price, powered subwoofer, overall crispness of sound

Got a pair at J&R in late December 1999. ($400/pair -- can't be beat!) The only negative I can think of is that they made the rest of my system look sick! :-) I had to run right out and get a replacement center speaker (AR C225PS), which is voice-matched to the 428PSs. I'm using my ancient Technics SB-L50 speakers (my former main speakers) as rear-channel speakers until the AR 216PSs I ordered (also voice-matched) arrive. I'm also replacing my receiver (Technics SA-EX300) with one that should do my new setup justice.

Price, crisp highs, clear mids and solid low end response.

I haven't been able to find any.

Like almost everyone else, I purchased them from J and R. I wish that I had known about Sears "Price Match" policy, even though I was able to get J and R to reduce the price to $169ea.

I had test driven Polk's, Infinity's, JBL's as well as Bose speakers in this price range, but they all left me feeling VERY unimpressed. They all suffered from "Cheap Speaker Syndrom" ie: Weak bass, muddy mids and bright or weak highs. Thank God I found these GIANT KILLERS! I challenge anyone to find a better sounding speaker in this price range. Powered towers for $400 a pair???

I am running them with a H/K avr35, and am very pleased at the sound quality. Crisp (Not bright) highs, great bass and sub response as well as clear mids (I did not notice the lacking mids that others have noted). I have found that they perform best with the treble and bass settings on my receiver set flat.

Hell of a deal. Champagne sound at a reasonable price. Buy'em. You won't be dissapointed.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 301's, Polk 400's and Infinity RS4's.

Great Sound, great PRICE!

Did you all know that AR has discontinued this speaker, as well as all of the other PS series. What you see no on their NEW & updated web site, www.acoustic-research.com, has a totally new PS series.

The PS428, PS216, PS226 and C225 are now discontinued. That explains the price break you saw in the past 12 months.

If you can still find the PS428's grab them now before they are LONG gone.

Maybe I should sell mine?

Tight Bass

Slight thickness in the midrange

These speakers are worth every penney J@R sells them for and then some. They're not worthy of the $1,100 list price, but no speakers are to me. The bass is incredible, the tweeter is sweet and the midrange is average. Overall, the best speaker I could hope for especially at this price. Buy them now, break them in for a week and you won't look back.

I've taken one over to a friends house to compare to Infinity and Jbl floor speakers. My AR's kicked them up one side and almost down the other. The Infinity's seemed a little more open, especially on classical music, but nowhere near as much bass. The JBL's were very clear and precise but not as much fun to listen to as my AR's.

Beg steal or borrow, but get them now.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity and JBL

Clarity, Power, Price, Design

Shipping, shipping, shipping, and ummm, shipping.

These speakers are fantastic! The powered 8"s are very sweet with 100 watt RMS amp in each tower. They were a steal at $199 a piece from jandr, but the packing was poor and one was damaged. FedEx really dropped the ball, but they were shipped for 20 bucks to AZ from NY and they weigh 65+ lbs a piece. Infinity sells the RS4s at Circuit City for the same price, but they are seriously outclassed by the Acoustic Researches. Very heavy, but sweet and clear. There is plenty of bass from the powered 8" and the secondary 8" is nice too. The tweeters are crisp and the mids are nice through the 5" mid. I look forward to getting my new speaker and maybe writing a new review for the masses. The actual name for these speakers is the AR P428PS, not 428-ps. They are listed at 1199.00 a pair and I could not believe my good fortune in finding these. You had your time. The future is our world, Morpheus. The future is our time. I sold my JBL-HLS 820's and picked these up with the quickness. I am beginning to believe...

Similar Products Used:

JBL HLS-820, 620, Infinity RS4

overall sound for the price

at this price,can you really find a weakness????

ok-so these are not top of the line audiophile speakers....but look what you get for the money-you get lots of bass ,even if it doesnt give the quality bass your looking for - really nice highs-and the mids arent all that bad-REMEMBER THE PRICE-for very little money-you get two powered subs that really comes in handy if your building h/t on a small budget and a good overall sound--i have a couple of upper end systems at home,but i use these on my basement system-and they rock ....so if you are considering these for yourself and they are in the price range between 350 and 450...go for it...you wont be dissapointed -in my opinion,they are one of the better deals out there

Similar Products Used:

klipsch-def tech-other ar speakers-bose-mission-psb

Does anyone want to sell their AR 428PS? I heard so much about them and would like to try them out. I was close to buying one for $200, but the seller sold it minutes before I called him. Let me know if anyone wants to let these speakers go.

Just learned of these.I hope to get a pair as soon as I can find them in stock.They seem to be identical to the 328 except the 8s are powered by a 120 watt amp.These are the least expensive powered towers on the market and it will be interesting to see how they perform.

Incredible Value: read summary

none evident so far

Got mine Monday 21st, too early to post a full and accurate review now, but I have to say this: Got them from J and R for $ 424.00 delivered, and at this price they *cannot* be beat. J and R 's Sales and Service is super, the speakers arrived double-boxed and in pristine condition. I don't know how people (me included) got these speakers at this price, but I sincerely advise anyone with any sense to jump on this deal, right now, before it's gone.

Similar Products Used:

Wharfedale, Technics, JBL

Tight sound, excellent clarity

Mids, but can compensate with an equalizer

I was going through my local Sears store one evening and noticed this AR tower speaker on the floor. It had some scuffs and chips, but no major damage. The price tag for that one speaker? $19.99. Yes, you read correctly. Anyway, now I had a dilema: where was I going to find another one? I called AR and they gave me the number of some local distributors and I found a pair that the owner of the company said he would split up. The price? $200. A 10X increase, but a pair of these things for $220.00? That was a done deal. There MAY still be some of these magnificent creatues around, so do your homework. Maybe you'll be lucky too!

Similar Products Used:

None