Its size and price ($350) put it in competition with the Bose Wave and other popular tabletop radio/CD combinations. But turn them all on and no one-piece tabletop can keep up with the CMT-EX1.

The FM tuner and the subwoofer are still the stars of the show here. The built-in CD player is an attractive convenience, but it’s only a clock-radio CD. Because Cambridge SoundWorks has dropped ...