These speakers sound fantastic; the bass is surprisingly full for their small size. With my new Harman/Kardon AVR75, the imaging is incredible and they sound clean at painful sound levels. I definitely recommend these speakers to anyone who desires accurate sound reproduction at a reasonable cost.

HELLO.I just bought this speakers,I just want to say they are Some kick ASS Speakers.
They are connected with DENON 5700,I've got 310 for the Front and CS 25 HO
Center and BU 120 SUB.
I was testing my Syst w/ Daylight DVD,I had to turned it down,that walls were shaking.Althought I don't have DTS DVD But I would love to get one just to see what's it's sounds like w/ DTS.
These Speakers .
Are AWESOME!Got them for $204 at onsale.
By the way onsale is great auction,I got them in 2 days.
Later.5 STARS FOR THE SOUND AND VALUE .
Luciano

Pleasent little speaker! I picked up a pair from Crutchfield, like so many others. I did not interview the speakers, so I was not able to compare them to similarly sized and priced competitors. But, I was able to return them if I was not happy. When I first hooked them up to my existing system, I was quite satisfied (Sherwood 50wpc receiver, Pioneer CD player). They sounded much better than my previous speakers (Optimus 1050's), with the high's sounding much clearer and the lows much tighter and deeper. I was content with my system until I went to a high end audio store with a friend so he could audition speakers for his system. After listening to some of those end stuff devices, I was ruined! I could no longer stand to listen to my fischer-price receiver! I had to upgrade immeditately, so I purchased an Adcom GTP-450 preamp, an Adcom GFA-5500 power amp, and a Monster line conditioner. Surprisingly, the Monster line conditioner's ability to improve sound quality was almost as good as the $1500 pre/power amp's improvement! MIT interconnects and speaker connects are next on my Christmas list. The AR 308's sounded even better! The spaciousness, clarity, imaging, and background blackness were all considerably improved. With the $1,700 upgrade, my collection of transistors sounds very similar to the expensive system I listened to at the high end store. The AR 308's are definitely not the weak link. One more thing, most of the reviews I have read do not list the other components in the audio system when they evaluate a product. Everything works together to produce sound. If someone decides to give a product a bad rating they should at least give the names of the other components.
My system: prices are list.
Adcom GTP-450 preamp ($500)
Adcom GFA-5500 poweramp ($1000)
AR 308's, biwired ($700)
Cerwin Vega HT-PWR12 subwoofer ($900)
Pioneer PD-M552 CD player (gift)
Monster line conditioner HTS-2000 ($200)

Ratings:
Price: 5 speakers (I paid $400, 4 speakers if at list)
Sound quality: 4 speakers (5 speakers with subwoofer)
Build Quality: 4.5 speakers
Overall: 5 speakers

ps: never buy a Bose product.

I recently bought this speaker for $399 at crutchfield, like many others. I shuold admit that I'm relatively a rookie in this field. Say, I've been a music lover, rather than an audiphile, if there is any difference. I'm writing this hoping that I can be some help to other beginners who are not capable of repeated auditions and handling thousands of buchs budget. Let's get to the speakers. I've got the feeling that B&W 602(probably s2) and paradigm mini monitors are the most popular bookshelves in this price range among many audiophiles. I haven't listened to Paradigm, but I had a chance to hear B&W. Yes, it was amazingly clear and accurate for its size and price. Excellant seperation, beautiful highs and mids, dynamic but not bright. However I decided to get a pair of AR for some reasons. First, it is quite cheaper than B&W, unless &150 doesn't matter to you. Second, I really liked the bass output of 308. Although it might have traded off clearity in midrange and exceptianl treble for being a $400 bookshelf, this slim box delivers such a smooth, deep-tight bass you can hardly expect from other brands. There are other good bookshelves out there that you don't necessarily need a sub with. But this speaker may trully bring the bass you want by itself. Not boomy(at all), doesn't shake the wall with weird vibrations, but simply surrounds the room with flowing, heart-kicking bass. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this speaker has sucky highs and mids. Mids are definetely better than ordinary, although seperation between instruments are a little fuzzy. Tweeters are not a lot better than average though. If you like easy listnings and a lot of trebling keyboards instruments, I wouldn't recommend 308 to you. But if you like rock or rap, or even full-range classical music, you will love the rich sound this speaker brings. If I could, I would give this speaker 4.5 stars, for its value, overall output, and bass quality. Not 5 stars, since I know it might not be perfect for all of you. Anyway, since I'd like to see this thing in hall of fame, I'll give it 5 stars. Some says AR's back. And I can't agree more. I'm running this pair with Yamaha AX-592 integrated, Onkyo DX7211 CDP, and 14 gouge Monster cable.

Bought these speakers just over a month ago from Crutchfield for $399. I'm just getting them broken in good, and can't wait until they're all the way their! Because if the final outcome is anywhere near the trip, I'll be in heaven. This is a great "bookshelf" speaker with exceptional highs and mids. But most impressively, DEEP DEEP tight, clear bass. In most cases, a sub is a must for listening to music with bookshelfs, not the case here. The sub is necessary only if you need to shake the walls, which most don't need for music listening. Needless to say, this is one investment I am quite pleased with.Happy Listening.

Associated Equipment:

AR308HO front/rear speakers (fronts bi-wired w/DHlabs speaker cable)
Lovan Affiniti stands w/spikes
AR2C center (DHlabs single mono cable)
Velodyne ct120

Yamaha rx-v2095
Outlaw 750 amp (coming attraction)

I have a VERY "lower mid fi" system, and these speakers are the newest addition. I only auditioned three speakers - polk rt55's ($575), NHT super ones ($350), and the Ar308ho. I actually thought the polk and NHT's were better investments, as they had sharper highs and clearer midranges, but bass output wasn't near the ARs. But if a subwoofer is a possibility for you, the other two are probably the better choice. I needed instant gratification, so i went for a full range sound with the 308s.As other's have stated here, they do have a suprising ammount of bass, almost too much. I had to place them three feet away from the side walls and three and a half feet away from the rear just so I wouldn't annoy my neighbors (I live in an apartment complex). Sound qualiy is great, and they broke in pretty quickly. They sound a lot better in my apartment than they did at the showroom - the music envelops you (compared to my old Cerwin Vega re20's, these are SO much better). The mids really shine now that the bass has been taken down a notch. I don't think they hit quite as fast as others have stated - but the bass definitely isn't muddy. I like to test speakers with complex music (beck, rem's newer stuff, etc) to see how well they seperate instrumentation and sounds, and in my opinion the AR's are very, very good. Not great, but I suppose that is saying a lot for a bookshelf. The sound stage is wider than deep, which may be because of speaker placement, but I've been playing with placement for two days now and this is as good as I can get it. Other than that, it's definitely a very listenable speaker. I got these for $335 shipped on ebay (compared with $400 at my local hi fi store), but if you can still find them they're probably cheaper on the net.

Equipment Used:
Harman Kardon avr40 Receiver
Denon 420 Cd player (w/ Acoustic Research interconnects)
Acoustic Research 308ho mains (w/ Monster Cable Original speaker wire)
Cerwin Vega re20s rear (w/ Monster Cable Superflat Minis)
*I really like the wrap feature on the avr40 (even with music), but the Cerwins just aren't the best rears for it. By the way, Wrap sounds way better than any DSP mode i've ever heard - it actually enhances the listening experience (it decodes stereo into dolby pro logic).

test cd's:
Beck - Odelay! and Mutations
REM - Up
Garbage - Version 2.0
Joni Mitchell - Blue (great for testing soundstage)
Clapton - MTV Unplugged (see above)
Method Man - Tical 2000 (just to feel that bass for all it's worth)

I don't won a tv so I can't talk about home theater stuff. For music I think these speakers are a low four in preformance, but an easy five in the money/quality department.

The AR 308HO sounds great, even on my oooooold fischer 12.5 watt system. The imaging is very good in all ranges, although for some reason the very best quality seems to appear when playing either classical music(these speakers love vocal or instrumental solos) or pretty hard stuff (Nine Inch Nails, Offspring). Speaking of solos, the Beach Boys acapello harmonies really come alive with thesse. I was planning on using these as my mains in my as-yet-unfinished home theater system. Paid $399 at Crutchfiled, which is only about $40 more than the best price I've seen on the net (shop4.com). I do wonder though, if it might not be worth sending them back to Crutchfield in favor of picking up some 310s from the net at under $600?? By the time I add some reasonable stands for the 308s, I'm at $460+. But add a subwoofer and a center-channel to the mix, and the difference between the 308s and 310s may be insignificant. Something to think about for anyone considering the 308/310s.
At any rate, if you're looking for big bookshelf speakers (and these are barely bookshelfs) with great sound and/or if you're shopping at the low end of the quality mains price range, you cannot go wrong with the 308s

I just recently added these as surround speakers which they really seem to excel at. It's so nice to have a big surround capable of real bass. It really shines with dvd, as the surround effects are so crystal-clear. For the mains, I've got the 312HO and the CS20HO for the center channel. The whole system is great with HT and music. The 303's sound perfect with my Yamaha's dsp modes. Highly recommended!

Excellent speakers when hooked up with a subwoofer. Imaging is very clear, the speakers are very efficient, and the sound is flawless. As to be expected of a speaker this size, they lack oomph without the sub. They are also quite attractive and innovative looking. Highly recommended.

Sweet tweet, good bass, forward midrange.

Grill that cuts out the highs.

I'm using my 308's as rears in a 6.1 setup with 312's for the fronts. The 308's blend exceptionally well with the 312's. They have a wide soundstage which is important for a surround speaker. The bass is excellent for a bookshelf, tight, accurate and never "boomy".
The tweeter is the real strong point in my opinion, there is some roll-off at the extreme high end, but that is a plus. The grilles must be taken off for the tweets to really shine, and overall imaging improves.
The AR HO series beats all the speakers in thier price range.

Similar Products Used:

Niles, Infinity