Arendal 1528 high end speakers

[Looneybomber]

It's really to early draw conclusions as this info is limited and bookshelf chart is at 85dB vs towers at 90dB. Why Arendal decided to present it this way is to be seen.

It’s definitely not to be seen…or perhaps it is since it’s written in each of the graphs!

 

[Oddball]

It’s definitely not to be seen…or perhaps it is since it’s written in each of the graphs!

Perhaps you just see better than rest of us and can share? Otherwise these charts are IMO absolutely inconclusive and partial?

 

[Looneybomber]

Perhaps you just see better than rest of us and can share? Otherwise these charts are IMO absolutely inconclusive and partial?

You asked why they were shown with outputs around 85db and 90db. Because they’re both measured with a 2.83v signal at 1M. It says so on the graphs.

When the drivers are quadrupled, given all things being equal (including input power), output goes up by 6db.

Tower with four woofers,
SENSITIVITY
89.5dB / 2.83V / 1m

Bookshelf with one woofer,
SENSITIVITY
84dB / 2.83V / 1m

Looks pretty textbook.

 

[Oddball]

You asked why they were shown with outputs around 85db and 90db. Because they’re both measured with a 2.83v signal at 1M. It says so on the graphs.

When the drivers are quadrupled, given all things being equal (including input power), output goes up by 6db.

Tower with four woofers,
SENSITIVITY
89.5dB / 2.83V / 1m

Bookshelf with one woofer,
SENSITIVITY
84dB / 2.83V / 1m

Looks pretty textbook.

That is well understood, and I already noted that in my previous post. For comparison purposes this does not fare well as people are already chiming in with “weak towers”. Not sure what other approach they could have used but this one seems to be misunderstood.

My point is that this graph tells me very little about the towers (my potential interest) and their performance. More graphs and full review is needed before even thinking about ordering these on “free trial”. Boxing back this LCR combo is return tax by itself.

 

[Vacceo]

That is well understood, and I already noted that in my previous post. For comparison purposes this does not fare well as people are already chiming in with “weak towers”. Not sure what other approach they could have used but this one seems to be misunderstood.

My point is that this graph tells me very little about the towers (my potential interest) and their performance. More graphs and full review is needed before even thinking about ordering these on “free trial”. Boxing back this LCR combo is return tax by itself.

Looking at the graph for the monitors, one could wonder, why should I get those when I can get a set of KEF R3 Meta and EQ them? I argue those words with a salt mine, because we really have no idea about how much current they can handle and how dispersion works; and on those parameters, there can be a huge difference.

 

[Descartes]

That's from 2021. Yeah, Apple is moving their production out of China.... TO INDIA... Anyway, this is a discussion over Arendal 1528 speakers, if you're uninterested, move on. I am interested and would love to see any/all reviews and maybe even audition them in my own living room. I don't hate capitalism. This is America and the land of opportunity. I don't fault anyone who can lower costs and increase profits. If you can do better, open a company that offers the same or more and I'll happily consider you but not because it's made in any one country. But because it is a good value. Jeez. Makes me wonder why anyone attempts to provide FREE previews of stuff that once upon a time, you had to TRAVEL TO SEE/EXPERIENCE and NEVER knew if you got a good deal or not until you talked to a friend who bought the same.

So much nastiness, chill dude!

 

[Looneybomber]

For comparison purposes this does not fare well as people are already chiming in with “weak towers”. Not sure what other approach they could have used but this one seems to be misunderstood.

Showing a graph of their frequency response using a standardized input signal strength is all they can do. If there are folks that don’t like the bass response given that it’s a large tower with 4, 8” woofers, that’s fair. It was a design compromise.
To quote me over at AVS,

“Using 40hz as a lower inroom bound is a good compromise between efficiency, size, extension, and cost. Having a 40hz bound allows most genres of music to be played satisfactorily without the need of subs. On the flip side, the speaker also isn’t ridiculously over engineered in the bass department and somewhat wasted if a person uses subs.

For example, they can extend the frequency response deeper at the expense of efficiency, or they can make an already large enclosure larger to maintain efficiency. All that extra expense is then wasted once it’s highpassed at 80hz due to using subwoofers.

Someone could argue it’s the worst of both worlds - not deep enough to be used without a sub and not efficient enough to be worth the size and cost. Depending upon their goals/expectations, they could be right. That’s how trade-offs work.”

A 2.83v frequency response in no way indicates how loud something can play or what kind of distortion it will have, but one can safely assume a high quality tower with 4, 8” drivers can play louder and with less distortion than a small bookshelf with lower native tuning. Someone who questions the robustness of said towers, claiming they’re weak, either doesn’t fully understand acoustics or has unrealistically high expectations…both could be true. And that is no one’s fault, certainly, not yours. Just continue to help educate them on the trade offs of design choices.

 

[PJ 1]

Showing a graph of their frequency response using a standardized input signal strength is all they can do. If there are folks that don’t like the bass response given that it’s a large tower with 4, 8” woofers, that’s fair. It was a design compromise.
To quote me over at AVS,

“Using 40hz as a lower inroom bound is a good compromise between efficiency, size, extension, and cost. Having a 40hz bound allows most genres of music to be played satisfactorily without the need of subs. On the flip side, the speaker also isn’t ridiculously over engineered in the bass department and somewhat wasted if a person uses subs.

For example, they can extend the frequency response deeper at the expense of efficiency, or they can make an already large enclosure larger to maintain efficiency. All that extra expense is then wasted once it’s highpassed at 80hz due to using subwoofers.

Someone could argue it’s the worst of both worlds - not deep enough to be used without a sub and not efficient enough to be worth the size and cost. Depending upon their goals/expectations, they could be right. That’s how trade-offs work.”

A 2.83v frequency response in no way indicates how loud something can play or what kind of distortion it will have, but one can safely assume a high quality tower with 4, 8” drivers can play louder and with less distortion than a small bookshelf with lower native tuning. Someone who questions the robustness of said towers, claiming they’re weak, either doesn’t fully understand acoustics or has unrealistically high expectations…both could be true. And that is no one’s fault, certainly, not yours. Just continue to help educate them on the trade offs of design choices.

Ah physics... I think you nailed it. I for one, am interested in large towers without subs. It's a compromise but my listening is 70% music, 15% movies and 15% YouTube/other. If I was more 50/50 movies/music, I'd opt for the monitors and subs. To be honest, those "monitors" are more stand-mount full-range tower-less towers at that size/weight. I can't wait until James Larson at Audioholics publishes his testing results. They make great stuff and think they also look pretty nice.

 

[Oddball]

Showing a graph of their frequency response using a standardized input signal strength is all they can do. If there are folks that don’t like the bass response given that it’s a large tower with 4, 8” woofers, that’s fair. It was a design compromise.
To quote me over at AVS,

“Using 40hz as a lower inroom bound is a good compromise between efficiency, size, extension, and cost. Having a 40hz bound allows most genres of music to be played satisfactorily without the need of subs. On the flip side, the speaker also isn’t ridiculously over engineered in the bass department and somewhat wasted if a person uses subs.

For example, they can extend the frequency response deeper at the expense of efficiency, or they can make an already large enclosure larger to maintain efficiency. All that extra expense is then wasted once it’s highpassed at 80hz due to using subwoofers.

Someone could argue it’s the worst of both worlds - not deep enough to be used without a sub and not efficient enough to be worth the size and cost. Depending upon their goals/expectations, they could be right. That’s how trade-offs work.”

A 2.83v frequency response in no way indicates how loud something can play or what kind of distortion it will have, but one can safely assume a high quality tower with 4, 8” drivers can play louder and with less distortion than a small bookshelf with lower native tuning. Someone who questions the robustness of said towers, claiming they’re weak, either doesn’t fully understand acoustics or has unrealistically high expectations…both could be true. And that is no one’s fault, certainly, not yours. Just continue to help educate them on the trade offs of design choices.

It will be easier to evaluate once there is a full review. As noted above, they will likely extend further in the room, which could help the "worst of both worlds argument". If they can go down to 30hz with authority (e.g. 90-95dB SPL and less than 5-ish% distortion, assuming amps can take it that low/loud) that would work well for the music and also could work well for the HT to help with LFE (with appropriate offset of -10dB or so), or even make it worth to go through the trouble of full LFE+main overlap (separately or in addition to LFE distribution).

 

[Vacceo]

It will be easier to evaluate once there is a full review. As noted above, they will likely extend further in the room, which could help the "worst of both worlds argument". If they can go down to 30hz with authority (e.g. 90-95dB SPL and less than 5-ish% distortion, assuming amps can take it that low/loud) that would work well for the music and also could work well for the HT to help with LFE (with appropriate offset of -10dB or so), or even make it worth to go through the trouble of full LFE+main overlap (separately or in addition to LFE distribution).

Current Marantz multichannel gear allows you to send LFE to speakers. If these can take it with authority, we're talking about a performance monster.

Worth it considering that a similar result can be reached with well integrated subwoofers? Well, that's up to the customer.

 

[Looneybomber]

It will be easier to evaluate once there is a full review. As noted above, they will likely extend further in the room, which could help the "worst of both worlds argument". If they can go down to 30hz with authority (e.g. 90-95dB SPL and less than 5-ish% distortion, assuming amps can take it that low/loud) that would work well for the music and also could work well for the HT to help with LFE (with appropriate offset of -10dB or so), or even make it worth to go through the trouble of full LFE+main overlap (separately or in addition to LFE distribution).

I’m going to guess the 1528 tower could do it depending upon the port tuning. Like you said, we won’t know for sure until Amir/Erin or others get their hands on one. Until then, it’s fun to speculate.

We know it’s possible with a similarly sized speaker at twice the MSRP.

 

[Oddball]

All D&M higher end gear have these options, so does Trinnov and to some extent Storm (with Dirac Storm bass management features are bypassed and Dirac prevails).

It is true that similar results could be accomplished by integrating main subs, but then the limitation of most rooms is the number of dedicated subs. Having 4 of them, I can say that LFE distribution does add to smooth response with additional 8 bed speakers helping out, limited to the SPL and extension they can handle obviously.

Not that I would want 8 Arendal big towers to to help all around, but to the extent their LCR could that would be significant.

 

[Oddball]

I’m going to guess the 1528 tower could do it depending upon the port tuning. Like you said, we won’t know for sure until Amir/Erin or others get their hands on one. Until then, it’s fun to speculate.

We know it’s possible with a similarly sized speaker at twice the MSRP.
View attachment 397639

Yeah these are epic and I regret that I never got to hear them. If Arendals come close, they will be winners for sure. There was a thread around that I can’t find right now, but they were on sale in UK for $10K which is a really good price.

 

[Oddball]

Yeah these are epic and I regret that I never got to hear them. If Arendals come close, they will be winners for sure. There was a thread around that I can’t find right now, but they were on sale in UK for $10K which is a really good price.

Just for reference found the link. Sadly only white or walnut though.

REVEL F328Be

The Revel F328Be is the flagship floorstanding loudspeaker from our award-winning PerformaBe series. The F328Be includes a 1-inch (25mm) beryllium tweeter driven by massive 85mm dual ceramic magnets. The powerful all-new tweeter and 6th-generation ceramic-coated, cast-aluminum Acoustic Lens...

nintronics.co.uk

 

[Vacceo]

All D&M higher end gear have these options, so does Trinnov and to some extent Storm (with Dirac Storm bass management features are bypassed and Dirac prevails).

It is true that similar results could be accomplished by integrating main subs, but then the limitation of most rooms is the number of dedicated subs. Having 4 of them, I can say that LFE distribution does add to smooth response with additional 8 bed speakers helping out, limited to the SPL and extension they can handle obviously.

Not that I would want 8 Arendal big towers to to help all around, but to the extent their LCR could that would be significant.

If I had the money and space for adding 8 KEF Blade would I? In a heartbeat. This is not different.

 

[er|κzvio1in]

And why such a big tower with that many woofers if the lows drop benath 50hz really quick?

Imagine buying this over a genelec 8361a. Or Neumann KH420. Or …

If that graph represents aneachoic performance and you put these speakers in a room, the room gain will add bass which results in a very nice in-room response

 

[ROOSKIE]

And why such a big tower with that many woofers if the lows drop benath 50hz really quick?

Imagine buying this over a genelec 8361a. Or Neumann KH420. Or …

Studio monitors vs Passives is always a strange compro outside of ASR. Only a few cross shoppers doing that.

So, higher sensitivity, higher output and lower distortion for a given output vs other passive designs. The extra woofers are required for these traits in a passive as you can't just give the lower woofers extra power and DSP tunings.
Anyway all things worthwhile since you will have subwoofers right? If no subs then sure, who knows if these are the best fit. Room size will be a factor.
You could use PEQ to boost the lower bass if your amp is big, which is what Genelec is doing, they have 700 watts to those woofers. Neumann is sending 300 to their 10".
Boosting much below port tuning is not a great idea, I don't know what the tuning frq is here.
The towers and whole line look well designed from afar.
Anyway, that said IMHHO nobody should buy a single thing anymore for this price from anyone at all unless Amir or Erin scan them or at least Audioholics does a test. Hopefully they get submitted by the manufacturer.

 

[Penelinfi]

It would also be kind of nice to have more colour options than grey or white.

 

[GIEGAR]

NOOOoooo Arendal! Say it isn't so.

It was all going so swimmingly, but they just dropped a notch or two in credibility for me.

"Hi

Details of the 1528 Series are out and the first reviews are in. We've been delighted by the responses so far and we can't wait for you to hear your favourite playlists and soundtracks through this outstanding range of speakers.

We want to let you know that stock from our first production run is limited, so if you want to get your hands on 1528 Series this year then you'll have to act fast and place your pre-order.

As an added incentive, customers placing an order for the 1528 Tower 8 between now and 31st of October, will benefit from a generous, free upgrade from standard Puck isolating feet, to Puck Pro.

Puck Pro offer even better isolation and sound by enhancing decoupling from the floor. Height adjustment is also available for perfect tilt alignment, improving clarity and expanding the soundstage for an even more immersive experience."

[Email received from [email protected] 10 Oct 2024. My emphasis added.]

 

[Pearljam5000]

Measurements in this video