Price Paid:  $300.00 from online

Summary:
Being a into audiophile with a limited budget i had to find some speakers that save space but sound good. I live in a apt around college so space is very limited. I was looking around and found the acoustic research HC1 set. I did the research and found nothing but praise for the speaker set. So i bought them. Thus far they have perfored awesome. I have them hooked up to a marantz sr5000 reciever JVC cd/md player, marantz 5 disc dvd player, and go-video dual vhs player. Everything from dvd's to music sounds great on these. I cant imagine anything that would sound better for the money or even a couple hundred dollars more. The only thing that is this small that sounds better are my dad's bose cube set that he paid 2000 for. So for me the AR HC1 was the way to go, and for the space and money you can't go wrong.

Strengths:
size, clarity, good bass from the sub, easy to hang on walls.

Weaknesses:
mid's are a bit lost.

Similar Products Used:
bose speaker cubes

Price Paid:  $300.00 from J and R in NYC

Summary:
I have to say for those who are on a budget these speakers are the way to go. My room isn''t that big(about 14x9x8) and currently a college student cash is tough to spare. So, obiviously, I was looking for something cheap, yet good. The HC1 may the lowest end model of AR speakers but they surely got the job done. Everything from lows, mids, and highs are clean. The sub performs really well. The AR sub that comes in this set is the S108PS. Which got pretty good reviews on audioreview.com. Also for the price, J and R in NYC now has this model for $230!!! If thats not a bargain I don''t know what is.

Strengths:
Very good sound that doesn''t break the bank

Weaknesses:
for this price there isn''t any