I was in a space that wasn’t ideal for home theater and I was hesitant to really invest in a setup that was going to have any kind of permanence. After a rocky year and some life curveballs, I ended up in the space I’m in now and I got to seriously start looking for a forever setup.
It’s not a typical home theater room and I really wanted to make sure that whatever I ended up with would be able to perform well. The space was still being built out when the system arrived so I had a fairly painful several months of staring at these huge boxes sitting in the great room.
Today the room is set up as a great room, living room, and dining room in one. It’s large and open, but not massive.
WHAT WAS YOUR GOAL WHEN LOOKING FOR NEW SPEAKERS AND SUBWOOFERS?
I was looking for something that was going to match the aesthetic of the space that I had in mind without sacrificing anything in the performance department all while not completely breaking the bank.
WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?
I first heard about Arendal online in mid 2023, while looking for a brand to build out my new space around.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ARENDAL SOUND?
After a fair amount of research, I landed on Arendal. The products matched the clean aesthetic that I was going for in my new space, and everything that I’d read and watched gave me the confidence to pull the trigger on a new 5.2.2 system without having the opportunity to demo any of it beforehand.
I also spent a fair amount of time going back and forth with the brand, sharing details of my space and getting their input on what exactly would work best, especially where bass was concerned.
Once I was finally able to start unboxing everything and moving things into their permanent homes, the excitement built quickly. With everything dialed in I’m sure I probably booted up Blade Runner 2049 or Dune part I to do a little testing and after probably less than an hour the 60-day demo period went out the window. None of the equipment was going back.
YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE PRODUCTS?
I got a 1961 monitor and center for LCR so they would all be identical for the most seamless transition across the front stage, and 1961 height speakers for surround speakers. I ended up using height speakers for the rear channels as due to the layout of my room and in-wall conduits I had to place the rear channels higher up than ear height. The 1961 height channels turned upside down with the sloped baffle design gave them the per-effect angle from the back wall to my main listening area.
I have always thought proper bass was the most important for music and movies/TV, so I went with the 1723 1S subwoofer. I have the system installed as my main system in a large open plan living, kitchen, and dining area with tall ceilings (55m2) so could probably have had a 2S as well, but the 1S serves me well so far, and the app for my phone gives easy adjustment for my listening position. I went with the 1S simply due to size, and I use my system 50/50 for music/movies.
WHAT ELSE DOES YOUR SYSTEM CONSIST OF?
I couldn’t be happier with how everything came together. This is my first real foray into a mid – high end setup and I’ve been blown away by the performance.
I have no complaints whatsoever and plan to be a customer for a long time. If I somehow end up in a much larger space, I’ll no doubt be lusting after the 1528 series even if that may be a little out of reach.
