Arendal 1528 high end speakers

[unknownuser]

Ouch I guess they now are just another pricey brand! Selling direct their profit margins must be very good! Especially since they are made in China

Perlisten is also made in China. Maybe Arendal is using the same factory, there are skilled workers everywhere. We don’t know how much the r&D cost and things like that. no doubt they are expensive but not the only expensive speakers in the category, not my price range neither. Hopefully the 1528 S will be much cheaper and lighter

 

[Old_School_Brad]

1528 Monitor 8

 

[Sal1950]

Perlisten is also made in China. Maybe Arendal is using the same factory, there are skilled workers everywhere. We don’t know how much the r&D cost and things like that. no doubt they are expensive but not the only expensive speakers in the category, not my price range neither. Hopefully the 1528 S will be much cheaper and lighter

If you care about such things, and I do very much, we only have ourselfs to blame.
How much is cost really lowered by having a product made in a country where labor costs are cheap, vs made in the place of consumption and not requiring overseas packing & shipping, etc? Personally I'd gladly pay a few percent more to help support my domestic market and do pay attention and take advantage when such an option is actually available. Just a rant.
YMMV

 

[Oddball]

Would not be just a few percent more. People in US and EU want substantially more than in developing countries. And rant/grunt more about being underpaid. This is just the way of the world. Greed is apparently good .

 

[Sal1950]

Would not be just a few percent more. People in US and EU want substantially more than in developing countries.

I'm not sure about that cost spread??? So many foreign auto companies are building their products here in the US but still able to market them at a saleable price? But your right about the greed and folks being perfectly willing to throw their own domestic economies under the bus to save a few bucks.

 

[Oddball]

Auto industry is very specific and they have for years operated on regional production model. Not exactly sure why but that is their signature. But was told that cars are really difficult and expensive to ship overseas on boats and that different regional standards allow for efficiencies in production if organised this way. Also, it was noted that global production factory would just be too big to run for the large car manufacturers from logistical perspective (workforce, transportation, etc.)

I am grateful for that as live in small city that literally lives of KIA's EU factory. Pretty sure the town will sink if KIA ever leaves. It is not only KIA, but all of their key suppliers that have offices and people that uplift the local economy.

 

[Sal1950]

I am grateful for that as live in small city that literally lives of KIA's EU factory. Pretty sure the town will sink if KIA ever leaves. It is not only KIA, but all of their key suppliers that have offices and people that uplift the local economy

What country is that ?

 

[GaryY]

What country is that ?

Maybe here?

Factory Slovakia

Factory Slovakia

press.kia.com

 

[Oddball]

Yep. Slovakia has some other notable car manufacturing facilities. Kind of specialised in this thing. But IMO wages for line workers are too low given that cost of living is ultimately not much lower than in bigger EU countries. Not that KIA or Hyundai are getting rich on it but I guess part of the competitive pressure.

 

[DearSX]

There is also the thing about some products only being possible at certain wages. My boss was fired cause the company could not afford to pay his $100k salary in the small company I worked at. Ended up giving his position to a less skilled but still talented person for less than half his pay.

 

[Haskil]

I've read and Audioholics said Dan Roemer the CEO and cofounder of Perlisten designed the Arendal speakers for them so that would make sense that they would bring in some technology.

A member of Arendal's team has just declared on a French site that this was an unfounded rumor and that only an Arendal team had designed them :

“Absolutely no one apart from Thomas, our technical director and a small team of enthusiasts, all local, was involved in the development of the 1528.”

 

[PGansz]

Why do the specs on the studio monitor show lower extension than the giant floor stander with four 8in woofers?

At first glance the studios, bookshelves and smaller center seem to be the better products and value. Odd.

 

[Vacceo]

Pricing is as follows:

1528 Tower 8 = 9500 euro
1528 Monitor 8 = 5900 euro
1528 Bookshelf 8 = 4500 euro
1528 Center 8 = 2900 euro
1528 Center+ 8 = 4700 euro
1528 Slim 8 = 3500 euro

Those are on the territory of Perlisten and KEF with an extra element of incredibly good subwoofers. KEF in particular could take notes on the bass part.

 

[DearSX]

Why do the specs on the studio monitor show lower extension than the giant floor stander with four 8in woofers?

At first glance the studios, bookshelves and smaller center seem to be the better products and value. Odd.

Looks like the tunning is different. All use 8 inch woofers, each gets you deep bass, but probably more dynamics as you go bigger. Largest one goes as deep put rolls off differently I think. F6 is pretty low on all of them. Sensitivity is much better on largest one, probably compromised there a little bit of extension for dynamics.

 

[Looneybomber]

Why do the specs on the studio monitor show lower extension than the giant floor stander with four 8in woofers?

At first glance the studios, bookshelves and smaller center seem to be the better products and value. Odd.

It’s just physics. Let’s say you go from a 1ft^3 enclosure with one 8” driver to a 4ft^3 enclosure with four 8” drivers. They would, in theory, have identical tuning and efficiency per driver but the larger enclosure would have 6db greater efficiency overall (we see this in the Arendal graphs on each speaker). However, if the bookshelf had 1.2ft^3 of space, it would allow slightly lower tuning while maintaining the same output efficiency.

I don’t know internal volumes of the Arendal speakers, I’m only talking about physics. In practice nothing is ideal/perfect, but the point is, just because one has a larger enclosure doesn’t mean it will play lower it also depends on tuning.

 

[Oddball]

I think everyone is interested to understand where was the size of box and drivers utilised for the larger speakers. Looks like extension is limited so should be in other areas.

 

[DearSX]

I hope these speakers can sound as good or better than Revel Be series. They already look better to me. Walnut or oak would be nice.

 

[Sal1950]

Time will tell for the 1528 line, when modern comparable measurements start to show up from Amirm, Erin, Audioholics, Stereophile ; the truth will be revealed. If the same relatively high quality numbers come up these could end up a real leader in the bracket.

That center channel speaker could be a real winner for a quality multich music system.

Walnut or oak would be nice

Absolutely, each to their own but I wouldn't want huge boxes like these in my living room painted plain black or white.
YMMV

 

[Chromatischism]

1528 Monitor 8

View attachment 396538

Looks like intentional tuning.

 

[PJ 1]

Time will tell for the 1528 line, when modern comparable measurements start to show up from Amirm, Erin, Audioholics, Stereophile ; the truth will be revealed. If the same relatively high quality numbers come up these could end up a real leader in the bracket.

That center channel speaker could be a real winner for a quality multich music system.


Absolutely, each to their own but I wouldn't want huge boxes like these in my living room painted plain black or white.
YMMV

Come on Sal1950! It'd look like a "living room PA" and the sofa could be your "FOH"! Having watched Youthman's video on YT, they actually don't look as imposing as I was thinking they would. I really like the idea of not having subs and just a "clean" 2ch look and hiding the surrounds and heights in wall/ceiling. But that center, (cause I mean, you'd HAVE to get it right?!?) would be a tad difficult to "cabinet" around.

Regarding costs of building overseas, unfortunately it is tremendously expensive to build in first-world markets. Look no further than the cost of homes/apartments in metropolitan areas. The US has a very LARGE percentage of people with lots of disposable income that drives the costs of everything up. Is it outpacing the have nots? Absolutely but one look at the DOW's close over the previous 5 years and well, there's no end in sight. You'd be asking a manufacturer to lose out on profits out of philanthropy. Not likely.

Back on topic, I REALLY and I mean REALLY like the build quality of the Arendals I auditioned. TANKS. IMO, these speakers are like Toyotas, well built with 80% of the features/specs you can settle on and will last longer than you want them to. (#FOMO #obsolescents...)