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MHC-EC78/EC68.GB.3-294-661-12(1)

WARNING

To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, 

do not expose this apparatus to rain or 

moisture.

To prevent fire, do not cover the ventilation of the 

apparatus with news papers, table-cloths, curtains, etc. 

And don’t place lighted candles on the apparatus.
To prevent fire or shock hazard, do not place objects filled 

with liquids, such as vases, on the apparatus.
Install this system so that the power cord can be 

unplugged from the wall socket immediately in the event 

of trouble.

Do not install the appliance in a confined space, such 

as a bookcase or built-in cabinet.

Batteries or batteries installed apparatus shall not be 

exposed to excessive heat such as sunshine, fire or the 

like.
The main plug is used as the disconnect device, the 

disconnect device shall remain readily operable.

Hooking up the system securely

This appliance is classified 

as a CLASS 1 LASER 

product. This marking 

is located on the rear 

exterior.

NOTICE FOR THE CUSTOMERS IN 

THE UNITED KINGDOM

A moulded plug complying with BS1363 is fitted to this 

equipment for your safety and convenience.

Should the fuse in the plug supplied need to be replaced, 

a fuse of the same rating as the supplied one and 

approved by ASTA or BSI to BS1362, (i.e., marked with 

 or   mark) must be used.

If the plug supplied with this equipment has a detachable 

fuse cover, be sure to attach the fuse cover after you 

change the fuse. Never use the plug without the fuse 

cover. If you should lose the fuse cover, please contact 

your nearest Sony service station.

  Disposal of Old Electrical & Electronic 

Equipment  

(Applicable in the European Union and 

other European countries with separate 

collection systems)

This symbol on the product or on its packaging indicates 

that this product shall not be treated as household 

waste. Instead it shall be handed over to the applicable 

collection point for the recycling of electrical and 

electronic equipment. By ensuring this product is 

disposed of correctly, you will help prevent potential 

negative consequences for the environment and human 

health, which could otherwise be caused by inappropriate 

waste handling of this product. The recycling of materials 

will help to conserve natural resources. For more detailed 

information about recycling of this product, please 

contact your local Civic Office, your household waste 

disposal service or the shop where you purchased the 

product.

  Disposal of waste batteries (applicable in 

the European Union and other European 

countries with separate collection 

systems)

This symbol on the battery or on the packaging indicates 

that the battery provided with this product shall not be 

treated as household waste. By ensuring these batteries 

are disposed of correctly, you will help prevent potentially 

negative consequences for the environment and human 

health which could otherwise be caused by inappropriate 

waste handling of the battery. The recycling of the 

materials will help to conserve natural resources.

In case of products that for safety, performance or data 

integrity reasons require a permanent connection with an 

incorporated battery, this battery should be replaced by 

qualified service staff only. To ensure that the battery will 

be treated properly, hand over the product at end-of-life 

to the applicable collection point for the recycling of 

electrical and electronic equipment.

For all other batteries, please view the section on how 

to remove the battery from the product safely. Hand the 

battery over to the applicable collection point for the 

recycling of waste batteries.

For more detailed information about recycling of this 

product or battery, please contact your local Civic Office, 

your household waste disposal service or the shop where 

you purchased the product.

FM lead antenna

(Extend it horizontally.)

AM loop antenna

Wall socket

When carrying this system

Remove all discs to protect the CD mechanism.

Hold down CD 

 

 on the unit, and press 



 

 until 

“STANDBY” appears.

After “LOCK” appears, unplug the power cord.

Speakers

Insert only the 

stripped portion 

of the cord.

Solid (Blue/

)

Solid (Black/

)

Basic Operations

Selecting a music source

Press the following buttons (or press FUNCTION 

 

repeatedly).

To select

Press

CD

CD 

.

Tuner

TUNER/BAND 

.

Tape

1)

TAPE 

.

Component

2)

 (connected 

using an audio cord)

FUNCTION 

 

repeatedly until “AUDIO 

IN” appears.

1)

 Except for the UK model.

2)

 If the component has the AVLS (Automatic Volume Limiter System) 

or BASS BOOST function, turn off the function to avoid distorted 

sound from the speakers.

Adjusting the sound

To adjust the volume

Press /– (or turn the VOLUME control on 

the unit) 

.

To add a sound effect

To

Press

Generate a more dynamic 

sound (Dynamic Sound 

Generator X-tra)

DSGX 

 on the unit.

Set the sound effect

EQ 

.

Playing a CD/MP3 disc

Select the CD function.

Press CD (or FUNCTION repeatedly) 

.

Place a disc.

Press 

 (open/close) 

 on the unit, and place a 

disc with the label side up on the disc tray. To place 

additional discs, slide the disc tray with your finger as 

shown below.

To close the disc tray, press 

 (open/close) 

 on the 

unit.

Do not force the disc tray closed with your finger, as 

this may damage the unit.

Select a disc.

If the discs are currently stopped, press DISC SKIP 

. To change discs while in other functions, press 

DISC 1 – 3 

 on the unit.

Start playback.

Press 

 (play) (or CD 

 (play) on the unit) 

.

To exchange other discs during playback, press 

EX-CHANGE 

 on the unit. 

To

Press

Pause playback

 (pause) 

. To resume play, 

press the button again.

Stop playback

 (stop) 

.

Select a folder on an 

MP3 disc

 (select folder) +/– 

.

Select a track or file

/

 (go back/go forward) 

(or 

/

 on the unit) 

.

Find a point in a 

track or file 

Hold down 

/

 (rewind/fast 

forward) 

 during playback, and 

release the button at the desired 

point.

Select Repeat Play

REPEAT 

 repeatedly until 

“REP” or “REP1” appears.

To change the play mode

Press PLAY MODE 

 repeatedly while the player is 

stopped. You can select normal play (no display for all 

discs or “1 DISC” for a disc or “ ” for all MP3 files 

in the folder on the disc), shuffle play (“SHUF” for 

all discs shuffle, “1 DISC SHUF” for one disc shuffle 

or “  SHUF*” for folder shuffle), or program play 

(“PGM”).

* When playing a CD-DA disc, 

 (SHUF) Play performs the same 

operation as 1 DISC (SHUF) Play.

Notes on Repeat Play

 All tracks or files on a disc are played repeatedly up to five times. 

 You cannot select “REP” and “SHUF” (all discs shuffle) at the same 

time.

 “REP1” indicates that a single track or file is repeated until you stop 

it.

Notes on playing MP3 discs

 Do not save other types of tracks or files or unnecessary folders on a 

disc that has MP3 files.

 Folders that have no MP3 files are skipped.

 MP3 files are played back in the order that they are recorded onto 

the disc.

 The system can only play MP3 files that have a file extension of 

“.MP3”.

 If there are files on the disc that have the “.MP3” file extension, 

but that are not MP3 files, the unit may produce noise or may 

malfunction.

 The maximum number of:

 folders is 150 (including the root folder).

 MP3 files is 255.

 MP3 files and folders that can be contained on a single disc is 300.

 folder levels (the tree structure of files) is eight.

 Compatibility with all MP3 encoding/writing software, recording 

device, and recording media cannot be guaranteed. Incompatible MP3 

discs may produce noise or interrupted audio or may not play at all.

Notes on playing multisession discs

 If the disc begins with a CD-DA (or MP3) session, it is recognized 

as a CD-DA (or MP3) disc, and playback continues until another 

session is encountered.

 A disc with a mixed CD format is recognized as a CD-DA (audio) 

disc.

Listening to the radio

Select “TUNER FM” or “TUNER AM.”

Press TUNER/BAND 

 repeatedly.

Select the tuning mode.

Press TUNING MODE 

 repeatedly until “AUTO” 

appears. 

Tune in the desired station.

Press +/– (or /– on the unit) 

.

Scanning stops automatically when a station is tuned 

in, and then “TUNED” and “ST” (for stereo programs) 

appear.

To stop automatic scanning

Press 

 (stop) 

.

To tune in a station with a weak signal

If “TUNED” does not appear and the scanning does 

not stop, press TUNING MODE 

 repeatedly until 

“MANUAL” appears, and then press +/– (or TUNING 

+/– on the unit) 

 repeatedly to tune in the desired 

station.

To reduce static noise on a weak FM stereo 

station

Press FM MODE 

 repeatedly until “MONO” appears 

to turn off stereo reception.

Playing a tape (Except for the UK 

model)

Select a tape function.

Press TAPE (or FUNCTION repeatedly) 

.

Insert a tape.

Press 



 (stop/eject) 

 on the unit, and insert the 

tape into the cassette holder. Make sure there is no 

slack in the tape to avoid damaging the tape or the 

tape deck.

Start playback.

Press 

 (play) 

 on the unit. 

To

Press

Pause playback

 (pause) 

 on the unit. To resume 

play, press the button again.

Stop playback



 (stop/eject) 

 on the unit.

Rewind or fast 

forward*

/

 (rewind/fast forward) 

 

on the unit.

* Be sure to press 



 (stop/eject) 

 on the unit after the tape has 

been wound or rewound to the end.

Note

Do not turn off the system during playback or recording.

Changing the display

To

Press

Change 

information on the 

display*

DISPLAY 

 repeatedly when the 

system is turned on.

Change Display 

mode (See below.)

DISPLAY 

 repeatedly when the 

system is turned off.

* For example, you can view CD/MP3 disc information, such as;

 track or file number during normal play.

 track or file name (“ ”) during normal play.

 artist name (“ ”) during normal play.

 album or folder name (“

”) during normal play.

 total playing time while the player is stopped.

The system offers the following display modes.

Display mode

When the system is off,

Power Saving 

Mode

1)

The display is turned off to conserve 

power. The timer and clock continue 

to operate.

Clock

2)

The clock is displayed.

1)

 You cannot set the clock in Power Saving Mode.

2)

 The clock display automatically turns to Power Saving Mode after 

eight seconds. 

Notes on the display information

 Characters that cannot be displayed appear as “_”.

 The following are not displayed;

 total playing time for an MP3 disc.

 remaining playing time for an MP3 file.

 The following are not displayed correctly;

 elapsed playing time of an MP3 file encoded using VBR (variable 

bit rate).

 folder and file names that do not follow either the ISO9660 

Level 1, Level 2 or Joliet in the expansion format.

 The following are displayed;

 total playing time for a CD-DA disc when the play mode is 

“1 DISC”.

 remaining playing time for a track.

 ID3 tag information for MP3 files when ID3 version 1 and 

version 2 tags are used (ID3 version 2 tag information display has 

priority when both ID3 version 1 and version 2 tags are used for a 

single MP3 file).

 up to 15 characters of ID3 tag information using uppercase letters 

(A to Z), numbers (0 to 9), and symbols (‘< > * + , – / @ [ \ ] _).

Notice for the customer in the 

countries applying EU Directives

The manufacturer of this product is Sony Corporation, 

1-7-1 Konan Minato-ku Tokyo, 108-0075 Japan. The 

Authorized Representative for EMC and product safety is 

Sony Deutschland GmbH, Hedelfinger Strasse 61, 70327 

Stuttgart, Germany. For any service or guarantee matters 

please refer to the addresses given in separate service or 

guarantee documents.

Note on DualDiscs

A DualDisc is a two sided disc product which mates 

DVD recorded material on one side with digital 

audio material on the other side. However, since the 

audio material side does not conform to the Compact 

Disc (CD) standard, playback on this product is not 

guaranteed.

Music discs encoded with copyright 

protection technologies

This product is designed to playback discs that conform 

to the Compact Disc (CD) standard. Recently, various 

music discs encoded with copyright protection 

technologies are marketed by some record companies. 

Please be aware that among those discs, there are some 

that do not conform to the CD standard and may not be 

playable by this product.

MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology and patents 

licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson.

MHC-EC68 only

Speaker pads

Attach the supplied speaker pads to the bottom of the front speakers 

to prevent slipping.

Front speakers: 

4 pads for each speaker

Left speaker (High freq.)

Solid (Red/

)

Solid (Gray/

)

Right speaker

(High freq.)

Power

Connect the power cord to a wall socket.

If the plug does not fit the wall socket, 

detach the supplied plug adaptor (only 

for models equipped with an adaptor).

Right speaker

(Low freq.)

Left speaker (Low freq.)

* Except for the UK model

This manual mainly explains operations using the 

remote, but the same operations can also be performed 

using the buttons on the unit having the same or similar 

names.

Before using the system

To use the remote

Slide and remove the battery compartment lid 

, and 

insert the two R6 (size AA) batteries (supplied), 

 side 

first, matching the polarities shown below. 

Notes on using the remote

 With normal use, the batteries should last for about six months.

 Do not mix an old battery with a new one or mix different types of 

batteries.

 If you do not use the remote for a long period of time, remove the 

batteries to avoid damage from battery leakage and corrosion.

 Batteries installed devices shall not be exposed to excessive heat such 

as sunshine, fire or the like.

To set the clock

Turn on the system.

Press 



 (on/standby) 

 to turn on the system.

Select the clock set mode.

Press CLOCK/TIMER SET 

. The hour indication 

flashes. If “PLAY SET” flashes, press 

/

 

 

repeatedly to select “CLOCK,” and then press ENTER 

.

Set the time.

Press 

/

 

 repeatedly to set the hour, then 

press ENTER 

. The minute indication flashes.

Use the same procedure to set the minutes.

Note

The clock settings are lost when you disconnect the power cord or if a 

power failure occurs.

*

Using optional audio components

To connect an optional headphones

Connect headphones to the PHONES jack 

 on the 

unit.

To connect an optional component

Connect additional audio source components to the 

AUDIO IN jack 

 on the unit using an analog audio 

cord (not supplied). Turn down the volume on the 

system, and then select the AUDIO IN function.

Antennas

Find a location and an orientation that provide good 

reception, and then set up the antenna.

Keep the antennas away from the speaker cords and the 

power cord to avoid picking up noise.

Voltage selector

For models with a voltage selector, set 

VOLTAGE SELECTOR to the local 

power line voltage.

3-294-661-

12

(1)

MHC-EC78/EC68

© 2008 Sony Corporation 

Printed in China

Operating Instructions

Mini HI-FI

Component

System

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