Decent low and mid base, bi-wireable, good build quality

Muddy high-end, port noise at extremly low base pieces

This is a follow-up on my previous review below. I got the speakers at Netmarket as promised. The sound is OK for a $250 dollars. It is very listenable, does not cause fatigue. This is however at the expense of the rolled-off high frequencies. In my previous review I said they have extended high end – I guess this was my impression when I compared them at the dealer to other less refined speakers. I suppose they will open-up somewhat in the following weeks (I hope!). What I found improves the sound overall is bi-wiring. I’m an electrical engineer and I have no easy explanation why it does that… After all, removing the jumper from the speakers and replacing it with a split a the amplifier is no different. Perhaps it is the decrease of the resistance of the speaker cable in half or the increase in its capacitance twice (although I don’t see why the larger capacitance would sound better…). Anyway, it does sound better. I hooked one of the speakers as bi-wired and the other as single wire I did A/B tests with favorite music. I used the same type of wire, jus one of them used two runs so the sonic character of the wire was the same. There was a better resolution in one of them, however the single wired one was the one with the better sound. So I did more listening and consistently this was my conclusion: the single wired sounded better contrary to my expectations. Then I looked behind the speakers to unhook them and I noticed that actually I was mistaken! All the time it was the bi-wired that sounded better, and I mistakenly thought that the single wire goes to it, while actually it was the dual wire. In conclusion: bi-wire them if you can. There is an improvement if the rest of your system can show it. FYI, I use a Sony STR DE 333 ES receiver and a CD connected to it via the optical in.

I did some tests, just for fun, with a test CD. With a sweeping test signal from 4Hz to 22Khs one hears interesting things. The base goes down very deep. There is audible base at 17Hz! (no, it’s not the first harmonic at 34Hz that I heard – at 31Hz the sound is very audible and higher pitch, then at above 40 it picks up nicely and 60 it is definitely clear). It’s just fun to see the driver cone move in and out at 4 or 8 Hz although it does not make any sound. However, at about 30 Hz, while the sound is audible, the thing I hear most was the port flare – the sound the air makes when going in and out. Put my hand on it to cover the hole, the noise disappeared and the base note became clear. So much for the base – it is good for a speaker this size even though it is a little less controlled than sealed designs.

The highs reproduced everything up to pretty much 19-20 KHz, (I don’t think I can really hear higher than that anyway) which tells me the highs are there but the crossover is not optimized to reproduce them in the best possible way. Compared to the NHT’s they sound much more closed-in and are more forgiving to the electronics behind them. However, once you’ve heard the NHT’s it is hard to transition to softer sounding speakers – the AR just does not reproduce all details in the music. For example, cymbals and clavichords do not sound the way the real thing does – they are as if under a layer of pillows.

Overall,, for $250 delivered these are good. They are even better for casual listening and background music. They can take plenty of power and play clean at high volumes so for a party they will be good too. However, if you want to hear all the recording has to offer, look elsewhere. And at a higher price point – perhaps the NHT 1.5 or SuperOne or a good pair of used higher-end speakers or a nice kit (DYI) pair.

If you’ve reached this point, you’re good to go to kindergarten – you managed to keep your attention on one subject for 15 minutes =:) – that’s one of the actual requirements for my kid to get in the kindergarten nearby…

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NHT 1.5

Solid as a rock build, attractive appearance. Tweeter and woofer are great. Ties beautifully, soundwise, with my other AR speakers.

None at this price!! Except could not find anywhere in Cherry.

Seems that the reviews of this product have either been great or terrible, no in-betweens. The AR17's with the smaller woofer rate 5.0. But somehow I just couldn't imagine that the AR15 with it's large woofer would not sound as well, and beefier. So, I took a chance and ordered the AR15s to use as my surround speakers.
Despite other reviews saying how they had to run them for a while to get them to reach their potential, I found them quite pleasing right out of the box. True, they improve with time, but it isn't exactly night and day.
They really do sound very fine and as a surround, they are EXCELLENT! The tweeter, whether you place any value on diamond hardened, titanium, plasma features, is excellent at reproducing fine detail. The woofer/porting does about as much as a 6.5" unit can - really more like a midrange, but what can you expect?
Noticed that some are using these as mains for their theater surround systems. Well.....yes they are nice, but not that nice. I'm not a real believer in the Bose concept of putting small units everywhere and having the subwoofer handle all the bass. I'm sure it works on paper, but those speaker systems seem shallow to me. So, the AR15/17s really shine as surrounds or bookshelf type speakers, rather than mains. But I am positive, many would be very happy to have them as mains, it is a matter of taste and budget (as all stereo components are!).
So, in conclusion, these speakers are really great. Not just because of the price; they are great in their own right. At $205, they are a steal! The fact that I could not find a cherry set anywhere leads me to believe that this unit may be going out of production, so for those of you that want to match other AR speakers, and those of you that just want a nice speaker set, get them while you can.... Mike

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AR9's, sub and center

Sounds excelent with all different music types,Compact size, attractive look

Not quite the low end response i expected, but this can be made up with a nice subwoofer

I hooked up my AR15 to my sony 845 reciever. The speakers handle everything that my reciever can give out. Even blasting my music loud enough to wake my neighbors-neighbors the sound was never distorted. Very clean sound both at low and high volumes. These are excelent speakers and i plan to use them for my home audio system. It doesn't quite give the low end that i expected. But very excelent mid and upper range. The size of the speakers do not match the sound. A nice plus on my pair it the dual gold plated inputs on the back of the speakers.

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Sony tower speakers, yamaha tower speakers

Small Size and good value

Grills (Take them off and throw them away.

First off I read the other reviews on this other site and I will have to say one thing I agree with hear is Jason's statement that this speakers sound awful until they have gotten a little break-in time and then sound much better.

I am using these speakers with an Outlaw Audio 1050 with the AR 15s as mains and AR 17s as a center and three surrounds and Klipsch KSW 200 sub.

It is part of a bedroom surround system not my main system.

I got these speakers for $200 a pair and thought they were a great deal because I had seen places like Crutchfield charging much more for them.

I got them and hooked them up and instantly thought I had made a mistake. I have heard many brands of speakers that sound much better after a little use so I cranked them and left. When I returned the sound had mello'd considerablly. I found them to be a much better sounding speaker after they had seen several hours of use.

OK so moving I was pretty happy with the speakers but tried a little experiment..
I removed the grill on one speaker and left the other one on. After about 10 mins I removed the grill on the other speaker and continued listening. I quickly realized the grills on these speakers are having an effect on the upper mid-range and high freq ranges that is not pleasant. I yanked the grills off the AR 17s in my system as well and tossed them all in the closet and have not seen them since. :)

I see some reviews putting these speakers down and I am kind of surprised. These speakers are a great value and sound damn good and are built very nicely. You need to give them some break in time and remove the grills but after that I think you will find that @ $200 a pair they are a steal and I think even at $100 more they would still be a good value.

They have a nice mello mid and upper end and provide astonishing low-end for such a small pair of speakers.

You people need to keep in mind that we are talking about very in-expensive book shelf speakers and I believe they excel at their purpose. You must keep in mind that electronics and speaker placement will have a large effect on how much or how little you like the sound of a pair of speakers and I might have a good match with the Outlaw 1050 and the AR speakers but they do work together quite well.

Max

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Klipsch Quintets, Klipsch KSB 3.1s and many other speaker brands over the years including Infinity, Polk, BA, and others

Efficient. A clean "effortless" sound. Pleasantly light and widely dispersed midrange -- excellent in voice reproduction.

For the price--none. Fairly bright sound for AR speakers--if you like rock, this is a probably a strength, not a weakness.

Great Value! Very high quality home theater speaker.

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KEF 104, AR 2ax

Quality Built, Compact Size, Bi-amp/Bi-wire capable

None experienced as yet

I did not read all of the reviews posted for the AR-15's as yet but have seen some of them... A couple of those that I did read seemed to me that there may have been a problem within their system... I think the AR-15's are exceptional speakers, without hesitaton-- particularly so if you keep in mind how compact they are! I was pleasantly surprised actually at the Depth and Imaging that they convey-- thus far I've only used modest power and volume levels but at these levels the sound I hear is very revealing in the vocal range especially... even so I was still further impressed by the tight Bass provided also--- if the Speakers are not(hopefully) flawed from the factory or damaged in transit to you, and your system and connections are sound(pun intended), I cannot see how considering the size, price, and versatility of the AR-15's, you could possibly be disappointed with them.
I was looking for Speakers that took up much less space than my previous main stereo pair(I have moved) and that were smaller that the "average" medium/large bookshelf type, with shielding to boot because one of them would have to be close indeed to the T.V.(I just simply have a much smaller living space now);.. but they still had to keep the music sounding real.
The AR-15's are handily accomplishing this task thus far. Particularly if space is at a premium, you like the lead singer's voice as well as the music, and you are not a recent Lottery winner, look to these fine little champs from Acoustic Research. I'll keep mine for quite some time, thank you!

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Infinity(SM-80's, SM-85's)

Nice size, great low bass for the size. Excellent vocals for a 2-way speaker. High frequency is one of the best I have heard. Sweet crisp and clean, and not harsh. Way under priced.

None

These speakers are some of the best for the $$$$, quality & sound are excellent!!!! I got em at http://go.to/etronicsonline for $205 for the pair. Best price online by far.

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Polk RT25, RT55

compact, decent looking cabinet, can bi-amp or bi-wire, good low-end response

high frequencies very muted

I purchased these speakers never having heard them, based upon these product reviews. Price from etronics.com was $205.00 /pr plus shipping; Crutchfield has them for $399. These speakers have decent overall sound, but the highs are muted (smooth and accurate, but muted). They just don't sound "open"; the upper mids and highs just can't find their way out of the box. Turning up the treble on my Onkyo receiver didn't help (a graphic eqalizer might work). I ate the shipping cost and sent them back.

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various

Awsome sound

Covers are hard to take off

I got a pair at ABC Warehouse for $200.00 after some negotiating, and I'm hoping to go back and get another pair after auditioning them at home. They match perfect with the AR center. Best speaker I listened to under $500.00 a pair. Bass is on the lowside, but thats what a sub is for.

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Polk

Compact size, attractive cabinet, reasonable price

Muddled sound. Poor response in the high-end. Lack of clarity.

This speaker sounds as if someone inadvertently left a sock in during the manufacturing process. It is shockingly muddled. At virtually no place in the frequency spectrum is there a bright, clear sound. Instruments seem to fade into the background. The speaker has an uncanny ability to bring voice forward at the expense of instrumentation. The high end is particularly disappointing. I'm thinking of either scrapping them, or now buying satellites to improve the high-end. I can't recommend this speaker for anyone who specifically wants brightness in their listening.

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Infinity