Clarity and detail, tight bass.

Placement is critical. Need to be at least by-wired, preferably bi-amped to bring out the best.

When I replaced my Wharfedale Emeralds with the 312's I initially thought I'd made a mistake.
But after A LOT of experimentation with placement, and having run them in, I now feel that the faithful music reproduction from these speakers is almost second to none.
They are extremely precise and detailed, with a full rich sound.
My only gripe is that they tend to sound harsh, with over-powering treble, until at least bi-wired and placed correctly, so it takes a fair bit of 'fine tuning' to get the high quality sound out of them.
But overall the build quality and ability of these speakers make them equal to more expensive offerings, and definitely worth the money.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 774, Wharfedale Emerald 97, Mission 703.

Crisp, clear highs. Wonderful soundstage & presence.

Bass is a little punchy.

Obviously, that dude (Werner) has a hang-up with AR, or perhaps the price point on the 312s just isn't high enough to justify great sound. With the exception of the ARs, his system configuration at the time was very pricy (Krell?).
To each his own, right?
As for me, I have a Carver 705x Premiere Amp muscling my
312 HO towers. Sound staging, dynamic range, and tonal precision of the ARs meet every expectation of my demanding ear. Clear, crisp highs, natural midrange, and steady lows. If you like classical or jazz, and have a HT system with good power, these speakers are an absolute must.
I've owned top of the line KEFs, Klipschs, B&Ws, and Polks -
all respectable speaker manufacturers. I'll not part with my 312HOs anytime soon.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch Forte's / Polk R8 / ADS 780

Okay, I'm biased because I own an audio store and we did pick up the AR line primarily on hype and connections alone. What a disappointment! Side-by-side with NHT and PSB, they simply got trounced repeatedly. They were bright in the treble, hollow sounding in the mids and peaky in the upper bass and totally deficient in the lows. We had to sell our first and only order at heavily discounted prices after no one would buy them. I'd have to say that they all rate between a 1 and 2, but I'll give them a 2 since Bose is still in business and they are better than that. But take the time to listen to ANY other product and volume match them because the AR's advantage is efficiency! AR treated me very well, but bad sound is bad sound. I sincerely appologize to AR owners for whom this review may hurt.

I got the AR 312HO about 2 weeks ago. And I made sure I listen to them well enough before giving a review.
IMO, these speakers are just perfect for HT. Listening to Stereo sources(CD, TAPE, MD...etc) is a bit less than desireable.

The high is very clean, almost too clean. It's crisp, and distinctively sharp.
The midrange like most reviewer have stated, it's a bit colored. Which works well in a HT enviroment, but in stereo audio sources, it feels a bit blend.
the low area is a bit too hard, it's not too 'bassie' nor too weak. I have tried several classical piece, and it sounded fine with the bass, and than I tried some hard core rap music, and it also sounded fine. The bass work very well in HT enviroment, as I'm getting 150-60hz response, while all the LFE is being directed to the 12" sub that I own.

For the price of these speakers, its definately worth the look(listen in this case), but the speaker design(visual) is very comtemporary. These are definately a keeper.

I was going to wait for this year model AR7(which have the same set up as the 312HO, but the tweeter on the AR7 is diamond coated). But I wasn't going to get them till close to the end of the year.

Like alot of review agrees, for the price you pay for these, it sounds alot more than what you got them for.

bought them for $800, bad decision. Very stong midrange coloration, the sound is very far from neutral. Fine for HT but not music, very disappointed in AR.I sold it for $600 and picked up a pair of Tannoy M3 for $550, it blows 312 away in very aspect.

Note: the design is very handsome indeed. Good solid construction

I bought Sunfire Cinema Gand for my HT and the sound is impressive. I am waiting for their theater grand. But One question which confused me is that why thise 200 watts power amplifier only weigh 44 lbs.

I've had these speakers for about a year now and I am very satisfied with them.They sound super clean even with the volume cranked to the max. The 312's best feature is their listenability, it is very involving. I find it very hard to shut my stereo system off, it is such pure enjoyment. This, in my opinion,is the bottom line when judging stereo speakers.

Efficiency, build quality, looks, size (these are large, macho looking speakers, spouse beware!)

placement, size

When my old Advent Legacy speakers blew out (boo hoo!), replacement was necessary (yeah!). I wanted speakers which were very efficient to take advantage of my moderatly powered Denon reciever. I looked at Klipsch Reference Series and listened to my friend's Klipsch KLF 12's w/ dual 12" woofers. The KLF's were very loud. They sound great overall, but I really don't like the sound of the horns. Just me.

I always liked the looks and value of Acoustic Research. I saw the now discontinued AR High Output (HO) Series sold at www.accessories4less.com. I got the 312's for $600.00. This is over half off retail price! I am very happy with this company, excellent service and they're an authorized AR dealer.

Anyhow, I was impressed with the looks right out of the box. Quite large (43" tall), heavy (75 lb. each) and very handsome in black ash finish. Although they are quite large, the slim tower design is not as obtrusive as the KLF's. The wife didn't like them at first, but they tend to disappear in the room next to my RCA 34" wide screen TV. Lots of comments from friends and family, this speaker/TV combo looks absolutely georgous.

Very good efficiency (97 db), excellent bass, great mids and highs from the 5 1/4"'s and "donut" tweeters. Cool feature, this "donut." Don't know if it really does what it's supposed to, but it's cool. I have it bi-wired. These things love the power. Play them loud, they come alive.

I have noticed that placement is important. Good thing about the side firing woofers is that they are mirrored. You can place them firing toward each other or away, depending on the acoustics of your room. The speakers have a definite sweet spot. I have them about 8 feet in front of my couch in a home theater setup. When I'm sitting, the sound stage is outstanding, like a big ol' fat Prince tennis raquet, the sweet spot makes you feel like a champ. But when I stand up or walk to either side, you loose a bit of the stereo imaging. Not that this is a big problem, there is more than enough sound to fill the room.

Overall, you can't beat the value at this price. Check out www.accessories4less and buy them if you are considering this model. Great speaker - looks and sound. Spouse acceptance factor is probably low considing they are "furniture," but at least they don't look like frat house speakers (Cerwin Vega - yuk).

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch Reference Series, Klipsch KLF Series

I love these speakers. They sound natural, image and soundstaging are excellent.These speakers are highly sensitive so the equipment hooked on and the way the speakers are position are very important. I bought it for $830 brand new. With their solid construction and good look they are extremely good value.

Great sound, Great Looks

Kind of large and heavy

I have had these speakers for a couple of months now. They sound absolutely great for both music and movies. I also love the beautiful cherry finish, looks almost too good to no be real veineer.

I have them hooked up to a Sony STR830DB reciever with AR308HO's for rears, (overkill, but sounds great) and a CS25HO center channel. Love the sound both for movies and music. I have played all kinds of music on these and I continue to be impressed. I have several friends with much more expencive home theater systems, none that sounds noticably better. The only think I have noticed is that the bass is not as thight as some systems I have heard with a powered subwoofer, but according to these reviews that appears to be fixable with either bi-wireing or better yet bi-amping.

Overall great speakers. The few that are left in stores (they are discontinued) are selling for about half of the comparable newer AR7, which makes them an absolute steal!!


They are large and heavy and takes some trial an error to position right due to the side firing woofer and the rear port. I ended up positioning the rear fairly close to the back wall in my room with the woofers pointing in to the room.

After listneing to a frend's much more