I have found the good people of IW forums to be a knowledgble folk. I am getting my daughter a stereo systerm for her room. Unless you purchase a low end, 20 watt system or an extremely high end megawatt system very few steros come with single CD players. The advice I need is: What are more stable, 3 disk changers or 5 disk changers? Or it doesn't matter? What has been your experience? Also, any good name brands out there? My range for wattage is 80 to no more that 120. Thanks!

If your daughter is not an audiofile, a good inexpensive room system is a typical bookshelf system. Aiwa makes ok ones so does sony and others. Check out Bestbuy.

I had a Magnavox 6CD cartridge for years, but the problem with a cartridge loader is the cartridge gets put in upside-down, backwards, and sideways by your friends and family. :(

In the last such incident, my son permanently lodged the cartridge, so I decided to go with a carousel style changer, and I haven't had any problems since. You can even change the discs in the carousel while a CD is playing, which absolutely could not be done with the cartridge.

Mine is a cheap RCA 5 disc carousel, and I've had it for about 3 years with no problems. ;)

My wife bought a Panasonic mini-system for $AUD 500 9 years ago (Top loading single CD, dual tape deck and tuner)

It has never had a problem and has a great sound - all of which I find continually amazing...

The single cd systems are still the best way to go if you can one. The top loaders from Panasonic and Aiwa tend to develop clitches where they won't close and play.

One option I would recommend is to get one of the single unit home entertainment systems. Panasonic makes a decent one and not too high a price.

With stereo's the wattage doesn't matter that much since the speaker quality is the limiting factor. 20-50 watts should be plenty strong/loud enough (at least for your ears). I have a good quality 100watt amp but with very good quality Klipsch speakers. With that I can rattle the windows of the neighbors across the street.

Tabletop or micro systems from Panasonic, Denon, Kenwood or JVC are all good, inexpensive choices for the best combination fo quality and price. They will provide good sound for a single room.

JVC and Panasonic are both great brands. They don´t produce cheap, powerless and derelict stereos like Aiwa (the ultimate cheap brand #1). Ok, I´m not saying they can´t work well... but they´re not for hifists.

I own a JVC 5-disc carousel exchanger. Of course, it would take some space from the shelf.