Acoustic Research AR PS2052 Bookshelf Speakers

Acoustic Research AR PS2052 Bookshelf Speakers 

DESCRIPTION

Performance Series Bookshelf Speakers Bass-reflex design, frequency response 55-20

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 11  
[Jul 01, 2019]
Jhohm


Strength:

My brother in law bought a surround sound system with these as the front righ and left as well as the rear right and left. They made several moves and ended up with another system, one of these for dropped during the move and something came loose inside.I saw them in the garage and asked them what he was going to do with them and he says do you want them? I said sure. I took them home and took apart the one that had something loose inside and found that the tweeter had come loose and I was able to repair it in just a few minutes, I was amazed at the magnet size for the tweeter as well as the woofer. I hooked them up to an older technics 65 watt receiver along with an old M&K subwoofer and was amazed! They sound fantastic with or without the sub. The clarity and volume was very impressive, I compared them to my SB1 M&K satellites and while they aren’t quite on that level, they do a great job, the silk dome tweeters aren’t harsh but still get the job done. I would recommend these speakers to anyone looking for a small bookshelf type speaker that can fill a good size room with sound, with no problem.

Weakness:

The bass is very good but because if the woofer size is has its limits, no fault of its own but if you want a little of the subsonic base with your sound, you will need a dub to go along with them.

Purchased:
Used  
Model Year:
2002
OVERALL
RATING
5
[Mar 02, 2005]
olderman0
AudioPhile

Strength:

Low bass response; 1" silk dome tweeter; great balanced sound; Heavy cabinet and well finished vinyl covering and grill.

Weakness:

None, unless you spend three times as much.

If these were more expensive ,they would get higher reviews.How many 5.25" speakers have a 1" silk dome tweeter,rubber surrounds, and can reach true low frequencies below 70 hz ? They also have plastic coated fiber woofers(like JBL's PolyPlas?); Warm and accurate speakers, at a bargain price. In my opinion they are better than Polk 15's which I have owned. Bought these to experiment with, but was shocked by their sound quality.They are a little bigger in cabinet size than most 5.25 " speakers, and the lower bass response is the happy consequence. At 55 a pair bucks you can't lose. A great stereo dorm speaker, or 5.1 "rears."

Similar Products Used:

Klipsh, Polk , Infinity, Athena technologies,Paradigm, Cerwin Vega, Axiom,and many more over the past thirty five years.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 05, 2004]
RC
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

sound amazing for H/T...they look $$$..I had friends thinking I paid hunreds of dollars even after hearing them..

Weakness:

none for the money,

First off..for those who gave them a bad review...Dont comapre them to the speakers you demo'd in the high end audio room from your local retailer...I am using four of these beauty's and matching center for my home theatre..and they are amazing...I would have paid full price approx. 130 dollars a pair...they produce great sounstage overall..and for thoise of you complaining about the low end..there is something they call a subwoofer created to handle that area..I coupled my AR's w/ a Yamaha yst-320..299 @ J and R..(Highly recommend and you can probably get it a lot cheaper now) and these speakers sound amazing for H/T..as for music..They are O.K to good...they really are not that responsive w/ demanding misic..however for classic, light country jazz, etc..they do the job rather nicely....and for thos of you camparing them to Tannoy,JBL et...Please, gimmie a break..we are talking apples and oranges and hunreds of dollars...and you actually have to own those brand of speakers to honestly compare them to..

Similar Products Used:

Old Polk towers(by the way I sold after buying these AR's)to be honest w/ you the AR's sounded almost as good as my POLK's for H/T USE(if you were wondering, My dad gave them to me and they were approx. 12 years old)..

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 04, 2003]
merlin_72032
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good sound stage, Crisp highs, Well builds and looks good. Best bang for your buck.

Weakness:

Make in China?

I disagree with the review below. The speakers have very good sound stage and the high isn't hash at all. They have total tonal balance but also depend on speakers placement too. Overall, I am satisfy with this speaker. I pair them up with my Pioneer reciever and they are really shine. Come on, if Acoustic Research isn't that good, they would not last long until now. I believe that the company has made hi-end speaker since 1947.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Sony, NHT, Infinity, JBL, and you name it...

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 11, 2002]
michaelstano
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Quality, price.

Weakness:

Given the price, none.

I have both the indoor/outdoor and the bookshelf versions of this product--6 pairs total. Crutchfield was selling these speakers for almost $200/pair when I began buying them at $50/pair. I am using 3 pair outdoors, and 3 pair indoors. They are efficent enough that, even outdoors, they sound fine even at 30% volume on receivers/amps ranging in power from 65 - 100 wpc. Two pairs of the indoors speakers are in a bedroom HT, where I also have the matching AR center channel and sub. I am terrifically pleased with both the appearance and quality of all the speakers. Granted, they are not the equal of my Klipsch, but, for the price, they sound great. When I finished the HT set up, using a Yamaha HTR 5250, I was amazed at the output.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KG 3.2s, KV 3, SW 10.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 21, 2002]
amomar23
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Clarity and price. Match perfect with another AR speakers, specially the ps series.

Weakness:

The bass, but that is logicall.

Great speakers, this speakers are perfect for rear channel. The highs are crystal clear.

Similar Products Used:

AR 328, 428 ps.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 26, 2002]
Jeff
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sturdy Cabinet, Grills, Rubber surrounds on the woofers, Binding Posts, Price.

Weakness:

Lack of internal dampening material which I believe handicaps these speakers.

Let me first preface this review with this statement. I got 4 of these speakers for $19 ea and the matching AR PSC25 center for $19 also not including shipping. So, in essence I got a full set of speakers for $99(I already had a 12" sub). I was hoping to improve my speakers but not spend a bundle. Now to the review. I got the speakers and hooked them up. They sounded ok but were not what I expected from AR. They lacked mid range and were boomy in the bass department. I wasn't satisfied even though I only spent $99. These 5 speakers retail at Crutchfield for $425. I decided to take a look at modifying them. I opened up the 2052 and was surprised to find only a 2"X4" piece of fiberglass attached to the back of the speaker behind the woofer. I went to the local store and bought a $4 bag of poly fiberfill and went to work. I stuffed each of the 2052's about 2/3's full and did the same with the PSC25 center channel. I hooked them back up and all I can say is "That is the best $4 I have ever spent." Mids were there, bass was tight, sounded completely different. Definitely different speakers. The center came alive both in music and movies. The fronts, surrounds, and center all work together for a seamless soundstage. After I had modified these, the family and I were watching Shallow Hal. The scene where the elevator breaks down caused the whole family to jump. Scared the kids. That means the speakers and the Denon receiver are doing their job. If you can find these speakers cheap and are not afraid of opening them up, you can come away with a great set of speakers for a little investment and a little bit of elbow grease. These speakers really got better in the music department also. I listened to Boston and the Steve Miller Band after the modifications and the speakers were quite a bit more musical than before.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 14, 2002]
darrinps
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Price, sturdy design, looks

Weakness:

Not great with highs, but not too bad either

A pretty nice speaker for the money, but it should be used as a bookshelf or (as in my case) as a rear channel surround for HT. The speaker is bigger than a lot of bookshelf models and is pretty sturdy. This speaker seems to like being on a stand for it's best sound (as many do).

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[May 11, 2002]
Scott
Casual Listener

Strength:

Heavy durable cabinet with rubber surrounds on the woofers.

Weakness:

Weak manual. Made in China.

I absolutely love these bookshelf speakers. They sound very nice. They are very musical whether in 2 channel or 5 channel. They have a good low end and a very clear top end that is not harsh but extremely detailed. I have got to say these are by far and away some very good speakers for $19 ea. I was very surprised when I hooked them up to my Denon receiver and got such good sound for such little investment. I am going to try to buy 2 more or maybe 2 of the 2062''s and the matching center.

Similar Products Used:

Aura, Pioneer, Optimus, RCA

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 07, 2002]
Tom
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

speaker enclosure

Weakness:

terrible sound at low and high frequencies.

I bought this brand new speaker from action. I was so happy when the action closed $9/each and I paid about $30 for shipping (total $48). I remember my uncle had a pair of AR bookshelf speaker (8” woofer) about 20 years ago and I was amazed about its sound. Because I had that good experience, I bought this speaker and it was my 1st AR speaker. Currently I have Boston, Polk Audio and Bose bookshelf speakers and all these are price range at $100 ~ $500. This AR speaker doesn’t meat any of these that I already have. The speaker enclosure is pretty good but the sound was terrible at high and low frequencies. When I connect it my Denon receiver, it just humbles and sound like surround speaker. I may resell this to someone who doesn’t care about the sound but care about the price. I bet I won’t loose money since I got the good deal from the action but I will loose my own time to do it.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 11  

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