1961 Tower review – Jay’s Iyagi

"This speaker is one of the most visceral punching bass monsters I have seen.”

“These will fit in almost every room because of this form factor – it’s a slim cabinet.”

“Don’t be deceived by the slim form factor of this speaker. This speaker is one of the most visceral punching bass monsters I have seen.”

“In terms of that punch and dynamics I think this speaker is right up there with the Totem Tribe Towers; which is the King of the hill in terms of slim Tower designs, at least in my opinion. The only difference is that these loudspeakers are about 2,000$ for the pair.”

“Considering that there’s a lot of bookshelf and floor-standing speakers for 2,000$ in the market, from what I’ve heard and experienced (and I’ve experienced a lot of them) this is easily the top five percent!”

“I can say for sure that this speaker is a fun sounding loudspeaker, this is an awesome fun monster!”

“This speaker is perfect for those that like a mid-bass punch, some visceral chest feeling, feeling in the chest kind of bass punch like.”

“It is so Dynamic. The speaker is a bass monster.” 

“If you’re someone that likes a really nice bass punch and that’s what you look for in a loudspeaker, that it’s slim, can fit into any room, that is flexible to set up reasonably, and is quite good with multiple different gears, including inexpensive gear. Then the Arendal 1961 may be the perfect fit for you.” 

“In my room, these speakers are just so much fun because of that visceral bass punch that is clean, it’s not bloated, it is very tight and Piston-like; hits you in the chest. It’s like a startle your cat kind of bass punch. It is so dynamic and chest pounding.”

“It is just so much fun to play multiple tracks, stuff with bass.”

“Arendal is offering 60 day in home trial. They’re gonna ship the speakers back from you so there’s actually zero risk.” 

“This thing is built like a tank and we’ll talk about the materials that go into this in a bit. In case you need warranty, this company does offer a 10-year warranty.”

“Don’t be fooled by the size. I was fooled by the size. I was like this thing is gonna have no bass, but I was wrong.” 

“Cabinet itself is made out of HDF which is actually a better and a higher quality material than MDF.” 

“This waveguide really allows for the high frequency to be non-piercing at the same time allows you to have a wider sweet spot so that you don’t have to have the speakers directly towed towards you.”

“Well thought out design in terms of that slant design, I like it.”

“I have fitted the speaker with spikes. If you don’t like spikes they do offer a pluck which is a really nicely made plot.”

“Yes, this can be heard as a seal design or a ported design.”

“I really like the fact that this speaker works really well with even inexpensive gear like the Savage integrated amplifier.”

“The mid-bass is just as visceral if not actually more tactile feeling because of the slim form factor and the smaller drivers. It’s a more tactile feeling and that tactility really makes the speakers really fun. It kind of reminds me of Børresen loudspeakers (very high-end loudspeaker).”

“It gives you a lot of tactility and texture and bass authority even though it’s not going too low, it is not shaking the house but it is certainly punching your walls, punching your chest. It is a very visceral impactful sound you get from such a small tower.” 

“If we just add a subwoofer, which I did, we’re getting sub bass and that mid-bass visceral punch to a blissful bass heaven.” 

“If you like bass, if you’re a bass head, adding a subwoofer to these and you get bass like smacking you in the chest, just rumbling your house foundation.”

“If you do 50% music – 50% movie, or 70% music – 30% movie, or you are looking for a speaker that does both really well, I think this is a really good mid-ground for 2,000 $. I think this is probably the best kind of balance here for that kind of purpose.”

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