I LOVE MY ARS300 IT HAS A VERY TIGHT BASS FEEL. BETTER THEN THE REALISTIC TAPE PLAYER I HAVE IN MY CAR. I WISH I HAD SOME MONEY SO I COULD BY AN ARS 500.

I DON'T LIKE THE WAY THIS SOUNDS DISTORTED AT HIGH VOLUMES, MY SYSTEM IS VERY HIGH END, I HAVE A SOUND DESIGN 100 WATT RECIEVER THAT I BOUGHT AT RADIO SHACK. I'M THINKING OF BUYING A 19 INCH RCA TV TO COMPLETE MY HOME ENTERTAINMENT CENTER. IF MY WIFE LETS ME I WILL BUY A 25 INCH TV

IT'S A GOOD SUBWOOFER

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KENWOOD 8 INCH SUB, A SUB I BUILT WITH A 10 INCH RADIO SHACK WOOFER

Great tight bass, better looking box.

foam instead of rubber on speaker

Really nice sub for the price, came with all things intact,
simple setup. Auto power one needs a sensitivity adjustment,
works great on bass intensive inputs, but classical FM
can keep it off for a few minutes.

I use it with AR-7's, and a ar4c center. It takes a load
off the amps for the front channels.

All I can say is that I'm kind of disappointed. I am probably one of the few to have gotten this unit this quick.
Some how I figure this would be an awesome unit. Figure that the amp is a Sunfire(Bob Carver). With 300watts on a 12" long throw driver, this thing would pump out some major bass.

To my dismay....my unit has the notoriuos Sunfire Amplifier problem that some other reviewers has on Sunfire Cinema amps. It hums.....and it HUMS big time. Since the unit is directly wired to the 12" driver, the hum can produce some serious bass effect. Matter afact at half volume, the whole house shake from the hum; mind you this isn't even watching a movie....no connection are made to the sub either. It just plugged in to the wall, sitting in the room by itself.

Otherwise if you don't mind the hum, and how it effects the woofer, the unit does deliver some amazing LFE in DD and DTS. I didn't do much testing in the unit as I was really frustrated with the humming it was making....so after some time I packed the unit in the box and was ready to send it back.

The unit has some nice features. It has a dedicated LFE input. It has a stereo line-in input. Plus it also accomidates speaker line in and out. It has a knob for x-over, and a switch for phase.

The unit has energy saving features. It will turn off and on with signal coming from line-in, speaker line-in, or LFE. My unit didn't work, because the amp is making the humming noise, and it will stay on forever. Maybe it's picking up that signal?? In anycase it didn't work.

The front has a neon-blue looking indicator. It lights up when the sub is activated, off if not. Of course once again....mine was on all the time. There is a switch, marked as A and V (Audio and Video). From the manual, it say each setting will reproduce a different type of response from the sub. Again I didn't bother much to listen, since the humm is now REALLY getting on my nerves. =) And finally there is a slider control that allow you to adjust the volume.

The 12" driver is faced down, with dual port angled at about 20-25 degree facing down as well. The speaker feet are spikes, with a rubber foot in between the wood and the metal spikes.

As of today, I'm sending back the S300 and upgrading to the S500. Hopefully the hums won't come with the 500 watt amp...or else it will be even louder! =)

Hopefully I'll get the S500 within the next couple of days, so I can give all you fine people another review on the S500.

Wish me luck!

price, small footprint

nobs and switche's

For the price of this sub there's not much out there to compare with. I'm using pre amp outs with a pioneer receiver. The sub goes quite low and is very cean. I"m using this sub in my bedroom that is quite large (20'x32'). I thought it would be alittle more powerful since it has carvers 300 watt amp. It just cuts it. In my living room I'm useing a M&K V125. The M&K is a much better unit but at 2x the cost the A&R is quite a deal.

Solid Base. Definitely not intended for my one bdrm apt setup.

I see none yet.

Like I said, it is not for the one bdrm apt scene. I am only able to utilize about 1/4 of the scale on the volume control while watching a movie or listening to music. I am quite pleased as this is a big step for me coming up from a passive sub. I automatically realized increased quality in fronts, and obviously base.

Great lows, below 80 MHz with hardly any distortion. Will match acoustically with many different types of speakers.

The crossover know is tiny, and made of cheap plastic. As is the the phase switch and volume slider. Takes more than 5 mins to go into standby mode.

The only reason I got this sub was due to the Bob Carver/Sunfire Amp. I wasn't really thrilled about Accoustic Reasearch, because its a Recoton Subsidiary. (Not known for anything but accessories.)

But When I got the shipment and hooked it up. I was feeling a lot better towards it. Its sounds excellent, for something in its price range. Deep lows with hardly any distortion. It was able to handle everything I threw at it. And trust me, I gave it a work out.

I tried a couple of DTS and DD, multichannel music, movies such as Saving Private Ryan(in DTS) and Heat(in DD). The ARS300 was able to pull it all off respectfully.

If you don't already have a good subwoofer. Give this one a chance. You'll be surprised exactly how much music you're missing out on.

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300W sunfire amp power, controls, nice finish and construction

AR went cheap on the control knobs and switches.

I started with a ARS112 but after finding it testostorone deficient due to the room environment, so I tried the ARS300. The 300 really works better with my AR1s and AR11s in the large room that I have. The 300 is not outmuscled by the AR1 powered woofer. There is plenty of adjustability with this sub and when play a track from U571, the whole floor shakes! For $355, this is a great price.

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ARS112

Great Sub, Good tight bass

None so far

Great Sub for the money. Really sounds great. It has plenty of power to get the job done. I look at several and read alot of reviews from here before deciding on this one and I'am very pleased with it. This Subs also looks great.

great controls
has a Audiovideo switch for music and HT
300 watt sunfire amp for 359.00

hmmm...none that I can think of.

I have it mated with Paradigm Monitor 9s and a LCR350. What can I say? This puppy rocks the house. Literally. I was very impressed with the bass response. It really growls. For the $$ I think I got a good deal.
The slider vol control is easier to tell how loud it is but could be a problem around kids. I think the box is a nice presentation and I love down firing woofers...they are kinder then the front shooters.
If you like bass and want to shake your walls till the plaster cracks then try it out.

Great bass,size(compared to its big brother,ARS500)

None

I picked up one of these at Bernies to go with its big brother,the ARS500. For the money paid this sub performs very well and has the same sound as the 500, except it dose not go as low and not as loud. I mainly bought this sub to use as with my main pre-outs on my reciever to balance things out with my HT. Now with the ARS500 as the LFE sub, the ARS300 with the main pre-outs and its cousin,the ARS112PS used with the rear pre-outs i have the true HT experience..... Thanks to all the reviews posted here on Audio Review!

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Many