Arendal 1723 Speaker Review

[mj30250]

Wait a minute...we've been told in this thread that there are single 6.5" bookshelves out there that outperform these Arendals for HT, and for half the price to boot ... is it not true ?

Distortion-wise, it doesn't outperform the dual 8" Arendal, but the Ascend Sierra LX with a single 6" woofer seems to hold its own quite well. The woofer actually shows less THD across most of the midrange. A pair of them costs $1400.

 

[rvsixer]

,,,the Ascend Sierra LX with a single 6" woofer seems to hold its own quite well. The woofer actually shows less THD across most of the midrange.

Yes, that is a custom SEAS high excursion woofer, very capable. Ranks #1 passive (w/eq&sub) at spinorama.org. I plan to go audition them (and the rest of the Ascend lineup) within the next couple of months.

 

[duce]

I do think these offer good value for what they are, but, it makes one wonder what a pair of these ought to cost without all of the extras like THX certification, return\warranty policies, marketing overhead, and cabinet finishing.

Here is a THX Ultra 2 certified speaker for half the price - https://magnat-usa.com/home-theater/cinema-ultra/cinema-ultra-lcr-100-thx
On Amazon they are nearly 1/3 the price.

 

[rvsixer]

Marketing overhead is relatively low since its internet direct sales and search engine/word of mouth advertising. Other speakers have finished cabinets, return, and warranty policies - so I don't see them as extras. I rather like they have used that extra margin for well braced well built HDF cabinets over the standard fare.

Now all they need is a 3-way center and I could buy a set !!!

 

[amirm]

On THX, for a short period I though someone post that the speaker must meet certain criteria on Klippel NFS which I assumed meant on-axis and off axis response. Sadly, all that info was pulled from their site and the specifications are secret now.

 

[rvsixer]

In case anyone is interested in a full 5.1+ set of these, they are bundling them with a free toppled center as bait:

Bundle Gloss

We’ve got you covered. FREE Shipping10 Years Warranty60 Days Audition Period100% Risk Free Get a BONUS center speaker when ordering the market-leading 1723 Premium speaker system!

arendalsound.com

Also the same bundle is available for the 1961 series. Sadly no 1723S bundle, which is the series I have my eye on.

 

[duce]

Marketing overhead is relatively low since its internet direct sales

Perhaps not relatively low to other direct to consumer brands who don't make sweet heart deals with YouTubers and spend on Facebook advertisement. I'm not saying this is a bad thing per se, but Adrenal is certainly investing more into marketing than your average direct to consumer...and they may be getting a return on that investment which could lead to better pricing through economies of scale.

 

[rvsixer]

Point taken. I was comparing to the old fashioned B&M/retail distributions i.e. Revel/KEF, etc. That must cost a pretty penny.

My car is from a zero advertising internet direct sales manufacturer, and they turn a far far high gross margin per unit than all the standard big auto manufacturers (with their monopolized marketing/distribution models). Not a direct comparison I know, but an ultimate economies of scale example. It just has to be cheaper. Anyways I'm a layman to marketing and speakers so back OT.

 

[rvsixer]

On THX, for a short period I though someone post that the speaker must meet certain criteria on Klippel NFS which I assumed meant on-axis and off axis response. Sadly, all that info was pulled from their site and the specifications are secret now.

THX website archives going back to 2000 if anyone wants to dig for the spec:

Wayback Machine

web.archive.org

 

[amirm]

Thanks. I didn't realize wayback machine was archiving so much more. Used to be that it was next to useless outside of text but now is capturing a lot more.

Anyway, I didn't quite find what I was looking for other than this: "Not everyone gets the middle seat when watching a movie. So we test the off-axis response to make sure it is smooth with no audible comb filtering, making every seat in the room the sweet spot."

They don't say how they measure this. Maybe this is where Klippel NFS comes in.

 

[audio2920]

To me doesn't make any sense since the overall thd is very high vs the bookshelf

vs

It sure looks like the 1961 Bookshelf is lower distortion than the 1723 Monitor pretty much everywhere, except below 180Hz.

Is this just typical behaviour of an 8" woofer vs a 5.5"?

I would have assumed the 1723 Monitor would go louder than the 1961, but I don't see that in the data...? Or do we think that when pressing north of 96dB the distortion profiles won't continue the same trend, and actually the 1961 would fall off a cliff face sooner than the 1723?

[Edited: got confused about which plots were which speakers, etc.. post made little sense]

 

[C. Cook]

Interesting. I'd seen these somewhere before and thought they looked really nice. Will be checking to see if woodgrain finish is available on a pair of used ones.

 

[iNetRunner]

They're $1250 EACH, $2500/pair. That is more than twice the price B&M dealers will sell Revel M106s for, hundreds more than F206s, and is in the ballpark of what F208s will cost per pair. Kefs brand new R3 Metas are $2200/pair, the R3s were $1800 with clearance sales going under $1000. There's nothing value about Arendal, they're expensive speakers, which is fine. There's just no "value" or "price-to-performace" advantage over their competitors as you claimed. They're very objectively MORE expensive.

Uh. Does Revel really sell their speakers 50% off in B&M dealers? I think you are missing the fact that Revel too prices their speakers per unit, not per pair.

i would say that Arendal’s 1961 line is slightly cheaper than Revel’s Concerta2 line. And Arendal 1723 line is slightly cheaper than Revel’s Performa3 line. (Revels being slightly cheaper when they are on sale at 25% off.)

 

[Raizo]

This is a 400W 27 Kg huge monitor

I'm not sure comparing it with little bookshelf like R3 or M106s is right.

 

[Robbo99999]

But IMD is a real thing...you cannot compare full bandwidth distortion results to a high-passed distortion test. Given how few speakers have a THX classification in the current market, it doesn't seem to be worth it for Amir to perform a special test just to confirm the THX certification, even if THX would provide the full certification requirements.

IMD is as seperate test when you play two tones at the same time, it's not the same as a standard THD test where you just sweep one tone at a time through the frequency range - so IMD doesn't explain your ideas and does not come into play in that test. So yes, you can compare a high passed THD distortion test to a full bandwidth distortion test in the frequency area that you'd be interested in - above 100Hz for speakers used with a subwoofer, they would be the same in your area of interest above 100Hz.

 

[rynberg]

IMD is as seperate test when you play two tones at the same time, it's not the same as a standard THD test where you just sweep one tone at a time through the frequency range - so IMD doesn't explain your ideas and does not come into play in that test. So yes, you can compare a high passed THD distortion test to a full bandwidth distortion test in the frequency area that you'd be interested in - above 100Hz for speakers used with a subwoofer, they would be the same in your area of interest above 100Hz.

Ah, you are correct.

 

[Haint]

Uh. Does Revel really sell their speakers 50% off in B&M dealers? I think you are missing the fact that Revel too prices their speakers per unit, not per pair.

i would say that Arendal’s 1961 line is slightly cheaper than Revel’s Concerta2 line. And Arendal 1723 line is slightly cheaper than Revel’s Performa3 line. (Revels being slightly cheaper when they are on sale at 25% off.)

They do, I'm not missing anything. A good Revel dealer (with a store, probably doesn't apply to most integrator/installers that sell extremely low volume to clients) will sell for somewhere between 30 - 50% off depending on inventory levels and the size of the order. I actually just received an email ad from my dealer offering near 60% off M105's off just for buying a single pair (new in box, authorized dealer). The mark up on speakers is not really a secret. The Concerta2's and Performa3's are both significantly cheaper in practice than the competing Arendal lines, as AFAIK they do not offer any kind of discounting or semi-regular sales of any note. The Ascend Sierra LX's referenced as an alternative bargain above are literally twice the price of M105's.

This is a 400W 27 Kg huge monitor

I'm not sure comparing it with little bookshelf like R3 or M106s is right.

Even ignoring the fact that their high output distortion appears to be worse than the "little bookshelves", as I mentioned this price point is actually competing against clearance R7's (currently $1800/pair) or F206/208 towers.

 

[iNetRunner]

They do, I'm not missing anything. A good Revel dealer (with a store, probably doesn't apply to most integrator/installers that sell extremely low volume to clients) will sell for somewhere between 30 - 50% off depending on inventory levels and the size of the order. I actually just received an email ad from my dealer offering near 60% off M105's off just for buying a single pair (new in box, authorized dealer). The mark up on speakers is not really a secret. The Concerta2's and Performa3's are both significantly cheaper in practice than the competing Arendal lines, as AFAIK they do not offer any kind of discounting or semi-regular sales of any note.

So we are talking about distributor prices vs. customer prices? Sure, it’s possible that some end users are offered some products at/near distributor prices, but unless you are an employee/relative etc. that’s probably very rare.

And the counter is that the ID manufacturer (i.e. Arendal) that doesn’t have distributors doesn’t do distributor prices?

 

[Haint]

So we are talking about distributor prices vs. customer prices? Sure, it’s possible that some end users are offered some products at/near distributor prices, but unless you are an employee/relative etc. that’s probably very rare.

And the counter is that the ID manufacturer (i.e. Arendal) that doesn’t have distributors doesn’t do distributor prices?

No these are standard customer prices I'm quoting, as in this is what you yourself would pay to buy the speakers, not employee/friends&family discounts. By order size I meant if you're buying 7 - 9 speakers to kit out your Hometheater, you're more likely to get a larger discount than just buying a single speaker or a single pair. I have 3 stores I typically contact when I'm looking to buy, all their first offers are within this 30-50% off range without any kind of haggling (it will obviously vary based on their standing inventories and motivation to hit internal sells targets). They're high volume dealers (by Hifi standards) looking to move inventory, not sell a few units to a few suckers at full MSRP. Harman direct's semi-annual sales frequently move speakers at 75-85% off so I'm not sure why this is so surprising to you.

 

[iNetRunner]

No these are standard customer prices I'm quoting, as in this is what you yourself would pay to buy the speakers, not employee/friends&family discounts. By order size I meant if you're buying 7 - 9 speakers to kit out your Hometheater, you're more likely to get a larger discount than just buying a single speaker or a single pair. I have 3 stores I typically contact when I'm looking to buy, all their first offers are within this 30-50% off range without any kind of haggling (it will obviously vary based on their standing inventories and motivation to internal hit sells targets). They're high volume dealers (by Hifi standards) looking to move inventory, not sell a few units to a few suckers at full MSRP. Harman direct's semi-annual sales frequently move speakers at 75-85% off so I'm not sure why this is so surprising to you.

The best reported sales on Revel speakers have been only 25%. (What they usually do twice a year for the Concerta2 models, and the last few years a shorter runs for the Performa3 models. And apparently the past few days, and only for a short duration, they are also doing it for the PerformaBe models.) 10% off is the usual sales price for most Revel speakers in B&M stores, outside any sales events.