I have bought and sold 5 different systems in the last few years. Each one increasingly better. My main preference is home theater.I have had "critical listening" 2 channel systems but you typically can't have both. I have used a lot of info from this site. Thanks! I bought a pair of 315's from shop4.com as recommended. $1250 shipped to Hawaii! I had a ton of problems with shop4. They are clueless. It took about 8 phone calls to get things straightened out. My last call was April 15 (30 days from my original order)I was told that my order was cancelled!!! That same afternoon... UPS shows up at my door with two monster boxes. These speakers are BIG and heavy. I ordered black but got cherry.Good thing I kinda like the cherry. I set them up and played music through them for the day while I went to work. I came home for some listening.
These speakers far exceeded my perception of what they might be like! In one word "VISCERAL"!!! I played "The Ultimate Demonstration Disc" (Chesky) I'm used to hearing this disc on a lot of systems. Clarity,presence,and purity were pretty good (and should get better) Visceral impact and sheer slam are what these are about! These subs are amazing. They replace my Velodyne F1200. I thought the Velodyne would be tough to beat. Wrong. These speakers hit you in the gut with bass impact. My house is absolutely shaking. I can't stop listening to my cd collection. I've pulled out big band, "big" orchestra recordings and anything with heavy bass and transients. I've never felt and I mean FELT so much bass. Buy these!! For the money there is no better value. Good thing I live in the country or I'm sure my neighbors would shoot me. The volume levels these produce are obscene!!! Easy 5!!!

Why, of course, they are AR products....

That they are no longer in production (uh..quality control needs a little work too. Are you listening, AR?)

I just read the reviews posted here, and I feel kind of stupid paying full retail ($1999)(10/13/00) for these drivers, when most everybody else paid less.

But then again, these are AR P315HO...

Are they worth it?

Yep.

Let's see. How do you like saying: "Why yes, I CAN produce a bandwith of 20-20KHZ(+/-3db) at, uh, about 130db in my house. Can't everyone?"

I'm driving mine with a Crown CE-1000 (275W RMS) amplifier, a Pioneer DJB-500 Mixing Bord, and a couple of garden variety digital sources (MD, DAT & CD) . Everything written about these drivers picking out the nuances of your ststem are true ( I recommend Line Conditioning here...)

I managed to blow the Sunfire amp out in the right driver in about two hours of hard driving. (since when do AR Drivers fail so easily?) (HINT: BE CAREFUL with that gain control. It's like dynamite. 3? okay. 4? watch out. 5? Run for cover. 6? check the circut breakers. 8? don't worry. You'll be deaf by then)

Oh, and while I'm at it. Who was the moron who designed that gain control in the first place? That little ugly, plastic shaft sticking out of the amp is going to get broken, quick. and besides, it's not calibrated for easy use (there are no markings on the back of the driver to line up with the shaft itself). (I recommend finding a knob(with Pointer!) with an internal diamater the same size as the shaft, and then painting markings on the back of the driver itself. There MUST be some way to precicely set the gain on this driver!!)

I've been using nothing but AR Products for the past 15 years (AR11, AR18, Spirit 132, now the P315HO).

These guys are hard to beat, sound great, and are surely worth the money.

Case closed.

BUT: AR needs to fix the Quality Control. They used to be one of the best. I'm not so sure I can say that anymore.

Despite this one flaw, though, there is still no arguing with the sound. In my humble opinion, it can't be beat for the price (or, even for thousands more..)

And that is why I buy AR again, and again...

Similar Products Used:

Trio KL-10000Z, AR11

Just purchased a pair of p315ho from Brandsmart for $1100 with full warrantee. these speakers are unbelievible...Their bass response is clean and tight...midrange and upper are clear and their imaging is great...The titanium tweeter makes a big difference..the speaker I replaced where the 312ho...what a difference...The new referecnce series is identicle to the 315pho..so if you can get a pair at a good price you will have the same speaker as the AR1...Their new center and surrond channel speakers will have the new titanium tweeter in them...I will replace my center AR CS series with the new center when it is availibe..I think the tweeter makes a big diference. I am using my system with a B&K receiver and they make a great match...The system is hooked up with monster cable.. I did not use the LF input for the speaker since I set my receiver to Front Large...My separate sub woofer works now only with the center and surrouns....The speakers are remarkable for Audiophile and home theater...I had an older pair of AR9LS speakers with a 12"foward woofer and 10"down fireing woofer ,,8" mid driver and separate upper mid and tweeter unit...these speaker where great too and the 315 sounds very similar to them...In short the sound of the 315 are warm and detailed..You will love them

I love these speakers. Great mid-range and highs, sweet warm sound, killer bass, and wonderful imaging. Prior to buying the ARs, I listened to Paragigm Reference 100s, Legacy Classic, Def Tech 2000 and 2002, Martin Logan SL-3, KEF Reference 3 and a host of others. All of them are fine speakers. But when I compared sound quality and the cost of these speakers to the ARs, it was a no brainer. With the money I saved, I will buy more CDs, and pick up a low-powered tube amp to drive the mid-range and tweeter.
One must be conservative in adjusting the gain control for the subwoofer, and proper placement requires experimentation. But when you optimize everything, these speakers excell in all types of music. I don't have a home theater, and am in no hurry to acquire one. I have been rediscovering my music collection. Minor quibbles: the owners manual is skimpy. More info would be helpful about placement, bi-amping, and in general, how to optimize all conditions for best sound. The speaker grills are also hard to remove. I just leave them off.
For $1200 a pair, these speakers are a great bargain. They have been discontinued, as AR will soon unveil their new High Resolution series. The 315HO will be replaced by the new AR1. There are some design and cosmetic differences; however, essentially the speakers are identical. I did not feel the need to pay $2800 (the new AR1 suggested retail price) just for the privilege. Highly recommended. Five speakers

Effortless dynamic range, great resolution, smooth sound, deeeep lowend.

cost, weight

I bought these from www.Accessories4less.com in an auction on ebay. I paid $1000 including shipping. While that is a lot of money for my budget, I don't miss it at all. I don't know how these compare to the other comparativly priced speakers out there, but I do know these sound very good.

The resolution on these is incredible. I can listen to any CD I own and hear things that I never knew were there.

The dynamic range is another strong point. I haven't found the ceiling on it yet. My amp has 110 watts RMS per channel and it will max out before the speakers show any sign of straining. While I wasn't much of a Classical music fan before,(except live music)I can now close my eyes and see the individual instruments in the orchestra.

The bass is clean, tight, and very low. With the 500 watt amp and 15" woofer, it will play low enough that, even though there is no apparent sound coming out, there will be object buzzing and rattling throughout the house. The music has that extra octave of lowend that was missing before.

To all the people who gave bad reviews. Yes, I'm certain there are many speakers with better sound. For the total package that these provide, I don't think you could find a more versatile package. I will keep them for a long time.

Similar Products Used:

Polk 2000P, Infinity Overture 3, Infinity RS10