A No BS Review of the Arendal 1723 THX Towers
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
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I use the 1723 Monitors with an SVS sub and love them. I would use a sub with any speaker setup.
Hi Joe,
I loved the review, the interplay with you and Channa was a fun way of presenting the information.
In the Conversations with Arendal, they stated that the warranty is 10 Years for everything now, they used to have 5 years on the 1961 line which has been discontinued.
Also, as you stated the free home trail is 60 Days (Which is amazing and most definitely shows their confidence in the product), And shipping is Free Both ways, so no need to worry (I don’t know of any other company that offers that).
As you know I have many speakers from the Arendal line and I would have to say, this was a good review, I love the Soundstage and Imaging and Tonal Balance on these speakers.
Free shipping back too!!!?? That's confidence!
I really like the look of these. Not having killer bass is not issue for me because I use subs anyway, so its all about sound clarity. One day I like to own something like this, I've got the upgrade bug again, it's going around, LOL. Nice review, I like this laid back approach.
I have a pair in piano gloss. I also have the center speaker. I'd be interested is selling if you were interested. I need a more narrow tower because of my screen.
Thanks to @technodad for helping me out with this review. No thanks for watching me unbox these things! LOL.
Haha! Anytime, player!!
Arendal elves should have given up sensitivity to increase bass extension/output.
@@wa2368 I prefer that trade-off myself, but they probably needed it for the THX certification. Andrew Jones said it best when talking about the choice for more deep bass extension. He said, I don't always want to play my speakers loudly, but I want to hear the bass all the time.
2.5-way speakers usually have downward-tilting main lobe, so it's common for them to be slanted or tilted to compensate.
@@hideopalescent since when? Klipsch ain 2.5way , most of them are tilted. My hdi 3800 is not tilted, they are 2.5 way
I truly appreciated the straight up honesty, right out of the gate. I saw a glowing review of these speakers earlier but had no idea of their limitations. Thank you fellas. No BS. Good job. I feel like I know a lot more about these speakers after listening to you guys. Thanks again
My pleasure. I feel like our raw reaction says a lot. Of course I did lots of testing in various situations, different placements, and put them through their paces. I feel like I have a good understanding of these speakers and all of their pros and cons.
I have three of those on my LCR behind a transparent 150” screen running 450watts and cranked up they are crystal clear and want more !
They wake up with higher wattage for sure and get way louder than I want to listen to. I have Klipsh 8600 and I loved them but the Arendals just blow them away on high volume clarity . Especially when you put the juice to them !
Hi Joe ! On their site I think they recommend keeping 2 ports open to reach the lowest octaves. The lowest in room response on their site is 35hz which sounds very respectable. I guess you have to spend a lot to get that clean and accurate 20-20k response from a regular speaker without subwoofer. You can probably get a cheaper speaker that can hit 20hz but it probably won’t be as clean.
Copy and paste from their booklet.
The Tower has the added flexibility of plugging different combinations of the 3 ports. With all three 3 ports open maximum bass output is guaranteed, but with a higher roll-off point. With two 2 ports open, the -3dB point is lowered and the response curve starts to shelve down from roughly where the sealed alignment would, but at a lower rate of roll-off. With one port open, the -3dB point is lower still, but with an increased rate of roll off. All ports plugged brings the Tower back to a fully sealed alignment. The Tower therefore delivers a choice of multiple roll-off, output and damping 'tunes' that will suit a wide variety of tastes, room acoustics and speaker placement.
Love this format of review. Feels very Diggnation.
Who's Kevin Rose and who's Alex Albrecht?
The dynamic duo!
You know!!!
Great video
I Recently watched some movies on two channels and was surprised at the clarity and didn't miss out that much on the low extension
Remember too that Arendal recommends a 50 hr. break-in period for the towers and with them being 4ohm they need a lot more power
They cover the return shipping and the 10-year warranty is transferable. Customer service has been awesome as well. I sent Arendal an email and asking what I needed to do with the other guys name and their email in response said they found Jim in the system and already transferred the warranty under me.
That's great to hear!
@@joentellby the way I only have the 1961s
You get a phase flip at the ported frequency which means group delay rises. That’s why sometimes sealed boxes integrate better with subs or people think they sound “fast”. A great speaker design will keep group delay at a minimum until very low frequencies. Some people also think the lack of lows sounds tight when that is incorrect.
Agree with all your statements
In case of this Arendal Towers they also have a phase swing at 120Hz where the sub bass woofers are crossed to the mid bass woofer. Usually that is not an issue because they are crossed over more at like 250Hz or above but in this case it is more like a real subwoofer and thus can be hard to integrate with a subwoofer since the phase response in that area is not linear. A phase swing due to a port is is usually to low to be a problem with integrating with a sub.
Late to the party but I enjoy watching you guys and learning… review style is great, presently working on my 7.4.4 Dolby atmos system
10 year warranty. 60 day audition period. "Wow! 3 months, huh." 🤣😆😂
Lol, who said it? Me or Channa?
@@joentell Channa.. 😁
Always love this duo...keep up the good work!
Gentlemen, How you do compare the RF7-iii vs Arendal 1723 sir? Trying to upgrade my home theater between these 2 brands. Love to watch movies and listen to all kind of music. Please advise and thanks in advance!!!!
Great review. I have a Arendal HT and love them.
I got these today! My home theater/listening room is upstairs on the 2nd level and it took a lot to get these up all by myself. But once you unpack them and set them up, they look stunning. My room is 16 x 30 x 10 and the first thing I noticed was the bass. They come with all the ports plugged so i was extremely surprised at how articulate the bass is on these things. Then I experimented with taking out the port plugs and they sound the best with all three ports unplugged. I have 4 subwoofers (2 PB 1000 pros and 2 SB 1000 Pros) and i have calibrated them to sound pretty flat using MiniDsp down to 80hz. With all three ports unplugged, i actaully feel like i dont need the subs for stereo listening. They go deep and the extension is really good. I crossed them over at 40hz and thats the best combination I am finding so far. I have them 3 ft out from the front and side walls and they are 10 ft apart. My MLP is about 10 ft from them.
The soundstage and imaging is just beyond what I was expecing. I had SVS ultra towers hooked before and these Arendals trump them all over. I am running them through very modest electronics, a Yamaha RXA 2080 and Emotiva BasX A5 and in all honesty I didnt expect much but they get loud with not a lof of power and play really clean at 80db. I am waiting on a Buckeye stereo Hypex amp (700W at 4ohms) which I am hoping is only going to make them sound better.
Just wanted to share my thoughts. For me personally, the bass is extremely good. Maybe placement is key to making them sound good. Giving them some room away from walls could work wonders. I will run REW sweeps soon to see their frequency response at my MLP but as it is, they sound fantastic.
I guess i will wait the the 50hours review....let the timer start😂😂😂😂great video guys ...
I really liked this method of review, feels more in the moment, reminds me of Zreviews without feeling like you are copying his style.
I love big bass, so i like always to keep speakers near the walls💪
You guys look like you're having way too much fun🙂
We were
Hey guys! I don’t usually comment but since I own them I’ll chime in…I have these towers (and the center channel). For these speakers you MUST let them break in at least what Arendal recommends which is 50 hours. I was very underwhelmed at first. After they break in they are unrivaled!
Give the Revel Performa F206 towers a listen! They usually sell for $2000 each, but currently on sale for 1400 each.. Anyway... I love these... and they have bass! They make an F208 also, but they just were not as good as the 206s, IMO.
I don't usually comment on the review itself, but the way you do it is cool. Good vibes, good content. It's giving me Flipnout vibes (pinball reviews).
How would you compare these Arendals to the new SVS ultra evolution pinnacle ? I have them since a week ago, and I'm quite happy, but I'd like to have additionnal clarity on the mids. When a lot of instruments are playing at the same time, it gets just a little bit confusing sometimes.
Use more than 200 watts on these speakers. 1723 Arendal THX are rated at 500 watts. I use 400 watts per channel amp and they hit hard.
Technodad is right. It’s for time alignment. I have a pair of vintage Theil CS2’s that also have angled front baffles. Theil’s terminolgy was “Coherent Source”.
Did you test the speakers with only one port plugged and with all ports open? I expect sealed speakers to have less bass. If none of the ports are plugged, what kind of bass do you get? I would expect more bass but possibly boomy and not tight. I would be interested in knowing how they sound before using an equalizer.
Exactly what I was thinking. I own a pair of SVS Ultra towers with 2 rear ports and they sound much fuller without the port plugs.
Copy and paste from their booklet.
The Tower has the added flexibility of plugging different combinations of the 3 ports. With all three 3 ports open maximum bass output is guaranteed, but with a higher roll-off point. With two 2 ports open, the -3dB point is lowered and the response curve starts to shelve down from roughly where the sealed alignment would, but at a lower rate of roll-off. With one port open, the -3dB point is lower still, but with an increased rate of roll off. All ports plugged brings the Tower back to a fully sealed alignment. The Tower therefore delivers a choice of multiple roll-off, output and damping 'tunes' that will suit a wide variety of tastes, room acoustics and speaker placement.
What I wanted is the lowest roll-off point, 1 port open. All ports open give maximum bass output as far as loudness. That's not the same as deep bass extension.
Hello. I am trying to decide between 1723 monitors + 1S and Wharfedale Elysians 2 or 4. Any thoughts?
So arendal monitor thx monitors here.
Using something more of a constant 4ohm capable helps. Rotel ras 5000 intregated amp helps no sub required for all the audiophiles out there.
If you want more bass 1v is plenty sufficient. Rotel offers a sub output.
Time alignment on tilt, and definitely does make a difference.
Thanks for the review, can’t wait for the center channel review and the bookshelves. I’m on the fence to at least try out the center channel first to see if I like it but have heard so many good things. I currently have polk r200.
I really liked the R200's! They had good bass. I saw other measurements from Erin that weren't so hot, but maybe he got a bad batch. These are a step-up in build quality and sound. Don't expect to get the bass you get from the R200's though. You'll need a sub with these.
Arendal try to make these speakers do all of the things, i wish they made sealed version with all woofer at same output level and you had to use dsp to even out the sound. then you can decide what bas extension you need or high pass if you have larger subwoofers. that way four 8" get you upper bass punch and easier subwoofer integration to larger subwoofers.
I am so glad you brought the speakers down to a human level from God status. I tried to buy them during Christmas vacation they had one of the gloss white S series and I wanted to buy a pair and they wouldn’t put a crowbar in their wallets for 100 bucks so I gave up on them and went back to my magna pans and I am so happy I didn’t spend thousands of dollars on the speaker I have not heard it’s just built well
+1 liked this video format. The red chairs make a nice visual pop. 🎉 Also, your opinions seemed a bit more candid.
That is why you can plug the ports if you want to.
Great & informative review. Im actually considering them for a 2 channel setup. Which speakers perform better on the low end around the same budget, assuming I dont want subs? I was highly impressed by the Emit 50 in that regard.
You can get more bass out of these depending on your room and placement. I was just expecting 20hz extension.
Hi Joe, How does it compare to Klipsch RF7 III?
Let’s go Joe
Let's go champ! :-)
I saw quite a few YT reviews on these compared with the Klipsch RP line that the Klipsch sound better than these. (More dynamic and forward) when compared with the neutral sound of these. I then started looking at the JBL HDI 3800 series speakers, but noticed the price is much more than these. Your Thoughts.
Great Review.
I haven't tried the others.
Hey joe😊 have u ever heard the jbl hdi 3800? I am wondering how the bass is in the 1723 compare to the jbl.
Any chance y'all will review Philharmonic Audio BMR tower? (Lovely cabinets, wider horizontal axis and similar price point to the Arendal stuff.)
Why do you two remind me of Jeff Goldblum & Cheech Marin? (:)
Very strange their website shows 2.5 way for the speaker but they do also list 2 distinct frequencies for the crossover.
I thought this is what is typical of a 3 way speaker.
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY
120Hz / 1500Hz
One is from the lower woofers to the midrange, and the other is from midrange to tweeter. The 2.5 way might just indicate that the bottom 3 woofers are sharing certain frequencies.
@@joentell Yeah, I was unable to find any examples of a 2.5 that also had 2 listed crossover frequencies. My JBL's are 2.5 and they only show one crossover frequency. I thought that top of the 1723 was a dedicated midrange thus this seems like a 3 way.
Oh well, not super critical. Arendal did confirm with me that the center and monitors were the same with differences in labeling orientation only... Clever.
I shall ask about the 2.5.
" No Worries " - ChatGPT
60 days is three months now lol
Great job
Nothing wrong with telling it like it is: Excellent imaging, soundstage and build quality. Less than envious bass. The relaxed presentation style is a nice change. Keep up the good work 🍺
im using them on just purely 2 channel system. the bass for me is more than enough. maybe coz my room is smaller.
What type of music do you listen to? What size room?
@@joentell from rock to hip hop. 20x10x10
@@ryantanchan1 ok. Similar situation to mine. Maybe I'm getting spoiled with my 3 subs in here. I have 2 Arendal subs here too, so I'm sure they're going to handle business!
Arendal 1723 subs > REL > SVS so a few of those will compliment their towers nicely 😊
Oh ok so what you mean is 90% will not need a sub for 2/ch ……gotcha, for a minute there I thought y’all meant bass heads were the majority
If anyone can help me... I know this is an odd long shot but I wanted to know if anyone has heard both the Ken LS60 and these. I know its an odd comparison but if anyone has heard both I would love to know what's better
Which one nicer compare to Q Acoustic Concept 50?
I'm just gonna add that 60 days is not 3 months...
Raked back might help with standing waves
That's what I was think also.
I went to acapella in vilnius in 1998 and took marantz booklet😮 then asked price of turntable it was like house
Well I guess everyone frowns on pre-level EQ usage, or even tone controls. I guess if I transition into a higher end, I could dial these in. I am not sure if I would want to. I like good instrument placing in the sound stage. I remain shocked at how my JBL Studio 590's can through instruments around the room.
I'm all in on proper use of DSP. The JBL Studio's seem like they're good speakers.
Arendal, Norway is where they stated.
I see from the video you have the left hand acoustically transparent Christmas tree. For my system I hand to get the right hand one😂
It's done wonders for my bass resonance issues. 😜
Are you sure you didn't get the bass trap Christmas tree by mistake?@@joentell
I have the Paradigms 8000's, wonder if any of these match up to my monsters? I deleted my sub with these btw, they kick ass.
Excellent review how much power were you feeding them
9:45
275w RMS per channel
I think 🤔 the tilt back is too give you off axis sound from tweeter. It's too hot 🔥
I feel you guys are limited to the placement here.
No way you get good extension having them almost flat against the walls .
Near the walls increases the bass the most. It's just how these were designed. I've talked with the company themselves and they said that their goal was high SPL and low distortion.
Normally I would not be concerned about low end, but for the size and driver compliment....makes no sense. They should be in the low 30's without breaking a sweat.
Hi :) due to space constraints Im looking at either 1723 bookshelf s or the 1723 monitor s with a sub. Do you know how they compare? My listening distance is about 10-11 feet. (Music and movies)
I've been more impressed with the non-MTM designs using the 6.5" drivers. They seem more linear.
Excellent guys, keep this platform going way more information and comparison with other speakers
Only watched first 5 minutes, but I have to ask... Did you guys really leave 2 out of 3 ports plugged on each speaker and then grumbled about lack of bass extension? Why didn't you unplug ALL the ports?
Unplugging all the ports actually leads to less bass extension. A single port open gives the most.
Copy and paste from their booklet.
The Tower has the added flexibility of plugging different combinations of the 3 ports. With all three 3 ports open maximum bass output is guaranteed, but with a higher roll-off point. With two 2 ports open, the -3dB point is lowered and the response curve starts to shelve down from roughly where the sealed alignment would, but at a lower rate of roll-off. With one port open, the -3dB point is lower still, but with an increased rate of roll off. All ports plugged brings the Tower back to a fully sealed alignment. The Tower therefore delivers a choice of multiple roll-off, output and damping 'tunes' that will suit a wide variety of tastes, room acoustics and speaker placement.
What I wanted is the lowest roll-off point, 1 port open. All ports open give maximum bass output as far as loudness. That's not the same as deep bass extension.
I am not yet sold on Arendal loudspeakers. Honestly, I don't like the look of them nor do I like that they are heavy speakers. I have considered checking them out but balk at their heft. Repackaging and returning would be daunting. I get tired just thinking about it.
Yeah, that's understandable. There are many good speakers available now. Just find one that measures well and speaks to you visually, and find one within your budget.
Oh i see 60days because they want you to tak advantage of the 50hours break-in period
this vs the focal aria 948 or 936 or vestia
I Wonder If The Kef R11 Sound Good Or So Guy's????
I've never tried them
I Guess I'm Like Channa??? Where's The Bass, For Such A Speaker Alot Of People Swear By??? I Just Couldn't Imagine Hearing Them Without Some Sort Bass??? Strange????
Don't get us wrong. It has bass. It's just missing that last bit of bass extension we mistakenly were expecting considering their size and number of drivers.
@@joentell , Yeah Joe I Would Love If You Can Get Your Hands On The "Kef R11 Meta Speakers "
Hi great review men natural no bull.
no bass it says 2 vents 34Hz-20KHz (+/-3dB) !
If you saw how big they are in person, and how heavy they are, you're expecting 20Hz bass extension. I know I was. My Encore T6 Towers are seen as going down to 20Hz when I run Audyssey. These are detected as 40Hz. If I'm to recommend these for 2-channel audiophiles who aren't using subs or DSP, I want to see them get down to 20Hz.
The crazy thing is with 1 port open and with DSP, they can play crazy low with authority! They were shaking my garage door! Watch @technodad's uncensored reaction on my Instagram story after I ran a calibration with Magic Beans True Target. instagram.com/stories/joentell/3259156784168740217?igshid=YTI4YzE2YTYwMA==
Keep in mind that I listen to a lot of hip hop and Channa listens to electronic music. Two genres that are known to have lots of bass.
I'm using a single Monolith THX 8" sub in my studio, and 2 of the same THX 8" subs in my living room. They're rated down to about 24Hz on one preset, and only 30Hz in THX mode. They sometimes go on sale for $180 each. They have significantly more deep bass extension in the 24Hz mode. So, I'm not being unreasonable in expecting these to match that performance out of the box. With DSP, I actually think they can, but they chose to go with the THX spec of low distortion at loud volumes.
Seems like Arendal goes for more controlled bass, i have 1723 1s subwoofer and its exactly like that witch is best for music in my opinion becouse that makes them so easy to blend for music
@@andreasmoller9798 sounds good
Should still go deeper. My tiny Guru Audio Junior+ hit 34hz and even the AVR measures them as big
Arendal dosent go for the deepest bass, its going for more clean and controlled bass, more deep bass will also increase distorsion, and thats why their is subwoofers so you dont really need to have bass in that region for the fronts, Arendal 1723 tower can play extreamly loud with very low distorsion and thats why they are thx rated. Bass down to 34 hz is more down enough for music, most music dosent go below 40 hz, an avr is not good enough for most good quality speakers, they dont have the current and struggle with low impedence loads, thats why a poweramp is highly recommended for an avr or stereo amp that have bt by pass
Are they $3000 better than the Encore T6?
That's a tough one, because $3000 is not the same for everyone. It's a lot to me, but maybe no issue for someone else. I think it depends on your budget and ultimate goal. With EQ, these have more potential. They simply have a higher ceiling due to their better components and construction. The T6 Towers might even have more bass without EQ. They're the value kings. Fit and finish on these might make it 100% worth it to some. From a purely sound quality standpoint, they're not 10X better. How could they be? You'll have diminishing returns on anything. I can't say I don't prefer to have these in my system just because they look awesome and sound great with my subs. If I had to go back to using my Encore T6's, would I no longer enjoy movies and music? No way. I'm value oriented though, so keep that in mind.
A Porsche 911 isn't 10X faster than a Honda Accord, but I'm picking the Porsche every day of the week. But my wallet prefers the Honda. 😉 Value is subjective. It's a personal thing. I think these still offer good value at their price compared to others at their price point.
@@joentell I'm value oriented as well. I have the T6 speakers in a two channel setup. They don't disappoint. I'm just always curious about the next best thing. I guess I need to go to a show or find a retail shop to hear higher end gear in person. There aren't any near me, so I guess a road trip is in order. Thanks for the feedback.
Hofmann's Iron Law
Yes! Exactly right. They chose high SPL and a large enclosure, so I thought surely we wouldn't have to sacrifice much deep bass extension. It's not horrible by any means, but I expected more.
On speakers has nice like these would be awesome of you would Wear gloves all i could see on the b rolls where greasy finger prints take away from the shot, other than that great review.
A lot of the prints are actually caused by the rubber they have near the magnets on the grill. It was wiped down numerous times during filming. Anything else?
@@joentell anything else..? Ohhh Don't catch feelings it was a suggestion.
@@gufiaito69able I wiped the crap out of that thing numerous times. It's also that matte finish shows imperfections, and perhaps the lighting we were using wasn't helping the situation. I apologize if I was a bit defensive with my "Anything else" comment. I just found the comment a bit offensive because I did try to remove the marks I could see. Obviously, it wasn't good enough.. I'm still not wearing any damn gloves though. LOL. There's a lot that goes on in addition to moving that speaker where slippery gloves would not be safe for handling a big heavy speaker like that.
@@joentellmagic beans when does it come out?
@@gufiaito69able it's in private beta at the moment
Thanks for the review. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and a reviewer to claim that Arendal has no clothes.
The one thing most/all reviewers don't do is give a list of comparably sounding speakers. I grow weary of "giant killer" rhetoric with no follow on of which giants are wetting themselves. Please consider adding a list of comps.
Isn't chest pounding about 80hz to 300hz? Subs are for rattling the dishes and yur teeth. (Yup, I'm a 2-channel player.)
I need to put these on my Speaker Leaderboard still. speakerleaderboard.com
its that
Rather have Tekton Design Moabs..
Expected a bit more from a channel like this.. Expecting deep base from THX certified speaker (LCR) is kind of uhhh useless? THX is know (and it’s almost a home theatre rule) for their 80Hz crossover and a multiple subwoofer layout. So expecting “bass” from LCR’s seems to me you don’t really know how and why speakers get their THX certificate attached (or why manufacturers would want to put their product through the THX cert process)?
I'm letting people know what to expect for a 2-channel setup. If you watched all the way though, we mention that with subs, it becomes a non-issue.
@@joentell this isn’t a typical “2 channel setup” you have “high” end speakers here with thx ultra (if I’m not mistaken) slapped on them, with a price that most people buy a full 5.1 / 5.2 set for. If the audience you’re referring to for “typical” is spending 3K on one pair of speakers I’m pretty sure they aren’t buying these for 2 channel music listening but for watching movies, besides that adding subwoofers to any system regardless of price negates the “bass -low frequencies” issue.
@@KillerSneak ok, well we said these would be excellent for a HT setup. Did you watch till the end? We said all of that.
@@joentell Yes I watched it all or I wouldn’t have commented. It’s just seems to me you’re misinterpreting your audience with the speakers being shown off and the commentary on said speakers.
@@KillerSneak I know my audience. Some are 2-channel listeners, and some are HT enthusiasts. Nowhere does Arendal say that these are not to be used for 2-channel listening.
i sold mine for perlisten S series. Arendal is very average tbh. Revel and Perlisten are better.
Chat gpt trying to be smart😂😂
Dude those towers sound so much better after a good break in. I had them in room was not impressed up front.. then you break them in and 🤯
The bass tho!