Small footprint, price.

Large speakers....not too large of sound.

Not bad for the $$$. I was looking for more upper volume clarity. The woofer becomes muddy at higher spl levels. The midrange level is way too loud compared to the woofer and tweeter...and no, an EQ does not fix this!Also, I was looking for a little more clarity and imaging from the tweeters., Overall, they are not bad for the $$$, but if you're looking for much better speakers for only a little more $$$, try klipsch. Any questions e-mail me...djpilch@hotmail.com Oh ya, I have two pair of the ar's for sale if anyone's interrested.

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Klipsch KG5.2

Good sound, good looks

Poor packaging

After reading the reviews here, I knew I had to give these a try. I also auditioned Paradigm, M&K and JBL. All were more expensive. None sounded better. My local Sears had one pair which had the corners bashed in, so I picked up a pair on sale in another state. The pegs on the grill were broken, but AR sent me replacements at no charge. These speakers sound so good! They replaced a pair of mid '70s Pioneer 3 ways, and the difference is striking. More bass, better clarity and the height gets the tweeters nearer ear level. I had given up listening to male vocalists because they grated on my nerves. Now I can listen to Don Henley again.

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Pioneer, JBL

ok first picked these up at Sears for $189 each......now I know that better deals can be had on the net, but read before you buy............I got these babies home and to make a long story short one speaker was perfect.......and one was trashed........two corners smashed and three snaps for the grilled, busted.......and the woofer was.....well it did not work.......took it back no problem........
after inspecting the box I noticed that the damage on the box was slight and that it had more to do with poor packing than anything else......there is nothing protecting the speakers or the grill.....there are four pieces of foam one at each corner....only the cardboard stands between the precious drivers and the outside world.......something to think about......also the veneer is so thin you must be very careful with the corners.......I am a little bummed about the quality there........

now on to the sound.......
cd players Sony CDP-525 Philips CDR870
Reciever old 40 watt Technics (on the way out for NAD)
300mk II interconect and your basic budget Monster speaker cable..some of the Discs used Elanor McEvoy, Fiona Apple Tidal, Sarah Mclaughlan,
Surf/fumbling /E.B.T.G Jewel (both albums) also Rap (yes rap) Ice cube mystikal DMX etc

first these make a lot of bass/ ported at the rear and make too much bass (very boomy) if they are placed too close to the wall, very boomy if they are in a corner. Bass is no problem/ tight when it needs to be.......very low where you can feel it in your insides (Mystikal) Vocals are very clean but on Sarah M, Jewlel etc the vocals don't spread around as much as they should, they are a little too focused at the speaker, if that makes any sense......
I am happy with the tweeters they sound clean and don't bother you when listening for long periods of time......
also when I auditioned these I used Rage Against the machine Evil Empire........for rock this is a great test disc........tons of material from the bottom to the top......giving scores is so hard......Everyone has different tastes, rooms, budgets, etc etc.......but here goes......(keeping in mind these are great for the price and not high end, expensive units) for Rock 5 Stars,for music heavy with strings 4 stars vocal 4 stars and orchestra type music (opera goes to war /etc) three stars....they seem to have trouble resolving high res material. build quality three stars.......too easy to nick the surface and corners, box material not as dense or a thick as I would like. but in the end for the cash I am happy......any questions e-mail always welcome.......

I bought these speakers for 199 ea..not bad considering they sell at 250 ea at most "chain" stores like Wiz.I auditioned a lot of speakers: Polk Audio, Mission, Infinity,....Polk and Mission lacked bass (I am talking about sub $500 speakers, dont remember model numbers off hand)Infinity is good..its very sweet sounding but lacked in bass too. The 318s are excellent with bass. I must also state that the midrange is very good too. Overall an excellent sub 500 buy.I auditioned the speakers using the following CDs :
Savage Garden (very rich in bass)
Soundtrack from City of Angels (Alanis Morissette and Jimi Hendrix songs)
Ministry of Sound

Clarity - you can easily pick out individual instruments. Price - WOW!! Build quality.

None

I wanted to add to my earlier review. After getting some advice from the folks on the audioasylum newsgroup I changed the speaker position and dampened them by setting them on top of squash balls [cut in half]. The sound stage widened up where it should be. I wish it were a little deeper but I think that takes big big bucks. The clarity has improved as they are broken in. If I decide to to upgrade it is going to cost me a lot now.

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Pioneer HPM 100 Pioneer PRO120 JBL

Price, sound quality, surprising bass

Out-of-stock, AR line no longer carried

Not to be redundant but too bad. . . the performance to value of the speaker is incredible! I have had AR 3a's when I was overseas and have always respected this brand since then. I was about to mail order JBL S38's then "stumbled" across the last pair of 318's on a closeout. Definitely do not regret the purchase. Highs & mids are crisp and clear. Bass comes thru well. get them if you can!! would give the AR 318's a six star value rating if possible.

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JBL 4312(that's a speaker!!), Advent, Energy(blown 3x's), Bose, Pioneer

attractive unit, balanced performance, value, great bedroom unit

damn packing again

Real pleased with the performance of this unit in a relatively confined area (bedroom). Haven't tried it in a larger area. Would probably do very well as fronts in a HT setup for someone not able or wanting to take a big plunge. Larger area for audio probably requires bigger units. Balanced sound production from the 3-way unit (1" tweet, 5" mid, 8" woofer), and for its present application I couldn't ask for more bang for the buck or be more tickled. Noticed that the AR 328PS (same as this unit except has 2-8" woofers) is very, very well priced at $316 at cal audio (caav.com). If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't jumped all over these units at that price. Couldn't miss. The only downside and my units were fortunately unaffected, was the packing. Beware it really is a concern. Take the effort to be reassured about shipping arrangements. Inside styrofoam was crumpled at the ends/corners. Scary!!

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usually the more commercial brands, pioneer, sony, yamaha

Extreamly good bass, crisp highs, and low price.

none

I bought these beuties from Sears for $139 each about five days ago. They are the best sounding speakers out there for the low price! The problem that other people have stated is too much bass, but I have no problem with that. I enjoy a lot of bass. I've tested these speakers so loud the pop corn was falling off my cielling with my technics reciver. I did't get one bit of distortion. They are very efficient speakers. I compared to bose 301's and there was no compareson. These kicked the crap out of the boses.

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bose

WOW...GREAT SOUND FOR THE PRICE...WOW

None yet

I purchased a Denon 1801 receiver a few days ago and was originally going to wait till later to purchase speakers as I was using my Jensen towers which sounded pretty darn good. The Bic's had way to much base.

Yesterday while visiting my local Sears store I walked over to the electronics department (as I always do at every store) and noticed that they had a clearance on their Accoustic Research 328's and 318's. They looked pretty good to me but really didn't know much about them so went about my business and didn't give it much thought. Besides, I was going to buy a set of Klipsh, Boze or Energy's later. However, last night I started reading the reviews here on audioreview.com and was impressed with what I read so went back over to Sears this afternoon and purchased a set of the 318's for $84/each..brand new in the box. I thought this was a pretty darn good price and couldn't wait to bring them home.

Well, I disconnected by Jensen's and hooked these AR's up and boy, am I happy...These speakers sound GREAT! They give off a crisp, clear highs but also put out a good tight base. Man, these speakers are great, especially for $160 bucks for the pair. My local Sears has one pair left which I though about getting, but don't think my better half really wants 4 towers in the living room, so I guess I'll get something smaller for the rears. I do plan to get the AR center speaker within the next few weeks though.

If you can find a pair of the 318's, buy them! You will be happy you did.. My neighbors even came over this morning to tell me how good they sound.. They heard them from inside their house...oops. Guess I better get a handle on the volume.

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BIC Venturi, Jensen Towers and several other older speakers

clear sound and deep base, price ($240 incl. shipping at Netmarket), quality

do not see any

Wow!!! What a sound! For the money I paid for them, they're incredible. They're also sold at The WIZ for $245/each!!! and you can get them both for that price (Netmarket.com).
Very deep base, I use them as main/front speakers together with a Sherwood receiver and Bose 301's as surrounds. I compared them with the Boses and there is no comparison.
No paper woofers or midrange (Bose is only 2way), no cheap speaker clips and once again, they sound great.
You don't need a Subwoofer for movies, the base they produce is far enough. Music sounds clear and you can easily hear all instruments.
Think they're a real bargain.

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Bose, Infinity,...