Pretty good at what they were designed for
Written: Mar 09 '02 (Updated Mar 09 '02)
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Pros: Big sound, low price, small foot print, fully shielded, look good
Cons: Not accurate, can get boomy, only in black, assembly quality
The Bottom Line: For home theater they are a very good value.
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| darwinsthug's Full Review: Acoustic Research S40 Main / Stereo Speaker |
I found the Acoustic Research S40 floor standing (tower) speakers to be a good value but what you think of this speaker will depending on what you are looking for. Lets start with why I wanted them:
1) I wanted some speakers for my home theater that were better shielded than the ones I built that were causing some mild but annoying distortion in my TV picture.
2) Since my wife has been nice enough to put with my giant speaker building hobby for nearly 10 years I promised that our home was going to start going to be more home and less theater. So a small foot print was an absolute.
Price: I paid $270 total delivered to my door through UBID. I bid $89 each + shipping for 2 speakers that weigh 48 lbs each. I was already pretty happy because this was well under my planned budget of $500. A good price for the S40s is about $350-400 without going through UBID. Yes, the shipping cost at UBID just plain silly but it still ended up less than anywhere else by about $100. If you are interested in the S40 be careful when you shop around because I have seen them retail for over $400. Since they look like they could cost a lot I think a few people may actually pay that. Additionally, the S50 is a similar speaker that sounds a little better but costs more. You will have to decide if the bump in price is worth the sound.
Basics: The S40 is part of the Acoustic Research Stature line that supposed to be specifically designed for movie track reproduction. To accomplish this the S40 uses a fully shielded 2-way design with dual 6.5in woofers and a 1in tweeter arranged in a ported tower design. The dual woofer system is nice because it allows you to get nice tight mids and pretty good lows without going with a larger single 12-15in woofer. I think the main advantage of this for my wife is the small foot print and the sleek modern look (8”wide, 13 and 5/8” deep, 39.5” high). The ported design, as opposed to a sealed box, allows for extended bass response at the expense of some accuracy. Power handling is 2-200w, sensitivity is rated at 90dB and frequency response is 26-20k +/- 3dB. My ear suggests that the low frequency response is a little inflated and does not go as low as claimed. The low range is also a little boomy for my tastes, which is sometimes characteristic of ported designs. On the other hand for watching movies I don’t mind it as long as it go into the center channel where the voices are reproduced. None of these things are a big concern if you are using a subwoofer (which I do) and control the low end output. What I was really pleased to find was the shielding is great. I placed the speakers within 3in of the TV on either side and there was absolutely no distortion. The S40 is also bi-amp ready and comes with a variety of “feet” depending on if you have hard or carpet flooring. While the bi-amp ready feature is nice and does make an audible difference most people don’t use it. I have not tired to bi-amplify them. Overall they are a really good choice in terms of sound for the money.
Other: The speakers look pretty classy and do not have big gaudy labels on them. While this may not be in the top of everyone list they really do have a nice sleek profile. However, the assembly quality is not up to par with some of the other speakers I have owned. Its OK for a sub $500 pair but not great. Specifically, the holes for the carpet spikes are not evenly placed at the corners. It does not affect the sound quality but it’s something that I noticed when I took them out of the box. For comparison my B&W LCR3 arrived nearly flawless and its $200. I think AR may want to clamp down a little and pay more attention to quality. Finally, if you want accurate reproduction for listening to music you may be disappointed. They have a really huge sound but it may sound a little sloppy if you are used to the typical AR sealed box (acoustic suspension) sound.
Its not a jack of all trades speaker but makes a nice cost effective home theater speaker.
Current system:
Center: B&W LCR3 (similar to CC3).
Mains: AR S40. I did audition a pair of LCR3s with stands for my main speakers so everything would match but the B&Ws just cannot get the job done as main speakers. For a center channel (voices) they are fantastic but just don’t have that movie theater big sound I like for effects and movie music.
Surrounds: Boston Acoustic Sub Sat 6 (just the satellites).
Sub: Custom make 12in down firing ported design with active crossover.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 270
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Epinions.com ID:
darwinsthug
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Location: Phildadelphia, PA, USA
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 2 members
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