Small Home Theater – 1723 Monitor S vs 1961

[Luis]

Hello everyone… looking for additional suggestions and help in deciding between the 1723 Monitor S and the 1961 Towers for a small home theater setup.  The room is 10’11” x 15′ 7″ with 10′ ceilings; for the last 2+ years, the room was used as a dedicated 2 channel listening room; I attached a computer render of the room in its current state; plan is to reuse the acoustic panels.  The desk will remain in the room temporarily.

After trading a few emails with Kristoffer from Arendal, we came up with the following options for LCR:

1. 1961 Monitor and 1961 Center
2. 1961 Towers and 1961 Center
3. 1961 Towers and 1723s Center
4. 1723s Monitors and 1723s Center

Regardless of the decision for LCR, he recommended the following speakers to complete the rest of the system:

• 1961 1v (possibly 2)
• 1961 Surround Speakers (2 pairs – sides and rear)
• 1961 Height Speakers (1 pair mounted on the ceiling)

I’m leaning towards options 3 and 4 as I’m feel the larger center would provide the most benefit; however, I’m looking for additional suggestions / help from the community.

The 1961 1V has been purchased along with a Marantz Cinema 50 AVR; currently enjoying them within the room.

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[Luis]

Using the Marantz Cinema 50, below are my observations from the last week or so…

Arendal 1961 1v Subwoofer… no question, within my room, this sub is a keeper… deep, quick and explosive when needed.  There a few rattles and buzzes within the room that I will need to find and fix now, but that’s a minor byproduct of quality deep bass.   And yes, to help smooth out the bass across all seating positions, a second one will be purchased; I can certainly get away with only one for now, but a second one will make the system sound even better.

Arendal 1961 Surround Speaker… this is the first time that I have similarly voiced LCR and surrounds and to be honest, I have no idea why I never did this in the past.  My previous systems consisted of B&W 804 and HTM Center with Def-Tech bipolar surrounds, then I swapped the Def-Techs to Emotiva ERD-1 surrounds, eventually retiring the B&Ws to a two channel audio system and added DIY LCR speakers for home theater duties… from memory, so take this with a grain of salt; however, I don’t recall surround information sounding so seamless in the past. Transitions from front to side and then disappearing way behind me towards the back of the room, I only have side surrounds at the moment, are in a word seamless… zero sound difference.   Maybe it’s the tweeter’s waveguide providing the wide even coverage, but its truly seamless.  Going from memory, I recall hearing a sonic difference when effects panned from the front to the sides and then to the rear.  It previously bothered me as there was a tonal change; although, going by memory, I recall being bothered by what I heard.  Fast forward to today, it’s a totally seamless transition.  I’ve also noticed that bass information appears to be better integrated into the surrounds now… maybe it’s because I’m simply paying more attention to how things sound, but I don’t recall this within my previous setups… I recall my previous surrounds sounding more hollow with less impact.  Therefore the 1961 Surround Speakers will remain in my room… I am more than satisfied with the way they handle the surround effects.

Arendal 1961 Center Channel… it’s a relatively small sealed heavy brick… to be honest, when it was unboxed, I didn’t think it would perform well; however, I’m happy to report that I was proved wrong!  It appears to sound better when stood up rather than laying on it’s side, but until I decide between a projector vs a big OLED, it needs to lay on it’s side for now.  That being said, it can get loud without strain, blends well with the other Arendal 1961 speakers in the room, so all in all… it works rather well as a center channel speaker.  At times male vocals can sound “chesty”, but I’ve heard worse, again going by memory, as an example, when I auditioned the SVS Ultra center in my previous room… I didn’t like the way it handled male voices at all, so it was returned.  Anyone that is interested in the 1961 series, rest assured that without question, the “monitor” works great as a center channel.  In the upcoming weeks I plan to do additional tests between it laying on it’s side and standing up as I need to decide between a big OLED and projector.

Arendal 1961 Towers… when the boxes were delivered, I honestly thought Arendal sent me monitors and not towers.  When I unboxed them, my initial thought was, wow these are small, did I make a mistake?  Compared to my current towers, they are ~7″ shorter and ~3″ narrower.  Sound wise… using the Cinema 50, I sold my previous 2 channel tube gear, musically, the 1961 towers edge out the current towers… soundstage height, width, and depth is better with the 1961s.  Since my current towers have larger drivers and cabinet, they have more bass; however, that can be expected.  My current towers have AMT style tweeters, so comparing these to the soft domes in the 1961, there is a hint of sibilance with the AMT tweeters, and there is a different sound signature in the upper register due to the different driver designs; however, to my ears, neither are harsh and I’m happy with both.  Home Theater performance, both towers crossed at 70 or 80hz, both towers work very well as main channels, with the current towers having a little more presence, “meat on the bones”, up to the crossover point from the larger drivers.  Dynamically, without question, the 1961 towers outperform the larger towers, the 1961 only falls short in the bass department, but in Home Theater isn’t that what a sub or two is for?   Regardless of volume knob position, there is zero strain, and zero tonal change with the 1961 Towers when the volume is raised way beyond normal listening levels.  The 1961 Towers sound much larger than their size implies, so I’m questioning if I should place a more powerful amplifier behind them… the 1961 Towers are listed as 350w RMS with the center as 250w RMS.   For now, I’ll leave things as they are, but we’ll see what the future holds as the Cinema 50 has preamp outputs, so I can add a 3 channel amp at anytime.

As a whole…. Movie after movie, TV episode after episode, I’ve been impressed with the 1961 speakers and subwoofer, so much so, that I’ve been eagerly looking through my video library for titles to rewatch. Based on what I’m hearing thus far, I’m truly looking forward to adding rear surrounds and height speakers for Atmos effects.

[Jimmy Lindgren]

a very great review. I went from the Sonus faber Venere 3.0 to these floor speakers. I smiled when I saw the size of the 1961 tower at my house. I have the entire 1961 series at home now paired with a 1V subwoofer. and it’s exactly as you say the more you turn up the volume, shouldn’t say the better it sounds but it’s like they stretch out and deliver even better. I’ve rewatched a lot of movies, even bought some old ones, and then I don’t like watching movies I’ve already seen. but something new was awakened in me with this system. Also looking a little ahead like you now. am sure 1961 will sound magical with more power!

[Thomas Gunvaldsen]

Thanks for your review of these products, Luis. Great feedback for sure! Awesome to hear you are enjoying them.

 

 

[Lukas]

Thank you Luis for this very detailed review. That is definitely a help for potential buyers or the ones that maybe have some concerns.
Even though the 1961 Series is compact, they do pack a punch.

Have fun listening!

[Luis]

Thanks Jimmy!  I appreciate your reply and glad we feel the same about the 1961 speakers… they have totally re-sparked my interested in home theater!

[Luis]

Thanks Thomas and Lukas… really happy with the 1961 line and agreed… they do indeed pack a punch!!

[Luis]

Just realized that I haven’t updated this thread in a while… now that the room will be a dedicated home theater, we decided to paint the room darker with a flat finish.  Below are the colors that my wife and daughter selected; both colors are from Sherwin Williams:

• Tricorn Black – Screen wall and Ceiling
• Iron Ore – Side and back walls

 

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[Luis]

The side surrounds have been mounted with a combination of a wood spacer, the Arendal 1961 wall mount, and an adjustable speaker bracket that was purchased from Amazon.  The GiK 244 panels that are mounted on the walls have a 5″ spacing between them; one of these gaps was slightly off-center of the couch, so the combination of wood and speaker brackets helped clear the 5.25″ acoustic panels on the side walls:

https://amzn.to/3HHKrJy

 

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[Luis]

Some additional updates:

• The TV has been delivered; a 77″ LG C2 OLED
• Room has been repainted; still need to complete a few things, but the room is getting close to completion
• HVAC and recessed lighting was painted flat black
• iPhone photo from the seating position while watching of an episode of Servant.  The LEDs / lights that you see are from my Harmony Hub, Nvidia Shield and Marantz Cinema 50; front stage basically disappears

I will take better photos once the room is complete.

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[Luis]

I hid the speaker cable on the right side of the room and replaced the white electrical outlets with black ones.  I plan to complete the other side of the room tomorrow.

 

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