Arendal 1723 Speaker Review

[audio2920]

This form factor is interesting to me and would suit my room well.

Good SPL capability above about 80Hz in conjunction with reasonably well behaved FR/DI, excellent build quality, warranty, customer service, and all for $1250/unit. This could well be a winning combination for my home theater needs!!

 

[rynberg]

I'm not forgetting it because I mentioned above 100Hz in terms of measuring low distortion - unless if the tested speaker runs into a limiter in the bass I don't know if that would then corrupt the signal above 100Hz. Either way, you could high pass the speaker if you wanted to simulate a THX test I suppose.

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.

 

[Colonel7]

James Larson at audioholics reviewed these 2 years ago here. His gated and ground plane measurements, plus ported vs sealed are on the 2nd page of the review

 

[Jon AA]

Modern Dolby specs are not 105dB in small rooms, only in public theatres. For small (home) rooms they specify 79-82dB(C) for a maximum of 99-102dB(C) (pg15).

True, but for the purposes of speaker design requirements, I'd still assume 105 as 85 is still in spec for the home studio guidelines. And as rvsixer mentions, those are what everybody uses these days, the home guideline is so over-simplified there's a lot of misleading info in it.

Come on guys--turn down the volume and enjoy the movie.

I actually had to re-watch that scene after posting the picture yesterday. I can assure you, it's very enjoyable at reference!

 

[rvsixer]

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.

Thanks for confirming the price I previously stated for the Arendals. The rest, I previously dismissed for not meeting one criteria or another for reference HT (especially compression where the Arendals shine), but I will revisit again.

 

[rvsixer]

You are forgetting one very important distinction -- Amir tests for distortion using a full range signal, while THX/Dolby assume that any non-subwoofer channel is high-passed at 80 Hz.

Agreed all around.

Though for a bit of info for tech trivia night, Dolby states non-subwoofer channels can be full range or bass managed provided the final config meets FR/output requirements (see Dolby tech guide previously posted, sec 2.5.1)

 

[Jon AA]

I really do wish THX would publish details on their testing--it would be very interesting to Geeks like us and maybe more meaningful to consumers if they knew more about what they meant.

The Perlisten S7t advertises 117 dB @ <2% - 2nd, 3rd Harmonics (which is impressive as hell, BTW) and is Dominus certified. Yet one of the few specs THX does mention is distortion testing at 120 dB for the Dominus rating--so maybe their threshold is higher? Maybe the S7t passes at 120 once the high pass is applied?

Also, their S5t is listed as both Dominus and Ultra certified with only 114.0dB peak <3% - 2nd, 3rd Harmonics. I'm guessing that means it's Dominus certified for use as a surround but Ultra certified as LCR? Maybe they do have different requirements as Dolby does--but I've never seen it spelled out anywhere.

 

[paulgyro]

Erin's review? I know he reviewed the 1723 S bookshelf, but did he also review this 1723 THX Monitor? They are different speakers.

He has it in for review now.

 

[paulgyro]

I really do wish THX would publish details on their testing--it would be very interesting to Geeks like us and maybe more meaningful to consumers if they knew more about what they meant.

The Perlisten S7t advertises 117 dB @ <2% - 2nd, 3rd Harmonics (which is impressive as hell, BTW) and is Dominus certified. Yet one of the few specs THX does mention is distortion testing at 120 dB for the Dominus rating--so maybe their threshold is higher? Maybe the S7t passes at 120 once the high pass is applied?

Also, their S5t is listed as both Dominus and Ultra certified with only 114.0dB peak <3% - 2nd, 3rd Harmonics. I'm guessing that means it's Dominus certified for use as a surround but Ultra certified as LCR? Maybe they do have different requirements as Dolby does--but I've never seen it spelled out anywhere.

You are right in everything you state above. Ultra for LCR. Much of the THX spec can be extrapolated but as you say it is not officially published. One things for a certain is that THX ultra and dominus certifications are meaningful. THX select not so much.

 

[paulgyro]

Thanks for confirming the price I previously stated for the Arendals. The rest, I previously dismissed for not meeting one criteria or another for reference HT (especially compression where the Arendals shine), but I will revisit again.

The Arendals also are more dynamic and better build quality (in my opinion). Also they have an extended in home trial period and will pay return shipping. The value of this cannot be overstated as we all know the speaker performance in your individual room varies greatly.

 

[paulgyro]

This form factor is interesting to me and would suit my room well.

Good SPL capability above about 80Hz in conjunction with reasonably well behaved FR/DI, excellent build quality, warranty, customer service, and all for $1250/unit. This could well be a winning combination for my home theater needs!!

Home theater and music!

 

[rvsixer]

The Arendals also are more dynamic and better build quality (in my opinion). Also they have an extended in home trial period and will pay return shipping. The value of this cannot be overstated as we all know the speaker performance in your individual room varies greatly.

Yes not lost on me and I already stated much of this to @Haint, so let's hope he sees your comments here.

I did have time this afternoon to revisit some of the examples he claimed to meet/exceed Arendal performance and are also much less expensive...but can't find either the performance to match, or the exceedingly low prices cited for the Revel/KEF that are performant. All the B&M's near me (not many), AND the online retailers, charge much higher prices at or near MSRP; and therefore the value prop is not there.

 

[jbattman1016]

You are right in everything you state above. Ultra for LCR. Much of the THX spec can be extrapolated but as you say it is not officially published. One things for a certain is that THX ultra and dominus certifications are meaningful. THX select not so much.

So does this mean the monoprice THX ultra certified speakers are at the same level as these?

 

[Spocko]

You want to look at the RTA measurement (the purple line). In this example the third highest peak (almost as high as the second) is at about 130-190 Hz (certainly not from LFE). That's going to be murder on most bookshelves at high volumes.

Great find, you're absolutely right in that the 130-190Hz range is where most bookshelves begin falling apart at higher volumes and so it makes sense that these utilize dual 8" woofers plus a rear port for THX Ultra certification

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Great find, you're absolutely right in that the 130-190Hz range is where most bookshelves begin falling apart at higher volumes and so it makes sense that these utilize dual 8" woofers plus a rear port for THX Ultra certification

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

vs

 

[Spocko]

So does this mean the monoprice THX ultra certified speakers are at the same level as these?

"same level" is definitely worth examining - my understanding is that THX Ultra simply means hitting certain SPLs within a specific distortion limit in a given distance/room size. If nothing else is important to you but that metric, then YES, and monoprice THX speakers continue to be the best bang for the buck IMO. However, in order to hit the $765 per speaker price point, many compromises are made. Look at the rear of these speakers and the finish. I'm a huge fan of monoprice THX for audio value but they do look/feel cheap all around. And the 10 year warranty on the Arendal is part of the price of build quality.

 

[Spocko]

James Larson at audioholics reviewed these 2 years ago here. His gated and ground plane measurements, plus ported vs sealed are on the 2nd page of the review

Looks like solid 96dB down to 90Hz - I'm sold!

 

[Spocko]

The Arendals also are more dynamic and better build quality (in my opinion). Also they have an extended in home trial period and will pay return shipping. The value of this cannot be overstated as we all know the speaker performance in your individual room varies greatly.

better build quality is also reflected by the manufacturer's warranty - in this case it's 10 years which is pretty impressive (FYI Monoprice's 5 year warranty on their THX Ultra towers is pretty good too!)

 

[rvsixer]

You want to look at the RTA measurement (the purple line). In this example the third highest peak (almost as high as the second) is at about 130-190 Hz (certainly not from LFE). That's going to be murder on most bookshelves at high volumes.

Great find, you're absolutely right in that the 130-190Hz range is where most bookshelves begin falling apart at higher volumes and so it makes sense that these utilize dual 8" woofers plus a rear port for THX Ultra certification

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 ?

 

[Jon AA]

So does this mean the monoprice THX ultra certified speakers are at the same level as these?

There's a pretty huge gap in capability between Ultra and Dominus certification. One speaker may pretty easily surpass all the Ultra requirements (but still be nowhere near Dominus) and another speaker may just barely pass the requirements for Ultra, but both speakers would get the Ultra certification. Think of it as a minimum bar height, all you know is they both made it over that particular bar, but you don't know by how much.