To my fellow Acoustic Research fans..... (1 Viewer)

[terence]

or who ever else cares. I'm a proud owner of the most hard to find AR speakers listed below.

Hi-Res Line

Mains-AR5
Center-AR2C
Rears-AR17
Surround Backs-AR17

I must say they sound just as great as when i heard them two years ago. Separation,seamless sound, crisp smooth high's and excellent mids! The duel 10" 175w Bob Carver Sunfire amps in the towers hit hard and they blend well with my SVS 20-39PC+!! The center ch is just incredible! Dialog comes thru crisp and clean down to the lowest whisper, and along with the 6"1/2 in down firing sub bass is a welcome addition. So as you can tell i'm happy thx for your time.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

You guys with those AR2C's are crazy! A sub in a Center
who da thunk it

 

[terence]

Well i know DT has a 10" powerd one, now that's NUTS! I like it too.

 

[ShaunLB]

Congrats on the setup man!

btw, Polk's CS1000i has 2 powered 8" subs flanking it...thats also nuts. Wish I had one...though my TV would look much smaller then. :b

 

[terence]

Congrats on the setup man!

Thanks!

 

[RISUG]

WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

TERENCE I FEEL LIKE I'M BEING UNITED WITH A LONG LOST BROTHER! I CAN'T EXPRESS HOW HAPPY I'AM FOR YOU!!!! CONGRATULATIONS MY AR HI-RES KIN!!!!

AND A :star: FOR GOOD MEASURE. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Terence,

Hey man I forgot to say CONGRATS!

So, care to do a review of the Hi Res vs. Stature series
for all us ARites to read?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Did I ever tell any of you about when I had to make a choice between the Acoustic Research AR-3a and the Rectilinear III back "in the day"? Longtime audiophiles might relate. As it is, the current Acoustic Research is happily present in my home. "Long live AR!"

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Jack that was a tough decision I am sure.. the 3A's are
still in use in many an audiophiles home

 

[terence]

So, care to do a review of the Hi Res vs. Stature series

Ok...... what the hell, i will take a stab at it and i will post it here in this thread. Mind you i don't do this for a living and i'm no Edward J M.

 

[Curtis]

Terence,
Congrats my man.
I do want to know how the Stature series sounds up against what you have now.
So please do your follow up post.
By the way what did you do with your Stature's ?

 

[terence]

By the way what did you do with your Stature's ?

My brother in-law always loved the Statures, he would rave on and on about their looks, how great they sound so......It felt only right that these two belong together. Who am i too stand in the way of true love, I knew that it was time for me to end our 2yr marriage. It just was not working out, I gave her it's not you it's me speech and got a divorce so those two love birds could be together.

Basically i sold them to him and he was more than happy to buy them, everyone was happy except his wife. Not my problem, i'm sure his next goal is to get his new girl friend and wife to get along better!

 

[ChadLB]

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=>

 

[terence]

Well this is my first attempt AR fans at reviewing a product on the serious side hope you like it.

Introduction

“Acoustic Research is a company with great name recognition and a long, successful tradition. Most audio and home-theater enthusiasts can at least tell you the name of an early model or two, even if they never owned a set themselves.” – Jeff Fritz

I have found this to be very true, every since I was a kid I liked AR’s products and their sound. I said I would be a fan for life. Well with recent events of Recoton filing bankruptcy and Audiovox buying the company for 50 million and taking on the 5 million in debt. The future of this great company remains to be seen, we can only hope that the new owners will step their game up and bring AR back to life.

Let us start out with the features of these two speaker lines.

Hi-Res

Features
•Magalloy midrange drivers
•High-excursion woofers
•Titanium-dome tweeters
•Energy Control foam baffle
•Bob Carver/Sunfire 175W 10" powered subwoofer (AR5)
•Low frequency trim control centered at 30Hz (AR5)
•LFE input (AR5)
•Magnetically shielded
•Black ash or cherry wood-grain finish
•Heavy-duty dual binding posts

Stature

Features
•Coated cellulose woofer midrange drivers
•High-excursion woofers
•Silk-dome tweeters
•Magnetically shielded
•Black ash laminate
•Heavy-duty dual binding posts


As you can see the lines are very different, so they will each have their own sonic signature. The build quality of both lines is built very well and both lines are easy on the eyes as well.

Front Assault: AR5 & S50

The AR5’s are not that tall but not too short, I find them to be in the just right crowd. They stand about 37” tall. The S50’s on the other hand are tall & slim 46” to be exact some might find a bit too tall for their taste. Now on with the 2ch sound. The AR5’s are very airy and open, the metal tweeters make highs sound smooth and not harsh, even when you drive them hard - which I do at times. They are never in your face like some metal tweeters tend to sound too me. Mids’s are dead on and accurate! Matter of fact the best mids I have heard so far in this hobby, I run the subs in full range mode. The 10” side firing driver powered by 175W Bob Carver Sunfire internal amps pumped out room filling bass in my 4000 cubic room with out needing help from their big friend (SVS 20-39PC+) which I found was great! I can give the big guy a break sometimes when playing 2ch music. I’m sure the house and my wife will thank me for doing so, now on to the S50’s. The S50’s are warm speakers; they are very natural and laid back depending on the material which I did not care for at times. The mid’s were strong in your face big time because they have a dedicated 6”1/2 mid driver at the very top, thank god my AVR has a built in E.Q. that helped me tame them. Bags of bass from this speaker, I was very surprised at how much bass the duel 6”1/2 bass drivers put out all the way down to 22hz! When it comes to movies both of these lines shine, the AR5’s produced an open and wide soundstage when playing back movie soundtracks; it’s like a breath of fresh air! This is what Home Theater is about I thought to myself once I had them up and running in my HT. U571 (DTS) I believe too be one of the best mixed dvd’s to ever come out, this movie is a excellent demo for a speaker system. Why? Like you really don’t know, it is a full assault on all channels. The AR5’s handle this underwater flick with not even a hint of stress, bass was tight, fast and dead on doing the depth charged action. The 10” drivers dug deep into the 20hz frequencies range easy! The S50’s are no slackers either when it comes to movie soundtracks, but I always felt they could be better, something was missing, and it was loud mid bass, but I lived with it because it was not a huge issue. During U571 the S50’s kept up the pace, but the brassier action could sometimes over power them and put stress on the bass drivers. So I would have to dial volume back a little. All in all the S50’s are great speakers for entry level HT enthusiast; the AR5’s is where my heart is. What else can I say their sound is haunting.

Front & Center: AR2C & SC2

We all know how important a great center channel should be, I’m talking about timber matched, crisp, clear and anchored to the screen. The AR2C fits the bill and then some, it uses the same array of drivers with a slot loaded 6”1/2 down firing driver for that x-tra punch! I have heard a lot of center speakers before and this one is top notch. The AR2C is a large full range speaker and it’s heavy weighing in at 36lbs! On the back it has toggle switches to adjust the mid-range and high-end frequencies to help match up with none Hi-Res speakers. The AR2C has high power handling too, rated at 200W! The SC2 to me was pretty much the typical center; it did its job to a point. My issue was it could not keep up with S50’s due in part of the strong mid's the S50 produced, I felt it matched well with the S40’s. How do I know this? Well I know someone with that speaker system and the SC2 keeps the pace well with S40’s. The SC2 on action movies tended sound shouty when a lot was going on in a scene.

Surrounded: AR17 & S20

The AR17’s really impressed me for the sound and bass they produce for such a small bookshelf speaker, for a direct radiating speaker it diffuses the back soundfeild with out any localization problems. I get a 360 degree sound from the AR17’s, when a movie has active surround material they really bring the side and backs to life. The AR17’s match well with their other three siblings. S20’s can be used as mains, I could have pick up pair of S10’s for surrounds but I love bass and the S20’s gave me that punch I was looking for. The S20’s matched well with the S50’s and S2C center, it is a great bookshelf speaker that will not disappoint.


Conclusion

The Acoustic Research Hi-Res home-theater speaker system is a powerful full range system that can play very loud with ease due to their high sensitivity. Reaching reference playback levels with out breaking a sweat and with low amplifier power. If you heard them I would say they might win you over as they done me, and have you out searching for these soon to be legends. The Stature home-theater speaker system can best and keep up with a lot of what’s out their now, they too can be played loud with low distortion and the Stature line has gotten much love from family and friends who have heard them. I had no problem with buyers who were ready to jump at the chance to buy them. Sound is subjective we all hear differently, that is why there are over 1,800 speaker companies out they trying to get in your ear. Once you have found your flavor that is right for you and you only then that is all that matters.

Hi-Res Spec info
AR5- http://acoustic-research.com/ar5_content.asp
AR2C- http://acoustic-research.com/ar2c_content.asp
AR17- http://acoustic-research.com/ar17_content.asp

Stature Spec Info
S50- http://acoustic-research.com/s50_content.asp
SC2- http://acoustic-research.com/sc2_content.asp
S20- http://acoustic-research.com/s20_content.asp


Review Equipment

Source
Sony 615DVP DVD Player

Receiver
Sony STR-DA4ES

Monitor
RCA 61” P61939 RPTV

Cables
Monster Cable

 

[RISUG]

Well done Terence,

 

[Curtis]

Thanks Terence,
As I know you spent a great deal of time putting that post together.
I will upgrade my Stature's on down the road as they sound pretty good to me and of course I'm on a budget right now.

Great post and let us know how those big bad AR's sound after about a month or so.
Thanks T

 

[Chris Drenner]

the polk audio cs1000p actually has two 6.5" powered "subs" and two 6.5" midranges along with one 1" tweet.
i have one in my system and love it!!

 

[terence]

Thanks guys!