These kick ass. Mine are not even broken in yet, and they sound awesome. For 129$, these suckers are hard to beat.

Buying from UBID. They arrived in boxes that looked like they had stopped over in Kabul for about a week or so. Big hole in the side of one box, which allowed one of my carpet spikes to escape during shipping.

Well, my initial review below was just to warn everyone about UBID. Although I did get a good deal on the speakers, shipping is high through UBID. I finally got them in just over a month from my original order date. A tip when buying from UBID: call or email to complain that it's taking too long...tell them you're going to post on here about how bad they are! I did that, and they took 50$ off my shipping costs!
I couldn't believe how big they actually were. The FedEx girl asked me for help getting them out of her truck, then asked if I was in a band! All-in-all, a great speaker that is clear at almost any volume. I've yet to turn them up TOO far.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, Cerwin Vega, Kenwood

Deep bass.

None so far

What I can say is that this is a very good speaker. It works well in music and my home theater set up. The most distinctive is the amount of bass produced by the speaker. In some movies, there is no need to use a subwoofer as the S40 can deliver the low frequency as low as 26 Hz.

I used the speaker in my HT set up together with SC2 center. Both are connected to Yamaha RXV595a receiver. Other components include Yamaha YST-SW320 sub and Robertson Audio Silver 12.5 surround speakers.

great sound with very clear mids& highs looks terrific

cant feel the low down bass i think 24 hz specified untrue

i play them through a technics satx50 reciever and have been quite amazed at the quality of sound as compared to the kefs i did audition a few others from mordunt short & mission & a pair of b&w but for the price decided to settle for the S50
my only problem is that the the test disc which reproduces sound from 20 hz dont give the room shaking feel with these speakers that you get from a sub inspite of the sub only responding from around 28hz i hae yet to figure out that part otherwise it is a great pair

Similar Products Used:

kef q50,bose 301

Nice, clear sound. Bi-amp/wire ready. Look nice. Get loud.

Not as much bass as I was expecting.

Well, I was expecting more bass. BUT - I have a sub for my other system, so I've been spoiled, so I'm not too disappointed. I still like the speakers.

Similar Products Used:

none

Looks, certain types of music. (Slow beat, slow new age, music with bells)

Seems slow, fast beat with other instruments and voice turns into a blured mesh, very disappointing.

Acoustic Research S50
Paid $129/speaker at Ubid + shipping about $360 total.

Very nice sound if you like SLOW new age music. For example B-Tribe sounds Amazing!

Extremely dissappointing if you like Pet Shop Boys. One of my favorites (Poninaro) which was soo clear on Aiwa speakers, turned into mesh.

Speakers seem slow to respond to fast beat and fast music in general.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, Aiwa

Um, Haven't gotten them yet....Thanks to the slack-asses at UBID.

UBID

Why didn't someone warn me of the terrible shipping costs and lengthy delay that follows UBID. They truly suck. I ordered on 10-25-01, and I have yet to see my speakers. Screw UBID, I wouldn't buy a pencil from those morons.

Build, Looks, Great Sound.

None

This review is for the S50's since there isn't a place on Audio Review for them yet.

Let me just say, I've listened to alot of speakers. I go to all of the electronics stores to sample what I think I may be interested in before making a purchase. I think It's a smart way to buy. Especially if what you're buying is kind of expensive. This has always held true for speakers except for my recent purchase of the Acoustic Research S50's. I've been reading the reviews here and have been really impressed with their looks, so I went ahead and bought a pair before actually listening to them. I did however base some of my purchase decision on my experience with AR's 318PS speakers. The 318's were the fronts in my HT setup until now.

Straight out of the box I immediatly notice how truly impressive these speakers were in both looks and build quality. Their tall, slinder design helped them to fit perfectly next to my ET center. The additional floor spikes were a plus as well. They are kind of heavy, but that just reflects the capability of the driver magnets and cabinet construction. I must say, I had seriously looked at some of the side firing woofer designs before making my final decision, but unless you have about 10" to spair in front of the side firing woofer, you may be wasting your money. I'm sure that the side firing design is very impressive, but for me, it wasn't practical. That's another reason I chose the S50's. All of the drivers are on the front of the speaker making it easier to place if you don't have a lot of room.
Once I had everything in place and connected, Monster Z1 cables by the way, I was ready to crank up my Janet Jackson "Test" CD. The sound was incredible! I didn't have the bass level set that high on my Sony ES receiver because of the limitations of the previous speakers, but when I turned it up, the bass was very impressive. The highs were very clear and sharp. The mid range area needed to be adjusted as well, but again sounded fantastic. I think that this may be something that gets over looked by some folks when they buy new speakers. They expect the sound to be 100% better than their previous speakers to justify their purchase. They really should tweak the sound levels a bit before making any final decisions on the quality of the speaker. The owners manual of some speakers indicate that all levels should be "in the middle" when listening to thier product because it will produce the best possible sound that way. I disagree. You determine what sounds best to you.

I paired these beauties up with the Stature SC2 center and I couldn't be happier. I only wish that Acoustic Research made a bi-polar/di-polar surround that would match these tonally. I have been made to suffer through it with a new pair of Polk Audio F/X 300i's as my surrounds. :) I haven't gotten them yet, but I'll leave a review on them under thier name once I've tested their sound compatability with the AR's. For now, I've got a pair of Edge Seqels as my rears.

Ok, I know that I'm long winded so, in closing, there may be a lot of better sounding speakers out there, but for this price range, I seriously doubt it. Go get a pair of these AR S50's. You won't be dissappointed.

By the way, my wife likes'em too. BIG PLUS! :)

Similar Products Used:

AR 318PS

Great look, bass, shear power

none so far

This review is for AR S50!!!
These speakers are just too great!!!
My Marantz SR5000 receiver is blowing these babies off the roof at max bass level
- buy these and you would never need to hunt for sub woofer
- they go way deep
- high is also pretty damn clear
Watched Matrix and 5th element and I couldn't be more impressed. It works great for CD music too

Similar Products Used:

towers of: definitive tech, klipsche, Boston Acoustic

excellent highs perfect mids tight bass

none at this price

what a terrific speaker for the price it doesn,t compare with my old pair of adsl1590 bus cost 1/4 of the price
i had to downsize since i live in a much smaller place now
but i can not recommend the s50 enough small foot print of
8 inches lets you have a full size speaker in a aprtment
had speakers about a month now and they are breaking in
about as perfect as i can say due to the size i am limited to i purchased a onkyo txds-777 receiver {1st receiver owned
always had seperates} what a match music sounds great you hear every detail at low volume dvds explode into your ears
i purchased ar s20 as surronds and a ar 205vc center channel
and a ars108ps sub for a little system that did not kill my tight budget i am thrilled please do your self a favor if you have a limited budget try these speakers you will not be disappointed
onkyo txds-777
ar s50 statures
ar s20 surrunds
ar v205vc center
ar s108ps sub
kimber cable speaker wire
ar interconnect cables
p.s. try the ar cables great price i threw my monster interconnects into the garbage

Similar Products Used:

ar18,ar93,ar30 adsl1590

The Acoustic Research Status S 40 is one truely great speaker,i'v recently aquired a pair from a local dealer after listening to serveral other speakers in the price range. Mission , B&W 603 S2, Dali 2.4 series and 808/606 speakers and allot more. This speaker clearly won the test in dynamics in sound and is really smooth and comfortable to listen to, both at low and high levels. They are 2 ports at the rear of the speakers that can be coverd up with baffels to prevent port sound, if coverd up you can notice a change of sound to more detail but some bass dissapeares.
It allso has the standard in this price range bi-wiring connectors to separate the bass to a second pair of wires.
If you find a dealer that has these speakers, be sure to listen to them.