Great product, Great sound, not so great manual.
929443
I had a mini-tour in a different country and I wanted to travel light.  I left my pedal board at home and bought the ME-20B because of its size.  As for the sonic quality it is excellent and I expect nothing less from Roland.  I was able to program 10 different settings, that were wildly different, and made it sound like I brought 4 different basses with me, it was that dramatic.  Getting there was another story.  In manual mode it wasn't difficult to discover the various potentials of the effects in combination.  Writing and saving patches was another story.  The manual is poorly written, it lets this fine product down.  After a few baffling weeks I developed my own understanding and I was confident I could change patches on the fly in program mode.  I'm glad I started early learning the ins and outs otherwise there would have been dramas once I got on the road.  In performance my fellow musicians and sound people were loving the sounds, so it was very worthwhile to go through the trouble it took to tame the beast.
4563750
Brilliant sound quality and feature set for this price rnage. I eventually got it set up as i needed, but the manual and remote are nowhere near where they need to be for such a complex product, and I am technical.  I had to invest in a logitech harmony remote to make sure the rest of the family could use it.
2208892
These headphones arrived in an easy open cardboard box, with their own plastic insert to hold them, extra earbuds, usb cable (no charger), and manual.  I'm keeping the box for storage or airplane travel.  These didn't take long to get fully charged before use.  The manual lists a lot of features, like 3 equalizer settings, how to use the MFB (multi-function button) on the side, even how to change the voice prompts from English to Chinese.  Yes, this does talk to you when you turn it on, when it connects, when you stray too far from signal, and battery status on startup.  The retractable earbuds are nice, quick recoil, so it's easy to get them out of the way when necessary.  There are too many functions to remember them all, like transfer the call from the headset back to your phone, activating voice dial, etc.  Regarding sound, the bass is actually quite good/effective.  I can't tell much of a difference using the 3 equalizer settings though.  Two annoying things:  1) You have to hold the volume up or volume down to change volume (not just tap once), and 2) each volume change it does a loud beep to acknowledge the change.  Otherwise, the fit and feel are great, seems to hold a charge well too.  The manual has Chinese and somewhat-well-translated English with a few sentences not in the normal vernacular.  I did receive this product at a promotional value for my review.  However, I will be honest in my review to point out any positives (good bass) or negatives (volume change process).
2647502
Lack of substantive owners manual was frustrating, especially me not being a techy. However, once I got it hooked up (with the help of a friend) and pair and calibrated with a set of new Energy 5.1 speakers the sound was awesome. Nice system for the price...
4574713
Someone really really needs to tell these people to hire a professional to write their user manual.  Really.  Manual refers to buttons that are not marked and not in picture.  Word choices border on bizarre.  The reason I gave it 3 stars and not zero is that it works and sounds fantastic. This is the best clock radio I have ever had including Sony, Panasonic, and a bunch of others over the years.  The problem is I shouldn't have had to spend a week figuring out how to get basic functions to work, like turning off the alarm in the morning. And, I had to give up on a couple features just due to lack of time with that "manual".
1043218
The sound is excellent, but don't lose the remote.  Just about everything is dependent upon it with no easy way to control the unit form the front panel.

Some things are impossible without the remote (like setting the time).  BTW, when the unit is off the time displays but it is not backlit so you can not see it in the dark.

Also, the unit will play mp3 format ONLY through the music port and will not play MP3 from a cd.
1739319
This product is truly amazing, and there is almost nothing to complain about, except the false adverstising, so before I rant and rave about how great this product is, here is the negative.
The only bad thing about this is the stereo tracks. Well actually they are not bad, its just very decieving. I know what stereo tracks are, but on the product description it says "16 audio tracks", which is WRONG. you have 8 mono tracks, and 4 stereo tracks, and TECHNICALLY you have to use one of those stereo tracks for bouncing and editing so you really only have  10 TRACKS to record on! So imagine how bummed i was when I wanted to use 8 tracks on the drums and THOUGHT i had 8 more tracks. wrong-o. I just got frustrated because before I bought it I thought it was like the BR8 and had actually 8 tracks. IT DOESN'T. now if you like stereo tracks thats cool, but don't buy this thing thinking you have 16 tracks cause you don't. oh and by the way, BOSS's customer service is TERRIBLE. so if you have a question and are not sure about something don't call them, they will treat you like dirt and laugh when you ask questions. LITERALLY. It happened on 2 occasions. I guess the only reason i gave it 4 stars is because of their customer service, which makes me not even want to buy from BOSS anymore

Now to the positives. This recorder is TOP NOTCH. I previously had the BOSS BR-8 which was an 8 channel recorder, and decided I needed more channels and a more serious station to record my demos and band. This thing rocks, seriously. I have played on a lot of digital home recording stations and this one is the best. first of all the manual is very easy to read and not difficult like most products. The quality is great, I love the mastering and Bouncing features on it. Also the Drum loops, you can customize any drum beat already on it, to sound more real, or creat your own with up to 64th note incriments. Its really ridiculous. I have been doing home demos and shows for almost 8 years now and this thing is the best out there I'm telling you. If you are a beginner or a pro, get it. It is worth your time and money. You will not be dissapointed. This will take your music to that pro level where people will ask you, "hey what studio did you do this in" then you simply imput your last name... "Stafford studios, in my ROOM! HAHA
147358
Awesome product, sounds great and the mic is really good.  It's just hard to read.  All of the instructions and labels on the remote & machine are written in chinese.
1391685
This is a great product as far as sound quality, and I particularly like in that it combines so seemlessly with my Sony television as well. I wish there were some more control over the bass settings than there seem to be, but otherwise the overall sound quality it very nice, and the wireless rear speakers are great and easy to set up.

Here is the only problem I had - I expected it to work more as  a receiver with more HD inputs to run then from it to the tv. I had some difficulty setting this up, but here is what wound up working for me. Run all of your items via HDMI cables direct to the TV - so if you have a blu ray player, satellite receiver, PS3 or whatever you run them direct to the tv. Then use an optical cable to connect the tv to this receiver. Your system should then be able to provide the HD picture on the tv, along with the surround sound performance on the speakers. It works perfectly for me!
2729910
The receiver has been great - sound quality with my polk 70 series floor speakers has been awesome using standard speaker wire and banana plugs.  The instruction manual is not user friendly, and I have some issues where the receiver refuses to read non-HD signal coming in via HDMI cable (i.e., when watching regular cable on an HD tv).  To alleviate the issue, I've had to shut down the cable box and restart while on a different source (such as my DVD player) and manually change the cable box channel to an HD channel before switching to the cable input - not a huge deal, but a seemingly unnecessary step.  Also, this receiver generates a LOT of heat - I originally stationed it in my entertainment center, but it was generating so much heat that I decided to move it to a more open venue.

Having said that, there are countless inputs (more than a normal person would ever need) and the sound quality is pristine.  I'm pleased with the purchase, although not sure if it justifies its price tag (I paid about $850 all-in).
4059982
I'm giving this a conditional 4 stars. I would give it 5 stars but the first day I used it the sound cut out after about half an hour of use. If this becomes a trend the star rating will be reduced further. If it never happens for the next several weeks and beyond I'll bump this product up to 5 stars.

It's close to being a superb product but needs to prove that it doesn't randomly lose the Bluetooth connection. Sound quality is also surprisingly good thru the Bluetooth-FM transmission, and is virtually imperceptible (to a non-audiophile like me) from a pure Bluetooth stream. It is lacking a bit on the high end but not the low end of the sound spectrum for the bass-loving fans.

Also, the instructions at  horrid. Clearly written by an amateur or worse with shoddy English translation skills. Fortunately, pairing and setup was intuitive and easy enough without the sorry excuse for instructions.

Note: This product was provided at a discounted price in exchange for my honest review
4308449
The manual could be clearer and the wires could be a bit longer, but this unit delivers great sound for its price.  You don't need the manual if you're willing to try out different settings and approaches, but it would be useful.
1619640
The sound quality is good.  The interface is a little cumbersome.  Make sure you read the manual so you understand all of the options.
2008599
So far I've had good luck.  I bought it for music listening and the quality has been better than expected.  As others have mentioned, navigation is awkward at best.  Without decent documentation, you have to learn how to navigate through the menus.  You also have to figure out that to change volume, you first press the volume tab to change the volume indicator to red, then you can adjust up and down with the left and right tabs.  It's also a bit strange that the word "Lonve" is not printed on anything, player, shipping box, or documentation.

I learned that if you press the center button until it shuts down, then turn off the power, when you turn power back on, it will start from where it left off when it shut down, otherwise it starts at the beginning.  Not too important for me, as I mostly use the "shuffle" feature.

Another awkward thing is that the headphones plug in at the bottom of the player.  It seems like they should come out the top of the player- but maybe that is just me.....

All in all, if it lasts for a year or two, I'll be happy and I'd buy another one.  With just a bit more effort and documentation, they could have an excellent product.
687105
I love the sounds this box contains. I hate the amount of work it takes to get it do be useful in my situation. I am a guitarist, not a keyboard player or percussionist, and I was hoping that the SR-18's bass function meant that Alesis had actually given some thought to how the bass would be used with the drum patterns to make songs. As it happens, the bass sounds are not much use unless you have a MIDI keyboard to use with them. For example, if you make a song by chaining several patterns together, you have to record every single freakin' bass note, over all the key changes. There is no way to structure a song as a set of sections, each with a key and some patterns, and have the bass parts transpose as needed, so it takes more time than it's worth to put a bass part in.

All that said, the drum sounds are fantastic - I just can't get the kind of use I'd like because of the lack of any kind of reasonable song memory. Would love to see an add-on box or a firmware upgrade that added some usability for casual users like me.
2495224
Sony has made a great HTIB system here with really good sound and a ton of options. If you read other reviews you will worry about pairing the remote speakers. Others have provided suggestions as to the "issues" and I can confirm that a cheesy HDMI cable will interfer with pairing and operation of the remote speaker unit. Furthermore Sony for some inexplicable reason copied ALMOST all of the content of the manual for their S-Air stand alone product but left out one key fact in the BDVIS-1000 manual. There IS a small button at the back of the remote receiver that must be pressed to get the speakers paired. The HDMI and button solutions have been mentioned in other reviews and I just wanted to confirm here that the BDVIS-1000 is an easy set up and a great sounding system if you know about the button and the HDMI cable problem. Until I buy a higher grade HDMI cable, I am using component video connections and the system paired up virtually instantly and works great. The included mic and on-screen instructions walk you through calibrating the speakers for where they are placed. The manual warns about "protecting" small children and pets. While my cat was interested in some of the tones, those expecting some kind of nuclear reactor klaxon or tornado warning siren will be disappointed. A series of beeps, boops, squeeks and squawks plus some warbles are emitted from each speaker and the system is calibrated.

As good as the Sony technical products are, Sony Corp really needs to invest in a good technical writer to improve their manuals. While the user manual here is "passable", it leaves much to be desired from both an organizational point of view and info content. However, once you get your system working, who even knows where they stored the manual never mind read it again. Bottom line, this is a great Blu-ray HTIB system with really great picture and sound and I feel I got my money's worth.

One last comment, potential buyer's should look over the spec's carefully to ensure that this system has all of the features you want. One that I expected to get (but it's not a showstopper for me) is that there does NOT appear to be single frame advance on this system.
2738266
The product is absolutely amazing and works exactly as advertised. The biggest problem I had, and the reason I didn't give it five stars, is that the instruction manual isn't as clear as it should be. I haven't been able to separate tracks, although I've followed everything to the letter. Some step in the process is not indicated in the instruction book. The equipment works well; the tech writer who wrote the manual needs to go back to step one and write instructions for those of us who are novices and doing this for the first time.