Arendal Sound 1723 Monitor THX Loudspeaker Review

[Hetfield]

some of us haven't given up yet, there are some manufactures who haven't given up either i.e. some Denon receivers, MartinLogan and others.

If you are OK with ignoring the human rights issues over there and a potential takeover by China then keep justifying it by buying their products.

Oh good lord here we go with this. I suppose you avoid anything made in China altogether? Next shop and Walmart or dollar tree? Everything you own is made in an ethical place right down to your undies?

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[triks_melb]

I am in Australia but since we don't manufacture anything here anymore the non-China options are also very limited and no I am not one of those peace loving human rights extremists just saying that I go that one step further to "try" and not send my money to China - always thought American's were more patriotic than us but maybe thats changed too - anyway just think every dollar you send to China is a dollar they use to build up their army in their quest for world domination and they are not far from it. If there are no local USA made options at least choose non-China made, I mean even Apple are trying to move their manufacturing to India so we can do it.

 

[lovinthehd]

Oh, truck you guys down under, you've been tools of asia for far too long You don't have much home-brewed audio there but it does exist, and may take more than simply shopping effort to find. DIY!

ps No matter what, your country is on its own as far as manufacturing/sourcing/sustainability for your part of the world goes....but does seem to suck generally for audio as you don't have much native to Australia.

 

[triks_melb]

We actually import a lot of stuff from the USA so don't get too excited.

 

[lovinthehd]

We actually import a lot of stuff from the USA so don't get too excited.

Is it actually US made, or just better distributed from there? Don't get too hung up on C/O (country of origin) as it varies a lot more than that simple assumption from the phrase....I spent my life in international customs issues as a licensed US Customs broker/freight forwarder and there is a lot of bullshit out there!

 

[triks_melb]

I realise that too - we at least have a law where each product must show the country of manufacture unlike Europe and other places but yes I realise Tomatoes from Italy can still be from China

 

[lovinthehd]

I realise that too - we at least have a law where each product must show the country of manufacture unlike Europe and other places but yes I realise Tomatoes from Italy can still be from China

Yet there are ways to make that work legally....

 

[lovinthehd]

I realise that too - we at least have a law where each product must show the country of manufacture unlike Europe and other places but yes I realise Tomatoes from Italy can still be from China

Our laws are also not well enforced on the import side for years now....not like it was when I first got in the biz....

 

[Hetfield]

I used to rail against this very thing as loud as anyone till I realized no one cares.
I will say this though on this front. We here, the US government should set up even if it's a losing money proposition a chip factory here because we can't have this BS now with shortages and Ford plants shutting down because of it

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[Eppie]

Hi @shadyJ - I am thinking about replacing my front stage with the Arendals but from the photos you can see that I have limited space. Was leaning towards the 1723 Tower S THX and 1723 Center S THX but then I looked into the tweeter height (measured from the centre). For my current Paradigm Studio series, the tweeters are at 41" and the centre speaker is centred at 34" with my ear height at 37" which works out nicely. The tweeter on the Tower S THX is at only 28" (top of my stands and cabinet). I can't go to the full Tower THX using my current cabinet unless I remove the plinth and even then I would be limited in the amount of toe in I could use (12 degrees max), but the full tower tweeter is at 32.5" without the plinth, closer to where it should be.

Other option of course is the 1723 Monitors which gets the tweeters to 41" with my existing stands and more room to play with toe in. Down side would be the aesthetics. Quite a large monitor for those stands and they would get quite tall (centre of the TV). I have replaced the sub with a SB-1000 Pro and have room to move the sub forward away from the towers. Am I overthinking this? Is 28" for the tweeter too low in this setup? Sitting distance is 8.5' and I have only 7' ceilings with duct work that lowers it to 6'4" in front of the speakers. The room is 12' x 15.5' (width goes down to 10' at the doorway and then there is an open hallway). Tough room acoustically.

I've been itching to move to towers although the Monitors would be more than adequate in this space. Do you think that any of those 3 options would be ok or are there reasons to stay away from towers in this setup?

 

[shadyJ]

The Arendal's might have an advantage in terms of having a neutral response over your Paradigms, but aside from that, their dynamic range advantage would probably be lost, unless your Paradigms are not cutting it as far as dynamics go. One advantage that the Arendals might offer is a narrower dispersion pattern, which could help since you are likely getting a lot of early reflections from that right sidewall. I would put a broadband acoustic absorber on the right side wall in front of the speaker either way.

 

[Eppie]

The Arendal's might have an advantage in terms of having a neutral response over your Paradigms, but aside from that, their dynamic range advantage would probably be lost, unless your Paradigms are not cutting it as far as dynamics go. One advantage that the Arendals might offer is a narrower dispersion pattern, which could help since you are likely getting a lot of early reflections from that right sidewall. I would put a broadband acoustic absorber on the right side wall in front of the speaker either way.

So at 8' distance the tweeter height is not an issue and I can pretty much ignore the 13" difference? I suppose I should be within the listening window in either case.

Not dynamics so much but would like a flatter response. SoundStage does not have my 20 V5 but has the Studio 60 v5 NRC graphs. They say on AVS Forum that the Studios are fairly flat but it seems bright at times:

The Studio 20 V3 but I'm not sure how closely it matches the V5.

 

[Trell]

You can also try pointing each speakers acoustical axis at your respective ear to test if that works better in your room along with some HF shelf filter to your taste.

 

[Eppie]

You can also try pointing each speakers acoustical axis at your respective ear to test if that works better in your room along with some HF shelf filter to your taste.

Thanks Trell. I bought the Paradigms new 10 years ago but I've been itching for a change. They are not end game speakers for me. Would make great surrounds though. I've played a lot with toe in and speaker distance the last several months and I'm ready to try something with a different sound signature. I was close to pulling the trigger last night but wanted to double-check on any potential issues.

 

[Trell]

Thanks Trell. I bought the Paradigms new 10 years ago but I've been itching for a change. They are not end game speakers for me. Would make great surrounds though. I've played a lot with toe in and speaker distance the last several months and I'm ready to try something with a different sound signature. I was close to pulling the trigger last night but wanted to double-check on any potential issues.

After buying the Genelec monitors for my small office I really like their sound on various materials, much more than the sound in my living room of other speakers. That said, the comparison is not valid, though, as the desktop speakers are real close. I've to drag my small Genelecs into my living room to test them if I still like them in another context. Buying 8350A for surround is a big consumption buy for me.

 

[shadyJ]

So at 8' distance the tweeter height is not an issue and I can pretty much ignore the 13" difference? I suppose I should be within the listening window in either case.

Not dynamics so much but would like a flatter response. SoundStage does not have my 20 V5 but has the Studio 60 v5 NRC graphs. They say on AVS Forum that the Studios are fairly flat but it seems bright at times:

The Studio 20 V3 but I'm not sure how closely it matches the V5.

A 13" difference at 8' should be OK since it adds up to about an 8-degree angle. Ideally, you will want to stay within a 10-degree angle on the vertical axis.

Paradigms can have a flattish response but sometimes they can have a poor response, so I wouldn't assume anything with your present speakers. I certainly wouldn't take anyone's word for the response shape at AVS Forum.

However, as I said before, whatever you do, you should put an absorber on the right wall there. As it is, I would assume that the early reflections from the right wall shifts imaging to the right. Room correction can't really help that. It really has to be dealt with physically.

 

[Eppie]

A 13" difference at 8' should be OK since it adds up to about an 8-degree angle. Ideally, you will want to stay within a 10-degree angle on the vertical axis.

Paradigms can have a flattish response but sometimes they can have a poor response, so I wouldn't assume anything with your present speakers. I certainly wouldn't take anyone's word for the response shape at AVS Forum.

However, as I said before, whatever you do, you should put an absorber on the right wall there. As it is, I would assume that the early reflections from the right wall shifts imaging to the right. Room correction can't really help that. It really has to be dealt with physically.

Thanks for the advice James. I've been planning to treat that wall for a while but life intervenes. I was looking at decorative diffusers/absorbers

but I recall from our previous discussions that a 4" absorber would be best. GIK does art panels up to 4" in depth. Need that WAF as well.

I was going to demo a used KEF R11 for $3600 but then I would need another $2k for a matching centre. The Arendals offer a lot of value for the money and look great too.

 

[arcspin]

Thank you, @Pogre @Eppie e @ryanosaur @D Murphy @shadyJ , for your input and suggestions regarding my HT setup.
I have now taken the time and redid my frontend setup and arranged the L-R speakers vertically as per suggestions and as they are supposed to stand. They are now approximately 2 meters (6.56 ft) apart (measured from center of each speaker).

So, what did I hear differently?
To be frank, "not a day or night difference", but the sound stages did get wider and taller and that is what I like about this new setup a wider and taller soundstage.
(The stereo imaging was very good when the speakers were horizontally.)

The L-R speaker are slightly tilted inwards and are on sound isolation wedges to aim the tweeter to ear level at MLP, as is the center speaker.
The subwoofers are on their own sound isolation pads.

The center channel are on a stand that are covered in black velvet to mitigate light from the screen.

It is always fun to experience and hear different sound characteristics for different setups.
Again thank you for your feedback in previous posts.

Cheers,

 

[Eppie]

@arcspin Yes these changes are usually incremental and not a night and day difference but it appears that you found a nice compromise for the space available. Time to enjoy.

 

[Bojangles87]

I have a feeling I would not like those speakers as much as you do James.

Speakers that show that kind of rise between 2 and 5K I tend to find objectionable. In my experience a rise in output in that region is a far greater sin then a dip. That is a very bad region to have any degree of rise in output. That really affects strings, brass and especially massed choirs. If they were my speakers, I'm pretty sure I would be padding the tweeters down at least 2 db more.

The other issue is, that I have never been at all keen on speakers with a 1.5 K crossover. I find that about the worst place to put a crossover in the whole acoustic spectrum. It is right in the middle of the speech discrimination where the ears is most sensitive to the slightest aberrations. Your data shows this is far from the finest implemented crossover.

I would be really dubious if those speakers would be keepers for me.

I would advise members not to purchase these speakers without a really good return policy. I have pretty high degree of certainty, many are not going to be happy with those speakers.

Could you recommend me some towers to run in a 2.0 set up off a power amp.
just starting my build and this is where I’m looking to bring the sound the most as I feel I can make it count and I will really love it for music listening. I have been leaning towards the 1723s towers.
the Martin Logan 60Xti did come up, and I can get a decent deal on them. However there on axis dispersion doesn’t seem like something I am looking to entertain. Would rather have a more full sound directed to a larger audience