Arendal Sound 1961 Tower review (by Erin)

[audioeclectic]

If the speaker has an angle of inclination of 5 degrees, how far away should the listening position be, if my ears are 3.6 feet from the ground?

 

[rolfrander]

If the speaker has an angle of inclination of 5 degrees, how far away should the listening position be, if my ears are 3.6 feet from the ground?

My understanding is that your ear should be within +/- 10 degrees of the tweeter. I tried measuring on the picture, and found that it is approx 68 cm above ground. So if my measurements (and trigonometry) is correct, this means an ear at 110 cm (3.6 feet) should be atleast 158 cm (5.2 feet) from the speaker.

 

[audioeclectic]

I have those fantastic tower speakers, my room is small, 13.12 X 12.46 feet, if I install the tower on the floor,
It needs 11.48 feet of distance to the listening position, but my listening position in this room is 8.2 feet,
so I added a 4 inch tall base, the tweeter beam reaches my ear level at 3.6 feet in front
and considerably clean since my listening position is high due to my height and the height of the chair,
the speaker disappears acoustically and creates a great stage, I put acoustic treatments in my room
and the sweet spot expanded to greatly. This is the photo of my room with the acoustic treatments,
The panels can be moved and adjusted to improve response, they are a combination of resonators and dissipates,
It was not necessary to put diffusers. I placed them with the help of a tool that a friend lent me, a laser pointer for speakers.
I'm still in the process of adapting my music room, sorry for the mess in the bookcase, and I will change those curtains for others that look better and do not negatively influence the acoustics.
In the central front part I will put some photographs with the logo of the audio equipment brands that which integrate my stereo system,
which are Arendal, Eversolo, Schitt, iFi, Denon and Audio Technica.

 

[Head_Unit]

I bet the specs are with in-room extension (i.e. +6 dB as they mention in the paragraph above the carts). They should make that clear.

Hello? Klipsch? Zu Audio? [list redacted as it overloaded the ASR server]

 

[graystreet]

I purchased the Arendal 1961 towers and am thinking I might return them. I can't seem to figure out why I'm getting such a muted treble response. I'm not one who loves sibilance, but the symbols in music are almost gone, and the entire upper range is seriously subdued. I played side-by-side with Q Acoustics 5040 towers and the difference was night and day in the treble. The same for my HSU Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelves. This is with a Denon AVR-X4800H in 2 channel mode and paired with a sub crossed over at 80 hz.

Could there be something else I'm missing. At first, I wondered if the super shallow binding posts were somehow obstructing the banana plugs from fully inserting, but it appears that's just the design. This is in a large living room and about 12-13 ft from MLP. The 5° angle seems to properly align with the ear axis.

 

[Beave]

I purchased the Arendal 1961 towers and am thinking I might return them. I can't seem to figure out why I'm getting such a muted treble response. I'm not one who lives sibilance, but the symbols in music are almost gone, and the entire upper range is seriously subdued. I played side by side with Q Acoustics 5040 towers and the difference was night and day in the treble. The same for my HSU Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelves. This is with a Denon AVR-X4800H in 2 channel mode and paired with a sub crossed over at 80 hz.

Could there be something else I'm missing. At first, I wondered if the super shallow binding posts were somehow obstructing the banana plugs from fully inserting, but it appears that's just the design. This is in a large living room and about 12-13 ft from MLP. The 5° angle seems to properly align with the ear axis.

Did you remember to turn off any room correction/EQ from the previous speakers?

 

[audioeclectic]

I purchased the Arendal 1961 towers and am thinking I might return them. I can't seem to figure out why I'm getting such a muted treble response. I'm not one who lives sibilance, but the symbols in music are almost gone, and the entire upper range is seriously subdued. I played side by side with Q Acoustics 5040 towers and the difference was night and day in the treble. The same for my HSU Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelves. This is with a Denon AVR-X4800H in 2 channel mode and paired with a sub crossed over at 80 hz.

Could there be something else I'm missing. At first, I wondered if the super shallow binding posts were somehow obstructing the banana plugs from fully inserting, but it appears that's just the design. This is in a large living room and about 12-13 ft from MLP. The 5° angle seems to properly align with the ear axis.

At first when new I noticed that its treble was soft and low compared to the previous speakers I had, but I made the proper placement of the speakers, that the tweeter was focused on my ears and after 50 hours everything pleasantly improved its sound It is impressive, later I placed the acoustic treatments and I was even more surprised by what they can give, a lot of extension in very high frequencies, without being exaggerated, their sound tends to have a flat response, they are very honest to say in some way. My system is stereo without any type of processing or room correction, check that carefully as suggested in the previous note, remove all room correction and listen to them like this, in stereo, after that, go through the configuration of your AV Receiver again As you did with your previous speakers, after 50 hours, do the room correction again and they should improve a lot.

 

[Deleted member 21219]

At first when new I noticed that its treble was soft and low compared to the previous speakers I had, but I made the proper placement of the speakers, that the tweeter was focused on my ears and after 50 hours everything pleasantly improved its sound It is impressive, later I placed the acoustic treatments and I was even more surprised by what they can give, a lot of extension in very high frequencies, without being exaggerated, their sound tends to have a flat response, they are very honest to say in some way. My system is stereo without any type of processing or room correction, check that carefully as suggested in the previous note, remove all room correction and listen to them like this, in stereo, after that, go through the configuration of your AV Receiver again As you did with your previous speakers, after 50 hours, do the room correction again and they should improve a lot.

The speakers do not "improve" ... your brain adapts.

Do Audio Speakers Break-in?

There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Jim

 

[montyliam]

I purchased the Arendal 1961 towers and am thinking I might return them. I can't seem to figure out why I'm getting such a muted treble response. I'm not one who lives sibilance, but the symbols in music are almost gone, and the entire upper range is seriously subdued. I played side by side with Q Acoustics 5040 towers and the difference was night and day in the treble. The same for my HSU Research HB-1 MK2 bookshelves. This is with a Denon AVR-X4800H in 2 channel mode and paired with a sub crossed over at 80 hz.

Could there be something else I'm missing. At first, I wondered if the super shallow binding posts were somehow obstructing the banana plugs from fully inserting, but it appears that's just the design. This is in a large living room and about 12-13 ft from MLP. The 5° angle seems to properly align with the ear axis.

I can't speak for HSU, but the Q'Acoustics models tested by Erin, even the newer 5020 have all had quite elevated treble response. The 1961's are flat on-axis. It could be a case of you have gotten used to the elevated treble of the Q'Acoustics, which has now gone with the Arendal and they sound flat and lifeless.

 

[audioeclectic]

The speakers do not "improve" ... your brain adapts.

Do Audio Speakers Break-in?

There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Jim

I understand very well what Amirm explains, especially what he says about the manufacturers also mentioning it so that you do not have the option of returning the new speakers if you did not like them. I understand very well that our mind sometimes plays a bad trick on us, however, being aware of that, you look for a way to focus on what you hear or perceive, and yes I have noticed slight differences with the mechanical elements, I have even noticed it with phono cartridges when the environmental temperature changes rapidly. The test that Amirm did or the one he mentions about the Revels could have been done better, allowing more time to pass. In that case I should think that my old ADS LS810 from 1980 should sound the same as when new, they should even measure the same as when new, and that is not the case.

 

[graystreet]

I can't speak for HSU, but the Q'Acoustics models tested by Erin, even the newer 5020 have all had quite elevated treble response. The 1961's are flat on-axis. It could be a case of you have gotten used to the elevated treble of the Q'Acoustics, which has now gone with the Arendal and they sound

It is entirely possible that I've gotten so used to the sound of the HSU HB1-MK2 speakers that the Arendal sound like they have no upper range detail. The Q Acoustics 5040 speakers were just purchased to see if I prefer them over the Arendal speakers before my 60 days to return them is up, so I'm more used to the Arendal speakers (50+ days listening at this point) than the recently delivered Q Acoustics. I can't imagine that what I'm hearing is desirable in the upper range. If I'm that biased at this point - even after 50 days of exclusive listening - I'd question whether I need to revisit the audiologist if I hadn't just seen one this past year and passed with a pretty good grade.

Did you remember to turn off any room correction/EQ from the previous speakers?

I ran separate Audyssey profiles for each of the two speakers and saved them under two different profiles in the Amp, and then saved those to two different quick button settings on the remote to dB matched output given their different sensitivity. That's the best I could do to make it a fast, switch-out-the-banana plugs-and-press-the-quick-setting-button comparison as I could. Not perfect on the methodology, but it's the best I could do.

I listened to them through Audyssey corrected (set at 600 hz and below), as well as in pure direct mode. I listened to music as well as with home theater shows. With TV shows, I have to enable dialogue enhancement with the Arendal speakers (no center and low treble). I don't need that with the Q Acoustics.

All that said, I actually like the sound characteristic and fullness of the Arendal speakers, minus the treble/detail issue. Any recommendations I'm not thinking? Could being too close to the wall affect it that much? They're about 12-15 inches from the back wall, and I don't think I can pull them further out without getting in the way.

 

[Deleted member 21219]

I understand very well what Amirm explains, especially what he says about the manufacturers also mentioning it so that you do not have the option of returning the new speakers if you did not like them. I understand very well that our mind sometimes plays a bad trick on us, however, being aware of that, you look for a way to focus on what you hear or perceive, and yes I have noticed slight differences with the mechanical elements, I have even noticed it with phono cartridges when the environmental temperature changes rapidly. The test that Amirm did or the one he mentions about the Revels could have been done better, allowing more time to pass. In that case I should think that my old ADS LS810 from 1980 should sound the same as when new, they should even measure the same as when new, and that is not the case.

There's a difference between break-in and old age. What people call "break-in" supposedly happens in a short period of time; hours, days or weeks.

As for your ADS speakers not sounding the same as when they were new (over thirty years has passed) and not even measuring the same ... how do you know? Auditory memory is short-term, not long-term, and certainly not thirty years long-term.
And did you have them measured thirty years ago and then recently? I would suspect that the measurement technology used thirty years ago is not translatable to the measurement technology of today, although without seeing the measurements from thirty years ago, I can't say for sure.

Jim

 

[audioeclectic]

There's a difference between break-in and old age. What people call "break-in" supposedly happens in a short period of time; hours, days or weeks.

As for your ADS speakers not sounding the same as when they were new (over thirty years has passed) and not even measuring the same ... how do you know? Auditory memory is short-term, not long-term, and certainly not thirty years long-term.
And did you have them measured thirty years ago and then recently? I would suspect that the measurement technology used thirty years ago is not translatable to the measurement technology of today, although without seeing the measurements from thirty years ago, I can't say for sure.

Jim

because when listening to them now, it is very obvious that they generate a distortion, before at the same volume level with the same music in the same room, they did not generate the distortion and failure that is manifested today, the failure currently is that the coil hits the the rear part of the magnet in a transient peak, as I mentioned at the same volume level, same music and same venue. If I lower the volume and play the same music, this error does not occur, but it no longer produces the sound it used to, and I have also physically checked them and they do not have any breaks nor have they become detached from their basket.