Arendal 1961 Bookshelf review (by Erin)

[hmt]

Yes

 

[Doctors11]

What’s the consensus on waveguides and near field listening?

Bump. I'm interested in this as well. Any thoughts?

 

[cd45123]

Wow, this has me really looking at the step up 1723 to see how that compares with my R3

 

[Descartes]

Wow, this has me really looking at the step up 1723 to see how that compares with my R3

Yes interested as well! Has anyone reviewed the 1723?

 

[sweetchaos]

Has anyone reviewed the 1723?

Here's 1723 Monitor THX (US$2400/pair)

source

 

[warpdrive]

I like.

I'm in Canada, so I wonder what the duties are when you import these....most importantly whether the courier will charge hefty brokerage fees. I always hesitate ordering things for that reason.

 

[Sancus]

I'm in Canada, so I wonder what the duties are when you import these....most importantly whether the courier will charge hefty brokerage fees. I always hesitate ordering things for that reason.

When I bought 2x Arendal 2S valued at $4000 USD I ended up paying $632 CAD, which is about 12.64%(BC PST+GST is 12%), and it was shipped DHL. So there ends up being some kind of customs fees(I forget the details) but it's not that much compared to the sales tax, which is unavoidable for most practical purposes.

That said, I can't find the invoice breaking down the whole thing so I don't remember if there was a fixed fee from DHL which might end up being relatively more than 0.64% for a cheaper purchase.

 

[Doctors11]

I like.

I'm in Canada, so I wonder what the duties are when you import these....most importantly whether the courier will charge hefty brokerage fees. I always hesitate ordering things for that reason.

I believe they revised their website recently. When you look at the model in question it automatically detects your location and shows you the final price, shipping and taxes included. Please double check me on this.

 

[sweetchaos]

It does detect location and shows your local currency (CDN in my case).

Regarding duties...according their FAQ site, they take care of everything:

First, do not pay as we have already done that for you. Contact us at [email protected] and we will take care of it. Basically, we will send proof of tax payment again. In some countries this can be resolved in a business day or two, in others it can take over a week.

Just know that in the logistical chain sometimes happen, and no matter what, we have your back.

 

[Sancus]

Regarding duties...according their FAQ site, they take care of everything:

No, not for all countries. It depends and is shown in the product summary. For example, for the US:

And for Canada:

 

[Xmech team]

What's your opinion on how this compares to the Emotiva B1+?

You guys decided to ignore my comment huh..?

 

[sweetchaos]

You guys decided to ignore my comment huh..?

They're both recommended. So you can't go wrong with either. Just different design criteria.

 

[warpdrive]

I have an old compact SVS sealed sub and I was looking for a good companion speaker and this looks pretty ideal. I don't have a large room, so the compact dimensions of this speaker (like the very shallow depth), and no rear port making it easy to place, and visually it looks very compact too (the front baffle surface has very little wasted space...it looks all driver and waveguide). Also like the way it looks, simple and clean. The SVS can play loud without any hint of distortion even when it hits its limiters, and the strong output capabilities of this means it can probably keep up well even when cranking it.

 

[Descartes]

Here's 1723 Monitor THX (US$2400/pair)

source

Using these for the front in the same orientation would d be sweet!

 

[greenpsycho]

Oh man, all these measurements are so promising. I'm really bummed that they don't have a three-way center channel though, they seem squarely aimed at home theaters but only offer subpar two-way center channels. It doesn't seem to make much sense.

 

[Brian6751]

three-way center option would be nice but MTM center issue gets overblown. everything has trade-offs.

 

[greenpsycho]

overblown? or measurements show there is an issue and deficiency? ie totally accurate and appropriate

Whats the downside of a 3 way beside cost? If revel, monitor, polk, heck, even a bunch of the internet "direct to consumer" brands can do it (even aperion), why can't/shouldn't we expect this from arendal?

 

[Brian6751]

IDK, ask Arendal.

I just would not dismiss using a good speaker range just because there is no three-way center option. There are lots of other things that come into play with setup and even if there is a horizontal three way option, it will still not sound "exactly" like the L&R.

I do think dismissing a speaker option just because there is not a three-way center is overblowing the issue, yes. If its a surround setup, the choice should take everything into consideration. This is just my opinion though so if having a three-way center means that much to you, there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[TurtlePaul]

overblown? or measurements show there is an issue and deficiency? ie totally accurate and appropriate

There can be an issue and that issue can also be overblown. Only with center channels do we see this issue always brought up, when it applies to any non-coaxial speaker. If a center can deliver adequate horizontal +/- 30 degrees, I think that most listening rooms can make that cover even a larger sofa at normal listening distance.

Look at the ~40 degree vertical off-axis on this speaker. If you are standing up a few feet away from the speaker, this is what it will sound like. I assume the tweeter is 40" from the floor and the listeners ear when standing is 70" high. A big suck out from 1 kHz to 2.5 kHz. One could comments in every traditional 2-way thread that the speakers are bad for parties because they only work when the listener is seated at tweeter level (and at 2 kHz, the most sensitive hearing range which contains human voices).

 

[greenpsycho]

But if you have a choice (and we are spoiled for choice) why would you choose anything OTHER than a well implemented 3 way at this price? We aren't exactly talking elac debut budget pricing here, they should have one in their lineup for sure.