Microlab offers a whole lot of bang for your buck with its MD332 Digital Clock Radio System

Look what just fell off the cheap heap: The surprisingly substantive $120 Microlab MD332 Digital Clock Radio System, an overstuffed turducken as a clock radio but a huge bang-for-the-buck iPod dock/soundbar combo.Microlab, a Chinese manufacturer more than a decade old, shows a blissful obliviousness to American custom. Does it care the United States does not use a 24-hour clock format? (As in: What time did the game end last night? Oh, about 23:00.)

Or that the American buyer doesn't expect an ivory remote paired with an ebony clock radio, the fashion equivalent of white socks with a black tux? Or that the average American nightstand might not accommodate a hulking clock radio that spans almost 17 inches wide, 10 deep, 6 high and weighs slightly more than 14 pounds?

Nah.

But away from the nightstand, on a dresser, a kitchen counter, in the den or home office and close to TV, the MD332 is a rock-the-house sound machine that plays louder, deeper and more coherently than some systems costing several hundred dollars more.

The high-quality construction afforded by China's low production costs make up for the MD332's minor fashion faux pas. The MD332 is a brick of an iPod speaker dock, with internal bracing made from medium-density fiberboard — real wood that reduces distortion created by less rigid enclosures — cooling fins extending from the back panel, a textured, faux-leather finish and an elegant facade with a silver volume dial framed by six push-button controls beneath a display screen that illuminates red. Above it all sits the spoiled-rotten iPod, iPhone or Touch.

And that white remote? Aside from full MD332 control, it offers full menu navigation of your iPod — not just the usual next-track, previous track and volume.

On looks alone, the MD332 could easily pass as a $300 dock system. Microlab backs it up sonically too. Several years ago, the company recruited Peter Larsen, the former chief engineer for the highly regarded Vifa and Scan-Speak speaker-driver manufacturers in Denmark and high-end loudspeaker maker Dynaudio to design speakers and enclosures for Microlab.

For the MD332, Larsen designed a pair of full-range 2.5-inch aluminum drivers, concealed behind metal grilles on the front panel, and a 5.25-inch, down-firing woofer built into the system's bottom panel. Microlab says the MD332 reaches as low as 40 hertz, the approximate bass output of a small surround-sound system with a subwoofer.

In my tests, the MD332 lost some impact before reaching those depths, but produced audible output even below 30 hertz — a freakish achievement for something calling itself a clock radio. Such performance will go wasted on a nightstand, even with a fully loaded iPod feeding music into the MD332.

The MD332's AM/FM tuner, with the included antennas, falls somewhere between poor and below-average. A more powerful antenna will help.

Put the MD332 beneath a TV and you'll get the best of this system — a nice iPod speaker dock and a great little soundbar. The MD332 has only one set of audio inputs.

A "Lord of the Rings" DVD and "Monster vs. Aliens" on HBO revealed the MD332 as a superb virtual-surround system that pushed the soundtrack deep into the room. I pushed the "Rings" soundtrack to slightly beyond 85 decibels without noticeable distortion. That's plenty loud for most ears.

In standby mode it's an energy hog: slightly more than 14 watts. Fully operational it uses less than 19 watts. To conserve energy, shut down the system with the master on-off switch.

Even with its mismatched remote control, poor AM/FM performance and 24-hour clock, the MD332 is a great find.

khunt@tribune.com

What: Microlab MD332 Digital Clock Radio System, microlabav.com

Price: $120, amazon.com

Hot: Looks, sounds like a $300 speaker dock.

Not: Mismatched remote, 24-hour clock, weak AM/FM tuner.

Alternative: At the price, no match.