Roth Alfie - iPod Audio System with Built in DVD/CD & FM/AM Radio

I've had this piece of kit pumping out sounds in my sunroom for a couple of months now and can honestly say that I'm delighted with the investment. Its sexy looks and solid build quality have made it a bit of a talking point.

Alfie brings out the best of most musical styles I've thrown at it (Jazz,Soul,Disco,Latin, etc). The subwoofer delivers a nicely measured bass while the stereo speakers deliver sparkling clarity. Alfie does a great job of holding these sonics together across all volume ranges (and boy - can it go loud!)

I was dubious about the practicality of the touch sensitive controls, but fortunately I have found these very resposive. Just remember that a long two second press is required to switch the unit on from standby mode.

Unfortunately the supplied remote does not live up to the main units sexiness. While it is functional and does the job, looks wise it just can't match the beauty of the main unit. That is a real shame as a remote with simmilar design elements would have been just perfect. Another minor issue is that the unit will only respond to a disc eject command if the unit is in disc mode - An oversight that really should have been picked up on during testing.

While the niggles don't make the package perfect, I can't help but still award little ALFIE a full 5 stars because the important stuff it got so right- namely looks and sonics.

A long time ago (well, actually about two years ago...) him indoors decided that he had enough of me whining about not being able to play cd's and ipod out loud (and I do believe he got a little distressed every time he would tap me on the shoulder, I would jump about six feet straight up, and he would realise I had ipod earbuds in...) and he decided to buy me an Alfie.

It's sleek, it's swish and it is so easy to operate, even for someone as technologically stupid as I am (and trust me, I am stupid, I can kill a piece of electrical equipment stone dead in five seconds..). It operates with both ipods and takes a variety of cd's with no issues at all. The sound quality is so good I can have it blasting out in one room and can still hear it three rooms away (Yes, yes, I should know better at my age, but I shall always have that streak of rebellious teenager in me....)

The remote seems a bit flimsy at first, but I am terrible with remotes and can easily crush them (this one is something to do with me having problems walking, hence use a stick, and hence upper body strength is far more than it should be...) but this one is still here and unbroken and with the same battery (or cell or whatevr it is) powering it as the day I bought it!

The only issue I have with alfie as such is a really silly one and not deserving of him loosing a star.... if you linger too long on the dusting, you turn him on.....Oh dear, that didn't come out as it was supposed to..... I mean that the touch sensitive operation can be a little too sensitive.

other than that, I can so highly reccomend Alfie that when him indoors decided he needed a mid-life-crisis hobby room, I bought him an Alfie to go in there and keep him company.

Bought this about 6 weeks ago now. Overall I am really pleased with it. The sound quality is excellent and it looks great. My only niggle is that the ipod dock can be a bit tempremental sometimes and it does not recognise that an ipod is docked - you just have to retry and it sorts itself.

Overall a grand bit of kit and highly recommended. Roth Alfie - iPod Audio System with Built in DVD/CD & FM/AM Radio

purchased for fitting in the kitchen which it does perfectly. sound is great and my wife really loves it.

response to controls is not instant so takes some getting used to.

cd unit failed after 56weeks use - repaired by Roth reasonably efficiently and without charge.

the seller Bunwell's was of zero help so avoid them

I bought it from Apple Store UK who don't seem to have it any longer. Probably for a reason.
Don't buy it - is my simple recommendation, unless you do every thing via iPod. Yes, the Alfie looks cool, yes it sounds cool but...
I am not patient enough to wait 30 seconds or more till finally the Alfie has decided to respond to my finger touch order of switching off, or ejecting a CD. Similar the remote control - press it once, then make a cup of tea and hey! the Alfie has switched on the function you want it.
Next, after 15 months the iPod play and the radio is pretty much the only thing that still works. The first that went, after a few months, was the watch and alarm clock - well, OK you don't care. The second was that only some CDs are being played, OK - lived with it, quickly put them somewhere else on mp3. Thereafter, no CD was played, the DVDs were next.
Maybe I have just picked a particularly petulant individual.

I purchased the Roth Alfie from the 3 Wisemonkeys. It is a very well built product and it sounds amazing. I also own a Bose Wave and a Vita Audio product and the Alfie is at the very least the equal of these products. I did not buy it to use as a dvd player so I can"t comment on it's video ability's, but it's cd playback is well defined and ipod and fm are also excellent. The sound is very rich and is improved even more if you adjust the treble up a little. I don"t think you will regret buying this especially if you get it for less than £200.