As an extremely santisfied owner of a pair of Acoustic Research 312HO's, I am very puzzled by some of the negative reviews they have received. I'll allow any and every one their opinion, but by the same token, here's mine. These speakers are nothing short of fantastic! When I recently decided to commit my Carver ALIII's to a music only system,(Audible Illusions modulus pre,Ps audio ultra link dac and harmon kardon tube amp/carver solid state amp bi-amp combo), I knew I would have a hard time replacing them in my home theater. I took my time and auditioned several different speakers including ones from cerwin vega and dcm that were totally horrid, as well as some very impressive speakers from B&W and definitive as well as paradigm. The B&W's almost had me sold. However, once I heard these AR's there was nothing more to consider. The imaging is amazing. They remained relaxed, clear and immensly musical no matter the listening volume, (although at REALLY high levels the soundstage can become slightly compressed). This minor gripe is completely outweighed by their incredible dynamics and nuetral reproduction, which make them allstar performers with both music and cinema. These speakers have the unique ability to keep you glued to your seat while listening to music, and make you jump completely out of it with the right kind of movie. If you are in the market for an incredibly handsome, and dynamic, musical set of speakers, audition these LAST! That way you can go home and pat yourself on the back knowing all the worse choices you didn't make.

Build Quality, Looks, Sounds

None so far...maybe not too much bass

As the previous listener stated these speakers are wonderful. The sound is great, it might need a subwoofer but you need to decide on your own. It does have a 12 inch woofer.

These speakers are quite heavy. 75lbs each. Once you get the sweet spot do not move them anymore.

I have my speakers in black ash and they are awesome.
My girlfriends loves thems.

If you have any questions about these speakers just e-mail me.

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Bass, Treble, construction

None so Far

First off I brought my set of 312's at www.accessories4less.com. Lucky for me I live in Orlando and was able to get the speakers at the warehouse. I dealt with Mark, and they were one of the most professional people I have ever dealt with. Their customer service is excellent.

The speakers are wonderful. I am so happy with the sound and build quality. I will tell you something, they are heavy, about 74 pounds each.

I let the speakers burn in about 6 hours and already they have surpass the sound of my Infinity's. I was afraid my wife would object, due to the size, but she loves them as well as the color ( Cherry )

Buy these speakers, and more so from Mark. You will not be disapointed in the speaker or the customer service.

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image & soundstage *****
sound quality *****

build quality *****

value for money *****

overall *****

After reading at least six very positive reviews of this product in various hi-fi magazines, I auditioned and bought a pair. The first thing one notices with the 312 HOs is their remarkable efficiency (97db). I had to bump my Def. Tech. CLR2000 center channel +8db to get a match across the front. My (soon to be upgraded) inexpensive VSX-504S Pioneer receiver has no problem taking these speakers to THX reference levels and beyond.
I would describe the sound as being clean, clear, and slightly lean (but capable) on bass. The speakers have a "forward" quality to them which make them excellent for home theater, but will not be flattering to poorly recorded music. On well recorded music, the instruments come across with a presence and detail that that completely shadow my old speakers (ADS L780s - good speakers in their time).
With their rear port and side woofers, placement is important. I imagine that one could have some real problems with the bass response in some situations. Hopefully, any purchasers of these speakers will have some flexibility when it comes to placement in regards to both the side and rear walls.
If, like me, your listening is 50/50 music and home theater, I would rate these an excellent choice.

Fine and innovative looks, excellent and lush buildquality. Side-firing woofer.

Overpowering bass. Uncontrolled bass. Heavily coloured
midrange.

File under 'Absolute Failure'.

A good workhorse of a speaker. a rich quality sound.

could use a little air

I actually have the 310HO Which is the same speaker only with a 10 inch woofer.I have a Jolida 302B 50 watt tube amp a Marantz 67SE/Musical Fidelity X-10D also Kimber PBJ interconnects.These speakers sound incredibly good.I had a Nakimichi RE-1 60 watt receiver powering them at first,and I noticed some of the shortcomings mentioned by previous reviewers.At fist, with the tube amp, there was a lack of bass definition.But by replacing the stock preamp tubes with G.E.large plate 12AX7's and Mullard CV4024 12AT7's I've got great bass definition and crystal clear mids &highs.The speakers personality shines through by allowing all this to happen.I've heard a few very expensive High end speakers at my local dealer and none sound as good as these.I believe with the right amplification these speakers will sound any way you want them to.

Musical, very efficient.

Very placement sensitive. Require bi-amping to sound their best.

If you own these speakers and are having a hard time getting the best out of them, don't discourage. First take the time to find the best position for them. Second make sure you bi-amp them. If you are using an electronic crossover(recommended), a little surgery is required to get the woofer off the passive crossover network, it can be done with medium difficulty. When you are done, you will be in heaven. These speakers are nothing short of amazing. They require very little power to blast off, so do yourself a favor and get a second amp.

Looks, Cabinet, Donut Tweeter

None so far...needs power to sound great

What a feeling. I never thought I would be this happy with speakers. This coming from a person that needs to have what's new right now.

First, these speakers are heavvvvvy!! I had some help bringing them into my listening area. Once they were in place, my wife gave the big thumbs up...( Cherry Wood ).

At first the sound was muddy, but after breaking them in for several hours they really have open up. I also had to place them closer to the wall.

The bass is great, but I also have a subwoofer which I am not going to remove.

Voices sound natural when playing music and movies. They speakers are extremely efficient. I brought them up to concert level and was never near my receivers limit. I have a Pioneer Elite VSX 29 ( THX Ultra )

I truly recommend that you try these speakers. Get them at
www.accessories4less.com and you will not regret your purchase. The people working at the website are great.

Enjoy!!!

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These speakers have gotten two very positive test reports performed under controlled scientific methods written by well known reviewers (D.B. Keele, Jr., December 1996 Audio Magazine and J. Hirsch, June 1996 Stereo Review). It is very misleading and unfair to base the performance of speakers purley on subjective descriptions. Objective speaker performance is based on many transient factors and can suffer from inter-trial errors if the testing environment is not controlled and repeatable. Subjective performace is based on the human ear and brain and ALWAYS suffers from inter-tester errors. "Punchy bass" may describe a broad rise at 100hz to one person or a sharp peak at 60hz to another... Although what ultimatley sounds good depends on our ears and auditory memory, we all know how notriously inaccurate and personal this system of measurement is. It is probably best to obtain objective information from well performed test reports and then go have a listen to the speakers before any purchases are made.
It is also very sad to read so many reviews written by "audiophiles" who apparently lack understanding of basic fluid dynamics, electricity, and psychoacoustics. If anyone is interested in these speakers, please go read the reports written by engineers and musicians but not by "audiophiles"...