Beautiful and pure sound for music and movies. Very balanced in high/mid. Very good sensitivity to make it easy to drive

too heavy

I purchased this great speak based on the reviews on this site. I am very happy with it. I had been using Energy speaker for along time and the model I used is smaller (in power) when I moved into my current bigger house. I tried to update the main speakers and have been searching for a while. I have been to audiophile stores to try different brands. I am only impressed by highend over 10k range which I am reluctant to spend that much. When I saw a pair of P315HO on local classified and I bought it right away based on my trial listening for a few songs. It is just very impressive and I love its 96db sensitivity, which is very easy to drive (compared to Energy, which requires more power). For music, it is as good as my Energy, but more loud due to its size, but much better when watching DVD movies. Due to the lack of space to adjust its base, I am not using its two 15 inch subs. I have tried, and it is really good as reviewed by people here. I use my Boston Acoustics PV600 as sub, and it is a very good match. All of my music and DVDs have a new difinition since I introduced this wonderful speaker. AR has done a great job to manufacture this product. For the money I spent under 1000, it is the best I can get. Well, you do not to compare it to the speakers over 10k. Here is my system: Yamaha Rx-V800 Receiver (100w per channel) Carver TFM-35 amplifier (250 w per channel) Boston Acoustics VRS Pro THX Surround as rear speakers. Pineer Progressive DVD player Nakimichi CD player

Similar Products Used:

Energy, Klipche, Cambridge Soundworks, Polk Audio, Boston Acoustics

500W Sunfire Amp. build in each speaker, 15" Woofer.

None

I really want to buy Acoustic Research AR-1 speakers. However, they're sold out (I called more than 8 web stores). After over a month waiting, I were told that all AR-1s are in black, no cherry finish as I want. Finally, I found the P315HO are for sale at recotonoutlet.com, for $1,000/pair + $100 for S/H to my place. I called AR for information: Both AR-1 and P315HO use the same cabinet; tweeter and midrange are improved on AR-1. You can not tell the difference between them by ears. The reason I buy these speakers, because of saving money and space for a Subwoofer, also a Power Amplifier - A 500w Sunfire Amp. build-in for each speaker is good enough to produce the solid bass. The P315HO speakers are awesome for both music and TH. P315HO can beat all B&W, Thiel, PSB,... for everything, but prices which used but the high end users to buy "the high end".

Similar Products Used:

Klispch KSP 400, PSB Stratus Gold, B&W 801, Thiel CS7.

I Received these speakers today and i am very pleased with the sound. The sound is very natural, the base is very
tight and the mids/highs are very clear, only a few words
can describe these speakers "BAD ASS" and KICK ASS, They
are awsome!

Hello All,

I recently looking into building my home theater system; after seriously auditioned many different kind of speakers (M&K, Definitive 2000 & 2002, and a few others) and wasn't very satisfy with what I've heard. It'll cost me around $4,500 or more for the whole set of M&K or Definitive, but the sound didn't impress me at all. Suprisingly, a friend of mine had a pair of old model AR speakers for sell. I set up an appointment and went over to audition it. When I said old model, I mean, I can not find this model on AR web site or anywhere. It was PS9 or PS1 I think the model was. It has 12in side firing sub-woofer, 8in front woofer, 2-6 1/4 mid-range, and 1in tweeter. Anyway, it blew me away. He used this set for just about anything, movie, music, rock'n'roll, and karaoke singing. I didn't purchase the pair from him because I want a new pair. But, this is when I begin to do research and looking into AR speakers. Thanks for the great specs and good reviews from this site, I went ahead and purchase the whole HT system from shop4.com. 1 pair of P315HO, 1 pair of The-EDGE (because the size of my room), 1 center channel CS25HO, and auction a pair of 208HO from onsale.com. I tell you what, the 315HO is incredible and unbelievable. I bought a Yamaha 2095 Receiver to drive these speakers. What a great combination. My Yamaha natural sound receiver in additional with the natural sound of the 315HO mid-range bring the live presence to the music. The Yamaha 2095 had a 7-channel set up, so I was able to hook up all my 7 AR speakers; main front L/R (315HO), center (CS25HO), rear effect L/R (The-EDGE), and front effect L/R (208HO). Now, everytime after dinner, I can sit down on my couch, dim the lights, close my eyes, turn on the music and go in to the hypnotizing mode. That was my experience with AR speakers. It just like someone had hypnotized me, my soul was lost with the music. Especially for vocals, It was so clean and natural that I feel the singer is standing right infront of me, and I can feel his/her facial expressions. There's no doubt that the 315HO is the best speaker for your money. Now I can tell if one recording company is better than the other.

I did had one problem though. I blew out both of my sub-woofers after 3 weeks. I don't know if this is a manufacture defects or what, but it shouldn't blown out like that. This happens after I watched a movie, I can't remember the title. The room was shaking, that's for sure. I din't think I over abuse the subs though. The volume on the sub wasn't even turned up half way. I was very conservative on the sub-woofer pre-amps output. I open up the cover and notice that the foam surround piece was separated from the woofer cone in a small section (about 3 inches). It looks like the manufacture (Sunfire) didn't glue the foam surround piece and the woofer cone together good enough, because the woofer didn't tear or anything. I could of glue them back together, but I decided to take them in for warranty service. Right now, I use the 208HO for the front and my old Pioneer 12-in sub. I tell you what, it's not the same anymore, not even close. I can't wait to get my 315HO back. If you have a chance, review the specs and listen to a pair of this 315HO for yourself, then you'll know what I'm talking about.

You don't just get the great sound without the proper set up (speaker placement). It requires a lot of experimenting with the location of the speakers. In addition to that, my Yamaha 2095 receiver had a lot to do with it too. When I listen to music, I used the receiver's DSP (Roxy Theater). This effect sends the music to all six speakers except the center channel without a lot of delays. So, you can listen to the music without effects, only to all six speakers. In additional to that, good quality cables help too. I don't think you need to get the $60/pr of Monster cable to do the job. But, some AR cables will do the job right.

I really love this 315HO speaker. Five stars, no doubt.

Everything

Nothing

These speakers are excellent. I don't know all of the technical nonsense and terms, but they are the best I have ever heard. The bass is tight and plentiful. Well worth the 1,100 I paid for them. No need to pay thousands more for unnoticable improvements, unless you are a rich idiot.

************ Second Chapter *************
I'm the one who wrote the first article of this AR 315 speakers. Glad to see so many people are happy with these speakers. After using the speakers for more than 3 months, I would like to share some experience with you:

1. It looks that shop4.com's delivery is much faster than netmarket.com. It took approximately 3 weeks for me to get the speakers from Netmarket. And when I got the speakers, there was some little damage on the cover and Netmarket gave me $100 credit to keep the speakers.

2. I called AR for the different size of connectors on my left and right speakers. (can you believe it? very poor quality control) Finally they sent me the new connectors and guess what - they are still the wrong(smaller) ones.

3. It took me a while to test many different speaker cables including Nordost, Monster, Kimber Cable and Alpha Core. Finally I settled to Alpha Core Goertz MI2 for its clear, detailed, sweet, powerful and emotional sound. It's a very obvious winner. I got it from Alpha Core directly and it cost me $250. I believe it can be compared to even $2000 cables.

4. It took me quite some time to test the interconnect cable because they were so close. Let me just mention the final two ones that I was comparing - The Nordost Blue Heaven(from netmarket.com) and Van Den Hul D102MKIII Hybrid(got it from Canada, no VDH dealer in the US, can you believe it?). Blue Heaven was so good on the details and reality. D102 was so good on the 'liveness' and 'sweetness'. I finally chose D102MKIII.

5. So far I'm still very satisfied with the speakers. My next upgrade will be the Sony DVP-7700 DVD player - it will be my CD and DVD player. The sound from the 96K/24bit DAC - You need to hear it to believe it!!!!

I have to agree with all the previous reviews. These speakers are wonderful and the best part is they don't cost a year's tuition either. I've found the best price, $1100, at a place called smilephotovideo.com, or shop4.com but you have to be a member to shop there. If you don't mind a little paperwork, netmarket.com will refund 135% of the difference in price plus give you 5% back on the original purchase price towards another purchase...
The only gripes I have are minor:

1. Packaging: The boxes the speakers are packed in are crap. The first pair I got were damaged in shipment and I can see why. They speakers rattle around in there and the grill is just thrown in there usually with the posts dangerously close to poking out the top midrange driver.

2. Glue: There were patches of glue on the "feet" of both pairs I saw. Just looked like they cut a few corners. You can't really see it, but I'm picky.

3. Since the first pair was DOA, I decided to look "under the hood." I saw a lot of good stuff, but there was a wire that was pinched between the PCB and the back of the amp enclosure that was almost severed. Not good.


But overall these speakers are a quality product, good voicing, imaging, soundstage and it's really easy to go overboard with the bass (which is how it should be :) I'll be building my whole home theatre with AR's HO line.

I have listened to the Definitive Tech, Mirage, Energy, Paradigm and Boston acoustic line of speakers with built-in sub woofers. They all sounded pretty good to me as I do not have that distinctive pair of ears to hear the very fine differences. I finally bought the AR 315HO essentially based on their specs and feature/price combination. I must say that I am completely satisfied. These are great speakers for the home theater and work fine whichever way you connect them(low or high level for bass). I cannot say much about music because the music I listen to(indian classical) does not have much bass content. The mid and highs sound fine but as I admitted before, I am not qualified to distinguish the finesse of various speakers. I give this a 5 star rating based on value for the money($2140 with tax, canadian dollars)

Bought these speakers for $1300 from Netmarket and I got 5% credit toward next purchase. Really does a great job with all types of music and has killer bass. Imaging is also very good. Very efficient so my Kenwood receiver VR209 has no problem playing loud! I never thought I would spend this much for a pair of speakers but with the discount feel I got a great deal. 5 stars

I love these speakers. I bought it for $1250 delievered!!!All I can say say is these babies can do it all.

Do yourself a favor and check them out.
If some other company like Wilson Audio built these speakers
throw in some fancy woods or lacquer finished they will charged $15 Ks
for 'em.

5 stars for performance
10 stars for value