Ambassador Peter

HOW IS YOUR ROOM SET UP?

My home theater ( known as THE EMPIRE THEATER) is a dedicated space in our basement. The room Dimensions are 17ft x 22ft with 8 ft ceiling. And is both for music and 4k TV/movies via streaming or multimedia options. There are 3 rows of seating. The 4 main listening positions in the front row are 12 feet from the Arendal 1723S towers and center channel.

WHAT WAS YOUR GOAL WHEN LOOKING FOR NEW SPEAKERS AND SUBWOOFERS?

My theater is now 22 years old (7.4.2), and the last upgrade was adding 4 ceiling Atmos channels. The original system consisted of my B&W CDM 9NT front and center channels and Definitive Bipolar surround channels and 2 HSU subwoofers as well as the 2 rear channels.

The system sounded good, but after owning using the B&W’s for 25+ years, I felt I was missing something and ready for a change to add more clarity, better dialogue output, and “oomph” to the room specifically for the science fiction and high drama movies we love to watch.

WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?

I can’t recall specifically where I first heard of Arendal, but I wanted to purchase thru a direct-to-consumer company offering in-home testing. As I started my search, I considered the newest speakers from SVS, but as I continued reading over a 2-month period and scoured all the well-known YouTube review channels, it was the review by Audioholics that convinced me Arendal sounded right! I also had a few discussions with the salesperson located in the US, which convinced me to move ahead with testing.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ARENDAL SOUND?

As I stated, since Arendal offered a direct-to-consumer path at 60 DAYS!! For an in-house audition PLUS a no-cost shipping option, it seemed almost too good to be true. Everything I read was true, from GREAT packaging to the “over build” quality. I was amazed, as were 2 friends (musicians) who I enlisted to help do the audition/comparison. They even brought their own music. My wife gave the final approval after she listened in on our sessions.

YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE PRODUCTS?

There has been no looking back, with no seller remorse after selling my B&Ws. I am so impressed with the quality, the connectors, the HDF cabinets, the metal grills attached with MAGNETS.

Everything stands out, and I know B&W makes great speakers, but in my opinion Arendal has them beat: value, sound, quality, etc.

Everything stands out when I use these speakers! And on the performance side, the thing that blew me away was the BASS; I needed the subs with my B&W’s, but after a year of listening, I can say if I started with the 1723 S, I would not have needed the 2 subs. Yes, I get added bass, but these speakers do get low.

WHAT ELSE DOES YOUR SYSTEM CONSIST OF?

• Processor / AVR: Marantz pre/pro 8802a
• Amplifier: Emotiva XPA7 (7-channel), Emotiva BASX-500 (5-channel)
• Source devices: Pioneer Elite 47ai DVD/SACD player, Sony UBP-X800 Blu-ray/DVD player, Apple TV
• Subwoofer: HSU VTF-3 MK4, HSU VTF-1 MK2
• Other: Middle Atlantic rack, Lutron Grafik Eye 6-zone theater lighting control, Owens Corning 701/703 rigid fiberglass panels with acoustically transparent fabric, Fabricmate track system for acoustic panels, 11 American Seating Company theater seats (circa 1920s), Roomie network remote control via Apple iPad
• Display: Sony 4K 385 projector, Carada Precision 110″ 16:9 screen

HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH ARENDAL SOUND PRODUCTS?

I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY. Arendal brought an already great-sounding HOME THEATER TO THE NEXT LEVEL for me.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?

We love entertaining family and friends in my theater! The sound is so important to getting the REAL THEATER EXPERIENCE. We have that, and I am happy I found you and grateful that I get to continue to share this with many others. So many have expressed the same experience…I always love hearing “WOW, THAT WAS AMAZING”!

Walkthrough video:

Setup details