my CDs got left in the car where they lasted maybe a month or two before getting damaged.

The arrival of the MP3 was, for me, a great development. I love buying and listening to music this way.

The only problem was that for a long time we didn’t have a proper stereo  system at home. We had one in our old house that got boxed up when we moved, but it never really got unpacked again. With the arrival of Child Number Two, other things were prioritised.

Instead we generally relied on a docking station that was given to us as a wedding present (this is a slightly embarrassing thin g to admit to for a music lover such as myself). I don’t wish to sound ungrateful, because the docking station worked very well, but it was basic and had its limitations. When Mrs Adams got a new phone that didn’t quite fit the dock, it was the beginning of the end.

An ugly cable was required to connect the phone to the docking station. This was in addition to the power cable. I would often wonder into the kitchen as Mrs Adams was cooking to find wires dragging over the work surface and the 1975 blaring out of this much-beleaguered docking station.

I regularly felt the need to buy a Bluetooth enabled stereo but simply never got around to it. At this juncture, the Panasonic SC-All7CDEBK entered my life. What a marvelous piece of kit is it is.

What is it?

The Panasonic SC-ALL7 (for short) is a fully-fledged stereo system. It has DAB radio, FM radio, CD player, it’s Bluetooth enabled and has a USB port.

It is one part of the Panasonic ALL Connected speaker system. This is a range of speakers that you can place around your home (including the bathroom) and stream your choice of music to each room.

I’ve had a few connectivity issues with the rest of the range, so I’m doing a review of the SC-ALL7 first and will review the others at a later date. For me, this approach makes sense as this is the stand-out product in the range. It has the most functions and is designed to be the range’s mothership, as it were.

Set up

Setting up the SC-ALL7 was reasonably straightforward. You have to download the Panasonic Music Stream app and synch it with your chosen music provider.

On this occasion, I chose to synch the app to Spotify. At first I couldn’t get it to work and then discovered why: you need a premium account.

This, however, is not unusual. I am in the process of testing another piece of Bluetooth enabled equipment and faced exactly the same issue while setting it up. I think this can be written off as a Spotify thing, not a Panasonic thing.  Armed with a Premium account (it was about time I got one) I was able to stream media to my heart’s content.

Ease of use

As you’ve no doubt gathered, we shall primarily use the SC-ALL7 to stream Spotify or play MP3 files. Once correctly set up, we were able to select and play music with ease.

The wires from that old docking station are a thing of the past! Everything is done via Bluetooth and I am a happy man with a much less cluttered kitchen.

That’s not all. As I’ve already outlined, this stereo boasts other features including FM and DAB radio and a CD player.

You can play CDs and stream them to other products in the All Connected range. The SC-ALL7 also has an impressive memory allowing you to store music from 25 CDs on the hard drive to listen to them at your leisure.

It’s worth noting you can pre-set 10 radio stations. The CD player is also very instinctual to use. It’s all proven to be very straightforward.

Other points to mention

There is one further point that springs to mind. The All-SC7 has a remote control so you can control it from afar.

In fact, there’s more. I have to mention the stereo’s design. With discreet buttons on the top and other controls hidden away under the speakers themselves, there is little to break smooth rounded design of the stereo.

The main colours are black and silver and it these contrast nicely. Put simply, it is a nice-looking piece of kit and one you would want on your bookshelf / sideboard / stereo unit.

Technical specifications

• Total output 40w
• 2 X 6.5 cm Full Range Woofer
• 2 X 4cm Tweeter
• 2 X Twisted Acoustic Port: 31.5 cm
• 4GB internal memory
• Multi sound mode setting
• 3.5mm headphone jack /

Sound quality

I’ve found the sound quality to be very impressive. High and low notes sound great and there’s minimal distortion when playing at maximum volume.

Cost and availability

At the time of writing, the Panasonic SC-ALL7CD EBK was selling for around the £300. It was widely available at retailers including John Lewis and AO.com.

Summary

This is a great versatile stereo. The sound quality is great and the memory feature means you don’t have to keep your CD collection at hand.

It’s also a marvellous looking stereo. You have, of course, got the option to build on this and get other items from the All Connected range to provide you with a quality home-wide music system. In terms of cost, it is about what I would expect to pay for an item of this specification.

If you are looking for a good, all-round stereo that performs well this is one I would look at. I’m also delighted that we no longer have those ridiculous wires all around our kitchen.

Disclosure: A Panasonic SCALL7CDEBK stereo system was provided for review purposes. Thoughts and opinions entirely my own.