Big towers and center (that was not really subject to review based on the content of the review) were not done by James Larson that I respect. Not sure if they will repeat the review so it could be sealed with James's more credible results. I would love if Erin could get ahold of these as Erin seems to care less about the relationship with the manufacturers then with the consumers that he is representing vigorously in his reviews.
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Arendal 1528 high end speakers
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Vacceo
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To be fair, if I could afford the big center, I´d send the money to Mr. Sigberg to get an SSB1 in horizontal format.
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Hers the thread
Summary please!
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Erin tests arendal 1528 speaker, provides measurements, in summary he likes it.
While likely accurate, regret yours does not count!
I've got screenshots of the important stuff.
TLDR: On axis and directivity good but not class leading. Some ringing present in burst decay but nothing too too bad. Distortion and dynamic response certainly are class leading, insanely good performance there.
It's not a bad speaker per se, but for 5900$ per pair, I expect better. Especially the dip between 100-200hz will make it sound less full and maybe anemic, tho it's very room dependend of course. The rest of the response is fairly linear, but for this money, you can do much better. Anything from Neumann or Genelec will beat this for accuracy, but it does go loud with low distortion I'll give it that.
kemmler3D
Master Contributor
I would definitely not kick these speakers out of bed for eating crackers. But... for similar money the Ascilab cardioid speaker appears to do everything this speaker does, but with directivity that flirts with 100hz. I think that says more about Ascilab than Arendal, they're just insanely competitive in the 1K-10K range. Of course I'm saying this as if they were already shipping, which is not the case.
If there's an Achilles' Heel for any Neumann or Genelec smaller than a KH420 or S360, it's output capability. These have that. However you're going to need a whole bunch of amp to do that, they're a roughly 85dB/2.83V (so 82dB/W, give or take, given they're 4 ohm-class speakers)... I wouldn't want less than 200wpc into 4R.
Thread locked pending summary add by OP.
Regret the inconvenience but hopefully will be short.
Regret the inconvenience but hopefully will be short.
Arendal has received a 4.9 out of 5-star review on TrustPilot so far (over 2,500 reviews). But what do you think of the 1 - 4 star reviews? There are several issues, including shipping delays and quality control (QC) issues, such as chipped speakers or distorted highs, affecting a few.
I believe Arendal has developed an ingenious design philosophy for their new 1528 series of speakers. By housing the tweeter and midrange in a single unit, as close to each other as possible, and using this pair in all their speaker lineups, from the slim minis to the Towers, it ensures a consistent sound signature across the entire 1528 family line. I appreciate that the tonality of the center speaker will not differ from that of the mains (a task rarely achieved, by the way), as the same housing is used in the same orientation as the stand-up speakers. Good job on their part!
For those who fuss about minor details or aspects they dislike in the measurements (which can be readily addressed with simple EQ), it is advisable to listen to the speakers and make an informed choice. All reviewers have praised the SQ of these speakers, the wide open sound stage, convincing many they were listening to a 5.1 system (!), the tactile, deep, and accurate bass with excellent low distortion and group delay, convincing many trusted reviewers that do not need a subwoofer with these speakers unless you need to dig deep under 20Hz, etc. Yes, they are big and heavy and not as efficient, but such is the nature of physics. Just think... who offers a 10-year warranty for a speaker like they do? Who provides a 60-day in-house listening demo? This shows they are confident in the quality of their speakers, so most buyers would not regret their purchase.
I was set on the monitors 8s for purchase (the Towers and center 8+ are imposingly big for my space), but then I heard reviews of the bookshelves, and they were just as positive as those of the monitors and Towers. I'm struggling with this since the term 'bookshelf' in my mind conjures up images of small but often sound-compromised speakers. A severe mental disconnect here, and I would hate to say that I own a pair of bookshelves for my high-fidelity audio system. Who would then take me seriously as a serious audiophile in my community
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For those who fuss about minor details or aspects they dislike in the measurements (which can be readily addressed with simple EQ), it is advisable to listen to the speakers and make an informed choice. All reviewers have praised the SQ of these speakers, the wide open sound stage, convincing many they were listening to a 5.1 system (!), the tactile, deep, and accurate bass with excellent low distortion and group delay, convincing many trusted reviewers that do not need a subwoofer with these speakers unless you need to dig deep under 20Hz, etc. Yes, they are big and heavy and not as efficient, but such is the nature of physics. Just think... who offers a 10-year warranty for a speaker like they do? Who provides a 60-day in-house listening demo? This shows they are confident in the quality of their speakers, so most buyers would not regret their purchase.
I was set on the monitors 8s for purchase (the Towers and center 8+ are imposingly big for my space), but then I heard reviews of the bookshelves, and they were just as positive as those of the monitors and Towers. I'm struggling with this since the term 'bookshelf' in my mind conjures up images of small but often sound-compromised speakers. A severe mental disconnect here, and I would hate to say that I own a pair of bookshelves for my high-fidelity audio system. Who would then take me seriously as a serious audiophile in my community
?The dynamic capabilities are nothing short of impressive. Even at 96dB/1m, they are about as totally clean as a speaker can reasonably get and effectively there is no compression.
Thank you for this meaningful graph comparing these two speakers ... could I please impose on you to add the response of the Bookshelf 8s as well? I'm trying to decide between these three speakers, and having their frequency response (FR) on one graph would be awesome. Thanks!
Roughly something like this. Not sure if the response alone tells you what you need to choose though.
Thank you
!This is very helpful. I heard reviews saying the Bookshelves have lots of bass and have no need for a subwoofer for music playback. I simply couldn't believe it, which is why I requested the plots (Thank you again!
).I am now amazed how the Bookshelves can track the Monitors down to 50Hz. With the influence of additional room gain, won't these two speakers sound identical throughout the entire frequency spectrum?
Also, I'm baffled to see that the Towers and Monitors are identical from 40Hz on down. Again, with typical room gain, won't these two sound identical throughout the entire frequency spectrum (though I see the Towers have more output, ~ 2 dB, from 70 Hz to 400 Hz than the rest)? It now seems from this graph that the Monitors are the bass king (?), even better than the Towers (!). Am I imagining things???
Finally (and most importantly), I appreciate how you are willing to give a competitor's product so much time, grace, and honest and helpful consideration on this forum, without belittling it or even mentioning your very own high-quality speaker product lines once. A true gentleman!
I've asked the Father in Heaven to bless you for this very unselfish act of generosity on your part!!! No worries, good, plentiful, and wonderful things are coming your way!
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