Craig from Oregon has an accurate review below. I got mine for a home theater setup and like it a lot. It plays low and loud enough to make my bedroom sound like a theater. A Sony tv and dvd player complete the illiusion. The sub has a few shortcomings with the ease of use, the on off switch is hard to get at. It matches well with my speakers at half volume and 80hz bandpass. Turn it down or off when the news comes on as it reproduces subsonic trash well also. With shipping and cables it cost me $300. As a sub I would only rate it two or three stars as the materials it is made of are inexpensive. The real place this sub shines in is in price/performance considerations. In view of the ability to play down to 20hz with authority and it's low price a 4 star rating is deserved.

First let me say that I am a guy who likes his music as well as his movies at home. I purchased my AR from onecall it was a x-mas return but with a full warranty for $194.00 that was too good to pass up on for me anyway. I teamed this up with the energy take five system and a harmon kardon avr75,sony dvd,harmon kardon cd changer, dennon tape deck and a dennon turntable, all hooked to a sony 53" xbr tv. I can not make the sub sound bad no matter what I do, I could not be more pleased with it, I am sure that there are much better subs out there, but for me and my money this was the most pleased I have been with any of my gear. It plays very low and very loud if you want it to but it can really (suprisingly) play accurately in the musical end of things. I have one last thing to say to anyone who is considering this sub for home theater use, go out and rent Blade on DVD and play it in Ac-3 with the AR and it will totally take away any doubts you may have had.

I am reposting the cause of the port noise in this sub. After carefully adjusting my B&K avr-202, fabricating several new ports, and pulling my hair out, I discovered the real reason this sub was noisy. Air was rushing in and out of the speaker-level clips. The closed-cell pads that are suppossed to seal the spring clips had come loose (on the inside of the sub). I duct taped the spring clips (on the outside)and noise was gone! This is not a bad sub. It is not a great sub. It is a "three-star" sub.

I have had this sub for about a year. The first one fried the amp after about nine months. It began humming and sounded distorted right before the amp starting blowing its internal fuse. Crutchfield sent me a new one no questions asked. The new sub works fine. The down side is that it is made of cheap"wood products." The threaded feet, which hold the false bottom on, cracked and fell off. The port is a cardboard tube, non-flared. If you play DVDs with heavy base (DasBoot) you will hear the air rushing through the tube. This annoying noise is not acceptable to me. My system is set to 75 db on all regular speakers and 70 dB on the sub. I tried to install a port flare but there is not enough room. If I can't quiet the sub I will most likely trade up. It is a pretty good sub unless you like deep music like jazz, organ, hip hop, and movies with lots of real subwoofer material.

I just purchased this sub (AR S12HO) from www.shop4.com for $270 including shipping. So far I am very happy with it. For the money it's amazingly clear, and plays very low. Another person below had problems with the popping sound, I had that too but that only happens when you try to turn it off when the green light it on. I have no regrets of buying this sub. In the price range no one comes close.

Very good loud, clean bass.

Distorts at higher volumes, but only on certain songs or parts of songs; could be a little cleaner

I got the AR S112 sub this past spring and use it with a pair of Advent 1123's and a Sony 915 receiver. This sub hits hard and can handle a lot of volume on most songs. I turn the crossover down to 80Hz and the volume at about half and turn the bass boost on my receiver. With the receiver on volume 3, I get a ton of complaints from the kids living below me at college. I like alternative music and love playing Korn's first cd. If you know this cd, you know how the first 2 songs really hit low and clean. This sub handles it fairly well. I don't if AR changed the specs on this sub as it is the S112, not the S12. I haven't noticed any qualilty problems yet and it has been moved all over my house and apartment at college. It has a 120 watt amp instead of the 140 of the S12 and the crossover is from 80-220, I think instead of 50-??? on the S12. Overall, this is an excellent beginner sub.

I recently bought the S12HO powered subwoofer from netmarket.com for $219.Being my first subwoofer, I wasn't quite sure, nor am I still, of the intended
dynamics of such a unit.

It difinetly gives a booming base when called for. I am running it with
a Denon AVR-95 (similar to the AVR-2700). I've set the crossover around 75hz
(default in the denon is 80 hz). Setting the gain is a trickier thing.
My hope has been that WHEN a low freq signal is sent THEN the subwoofer will
comply and 'boom'. It seems that setting the gain on the unit simply AMPLIFIES
a signal sent to it. I want a low freq boom when one is called for not for the sake of amplification .

Regardless, The unit appears to be pretty good. With that said, I would say that the bass is not all that tight, though responsive. But It isn't boomy either.
For the value it's very close to 4 stars but I'll give it 3.

This is a great sub if you don't want to spend tons of money on a sub. It goes real deep 20hz and can shake your room. I bought it for $315 at Sound City online. It can be a bit boomy and sometimes shakes my walls. I had to put it behind me or otherwise it over powers my other speakers on action scenes. I would recomend this sub for a person on a budget or even if your not.

Loud

Cheap constrution.

Broke after a few days. Had it fixed, broke again. Had it fixed again. Hums. Cheap Speaker Level pin connectors. I would not recommend this Sub to anyone. I am looking to replace it as soon as I can. Sometimes you get what you pay for.