Arendal Sound Speakers Owner’s thread

[Bobby Bass]

Audioholics was one of the first sites to review Arendal speakers. They have reviewed their monitors, towers and subwoofers. Their reviews helped me decide to demo and eventually purchase the 1723 towers. Have seen a lot of questions about the brand but not a lot of feedback. Please share your experiences with Arendal Speakers.

 

[Bobby Bass]

I’ll share first to get this party started. I auditioned the KLH Kendall’s, SVS Prime Pinnacles, B&W 702 S2 and Polk R700s and then the Arendal 1723S towers. The Arendals sounded the best IMHO in my 2 channel listening setup. The 1723 towers were only $700 more than the S towers and with the 60 day at home trial there was no risk to try and upgrade. Glad I did. Greater dynamics, taller and wider soundstage and deeper bass. Fill my room better at lower volume. Have had the 1723 towers for over 2 months now streaming classic rock with Qobuz and Bluesound Node and playing CDs with Rotel RCD 1572 MKII through Rotel RC 1572 MKII preamp and RB 1582 MKII amp with 200 WPC. Sounds great with no need for subwoofers for music.

 

[Bobby Bass]

Arendal just announced a new series.

 

[Oddball]

Sounds really exciting. 3-or-more way towers with bigger drivers for lower reach and higher SPL and better tracking? Finally a really big bad center channel ? 15" or 18" subs without (much) bigger box? Or active speakers? Modular speakers?

 

[Bobby Bass]

Sounds really exciting. 3-or-more way towers with bigger drivers for lower reach and higher SPL and better tracking? Finally a really big bad center channel ? 15" or 18" subs without (much) bigger box? Or active speakers? Modular speakers?

All good ideas. I knew something was up when they discontinued the 1961 series. It should be interesting.

 

[Bobby Bass]

Arendal just sent out another teaser about their 1528 line. Will be available the end of the year.

 

[Bobby Bass]

FYI Arendal just announced a price increase on their 1723 model line, effective August 15.

 

[gene]

After months of dropping hints and sneak peaks, Arendal Sound has introduced its new 1528 Series loudspeakers. These high-end speakers are big, beefy, and very technologically advanced. The lineup includes the 1528 Tower 8 ($9,500/pair), the 1528 Monitor 8 ($5,900/pair), the 1528 Bookshelf 8 ($4,500/pair), the 1528 Slim 8 ($3,500/pair), the 1528 Center+ 8 ($4,700 each), and the 1528 Center 8 ($2,900 each).

Read: Arendal Sound 1528 Series

 

[Eppie]

I am surprised that they decided to go upscale but there are not a lot of internet direct speakers in that price range that I can think of. Will the 1723 still be available along with this line? Interested to see some measurements on these but above the pay grade of most members I suspect.

 

[Trell]

Perhaps I missed it but there are no mention of the crossover frequencies in the article.

 

[Danzilla31]

Great article. For the price increase we will have to see how they measure to see what you get over the 1723 lineup

 

[isolar8001]

Pics dont do them justice....pretty sweet looking.

 

[shadyJ]

Perhaps I missed it but there are no mention of the crossover frequencies in the article.

Crossover frequencies are 420Hz/2.8kHz on all 1528 speakers.

 

[tn001d]

Why are the sentivities so low ? Good luck finding a stand the monitor speaker at 106lbs

 

[Golfx]

Why are the sentivities so low ? Good luck finding a stand the monitor speaker at 106lbs

I have had good luck with wharfedale speaker stands. Those things are like tanks and can easily support 100lbs. I don’t care what the webiste says about their capacities, they are angled steel.

 

[Nondemo01]

After months of dropping hints and sneak peaks, Arendal Sound has introduced its new 1528 Series loudspeakers. These high-end speakers are big, beefy, and very technologically advanced. The lineup includes the 1528 Tower 8 ($9,500/pair), the 1528 Monitor 8 ($5,900/pair), the 1528 Bookshelf 8 ($4,500/pair), the 1528 Slim 8 ($3,500/pair), the 1528 Center+ 8 ($4,700 each), and the 1528 Center 8 ($2,900 each).

View attachment 69758

Read: Arendal Sound 1528 Series

Poor James Larson! Please tell me you aren't hauling those things up your ladder?!?!? I was once a Safety Mishap Investigator for the Navy and measuring those towers has "mishap" written all over it! (But I mean if you DO measure them, we won't judge how and thank you for your dedication!)

 

[shadyJ]

Why are the sentivities so low ? Good luck finding a stand the monitor speaker at 106lbs

The sensitivites are a bit lower since these speakers have relatively low frequency extension. You can not have both high sensitivity and deep bass without making the enclosure huge.

Also, the Monitor speakers do ship with stands.

Poor James Larson! Please tell me you aren't hauling those things up your ladder?!?!? I was once a Safety Mishap Investigator for the Navy and measuring those towers has "mishap" written all over it! (But I mean if you DO measure them, we won't judge how and thank you for your dedication!)

It is planned for me to review the Monitors. I coudn't accept the towers on account of the weight. The Monitors are still very heavy, and I will have to measure them on my tower speaker stand, even though they are standmount speakers. I will not be carrying them up a ladder, so no worries.

 

[Nondemo01]

The sensitivites are a bit lower since these speakers have relatively low frequency extension. You can not have both high sensitivity and deep bass without making the enclosure huge.

Also, the Monitor speakers do ship with stands.

It is planned for me to review the Monitors. I coudn't accept the towers on account of the weight. The Monitors are still very heavy, and I will have to measure them on my tower speaker stand, even though they are standmount speakers. I will not be carrying them up a ladder, so no worries.

You Sir are a brave man! Lol. Enjoy the comparison as I read your 1723 Monitor review and came away thinking you were impressed. I'm curious how that new midrange and tweeter design compares. Is this the same design team? (Ahem as P#$L*$T@N?) If so, vertical dispersion should be more tame than the 1723. I wouldn't call this "trickle down" at $9500/pair outside the tweeter material choices. But I am not really a fan of beryllium and prefer silk dome. Anyway, CAN'T WAIT for your review!

 

[shadyJ]

You Sir are a brave man! Lol. Enjoy the comparison as I read your 1723 Monitor review and came away thinking you were impressed. I'm curious how that new midrange and tweeter design compares. Is this the same design team? (Ahem as P#$L*$T@N?) If so, vertical dispersion should be more tame than the 1723. I wouldn't call this "trickle down" at $9500/pair outside the tweeter material choices. But I am not really a fan of beryllium and prefer silk dome. Anyway, CAN'T WAIT for your review!

Not the same design team as Perlisten as far as I know.

 

[aoaaron]

I am surprised that they decided to go upscale but there are not a lot of internet direct speakers in that price range that I can think of. Will the 1723 still be available along with this line? Interested to see some measurements on these but above the pay grade of most members I suspect.

I think at this price range, most people would rather buy from a dealer and demo versus other brands.

I am not convinced Arendal offer substantial positives over other competition.

The chinese made brand which strands out is Perlisten. They have smaller, lighter speakers which get just as loud with more options for cinema room install options (in walls, on walls, in ceilings, multiple variations of all of them, two series of speakers, multiple series of subwoofers), custom finishes and the unique DPC array for controlled dispersion.

Then you have more expensive but reknowned brands such as Focal, KEF and Whaferdale who offer far, far superior cabinet construction and finish options.

I personally suspect Arendal's new found price range is filled with far, far superior competition to what they were competing against with the 1723 range.

To me, they're too heavy, too big and too inefficient for their respective price tags with a speaker eco-system which simply lacks solutions which most of the higher-end cinema rooms would want (in walls, on walls, in-ceilings).

I assume reviews will be favourable as they have an excellent marketting team and great relations with everyone on the youtube side of things - and their products are good. However for me their unique differentiating factor for the 1723 series was BUILD quality. Sound quality wise, Revel, JBL HDI and KEF R Meta all competed COMFORTABLY and in many respects matched or bettered them in some respects.

In the higher-end of the market, from the photos, outside of weight and dimensions (which are not hall marks of a premium product alone, if anything we want smaller speakers which perform better), they are definitely in the bottom tier of products you can get for around $9.5k for looks. Then factor in they are direct to consumer - which means no discounts (which you can get on every other brand which is sold via a dealer in the audio world) and that means realistically a 9.5k pair of Arendals are equivalent to a 10k+ pair of focals or etc.

All just opinions..!