Arendal 1723 1S Subwoofer or another model?

[operation]

Hello,

I would like your advice on which subwoofer to buy to upgrade my system.

I'm considering the Arendal 1723 1S, but I'm not sure if I'm making the right choice. What is your opinion?

Here’s my system:
2 x Genelec 8040B
1 x Topping Ex5 (To be upgraded to minidsp flex in the near future)
room size - 40m^2
Preference for sound quality (as a music listener)
location - Europe

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[radix]

I am very happy with my 1S. It looks sharp and is not too big for the living room. Being in the living room, appearance was important. I have the white F228be and the white Arendel is almost an exact match. I ended up with it pointed out into the room (not sideways), as that gave the best measurements. The grill blends with the F228be too.

Here's the response in room. This is with ARC Genesis correction. I have a bad room mode around 40-60 that I'm using an SVS micro 3000 to remediate (likely need something a bit better or a 2nd one of those, but I'm limited on placement). The Arendel app is very easy to work with, and it has all the input options (trigger, xlr, rca). Plenty of gain.

 

[sweetchaos]

I'm considering the Arendal 1723 1S, but I'm not sure if I'm making the right choice. What is your opinion?

Arendal is a good company. They aren’t the number one pick for USA, since there’s plenty of better performing options. But elsewhere, they can be on the top, since there’s not many good options.

Also, have you seen my Subwoofer Comparison spreadsheet?
It shows the top performers.

 

[Battlebeast]

Arendal is a good company. They aren’t the number one pick for USA, since there’s plenty of better performing options. But elsewhere, they can be on the top, since there’s not many good options.

Also, have you seen my Subwoofer Comparison spreadsheet?
It shows the top performers.

Not so sure about that when all metrics are considered.

 

[operation]

I am very happy with my 1S. It looks sharp and is not too big for the living room. Being in the living room, appearance was important. I have the white F228be and the white Arendel is almost an exact match. I ended up with it pointed out into the room (not sideways), as that gave the best measurements. The grill blends with the F228be too.

Here's the response in room. This is with ARC Genesis correction. I have a bad room mode around 40-60 that I'm using an SVS micro 3000 to remediate (likely need something a bit better or a 2nd one of those, but I'm limited on placement). The Arendel app is very easy to work with, and it has all the input options (trigger, xlr, rca). Plenty of gain.

View attachment 365992

Thank you for your input. Although I did not mention aesthetics as a must, it is indeed very important, because the sub will be in the living room. I'm also considering the white color.

Arendal is a good company. They aren’t the number one pick for USA, since there’s plenty of better performing options. But elsewhere, they can be on the top, since there’s not many good options.

Also, have you seen my Subwoofer Comparison spreadsheet?
It shows the top performers.

I see, thank you. Well, I knew about that spreadsheet, but to be honest, it looked very technical and I'm not very knowledgeable about those details. However, I have now noticed that there is an explanation at the beginning of the post, which I believe will help me
By the way, is there any other sub that comes to your mind that I should have a look at?

 

[Oddball]

in a 40m2 room, you might be looking at 2 of them. Just depends what kind of bass response you had in mind. You need to make some calculations as to what is that you are expecting from subs in your room and your MLP.

Their portend subs are also very good as not sure what really qualifies as musical.

 

[Da_lawson]

I agree with Oddball above me; your space is pretty large, so you might consider a pair of subs, or the 2s. If you don't listen particularly loud, I think the 1s will be great, but if you like to go loud from time to time, you might want to look at two subs, or the 2s for some additional output.

 

[Toni71]

I regret selling my two Arendal 1723 1S, which were bought before the price hikes. They were used to complement the Kef R-series here. Room 10.50m x 5.20m. They go loud. When there is a discount, I will buy two of them again. Only not for the prices now.

My personal opinion is that prices are to high in Europe for a lot of things.

 

[Willem]

I would suggest to always use at least two subwoofers, and with a form of dsp room equalization. I use three, and equalized with Multi Sub Optimizer for a smooth response across almost the entire (large) listening room. If using multiple subs, they do not have to be equally large. See here for an example: https://archimago.blogspot.com/2020/05/musings-measurements-subwoofers-to.html Floyd Toole's book also has good examples of the benefits of multiple subs. His advice is not to mix sealed and ported.
As for the sonic qualities of subwoofers, they really do not differ much. Some go lower and louder, and that is about it. Some are smaller for the same performance, but that usually means they have to be more expensive. Arendal are one good compromise at the somewhat larger end of the spectrum. The KEF Kube series is cheaper but larger for a given performance, while their KC62 and KC92 are smaller but more expensive for the sound they produce. You choose your poison.

 

[radix]

The Dynaudio sub6 was another I looked at for the living room. It's twin design made it look easier to position in a living room, but it is only black. There's some discussion on the sub6 and 18s (the pro version of the sub6) here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/dynaudio-18s-vs-sub-6.26609/

 

[Willem]

It's twin design

Subs with dual opposed drivers can often be a bit smaller for a given performance. However, in case anyone wondered, they do not solve the room mode problem. For that you really need two subs in different locations where they excite different modes.