Got a Sony XR-C5120R rad-cass head unit (pretty sweet though only 4x40w) with an ol' sony MZ-G750 MDLP portable (one of the very first!) feeding it through a tape adaptor. Works surprisingly well and isn't so fiddly once you figure out how to tuck all the wire away! Plus the head has the ability to natively control a changer if you plug one in.... with an expensive proprietary translator module
Things I would change with it:
Get a better portable. This one as stated is pretty old and i think they had to make some compromises to house the LP circuitry... the random play function is bobbins, there's a big ass bulge because it uses an AA rather than AAA battery, and the treble reproduction is too over-amped at times (bit of a continual Sony problem? might jump ship to JVC, Sharp instead...) which can make it all feel too "sharp" unless you change your treble tone control on the head to a fairly dull setting. Also it doesn't support any NetMD functions - for digital direct recording, my only option is the optical output from my old sony discman (whose control board is knackered, it will only play discs start-finish) or cheap-ass DVD player (skips first 1/2 second of EVERYTHING)... downloading from PC at more than 1x speed would be fabulous!
Get a non-sony head unit. Something e.g. from panasonic which can support the changer i have in the cupboard directly, or from some other company that's a bit more relaxed over what changers they support and are kind enough to include out-of-the-box usable aux-in sockets front and back (and separate EQ for fronts and rears!). So long as the reproduction was up to the scratch of this one.
Aaaannd... thats about it.
Though a head unit that directly supports long-play minidisc would be very nice (might have to start looking second-hand only in a year... or less!). It would HAVE to include some kind of aux capability though, either front or rear, so i can plug a tape walkman or a regular discman in if needs be!
