It's raw power!

Front slider control is unusually attractive to 2 year olds.
Causes pictures and objects to fall throughout the house :-( This is a good type of bad!

Incredible bass.....all you want. HT & music sound great. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I feed the Sub it's signal from a JVC AV reciever, so I don't use the ARS500's crossover.

Loads of power, deep bottom end.

None at all

I already had a subwoofer cabnet with 2x12" 350 watts rms subs that really pound through a peavey 400 watts rms x 2 amplifier, peavey V4X electronic crossover and the box is tuned to 22 hz.
As most people who have a subwoofer know, there are spots in the room where the bass is non-existent and I knew that I needed another sub to fill in the dead spots. After reading the reviews in the AR500 section, I was already sold. This sub kepps up with the 800 watts I'm pumping through 2 12" subs, and even pounds lower than they do. This is a clean, quick responding powered subwoofer. Now no matter where I go in the room, I can hear and feel the bass. This sub works great on it's own, but is excellent with another subwoofer system. Buy one, see and feel it for yourself.

DEEP and Tight Bass

Rather large cabinet. Volume control in front is handy, but too easily moved.

Some of the deepest bass I've ever witnessed. I've started watching my DVD collection all over again because this sub brings out the best in each action scene. I'd love to be able to make a "greatest scenes" dvd so I can watch them over and over again! The ARS500 is much faster then I had expected. I had a Velodyne which may have in fact been a little louder, but did not go as deep. I enjoy the sound of the ARS500 much more. Highly recommended!

Very clean sound & I only need to use it at about 25% to 40%...

It is a little large, but no complaints after hearing it.

Everyone was saying this was back ordered, even Proactive Electronics. But the e-mailed me the day after I ordered it to say they just got it in and three days later it was hooked up to my system.

Easy to hook up. Very solid. Simple to adjust to your listening preference. Never knew what I was missing....

500watt RMS Sunfire amp, 15 inch down firing, 18hz extension, Loud, full, and has two large ports. Probably the cheapest 15 inch sub with 500 watt sunfire amp. High end at lower price.

Crossover knob, I don't like the pointed feet, the volume slider is convenient, yet flimsy feeling, and I don't like that it slides and moves to quick. None of this is a big deal. The sound and good feeling of having the sub makes up for it.

It feels good to own a higher end sub for 500 dollars. This thing is loud, tight, well defined, and very full sounding. Powered by 500 watts of sunfire technology. Moves air that you can actually feel from a good distance and rumbles very low. Home theater is very nice and the sub is 15" yet a strong musical performer. I am willing to bet that anyone will be satisfied.

I am also posting a review to make up for the 1 star that someone posted earlier.

You obviously had a broken sub. You need to review the sub by actually listening to one. You are basically saying that because it doesn't work, it doesn't sound good. Now does that make sense? Having a broken sub is not a weakness because then we all must have that weakness. Give me a break.

DEEP, thunderous bass.

None so far. It's big, but who cares when it sounds this good?!

I searched and searched for a subwoofer that went deep but wouldn't break the bank! That's a tall order, as anyone who has shopped for a good subwoofer knows. Finally, I found the Acoustic Research for $500 on the internet. Normally I wouldn't make this sort of a purchase without an audition, but for the price I decided to take a chance...

I'm glad I did! This subwoofer plays cleanly and loud, down to 18Hz. There have been no problems with humming or distortion, just wonderful, rock-solid bass. I was amazed at what I had been missing in a lot of my recordings. I only have the volume set at about 1/3, which is awesome in my 14ft by 22ft living room. I like knowing that if I move into a larger home all I have to do is turn the subwoofer volume up a bit more, rather than replace it with a bigger or more powerful unit.

This subwoofer has a Bob Carver Sunfire 500Watt amp built in, and features stereo line level inputs, LFE input, speaker-level inputs and outputs, gain control, phase switch, and crossover adjustment. Add to that the 18Hz extension, and you have an unbeatable subwoofer for the price.

Performance is extraordinary on both music and films--try the U-571 DVD, and you will be blown away during the depth charge sequences!

This subwoofer would be a bargain at $1500, let alone the $500 I paid online. Highest recommendation!

This subwoofer is a good deal. That's why I bought it. For about 600 dollars shipped, there aren't any subwoofers I can think of that can beat it in terms of volume and depth of bass for the dollar. In my small room about 15x15, I have to keep the volume down to about 1/4 for music and 1/3 for movies. The good thing is that when you want to, you can turn the volume up with no problems (except for some port noise at *very* high volumes). I think this sub would do well in any room I'm going to be living in the near future. I'm running a Dolby digital setup with it, and its excellent for action movies. The bass isn't as tight as I would like, but it's a ported 15"...what can you expect? I listened to an NHT subone and I'd have to say that the NHT isn't dramatically tighter than the ARS500. I'm sure the AR would kill the NHT in sheer volume though (didn't get to turn the subone up all the way at the store). I would recommend playing around with the location of the sub, it's pretty important in making the sub blend in better with the main speakers. I have NHT 1.5's as mains.
Other subs I considered were the aforementioned NHT subone, Hsu Research TN1225, and Velodyne CT120. I didn't even get to audition the AR before I bought it, but thank goodness it didn't turn out badly. I'm curious as to why I've been having problems finding info on the sub too...apparently nobody has any on it.

As long as I keep the volume levels reasonable, the sub matches well with the NHTs. I would recommend this sub strongly for those who are using this for home theater, and a little bit less so for pure music. But for the money, this sub is not bad at all.

Andrew

Well, I'm sure that everyone have been waiting for this review. I few number of enthusiast has also emailed me personally. Finally after a month and some change I can give you want I have experience.
Let me just start off that this unit is almost like the S300. Of course the wattage, driver size, and the actual size is different. A quick run down. It's a 500watt Sunfire powered 15" Long throw sub. The amp is integrated to the subwoofer box. You have the most basic setup. Crossover, Phase switch(0/180), LFE in/out, Left/Right in, and high level speaker in/out. Again, the unit offer a volume control in the front, and an A/V switch.

I'm "sure" this is a great sub if the condition is right. Only problem for me is that I wasn't getting satifactory LFE from the sub. It just didn't pump out enough bass! Most of you will say, "wow...500watts with a 15" driver, not enough bass...what is wrong with this guy." Apparently, talking to alot of audiophiles and working with numerous factor. It has come to a conclusion that the sub is TOO BIG for the room that I'm using it in.

Most of the Audiophile I spoke to suggested that there might be a standing wave, which is cancelling wave lenght itself. Basically what happening was that it has a "lagging" bass effect in this 15x15 room.

I would highly suggest to use this sub in a very large room. Apparently I was able to lug this 78lb monster to a place that has a 25x25 room, and it was able to produce some amazing effect, with half the volume required in that 15x15.

Basically at this point, I'm sending this unit back to AR. Going to get the new NHT SubOne which is a 250watt Sunfire type technology amp with a 10" driver. Hopefully this will solve my "lack" of bass in this 15x15 room.

I'll post a review on the NHT SubOne once I get enough 'playing' time.

I have just purchased the ARS500 from Brandsmart, a local Florida chain for $517 tax included. I believe they now have a website..the sub replaces AR's older 12" MODEL..I am using it with a pair of ARP315HO series speakers.. My room if very large and this sub can easily handle anything I have fed it..I am very impressed with it in Home Theater and equally so in music..The bass is poweful but not intrusive. It seems to function effortlessly. the contruction of this sub is quit a bit better than the older 12" I had before. I am using the LFE input and letting my B&K reciever do the crossover work...I think this is the best idea rather than us the crossover in the sub. This sub beats everything near and double its price..

Great low end extension, high output, attractive styling

I just replaced my old AR9LSi speakers with a HT setup containing 5 Infinity Composition Overture 1 speakers and an ARS500 sub. I initially waited to see if the Infinity's alone would have enough low end to satisfy my DVD and music volume needs. As great as those speakers are (and they are fantastic given their size) I found the low end on both music and DVDs to be a little anemic given that I'm use to the AR9LSi. If I had it to do over again I would probably have opted for the AR 1s for the left and right. But given my satisfaction with the 5 Overture 1s I started looking at subwoofers.

I auditioned the ARS500, the Infinity HPS500 and the Velodyne CT120. To be honest I was pretty happy with the sound from all of these subs. Surprisingly, I thought the AR meshed with the sound of the Overtures better than the HPS500 did. As the AR was priced around $200 less that was an easy decision. The Velodyne sounded great but had noticeably less low end extension on music.

I am very happy with my choice of the AR. Bass extension is remarkable without being boomy and distortion was as low as any sub I've heard in this price range ($480 online). I highly recommend it. As with any sub, be prepared to spend a good deal of time determining the best placement in your room.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity HPS500, Velodyne CT120