Arendal Sound 1723 Monitor THX Loudspeaker Review

[Bullroof]

Did you get your Arendals? What are your thoughts?

I did get the Arendal 1723s for the front stage. I was nervous about not being able to audition them before purchase but I’m glad I did. They sound great, super impressed with the detail in sound even at low volume listening. Wether I’m playing movies or music the sound always makes me smile. Also these speakers in piano gloss are stunning. Ordering was easy and pretty fast no issues whatsoever with shipping.

 

[McC]

I did get the Arendal 1723s for the front stage. I was nervous about not being able to audition them before purchase but I’m glad I did. They sound great, super impressed with the detail in sound even at low volume listening. Wether I’m playing movies or music the sound always makes me smile. Also these speakers in piano gloss are stunning. Ordering was easy and pretty fast no issues whatsoever with shipping.

Could you expound a bit on what you mean by "detailed?" For some, that may mean a forward tilt in their presentation. For others, that may mean detailed top to bottom while yet balanced in their presentation.

 

[GalZohar]

I'm curious to see how the 1723s compare to those, with a similarly professional review.

They are smaller, cheaper, yet on the Arendal website show rather similar measurements and even flatter frequency response, but seem to have a wider dispersion below 1KHz (not sure what that means, and it's difficult to read their graphs). Also the Impedance seems like it might dip to 3ohm at a few points, so wondering if a receiver could deal with that or not.

 

[68GTO]

Before I saw the reviews of the Arendal 1723 speakers, I was all set to get the Paradigm Premier 800F towers with the 600C center, based on a favorable review by A/H. Now I am considering the Arendal 1723 THX Towers and 1723 center speaker. The speakers will be placed in an three sided (fourth open to kitchen) family room of roughly 4K cubic feet (not including kitchen) and will be driven by a Marantz SR8015. My question is, which system will better suit my needs, considering volume of listening space and trade off between the two way (Arendal) versus three way (Paradigm) speaker designs.

 

[shadyJ]

Both the Arendals and the Paradigm Premiers are very good. I like the Premier center speaker design better, but the Arendals have unquestionably better build quality and dynamic range. I don't thnk you can go wrong with either. I would say if you have a wide listening area, the Paradigms might be the better choice, but if you want a speaker that has endless dynamic range, the Arendals are better.

 

[68GTO]

Thanks for the reply Shady. Your comments are pretty much my thoughts, based on A/H's excellent reviews. Two things that come into play are that I sit 15" away from the center speaker and will be within the 20 deg +/- range of the Arendal, but I am suffering a bit from age-related hearing loss. My thinking is that the Paradigm would be better for the hearing loss, but the Arendal would better compensate for the distance. Of course I could just stick with headphones and save the money. ;-} But were's the fun in that, right! ;-)

 

[shadyJ]

Thanks for the reply Shady. Your comments are pretty much my thoughts, based on A/H's excellent reviews. Two things that come into play are that I sit 15" away from the center speaker and will be within the 20 deg +/- range of the Arendal, but I am suffering a bit from age-related hearing loss. My thinking is that the Paradigm would be better for the hearing loss, but the Arendal would better compensate for the distance. Of course I could just stick with headphones and save the money. ;-} But were's the fun in that, right! ;-)

Age-related hearing loss would not really be affected by the different designs of these speakers (unless it was really severe). The frequencies where you are likely suffering at is probably higher than the major performance differences of these speakers, so I wouldn't bother factoring in hearing loss in your decision between these two.

 

[68GTO]

Age-related hearing loss would not really be affected by the different designs of these speakers (unless it was really severe). The frequencies where you are likely suffering at is probably higher than the major performance differences of these speakers, so I wouldn't bother factoring in hearing loss in your decision between these two.

Thanks again Shaky.