Price Paid:  $180.00 from ebay

Summary:
I've owned these for 2 years now, and during that time I was very much into the headphones hobby, where I've heard over 35 expensive headphones (akg, sennheiser, grado, beyerdynamic,etymotic) and also tried 5 other speakers. After all that time and even now I still own the S40, I'm more and more convienced this sound signature truly is the ideal sound for me. I stay in the low and midrange of the audio hobby, never go above the $500 mark. My main reference will be a Philip Dvd-795sa sacd/dvd player and a Pioneer Elite A-35R 45watt intergrated amp, although I've also connected them to the Emu0404 and Emu1212m soundcards. I am very much a believer of synergy and balance, and I find my gears match well with these. I've also owned the S10 bookshelves for a while.

It's important to know that these take a long time to reach to their full potential, after owning for a couple months I still felt like something was improving. The overall sound signature can be describe as warm, smooth, and laidback. But that doesn't mean its boring, because the sound is very pleasing, not too present, and simply relaxing to listen to.

You don't necesary need subwoofers with these, since the manufacturer claimed it can do 26hz. I find it can rumble satisfyingly with movie explosions and heavy drummings, and does go quite low. The bass punch is right for me, it's probably not tight enough for some enthuasist, but I dislike bass that is too tight. Now the upper ranges, they are so smooth. Female vocals are especially sweet. I imagine some might say the mids can be too warm for them. The highs are the same, but somewhat richer and cleaner than the mids, and they never have sibilance. With these speakers there is a never moment when there are too much of something where you get fatigue from. It felt as if the sound is satisfying that I never have to Eq them to make them sound right, which I truly never do.

I enjoy them best with the slower type of musics; jazz, blues, drums, classic rock, amtospheric symphony, but also IDM (intelligent dance music), flamenco and acousti/folk.

For criticism, I would say these can't handle and distinguish instruments in some complex and fast music passage as well as my Onix x-ls speakers, which have a better performing tweeter, and cost about the same price. The overall sound for some people might be seen as coloured and warm, especially if your room isn't big enough. If you are the type that prefer a more articulated 'monitoring' or energetic kind of sound, this isn't it. This is sound is more sit back and ride with the flow.

Lastly, I have to mention they are good built quality for their price. I prefer black so it can disappear and not be all showy. The speaker is made in Poland. You get full metal gold-plated biwiring banana jacks. Each speaker weights at 47.5lbs. And they does support speaker spikes, although I do not know the specific size. I bought these from ebay which came in newly in a logo'ed box with manual, but I did not get spikes. They are discontinued now, btw.

I've tried speakers like Kef and Onix that definitely show some superiority in term of performance, such as details, accuracy, and extension, but none of them can deliver the kind of sound signature that is so enjoyable and non-demanding to listen to, especially when you are getting home from a stressful day. The best way to describe the S40 would be like having smooth champaign inside during a rainy night. Aslong as you feed them with quality equipments and quality recordings, they will come out clear and beautiful. And room size and positioning for them is quite important, just as any other speakers.

Strengths:
smooth, warm, relaxing, no fatique. deep bass for price.

Weaknesses:
sometimes cannot handle the most fast and complex passages, might sound colored for some ears

Similar Products Used:
kef, onix, polk

Price Paid:  $100.00 from ebay

Summary:
i have to admit i bought these without listening before but im student and cant afford buying hifi equipment in a store.
so, i can truely say they are all worth the money (how could they be not...100 euro)
from my point of view: if you can get a pair of these or even s50 for low - buy em.

Strengths:
plays especially electronic music very well.
can be compared to much more expensive speakers twice the retail price.

Weaknesses:
if i would have payed the retail price:
lack of bass - if you like kicking bass you need a sub.
well build but look cheap - compared to Canton or KEF for example (well, KEF is a bad comparison since its alot more expensive but i named it because its my personal reference product for most excellent build speakers)

Similar Products Used:
non, these are my first floorstanding speakers. heard KEF Q7, some 900€ TAs, also heard some much more expensive speakers 2000-3000 euro range TA, also some Visonic (of cause you CAN hear a difference.)

Price Paid:  $180.00 from Local

Summary:
These are similar to some other AR speakers I've owned. I dont think they are as good as some old AR-2ax's I used to have. They are basically $200 speakers. I got itch to try them out after reading the reviews here, but they just aren't that great. They are decent speakers, I rate them "good", but not "very good" and certainly not "excellent". Thus the 3 stars. They sound better when you turn them up to louder volumes, you can hear more detail then. But the bass is not tight; it distorts. And the mids have just a little detail. The tone is pretty bland and not life-like. Saxaphones have just the faintest hint of warmth, acoustic guitar has little pluck and twang. The only thing that sounds half-correct are cymbals and snare drums. Voices sound a little muffled. The recepticles that hold the spikes are extremely amateurish. I was trying to adjust one of my spikes and the whole assembly came out of the MDF bottom. They are simply tapped into the MDF. I plan on replacing these with some Tannoy studio monitors (System 800 or System 1000) in my living room. I'll move these to my dedicated video-audio room and put them in a low-fi home theater set up. I don't need such hi-end stuff for my home theater needs. Good audio is a whole other story, however.

My secondary system in the living room, where these currently reside, contains:
McIntosh 2100 amp
Muse Model 1 preamp
McIntosh 7007 CD player

Strengths:
Decent AR sound. Decent resolution in the highs. Decent bass extension.

Weaknesses:
Lacking detail. Imaging is almost non-existant. Mid-frequencies sound pretty bad. Bland Tone. Sloppy bass, not tight. Distorted Bass.

Similar Products Used:
Apogee Stages, Lots of older AR's, Klipsch Cornwalls, Sansuis, Magnepans.

Price Paid:  $690.00 from Crown hifi

Summary:
We listened to more than 40 pairs of speakers before choosing AR 40s and used young ears to make the evaluation kids hear better than adults -sometimes

Strengths:
crisp hi end strong mid range and good bass for there size

Weaknesses:
could use a little better look mine are just black

Similar Products Used:
bose 901 and warfedale diamond 7s

Price Paid:  $280.00 from Ubid

Summary:
I am re-Reviewing the Status-S50 I own several sets of speakers (s50 wharedale emerald em-97 and Mission 77ds. (also center and sub) After using the S50- 77ds combination in my old home I found this to be a quite satisfying experience. however when i moved the misson speakers did not work well in my new livingroom so I purchased the emerald 97s. Going by reviews. I placed the 97s in the front and the s50s in the rear. (very aceptable configuration. However I had time to kill and didnt like the asthetics of the large speakers being in the rear so I switched em around. I can now tell you that the S50 is definitely (but marinally) a better speaker than the em-97 The bass is clearer and they are louder. ( power handling is also 2x of the emerald) both speaker companies should be very proud of these speakers.. The Emeralds do have a better looking cabinet. the s-50 has 1 extra 6.5in. woofer. and is 10 inches taller. the S50 is video shielded the emaralds are not, but I did not experience any problems with them next to the big screen. I have also compared the musicallity of the 2 side by side. And I agree with everone else that the Emeralds are a little warmer. A better chice if your into easy listening. But in our home we listen to a bit more of Everything from classical-jazz-rock) and we find the S50 to be an excellent choise. We have had several people comment that our system is the best they have actually ever heard in someones home. So dont decide on a speaker because someone says they are great..consider what type of music they primarily listen to. And make sure they don't have a tin ear. I rate the S50 as one of the top tower speakers that use 6.5 inch woofers. The mid range and Highs on both the em-97s and the s-50 are undoubtably the best sound available at any price range. (Bottom Line if you can't hear the difference dont pay any extra for it) I hope this helps. PS the S50's can only be found in auction sites.. Whoever said you can get the from AR is mistaken.

Strengths:
Exeptional midrange and highs excellant esound stage very good bass. Video shielded. High power handling. (They get very loud at 60 watts) I use a Pioneer Elite VSX-24 (90 watts and I really dont need any more watts)

Weaknesses:
Only a (3)6.5 inch woofers so you definitely need a sub for the ground shaking home theater experience. Musically not necessary. They are 46 inches tall so if youre not putting them in corners or next to a big screen they may look out of place. (some toeing in is required) for perfect sound stage. (I have found this necessary for placement of all the thin tower speakers) These speakers require a long break-in (like 100 hrs more than the 25 that is recommended

Similar Products Used:
Bic ($ for $ a best buy)Bose (save your cash)other AR (depends on the model, from junk to nirvana) Wharefdale (several towers, the diamond bookshelves,and even a pair of loudpanels. (No complaints)rec