great value, amazing sound, quality construction

none

I bought this speaker from netmarket.com for under 100.00 shipped. I am currently using AR ps318 mains with it. The sound delivered by this speaker is fantastic. It delivers a warm sound, while keeping amazing clarity. For a center speaker, the sound is unexpectedly full. Highly recomended.

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bose center, jvc center

Very crisp and detailed sound, two 5 1/2s for the price.

Better if it handled a little more power, but not too much of problem

The sound if very clear with AC3. Every detail is heard. There are two 5 1/2s for good bass on a center channel. The tweeter sounds very crisp on dialogue. Very good for price. This center sound very good at higher sound levels too.

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none

Pretty good detail.

none so far

I picked this center channel speaker up from Netmarket. Great price, I have it set up in my computer room. This center channel sound terrific considering what I paid for it. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking to start or even upgrade their theater system. I give it 4 whole stars, only because I know there are better center speakers.

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various, but more expensive.

This is update to my review. Clarity, clear and detailed sound. Sounds great for HT, CD music, watching anime and playing PC games. Awesome price.

It is bit weak with my floor standing speakers.

For last seven months I had an awesome experience with this speaker for my DVD player, CD player and my PC. I still amazed by the price that I paid for this unit, but I am little disappointed since there wasn't any review for this unit for last seven months. That's one of the reason I am writing a update review for this speaker but I am writing this review because I finally completed my entertainment system.

Now, I use this speaker for watching DVD. For my HT system it produce clear voice and some bass since this speaker have two 5 1/2 inch woofer. This speaker sit top of my TV and fills my living, but like I said before this center maximum power ratting is only 120 watts. This speaker doesn't blend with my two pairs of floorstanding speakers. I watched Matrix, Saving private ryan, Gladiator, Braveheart, Patriot, and Terminator 2 Ultimate package. When I use this speaker for my CD player, it does really kicking arse job. It produce clear vocals, detailed sounds. I always test speaker's clarity by listening to Starwars soundtrack and this speaker do find job at it by producing very nice clear sound. I also listen to Creed, Project 86 and Mario 64 soundtrack. Now for my PC, I use this speaker to watch anime and play PC games. When I watch anime such as, DBZ, I could really tell how clear this speaker reproduce. I also watched anime Dual, Hand maid may, Macross Plus, DBZ movie 2 DVD, Lodoss war DVD, Jubie Chan and Eva. It all sounds good. Now, when I play PC games I play many first person shooters, roleplaying games and Streatgy games. It sounds great with Quake 1,2,3 and unreal Tournament, Starcraft-Broodwar, Darkstone and Diablo 1, 2. I really recommend this speaker for all low-end system oweners, those who are building low-end systems or those who owns low-end floorstanding speakers. It's great using it as an entertainment system center channel. My complain can be easily overcome by the price I paid for. If you see this center channel for less than 60 dollars I say "GO AND BUY IT" but if anyone want to spend more than 100 dollars for a center channel. I would recommend for to get Acoustic Research AR4C or JBL S-center. I am still deciding between Acoustic Research AR4C and JBL S-center. Both of them are around 150 dollars and they both are great center. Well, it's well made Center channel. Don't get it if your system is high end. Thanks! Have a nice day.

My system:
SONY TRINTON 32 INCH TV
JBL VCR
YAMAHA HTR-5150
ONKYO DX730 CD PLAYER
PENTIUM CELERON 400 MHZ WITH CREATIVE LAB ENCORE 12X DVD PLAYER HOOK UP TO MY TV USING AR S-VIDEO CABLE
ACOUSTIC RESEARCH C225PS(CENTER)
PAIR OF ACOUSTIC RESEARCH AR-318(FRONT)
PAIR OF SONY SS MF-515(FRONT)
OLD ARGON SPEAKERS(REAR)
AR DIGITAL CABLE FOR COAXIAL CONNECTION
AR INTERCONNECT CABLE FOR CD PLAYER TO RECEIVER
CHEAP 18 GAUGE SPEAKER WIRES ALL AROUND.

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I listened to many JBL, Sony, Yamaha centers at bestbuy and circuit city.

Blends nice with other brand speakers with similar components

When in HT mode, you have to keep the volume up above normal

To start this review I am not really ragging on this speaker. My only complaint is when it is in HT mode I have to boost the volume to hear dialouge.But when I have the 5 channel stereo kicked in,it sounds very good.I have a Marantz SR7000 reciever rated at 100 watts in 5 channels. I have experemented in small or large settings and found no difference inHT mode. I only paid $49.00 for it so you can,t have everything. I am curious if anybody else has this same problem and could let me know if they expierience this phenomenom. I do have the center set at max all the way around for this speaker. So I don't know if it is a shortcoming of the speaker or God forbid my reciever.

Similar Products Used:

B+W,Polk

This speaker has been a great addition to my growing "budget" system, which is currently a Toshiba 3109, Yamaha RV-1105, and Boston Acoustics main speakers. I bought it from netmarket.com for $78 delivered. It actually arrived three days after I ordered it, even though the estimated delivery time was 7-10 days.
It's kind of hard to judge the sound fidelity from a single speaker. Music sounds pretty good through it, but obviously it's only really used when watching movies. It gives voices that distinct "movie theater" sound (kind of husky), although I don't perceive it as adding too much "color". It sounds great with effects (I remember one scene in Contact where Foster walks up a flight of stairs at Hadden Industries--footsteps had a LOT of high-end detail). There's no more straining to hear voices or turning up the stereo during dialog-only portions. It does exactly what I hoped it would do.
Build quality seems pretty good. Solid cabinet, acoustic suspension design, nothing rattles if I crank up the volume. Inside is stuffed with fiberglass (or some equivalent), and the crossover mechanism is glued down well.
Especially for the money, I think this is a good speaker.

Smooth sound for a center channel. No harsh top end. Nice balanced frequency range. Compact.

Mid range sounds a bit congested. Not serious, if you have a treble control, turn it up a touch.

Get one while they last. An excellent value! Classic AR mid-range and high-range sound...smooth.

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Home built.

Designed for use above or below a TV. Good binding posts. Reasonably compact for the sound quality.

Somewhat boxy sounding.

I bought this because of general disappointment with my BIC speaker (it was quite thin sounding), and because it was an AR so it should best match my left/right front speakers.

It is a gigantic improvement over my previous center channel speaker and it sounds quite natural. The tweeter appears to be identical with those on my other ARs from the HO line.

I have the speaker under my TV and set to aim up diagonally rather than straight out. In this position I find the sound to be somewhat muffled and distant, as if the tweeter doesn't have enough dispersion to compensate for the angle. This coloration may or may not be a problem with a horizontal/top of TV placement, but that location isn't an option for me right now.

It was a fine deal, but nothing spectacular.

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BIC Venturi 32 cheapie

Small, nice looking, great sound from this center speaker.

Absolutely none.

I guess I was lucky at this deal, after listening to several center speakers I started looking for the best deal around town (Ft. Lauderdale/Miami). Browsing at Sears (Yeah, at Sears!) I found this "lil'speaker" for 61.72 (64.97 and an extra 5% off!) brand new sealed in a box .
Now I am using it with a Lexicon CP-1 driven by a vintage Marantz Amp. We are very happy with its performance and even happier every time I think how little I paid for it. If anyone is interested run to Sears now (no, I don't work for Sears) because I think they are in close out (what they have in stock is what is left).

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I listened to Cerwin Vega, Bose (buagh)and JBL.

Value = low price + admirably good sound

Spend more and you can get better sound

I just bought this center speaker at J&R. After a reader from this site contacted me about a post on the AR 428PS speakers I thought I'd post my response to him here on this page. I bought this center speaker as a match for the tower 428PS speakers (really an excellent deal to be had at J&R, see the listings here about it). As did many others I thought the midrange on those speakers was a bit weak and I wanted to add a center speaker anyway as I'm upgrading to playback full Dolby Digital for my DVD's.

The C225PS is really a fine match to the 428's. I've only been using it for a week or so but I'm quite impressed. Very balanced and the midrange now really sings. The two low range drivers really help with panning effects in movies. I'm very happy with the value on this purchase.

You should be able to get it for a very low price at J&R. My response to the inquiry is below.

Good hunting and listening!

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Yeah I searched around a whole bunch of Web sites. www.1cache.com had the lowest published price that I could find ($78). I printed their quote, as well as JandR.com's price ($99) and a few others (supremevideo.com ($89), others). I walked in and showed the salesman the 1cache.com price and he went to talk to his manager. The manager looked in at me, walked out, and the salesman came back with the ticket for the product. Someone had written
on the ticket that the price was a match to "Web site 1cache.com" with their 800 number and OK'd the $78 price. I was done.

FYI JandR's mail order phone line was willing to go to $85 but I decided to go in and negotiate.

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none used, many compared.