Ambassador Pierre

HOW IS YOUR ROOM SET UP?

My room setup is a smallish den about eight feet wide by ten feet deep. There’s a large opening on the front right.

There’s a 77” OLED television on the front wall with a pair of 1528 bookshelf 8’s on Arendal 1528 Stand 8 stands.

The listening position is about eight feet from each speaker. The system is used for both two-channel music and for television viewing.

What was your goal when looking for new speakers and subwoofers?

I was looking for audio equipment to build an audiophile quality stereo system for music and sound system for television.

WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?

Heard about Arendal on YouTube.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ARENDAL SOUND?

Chose Arendal based on a year of research. This includes reviews, equipment specs, pricing and conversations with folks at Arendal.

YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE PRODUCTS?

My experience with the Arendal speakers has been to date fantastic. They have mated seamlessly with the selected electronics as well as with the Arendal stands. The build quality is of the highest quality and the look of the Polar white fits well in my room.
The sound is top-notch… I won’t belabour it but it is the most realistic sounding system i have owned. I get surprised by the things I hear on music I thought I knew! Sound effects in movies and television shows also put a grin on my face – high praise from me.

The level of realism from the lowest bass to the highest treble. Getting goosebumps when hearing sounds that I thought came from my room only to realize that they were coming from the speakers. Simply amazing! It appears these speakers have extremely low distortion that allows them to reproduce simple and complex sounds with an unprecedented level of clarity not expected at their price-point.

New detail stood out on all source material. That said, a good example of this is the track Easy Money on the HDCD version of Larks’ Tongues in Aspic album by King Crimson. HDCD version of the CD provides perceived 20 bits of resolution. This track is an excellent recording and incorporates an eclectic variety of percussion instruments as well as batterie, bass, guitar and violin (and possibly mellotron). In particular, previously unheard textures of Jamie Muir’s percussion were now heard and made this music almost “new”, even though I’ve been listening to it since it came out in 1973.

The matching of Arendal 1528 Bookshelf 8’s with the Benchmark electronics is simply phenomenal. I have owned equipment from companies such as B&W, Classe, Bryston, Allon and Spectral but my current Arendal/Benchmark system hands-down takes the top spot in terms of quality of music reproduction.

My system does an excellent job on TV and movies. Of course this is limited to the quality of the digital feed from the TV but it is still stunning. Images go well beyond the speakers horizontally. A show where this is quite apparent in The Pitt. You can hear all sorts of hospital equipment and often beyond the speakers. For example, large hospital doors closing have the heft, weight and timber of what a real door sounds like when opened or closed. The sound of them through these speakers is simply astounding.

For a speaker of this size, the bass performance definitely exceeded my expectations. I don’t see a need for a subwoofer in a room my size. I purchased a miniDSP UMIK-1 USB Measurement Calibrated Microphone and using the REW software on my Macbook Pro I could plainly see output down to 20 Hz. For a speaker this size, this is remarkable.

My musical preferences to list some are an eclectic combination of rock, prog, R&B, soul, alternative, jazz and some classical. My new system handles all with aplomb. The speakers are able to realistically re-create the busiest pieces without congestion or audible distortion. On minimal musical pieces, the instruments and voices (when present) are clearly located in space and time. The voicing of the speakers provides a mix of bass, midrange and highs – indicating the designers and technical folks at Arendal have done their homework. One part of the awesome “realism” equation for these speakers…

WHAT ELSE DOES YOUR SYSTEM CONSIST OF?

For now my sources are digital – ripped CDs on a MacBook Pro or from optical output of Samsung 77” OLED tv.

Using all Benchmark electronics: DAC3 B DAC, HPA4 preamp and AHB2 stereo power amp.

HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH ARENDAL SOUND PRODUCTS?

I am very pleased with all aspects of the system. The sound it produces is rock-solid, unphased at any volume and realistic beyond reproach based on any metric I can think of. I don’t have a hint of buyers’ remorse with these speakers!

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?

The bookshelf 8’s are capable of putting out a serious amount of bass – they are no joke in this department! Of course you need decent amplification to achieve this. My power amp delivers about 200 watts per channel which is plenty for these speakers in a room my size. I still may consider getting a second power amp and run bridged mono with over 500 watts to each speaker. There’s nothing like a bit of headroom in your power amplification.

I am considering getting back into vinyl! I miss the ritual of cleaning the record and stylus, lowering the stylus onto the record and listening to an entire side of a record. This followed by flipping the record and repeating the procedure. I’m eagerly awaiting when I can get the sound of of vinyl played back on an audiophile grade system. For me, CDs do not come close to the sound you can extract from the grooves of a record with decent equipment.

Go for it!!! Arendal speakers live up to the online hype and beyond… The value to price ratio for Arendal speakers is high. These products are built to a very high standard with top-quality components. The level of realism you can get from these speakers is astounding! They will not disappoint you. On top of that you get free access to the technical folks at Arendal that will help you through all phases of building your system. They know their stuff and can provide invaluable assistance.

My advice to anybody considering Arendal equipment is to communicate with their technical support team. They are responsive and provided me with invaluable information – a free resource to be tapped into!

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