Best value for the money. Sound is very clean and nice. Bass comes out strong as well. I originally wanted to buy either Infinity RS5 or Polk RT600/800, however after listening to both of them, they dont really impress me that much. bass is somewhat lacking on infinity rs5. At less than 400 dollars, you can't really beat this. One of the best deal I've got. Get one quickly!

Strong Bass

Cabinet is rather boxy.

Thanks to the previous reviewers for the "buy them at Sears at the J&R price minus the shipping charge" The manager at Sears said she would match the price, but they would actually lose about $13 each. I felt bad until I looked at my next Sears interest statement. Now to the speakers. When I first hooked them up, they sounded just horrible! To be honest, I considered taking them back to Sears after the first 10 minutes of listening to various music. Since that would have been such a hastle I started to tweak. I put my Bass and Treble controls to mid and I that helped a lot. I guess the Infinity RS2's that I used before required more bass and treble to get the sound I wanted. The other problem was I had the front speaker selection set to "small front speakers" on my receiver. Switching the setting to "large front speakers" brought out the lows that were missing and the highs seemed much clearer too. My powered sub used to do all the work, now it only fills in the very bottom notes. I'm not sure if my wife likes them though. She says when she is in the basement, they sound like some of the kids cars coming down the street. The bass is MUCH more then I ever expected from 8" drivers. The mids and highs are very crisp and clear too as long as you keep your settings on your receiver to mid. The thing that struck me most is when female voices sing a word with an 's' on the end, these speakers are tight and accurate, no distortion or fuzziness at all. Highly recommended!

Excellent overall value. Powered subwoofer makes the whole system shine. Highs are excellent and crisp.

Generally tall, boring black rectangle. Looks like a hip flower stand.

Like several of you, I bought mine from J and R and got a damaged speaker. The whole front was blown out!! They were good about replacing it but it was very dissappointing. I've been very happy with their performance, though. I listened to many speakers (Polk, Klipsch, Bose, etc.) in the general price range and there are NO other speakers close to this sound quality at $200/ea. The sound is very transparent and smooth throughout the range. Midrange may be a little weak, but that's also very dependent on the original music and engineering. Shawn Colvin, Counting Crows, Chieftains, Grateful Dead all sound excellent at all volumes. I need a bigger living room now. Powered subs are versatile and responsive. You won't be dissappointed with these speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Several pairs of older AR's.

Powered subs - 2 in stereo provide balance that a big old bass box sub can't.

No glaring weaknesses

Just a tip - when you order from J&R by phone there is still room to negotiate. Concerned about a $60 shipping fee, I asked the sales rep if he could cut me a break. The result? A price drop to $336!

Similar Products Used:

JBL S312

Design, Amped subs, Deep bass, Customer support

This is packaging? Weak laminate looking style

Ahhh, now that I have gotten a replacement for my damaged speaker, all is well in the world. I couldn't imagine that they would pound as hard as they do, but there is little limit to the bass you can push. You can definitely hear the separation between the 2 subs, powered and not. There is plenty of clarity and most people will find the horns a little strange, being that most tweeters are domes, but they are actually quite pleasant and bright. The price was unbeatable at $420 shipped to AZ and I couldn't be happier now that I have 2 working ones. The low pass filter and adjustable sub control allows for much variability. They are very heavy and the components inside the cabinet are heavy as well as well-made. I would highly recommend these speakers to all but the snootiest of listeners as you will find they are near without peer in the price range.

Similar Products Used:

JBL Hls-820, Infinity RS4

cheap price

weak midrange

I was not going to post a review on these speakers. Then I read Bob's post and decided to throw my two cents in.I too was misled by the wrong rating of the bottom end of these speakers.Not only at the official AR website, but all the other web sites posting the same numbers.(see previous post about the "28-hz" claimed on website specs. The spec-sheet lists st 38-hz.I called AR tech-support and they confirmed that it is in fact 38-hz. Talked to customes service about this discrepency, they were pretty non-schellant about this, but said they would look into it.Wow- thanks alot!!)Anyway I was dissapointed about this, having purchased these with the thought that with this pair I could do without a seperate sub. Now I am considering a seperate sub to get down to that 20-hz that bass lovers aim for.I am not a very choosy listener with the HT, but I do like my music clean and accurate and full.I have to admit that the AR p-428ps is far from an audiofile speaker.Mids weak, highs a little harsh and the base,well plenty of it there,but how acurate it is I'm not sure.At times, (depending on the music) it does ok, but since it is only an 8 inch woofer,I do believe it does struggles with the low end of the scale(which in this case is below 40hz).Having nitpicked thus far, I will say this for what it is worth, this set replaced a Boston Acoustics sub/sat six combo(which I admit is not a great music speaker either). This AR p428ps pair way surpasses the sound quality of The BA( even my wife who is sound deaf agrees). I purchased these speakeers on a budget.I honestly don't know where AR list these speakers at $1100.00 for the pair either.I certainly would look to another speaker at that price.I do think AR makes some very quality speakers.But what we are talking about here is a "performance series line speaker"- hence the "ps" in the model name.This is not a high-end of the line speaker. When places are selling a $1100.00 speaker pair for $400.00, one must be at least a little skeptical an reason that there must be one: something wrong with the price, or two: Something wrong with the product.You just don't get something for nuthing these days. After all they don't sell Acura cars for Hundi price right. When we see a sale, usually it's because the product is not moving at it's regular price. Almost everybody posting on this board purchased their pair at J&R for $199.00 ea or got J&R pricing through Sears.Unfortunatly when we rate somthing price has to fit into the equation.We would all be driving BMW cars if price didn't matter.I have seen some very outstanding speakers get mediocure, even poor ratings because folks buying them have high expectations because of the high dollars they are shelling out! In closing this is not a great speaker, probably not worthy of the rating it is getting on this forum, but it is a great value.Really for the money I agree with most of the other posts.I am rating a five for value, I would only give three stars for sound quality, but to offset Bob's low rating I will give a four overall.

Excellent overall sound with all types from classical music to alternative, to home theater Dolby Digital

none

Excellent speakers for the $40 a pair I paid for them. These speakers are some of the best you will find for under $800 a pair. Only problem I had was after hooking up the power light for the amp kept blinking red to green, I found that the fuse hold for that speaker had partially unseated itself during shipping. I bought these from jandr.com and they did an excellent job of packageing them. I would reccoment these speakers to anyone that wants excellent sound for under $1000.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, Klipsch, JBL

First off, at J&R ($400/pair) this speaker is VERY reasonably priced. These speakers deliver awesome high ranges (tweeters are sensational when compared to my original Cerwin Vega setup). The "upper midrange" is also great, the sound from these frequencies is very full and rich. The built-in powered sub does the job well, and gives a very "punchy" bass (as opposed to "shake the pictures off the wall, wake up the neighbors, drowning" bass, as I like to call it). The speakers are very presentable in a nice dark finish.

The "lower midrange" is somewhat lacking. I believe that if I had a better center channel speaker that it would compensate for this somewhat. Also, I REALLY wish that the powered subs had RCAs on them for the sub preouts on my receiver. Oh well, get a separate sub I guess (can't have enough bass!)

Great, great speaker for the value. Probably not a good choice for "audiophiles", but if you're like me and just want impressive DD/DTS audio out of an affordable pair of speakers, these are for you!

Similar Products Used:

Listened to some Paradigm towers, they have similar highs but Paradigms can reproduce midrange slightly better (I think Paradigm is overrated and overpriced to begin with).

To Dan the yutz who listens to Dire Straits at Sears I suggest you get yourself a good Black and Decker music system since that's where your tastes lie. You are a schmuck. Next time don't review nice equipemnt which you obviously cannot appreciate nor afford.

Clarity, Power, Price, Design

These speakers are fantastic! They sound great with my Pioneer Home Theater System. My Pioneer center channel may make up for some short falls expressed by others. But my system has never sounded better. These speaker replaced some YAMAHA NS-A1738 Speakers. The bass on these AR-P428PS is awesome.

Similar Products Used:

YAMAHA NS-A1738 Speakers (only 3 stars)