Welcome Back AR!!
Written: Dec 09 '02 (Updated Jun 19 '03)
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Pros: A very natural sound at a bargain basement price!
Cons: Lack of DEEP BASS and gee ... It's tough to fault this little guy!
The Bottom Line: At its price there is no equal and probably never will be!
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| sam-pro's Full Review: Acoustic Research AR 215PS Main / Stereo Speaker |
Over the embarrassingly many years that I have been an AUDIO NUT I have had the pleasure of owning and auditioning some of the most wonderful loudspeakers at all price levels. In NOVEMBER of 2000 I spotted a familiar name as I strolled casually into my favorite SIXTH AVE. ELECTRONICS STORE in WEST PATERSON, NEW JERSEY. It was AR hence= ACOUSTIC RESEARCH- the once benevolent manufacturer of low-cost HIGH-PERFORMING BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS for the home and INVENTOR of the ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION design. FOUNDING FATHERS- HENRY KLOSS and EDGAR VULCHUR.
Here in front of the store were a pair of little 1 foot high gems propped up on their respective shipping boxes with a big yellow and red "SALE TAG" with a price of $59.88 marked in the big white space of said tag. Wow! I figured that was a pretty fair deal for one AR SPEAKER of such attractive design. My favorite salesman, PETER spotted me and kindly said "One? No not one!- The PAIR!! I could not believe my ears! The PAIR?!!!
As I had no intention of purchasing anything when I walked in I just had to give in to temptation to run the GOSH DARN things through some pretty heavy duty auditioning! As he removed the GRILLES I noticed the usual DOME TWEETER and well made 5" woofer. But then I spotted a PORT!...A PORT!! What's this?!! The MOTHER of ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION has gone VENTED?!
Yes as DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY forced the other ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION companies to become more efficient so it was with AR= that venerable manufacturer of the AR 3a and AR 48s top-flight speaker systems! OK, I'm OPEN MINDED! I'll bite! And when I did, I found this precious find to be a very open and natural solid performer!
It would be difficult to fault the 215PS at their current price but I did critique them anyway. The less than one foot high enclosure provided some pretty good old fashioned clean distortion free sound. Though lacking somewhat in SUBTLE DETAIL, the sound is very transparent and unusually[for this price range] very good at reproducing MALE and FEMALE VOCALISTS! Piano=VERY GOOD! Transients were well-handled and spaciousness far beyond what one would expect of a forward radiator. Overall SOUND DETAIL was excellent!
All of this occurred using the speakers in a basic STEREO listening situation. POP sounded just fine with JAZZ and CLASSICAL right up there also!
After I got them home and setup as REAR speakers in my computer room with a DYNACO HOME THEATER ADAPTER I found them to be very effective in this role also.
This is an absolute out and out "BEST BUY" in audio and with a proper sub-woofer it is quite conceiveable that one could wind up with a FIRST RATE STEREO or HOME THEATER SYSTEM. As MAIN or STEREO speakers they should be placed on relatively high shelves or pedestals. The pedastals will probably cost more than the speakers but if you're handy enough you can contrive your own!
Use the AR or MIRASONIC.COM PURE OFC WIRE that is available and connect them to a good quality AMP and you're on your way to a WONDERFUL AUDIO EXPERIENCE that includes great soundstaging and pinpoint accuracy!! Impact is very good! The sound builds up and decays quickly with good DYNAMIC RANGE. POWER HANDLING will be fine with 10w/ch or 100w/ch as long as the listener never pushes the AMP to distortion levels.
You may want to audition the PSB ALPHA, PARADIGM ATOM,BOSE 101 and other small speaker systems from B&W, CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS,BOSTON ACOUSTICS and others but none of them are going to surpass the overall DETAIL and QUALITY from this liitle guy! To each his or her own for sure! Remember that people tend to rave about seductive qualities of their more expensive speakers sometimes only to find themselves loathing these very same so-called qualities later on. These little AR's just go on and on "doing their thing".
Most noteworthy is the use of super high quality dual BINDING POSTS/BANANA PLUGS [5-WAY] on the rear of each enclosure. This gives the impression of a HIGH-END SPEAKER for sure! This is a speaker that you won't grow tired of as "LISTENING FATIGUE" is not an option with ACOUSTIC RESEARCH. Welcome back, AR!! GOD BLESS YOU!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 59.88/Pr.
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Epinions.com ID:
sam-pro
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Peter J Sammon II
Location: The Bloomfield Burying Ground, USA
Reviews written: 218
Trusted by: 122 members
About Me:
Every once in awhile something great arrives at relatively low cost to you...Priceless!
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