Aiwa CDC-MP32 Car Receiver

Disappearing act
Turn on your ignition, and the blank front panel of the CDC-MP32 does a little dance, its two pieces flipping and sliding away to reveal the display and controls. When you turn off the unit, the word Goodbye appears on the big, bright, colorful display. This is followed by a faint swish before the panels fold neatly away again.

Once the unit is ready to play music, the smart input selection shows you only what is available: CD when a disc is loaded and CD-CH when a CD changer is connected. The other input options include three groups of six FM presets and two groups of six AM presets. Finally, there's an extra that all car stereos should have (but few do): an auxiliary input jack on the front panel. This makes it possible to use an , a , or any other portable audio device without resorting to a cassette-style adapter, which can degrade audio quality and is somewhat of a hassle in general. You can set a default audio level for each source so that you won't be blasted by high volume when you switch from CD to FM radio, for instance.

Clear channels
The Aiwa tuned in as many clean FM stations as our older but more expensive reference unit--a first among the car MP3 players that we've tested. The sound, however, is a bit hard-edged. The FM tuner saves you from missing your favorite programs by turning on and tuning in to any station up to twice a day--even if you happen to be listening to another source at the time. You cannot program the CDC-MP32 for specific days, so it's seven days a week or nothing at all (until you cancel the setting). Also, we wished that the tuning buttons skipped the nonpreset stations, to speed up channel flipping. Hide Review