Acoustic Research AR-226PS Floorstanding Speakers

Acoustic Research AR-226PS Floorstanding Speakers 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 26  
[Jan 20, 2011]
dagosa
Audio Enthusiast

I just traded for these speakers with my son in law who wanted something smaller. I always liked the way they sounded for years in hi house and jumped at the opportunity to trade them for a couple or surround speakers and a CC he needed to his system.
I have been very pleasantly surprised by the "mild" and detailed performance of the horn tweeter. It's much less bright than I would have though. The midrange seems a little recessive but acceptably so in my system that includes a horn cc as well. My only real gripe from these good looking speakers, is the poorly finished corners which are too unacceptably too damage prone. Otherwise, I would recommend them highly as a discontinued speaker you could get used for a reasonable price. I know in time, the foam surrounds may need replacement, but you can't have it all when trading.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 27, 2009]
ryanianmckinnon
Audio Enthusiast

what can i say about these speakers besides being the
best speakers i have ever heard and amazing deal for the
price i got them for 150 bucks WOW i have never heard music this
clear before in my life i will have these for a long time

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 28, 2005]
BEETLEMAN
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

great harmony between upper and lower hz

Weakness:

finish is a little cheezy

traded an old subwoofer for this pair of speakers and have been very happy with them as my new mains.they dont have a scratch on them,even on the bottoms so i dont believe they have really ever been used. the bass is fantastic and the highs are very nice. overall a very good speaker for the money (or lack of) im driving them with an old akai am-2950 and they really pump with this old school amp at 240 watts a channel.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 19, 2000]
Hamid
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sound and Price

Weakness:

None!

Fantastic sound for the price -- $199 / pair at Shop4.com.

Hooked them up to my Adcom Receiver and Denon CD / HDCD player and was amazed! Popped in John Mellencamp's HDCD -- "The Best That I could Do" and was transported!

Excellent and accurate soundstage.

Decent bass for a "bookshelf" set of speakers with its twin mid-ranges -- though at approx. 20 inches high (and very heavy) these are really floor standing speakers.
Quality and Price are unmatched. I am completely satisfied.

Clearly you do not need to spend a lot of money to get an excellent pair of speakers. AR shows the way again.

Similar Products Used:

JBLs Nseries, Infinity Reference Series

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 14, 2000]
Peter H.
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

solid bass response, quality finish

Weakness:

a little too tall to be called a bookshelf

I got these speakers online for $169 brand new with AR's five year warranty and I couldn't be happier. First of all, I just love speakers that have some heft to them and these speakers have alot of that, weighing in at 26 lbs. each. AR calls them bookshelf speakers but I'm not too sure about that. But for the accoustic performance of the speaker, I enjoy it's production of tight and satisfying bass, as well as the high freq emitted from the horn tweeters. First, when I looked at these speakers on sale online, I was hesitant at first about the horn tweeter design, but that has changed after I took a listen of some music when the speakers arrived. It's hard to explain, but it(the tweeter), sounds almost like a dome tweeter, yet it also exhibits its horn directivity. You gotta break your ears in to its sound, then you'll begin to rather enjoy it's ecclectic qualities. All in all, this speaker may not be the finest in delivering to the true audiophile the highest end sound, but it does its job with lots of smooth, articulate bass and pleasing highs. I'd rather not give it a full 5 stars but a 4 and a half, but what the heck, it's sheer value aspect can push me to giving it a 6 or 7 stars, if it exsisted. Nuff said. Good luck tryin to find a pair and thanks for reading my tiresome little review here...

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics, Klipsh, Infinity

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 14, 2000]
Rob
Audiophile

Strength:

powerful bass, pleasing highs, attractive design

sorry this is such a non-technically inputting review, but all i have to say is that these speakers are one of the best speakers out there right now for the low low price that u could purchase them for....oh, and also, try to get it in cherry woodgrain finish....its much better than the black-ash finish

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 21, 2001]
Floydster
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great highs, just enough bass for me, really cool to look at with the grills off

Weakness:

mids can be vague at times

These are great speakers! They have just the right amount of bass from the two 6" woofers and the horn-loaded tweeter fills the room with sound. I have these as fronts in an all AR speaker arrangment. The voice-matching is superb! Physically I love to take the grills off and just look at them. Right size for me and the right look. I can't imagine doing better for the money I spent. I got these for $199 from 800.com and they arrived the next day after ordering them from close to 3000 miles away. That's with regular UPS ground shipping. Unheard of response. Way to go 800.com.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha NS300

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 22, 2000]
Curt
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Quality Construction, Nice Bass and Highs

Weakness:

No Midrange speaker

I am very pleased so far with these speakers, got them for $129 at onsale.com J&R price $300 plus shipping.

These speakers are my rears, I debated purchasing smaller speakers for this duty but found the price for these to fit perfectly, although their current placement is not quite idea, i.e. too close and low to the listener, they do very well in effects for music and their main use dts/dd/dolby pro surround.
I really like the bass at the end of the matrix, which is put squarely on the rears, these babies really dig down deep, not as good as my Technics SB-M300's which are more of an audiophile speaker(3-way bookshelf), but I think these Ar's can handle more juice before distorting.

Would recommend these as standalone or effects/rears, AR makes good products, I use their cables for my sub and fiber optic connections, www.avconnect.com has really low prices on their cables with fast/cheap shipping and excellent CS, for their price they make the best interconnects for the masses.
based on price and quality I have to overlook the obvious flaw .

Similar Products Used:

Technics SB-M300

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 06, 2001]
b
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

amazing bass for size, value, value, value!!

Weakness:

nuttin

a wonderful speaker, pumps out amzing highs and extremely tight bass down to 50hz. May not be the best for rap. buy ASAP!!! 100 stars for value, sound like 500$ speakers!!!

Similar Products Used:

dad's towers, custom made monsters.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 12, 1999]
shawn
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

lotsa sound comes out of these little things. For bookshelf they sure do put out alot of bass

Weakness:

the woofers double as the mids so midrange can get a little muddled

these are perfect for someone who wants a stereo with a little punch but who doesnt have a lot of room or theyre even better for surrounds. One thing about these speakers, dont get scared by the horn tweeter, they sound like a cross between horn and dome, the sound is actually quite pleasing

Similar Products Used:

i have the ar328ps

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-10 of 26  

(C) Copyright 1996-2018. All Rights Reserved.

audioreview.com and the ConsumerReview Network are business units of Invenda Corporation

Other Web Sites in the ConsumerReview Network:

mtbr.com | roadbikereview.com | carreview.com | photographyreview.com | audioreview.com