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Story of Arendal 1723 Series Designed in Norway Technical stuff Guides Manuals Warranty
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I was born and raised in Arendal 1978, Norway. As a kid I enjoyed many activities, such as catching fish for my cat Johnas, riding my bike, playing football and video games, and hanging out with friends. Of course not a day went by without wrestling with my older brother Dan Benny. My dad, Jan, founded an electronic store in the 70´s and it quickly became the top selling store of it’s kind throughout Norway. On a good Saturday it was not unusual to sell 40-50 color TV’s, which were hot tech at the time. Today he spends his elder days as a fisherman, just like my grandfather Olav before him. During my younger days there was rarely a weekend when I was not (somewhat reluctantly!) dragged out of bed on a Saturday morning to help sell my grandfather's catch from the night before to the neighbourhood. I was often told “your grandfather has caught a lot of fish, you need to help him sell it”. Dragging all the fish with me, I walked several kilometers and knocked on many doors utilizing some maybe desperate sales tactics to charm the older ladies. My customers may have felt sorry for me seeing me walk around with fish, but I was able to sell them and returned home with pockets full of money. My grandfather gave me a cut of the sales so I could buy candy and save the rest in order to purchase more audio products. These were some of the best memories of my childhood. As you may have guessed, I was introduced to the audio world at a
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very early age. When I turned 14 I started to work part time at my dad's store. When your hobby is electronics and you work in such an environment you get the urge to purchase and test as many products as you can, which I did with great joy. Normally, instead of a paycheck, I brought home new speakers or amplifiers that had to be tested. My very first setup was a stereo system with some huge speakers that were played at very high levels, which hugely annoyed my mother. Does that sound familiar? It’s one thing to have fun with audio equipment, but another very different thing to understand it. I studied electronics for 8 years, graduated from Grimstad with an engineering degree and was lucky enough to get a job in the oil industry. After working in the oil industry for a for a while, I knew that it wasn’t the field for me. Audio was my passion and that’s what I wanted to work in. I began to understand what works and what doesn’t in running a business and I quickly realized that starting a local shop would not work in a small town like Arendal. The days of running a thriving local store were a thing of the past. This lead to the formation of L-Sound in 2005 as a web store. With L-Sound, our goal was to provide high quality products at reasonable prices, backed with excellent customer service and to do so as a direct to consumer business model across Europe. Today after shipping tens of thousands of audio products throughout
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Europe and beyond, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary. And what better way to continue the story, than with our own speaker brand.
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been hard. I would especially like to thank my wife, Heidi, as she has been by my side all this time showing extreme patience and understanding. And of course my two little kids, Marcus and Leander, they are the dessert in life as my mom and dad say.
The idea of Arendal Sound was born. It was no coincidence. We’ve spent the last two years researching, listening to our customers, planning, developing, engineering and investing in Arendal Sound. I always wanted our team to have something to be extraordinarily proud of and enthusiastic about. It had to be something that was based on solid acoustic engineering principles and yet aesthetically beautiful, surrounded by a unique story - Ours. Arendal Sound builds upon traditional and historic Norwegian elements, where solid craftsmanship and finish quality are a top priority, backed with pleasure in the use and pride in the ownership. We even want to show our beautiful country to our overseas customers and invite them to Norway. The team behind Arendal Sound is the same as that behind L-Sound. We are a family and team with the same mentality and goal, to create market leading products, packed with incredible value, backed with our highly acclaimed customer support that extends beyond the date of purchase. To me, business comes second and at the end of the day, it's my family who are most important. Without them it would have
We hope you will enjoy our products as much as we enjoyed making them.
Jan Ove Lassesen Founder of Arendal Sound
Our first series is named after the year Arendal was given market city privileges.
115 cm
27.5 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS The 1723 Tower features a completely custom built 2.5 way lineup of bass drivers, mid bass drivers and waveguide tweeter you cannot find anywhere else. Our HDF cabinets, thick crossover PCBs and ancillary parts, feature engineering detail you will not find at anything like the price. You will find no plastic parts, even if we could have used them to keep costs down without affecting sound quality. Design
2.5-way
Tweeter
28mm
Woofer
4 x 8�
Enclosure
Sealed / Vented
Enclosure material High Density Fiberboard (HDF) Xover freq.
120Hz / 1500Hz
Sensitivity
92dB/2.83v/1m
Freq. response Sealed 55-20KHz (+/-3dB) 3 vents 38-20KHz (+/-3dB) 2 vents 34-20KHz (+/-3dB) Ports
3 x 2.6�
Impedance
4-ohms nominal
Included
Manual. Spikes Kit. Port plugs.
Dimensions
115H x 27.5W x 40D cm
Weight
46.2 kg
Colors
63.5 cm
27.5 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
SATIN BLACK
SATIN WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS Featuring the same uncompromising approach we used to create the 1723 Tower, the 1723 Monitor was developed for smaller spaces and provide the perfect sonic partner to the matching 1723 Center. The 1723 Monitor features a completely custom built 2-way lineup of mid-bass drivers and a waveguide tweeter you cannot find anywhere else. Design
2-way
Tweeter
28mm
Woofer
2 x 8�
Enclosure
Sealed / Vented
Enclosure material High Density Fiberboard (HDF) Xover freq.
1500Hz
Sensitivity
89dB/2.83v/1m
Freq. response Sealed 58-20KHz (+/-3dB) 2 vents 34-20KHz (+/-3dB) Ports
2 x 2�
Impedance
4-ohms nominal
Included
Manual. Rubber pads. Port plugs.
Dimensions
63.5H x 27.5W x 40D cm
Weight
23 kg each
Colors
27.5 cm
63.5 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS In developing the 1723 Series, part of the reason for using a waveguided tweeter was that it offered controlled dispersion, plus a lower crossover point than a traditional tweeter flat mounted on a baffle. Lowering the crossover point, removed concerns about turning the 1723 Monitor on it’s side for use in the horizontal format under a screen. As such, the 1723 Center is the same speaker as the 1723 Monitor but sold singly and with the grill badges moved for aesthetic purposes. Tonally, it is a perfect match for The 1723 Monitor and 1723 Tower. Design
2-way
Tweeter
28mm
Woofer
2 x 8”
Enclosure
Sealed / Vented
Enclosure material High Density Fiberboard (HDF) Xover freq.
1500Hz
Sensitivity
89dB/2.83v/1m
Freq. response Sealed 58-20KHz (+/-3dB) 2 vents 34-20KHz (+/-3dB) Ports
2 x 2”
Impedance
4-ohms nominal
Included
Manual. Rubber pads. Port plugs
Dimensions
27.5H x 63.5W x 40D cm
Weight
23 kg
Colors
45 cm
43.2 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS In starting with a statement product like the The 1723 Tower and 1723 Monitor, we set ourselves a challenge in designing a matching surround speaker, that could keep up with the capabilities of our front loudspeakers. Using the same 8� mid-bass driver and waveguide tweeter on the front baffle as used throughout the 1723 Series, excellent tonal matching is assured as is pin-point imaging. To deliver an allenveloping surround field and assist in peerless surround steering, we fitted custom built full-range dipolar drivers to the angled side baffles into our TriAxial speaker. Design
TriAxial
Tweeter
28mm
Side drivers
2 x 4"
Woofer
8"
Enclosure
Sealed
Enclosure material High Density Fiberboard (HDF) Xover freq. 4"
200Hz
Xover freq. 8"
1400Hz
Sensitivity
87dB/2.83v/1m
Freq. response
58-20KHz (+/-3dB)
Impedance
4-ohms nominal
Included
Wall mounting bracket. Manual. Rubber pads
Dimensions
45H x 43.2W x 21.6D cm
Weight
17.4 kg
Colors
48 cm
33.5 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS The baby of our Subwoofers, the Subwoofer 1 is still a potent beast that would top many ranges. Using our proprietary 13.8� driver driven by our 500W RMS Avalanche DSP amp, the cabinet volume has been sized to produce an optimally damped system, producing low distortion, naturally deep bass. All of the features and technology that are present in our larger multi-driver subs are present, with no corners cut. Conceived as a natural match for smaller rooms, you will be amazed how large a room the Subwoofer 1 will be happy driving. Woofer
13.8�
Enclosure
Sealed
Enclosure material High Density Fiberboard (HDF) Amplifier
Avalanche 500DSP, 500W RMS
Power cable
2.5 meters
Freq. response EQ 1 20-160KHz (+/-3dB) EQ 2 34-160KHz (+/-3dB) Included
Power cable. Manual.
Dimensions
48H x 33.5W x 45D cm
Weight
24.5 kg
Colors
53 cm
42 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS The Subwoofer 2 is the pinnacle of bass accuracy. Using two of our proprietary 13.8” driver driven by our 1000W RMS Avalanche DSP amp, the cabinet volume has been sized to produce an optimally damped system, producing low distortion, naturally deep bass, that drops and drops. A further performance edge is provided by our dual opposed, force cancelling driver topology to deliver clean deep hits, without cabinet movement subtracting anything from the driver output. To be safe, we’ve over engineered the cabinet with inch thick walls and two inch thick baffles, so you won’t feel a thing even when crashing out the most bombastic soundtracks. Woofer
2 x 13.8"
Enclosure
Sealed
Enclosure material
High Density Fiberboard (HDF)
Amplifier
Avalanche 1000DSP, 1000W RMS
Power cable
2.5 meters
Freq. response EQ 1 20-160KHz (+/-3dB) EQ 2 32-160KHz (+/-3dB) Included
Power cable. Manual.
Dimensions
53H x 42W x 50D cm
Weight
41.4 kg
Colors
70 cm
50 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS The Subwoofer 3 is our statement of the fine balance between pure bass accuracy and sheer bass depth and output. Using two of our proprietary 13.8� driver driven by our 1000W RMS Avalanche DSP amps, the cabinet volume has been increased over the Subwoofer 2 to increase efficiency and allow us to add super-quiet, slot port loading to increase bottom end output. Plug the port for greater accuracy, or unplug for greater output. Utilizing our dual opposed, force cancelling driver topology to deliver clean deep hits, without cabinet movement subtracting anything from the driver output, we have created a state of the art subwoofer to drive even the largest rooms with massive, deep, low distortion bass. Woofer
2 x 13.8"
Enclosure
Sealed / vented
Enclosure material
High Density Fiberboard (HDF)
Amplifier
Avalanche 1000DSP, 1000W RMS
Power cable
2.5 meters
Freq. response EQ 1 sealed 20-160KHz (+/-3dB) EQ 1 vented 17-160KHz (+/-3dB) EQ 2 sealed 28-160KHz (+/-3dB) EQ 2 vented 25-160KHz (+/-3dB) Port
4H x 40W cm
Included
Power cable. Manual. Port plug.
Dimensions
70H x 50W x 60.9D cm
Weight
60.1 kg
Colors
51.5 cm
27.5 cm
GLOSS BLACK
GLOSS WHITE
MATT BLACK
MATT WHITE
SPECIFICATIONS When Arendal Sound set out to create 1723, we knew there were good reasons why people would want a smaller, monitor style speaker. Correctly realised, such a speaker would be more than ample for even relatively large rooms when used with a subwoofer and of course, by using three across the front of a surround sound system, a perfect tonal match is assured. This is obvious information and yet people in exactly this situation will prefer tower type speakers, simply because they have a cleaner, room friendly look. They will pay for drivers they may not need, just for the aesthetics. And no wonder. Looking around, most stands capable of holding a speaker like The 1723 Monitor effectively, look like refugees from the Brooklyn Road Bridge! There are lots of choices out there and they’re all in one size fits nobody. Included
Spikes Kit. 2 x Cable brackets w/screws. Speaker bracket w/screws.
Dimensions
51.5H x 27.5W x 40D cm
Weight
12.2 kg (without mass)
Colors
DESIGNED IN NORWAY Conceived in China. Raised by You.
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Made in China You see it all the time. Then you see stories that surround some of the world’s largest corporations, manufacturing premium consumer products and the ethics they purport to hold, but don’t quite follow through to the last degree with their OEM suppliers. Working conditions, hours and the age of ‘employees’ are all frequent news headlines, that sit at odds with the Western consumers ideals, so it is understandably and rightly, a major issue. As parents, we were absolutely certain that we would not compromise. We feel that the best way to deliver the standard of living to a family that we take for granted, is to take all reasonable steps to avoid manufacturers that do not demonstrate the same employment ethics we do. Lead by example would be a shorter way of saying it. What you need to know, is that by comparison to these multi-billion dollar corporations, even a large loudspeaker OEM manufacturer, is tiny. There is no opportunity to hide dubiously sourced workforce in square kilometres of factory, because we are dealing with specialist engineering manufacturing in units of hundreds, not vast assembly lines gearing up for a release day 10 million seller. We know, because we went over and checked and we have a history with the OEM. They are not too big, but big enough to handle large volume productions.
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For those who might doubt the outsourcing of minor components like screws? Well, you can be 100% certain those same screws are being imported by the billion into manufacturers across Europe for inclusion in premium ‘EU Made’ products. As a small manufacturer, as all European AV and Hi-fi manufacturers in global terms are, we can only do so much. We have to manage our expectations in the parts of the supply chain we can affect directly.
But why not manufacture in Europe? Well, that’s the same question that was being asked 40 years ago about Japanese manufacturing, 20 years ago about Korean manufacturing, etc. etc. Nobody now doubts that these economies have caught and even exceeded western standards of living and that was through our investment in their products. 10 years from now, the same discussion will be had in China, but about buying African goods. What would be worse is developing economies not getting foreign money, because then they could never get on the road to achieving our levels of living. The truth is, costs are currently lower in China. Relative to their cost of living, our OEM pays very good wages, but they are not Western level. Then again, plenty of people earn a satisfying living in the tundra of Northern Scandinavia, at a fraction of the average wage in the City of London and that’s all within Europe. The person that empties your bins, can only dream of earning the same as the doctor that may live in your street and that’s in the same
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town anywhere in the world. We can strive to close these gaps and improve the lot of the nations with which we work, but we won’t do that by not trading with them. Another factor is that many of the more expensive raw materials used in loudspeakers are mined and made in China. Over 90% of the world’s Neodymium deposits are in China and it’s simply not practical, or green, to refine and manufacture Neodymium magnets anywhere else. Indeed, one of the main cost and green benefits of manufacturing in China, is in manufacturing close to all of the raw material sources and processors, hugely minimizing road and sea miles carrying wasted by-product. If you disagree with this, I trust you will throw your phone, tablet, computer, TV, etc, out immediately! Finally and this is where the big gains have been made in the last decade - Rapid prototyping and production setup. The Chinese far out-pace the west in response times. It is possible to spec a prototype part, have it manufactured, shipped and in the test phase faster and have it done so to very high, consistent manufacturing tolerances. This quality is borne out in the end product, with tight manufacturing tolerances and thorough quality control throughout the entire manufacturing process, at a cost that would be impossible in Europe.
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We believe we have balanced our ethical responsibilities with our company ethos, to deliver a product of unsurpassed quality, reliability and performance at a price that benefits everybody involved, right down to you, the proud end user. Designed in Norway. Conceived in China. Raised by you.
TECHNICAL STUFF The way we build things
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The goal
Extreme stress testing
From the beginning, Arendal Sound products were developed with the mindset to recreate the original sonic event, with the highest level of accuracy. This requires a special consideration to balancing several factors:
Stress, or accelerated life testing, is a hallmark of all Arendal Sound designs. Each new design is required to pass a long list of difficult (if not insane) tests. From full out power testing repeated for days and in some cases for weeks, plus mechanical, thermal and vibration tests; all are designed to quickly identify and correct any potential problems during the design phase. If a component broke, we found out why and discarded it for something better. The result is a product that is as bulletproof as possible to ensure years of unbroken enjoyment.
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Dynamics Linearity Distortion Power handling Frequency response Polar characteristics
Custom made parts and development process
Experience has shown that each of these factors must be addressed for each design to fully achieve its sonic potential. If too much emphasis is placed on one factor, others will be compromised. There are many examples of loudspeaker designs that sound very good at modest levels, but when called upon to reproduce true dynamics the sound quality quickly disappears. Conversely, there are examples of high output speakers that can play quite loud and fill a room but are often characterized by sonic colorations that can range from displeasing to outright offensive – not very musical. The art and science behind Arendal Sound is to achieve all of the seductive nuances that make music so enjoyable and yet maintain composure with very demanding dynamics - this critical, but not easily achievable combination is the key.
Lofty goals require custom parts and special attention to details at each step in the path to product realization. Each driver was specially developed from the ground up, requiring much expensive and special tooling. No off-the-shelf drivers were worthy of satisfying all of our goals. Over 2 years in development, following a painstaking progression from theory to reality - each driver is first modeled using advanced FEA (Finite Element Analysis) techniques to meet mechanical, electromagnetic and acoustic goals. Change to - Each component was specially evaluated and specified for each product. From the simplest screw, to crossover inductors, resistors and capacitors, the voice coil wire’s thermal characteristics and adhesives; all were selected with the goal of sonic accuracy driving all decisions. After the ground work, comes modeling,
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CAD and tooling. All speakers and subwoofers are then thoroughly analyzed using state of the art Klippel laser based measurement system, Audio Precision and Clio, alongside other electro-acoustic testing systems and proprietary (secret sauce) methods. Lastly, extensive listening tests to validates that the science meets the requirement of the art. Many refinements are made along the way. The final products are a culmination of experience, modeling, testing, and listening‌ Along with a lot of blood, sweat and tears and in the end, more than a bit of pride.
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Rock solid HDF cabinets Higher density and naturally better damped than MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), using HDF (High Density Fiberboard) results in a sonically inert cabinet. HDF was also chosen because it can be machined much more precisely than MDF, which is especially important for precision critical areas like the two part HDF & Aluminum waveguide.
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In addition, we did not want plastic pins to add the grill, which will degrade the clean look of the cabinet with pin cups. Neodymium sub-surface magnets grip the metal grill with great force, preventing unwanted movement and vibration during high level playback. The grills have a rubber protection to ensure the cabinet is not damaged when you attach the grill and you will hear a nice ‘thump’ when you let them seat. Grilles on or off, our speakers look and sound great either way.
Arendal Sound products are using HDF thicknesses ranging from 18 to 50mm throughout the designs, with critical areas like driver mounting and cabinet bases being the thickest. Internal bracing has been strategically placed to increase overall cabinet strength and limit unwanted panel vibrations that may cause audible colorations. Internal braces are CNC routed to shape to smooth internal airflow and minimize volume losses within the cabinet, whilst maintaining thickness at critical assembly joints.
Magnetic metal grills We are especially proud of our new exclusive and fully custom made grills. For all Arendal Sound speakers we have made a free flowing, perforated metal grill which does not affect sound quality. We have then wrapped it with a clean black cloth to tone down the visually hard look, whilst simultaneously damping out any residual vibrations.
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Premium finishes
No plastic - “Green sound”
All Arendal Sound speakers comes in four premium finishes;
Well, you may find a cable strap somewhere in plastic, but all components in Arendal Sound which affects the sound are built up from non-plastic parts. High grade aluminium back plates on subwoofers and speakers. Even our logo is in anodized aluminium.
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Black Matte Black Gloss White Matte White Gloss
Internal wiring
To ensure the best and long lasting quality, all Arendal Sound speakers use up to 12 layers of paint, consisting of primers and polyurethane paint, hand finished. We use no vinyl, anywhere. The finish is what you would expect from Hi-End products.
Not your average zip cord. All products utilize high count multistrand wire, braided together. These were not done for looks, but chosen to produce the most consistent impedance possible and electrical current carrying capabilities. The benefit is very low insertion losses without the problems of “skin effect” caused by large diameter wires. This insures that each driver sees what the amplifier intended without additional colorations.
Rubber feet All subwoofers comes with rigid rubber feet (M6 threads) which have a strong grip on the floor. You will not have a subwoofer walking around, even if that is impossible due to the sheer mass of our HDF cabinets which are “super quiet”. Put your hand on our speakers whilst they are playing and you will feel, very, very little.
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The heart of all Arendal speakers, our Tweeter utilizes a 28mm synthetic soft dome with custom designed, matching waveguide. The soft dome itself is sourced from the high end stable of Dr. Kurt Mueller. It is very light weight, totally pistonic to ultra high frequencies, optimally damped, produced to exceedingly tight tolerances and specifically chosen for its sweet sound character and consistent frequency response. The role of the waveguide is to take an already excellent tweeter and provide refinements to the tweeter’s performance. The size and shape, although appearing rather simple is in fact the result of painstaking modeling, testing and refinement. In precisely controlling directivity across the tweeter’s frequency range, we are able to broaden top end dispersion, which the tweeter naturally wants to beam straight ahead and focus frequencies at the bottom end of the tweeters range, which naturally want to spread out in all directions. This provides a more consistent polar response across the tweeters entire range and provided a close match to the dispersion pattern of the mid-bass driver it works with, simplifying crossover design.
High efficiency, high power motor The motor of this tweeter is a Tour de Force. All components are bespoke designs for Arendal Sound, extensively FEA optimized. The result is a very wide bandwidth, high efficiency, low distortion tweeter capable of being crossed over at very low 1500Hz, even
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at very high powers. This is truly a rare combination of such low crossover point, high output capability and clean sound. • • • • •
Large, high grade neodymium ring magnet. High temp polyimide CCAW wire. Underhung voice coil design. Copper and aluminum shorting rings. Ultra low viscosity Ferrofluid contributes to voice coil cooling and ensures the best possible transient response. • Large aluminum heatsink/shorting ring lowers distortion and prevents thermal compression.
Hybrid aluminum & hdf waveguide assembly The final piece to Arendal’s tweeter performance is mating the dome with the custom matched, proprietary waveguide, entirely optimised in-house. The waveguide serves several purposes, augmenting tweeter performance to a level that no flat baffle mounted single dome solution could reproduce: • Increased efficiency by controlling lower frequency dispersion - Typically a 6dB gain. • Very low distortion due to increase in bottom end efficiency. • Precise Polar Response control (sometime referred to as directivity response control). • Low crossover frequency (approx. 1 octave lower than without the waveguide). • Excellent directivity transition from mid/woofer to tweeter.
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Air flow venting The air chambers, venting and damping materials found behind the dome and surround are optimized to create a very well controlled impedance, void of secondary resonance spikes that typically result in electrical phase shifts that present an awkward load for amplifiers and further smear the sound, adding a harsh character.
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The 8” woofers in the Tower and Monitor are built upon the same core fundamentals as the the 13.8” subwoofer, but with application specific details changed. The 8” cone does not have the glass fibre reinforcement of the 13.8” as it is already stiff enough and the base material’s inherent self-damping with its proprietary cone treatment is chief quality. An entirely bespoke design, the 8” mid-woofers are optimised to cover a very wide frequency range from 1500Hz, down to the lowest bass notes without a hint of cone resonance. The use of an 8”, instead of smaller diameter drivers, provides a naturally improved bass response and efficiency, without working as hard to make it happen. Distortion is closely related to how far the cone and motor has to move for a given volume level. Size presents it’s own engineering challenges and the motor, suspension and diaphragm all must be delicately balanced to be able to cover the critical midrange frequencies without coloration. We use: 1. CCAW (Copper Clad Aluminium Wire) in the voice coil, balancing the lightness of aluminium, with the conductivity of copper. 2. Multiple aluminum shorting rings to reduce inductance, increase frequency bandwidth and lower distortion, whilst benefiting from the greater heat dissipation of a larger voice coil.
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3. Suspension FEA analysed to deliver symmetrical travel, lowering non-linear distortion 4. Klippel analysed, lightweight, long fiber pulp cones, treated with a custom formulation for inherent self damping, that remains pistonic through its operating range and beyond. 5. Voice coil venting to reduce physical and thermal compression, maintaining a hugely dynamic response. Multiple drive units are combined to further reduce Doppler distortions and augment bass output and power handling. The result is Clean, dynamic, high output capability, maintaining composure and subtle details. After thorough optimization and testing (using FEA, Klippel and other methods) of multiple aluminum shorting rings with a focused field “T” pole piece design, the result is a linear magnetic field over a wide range of input levels, ultra-low distortion, low inductance, and very dynamic bass. Symmetrical suspension consists of critical components such as the NBR surround, Connex spider, and integrated tinsel leads. All combine to create very high excursion capability with an exceptionally linear suspension. Again, this contributes to high output and low distortion at all operating frequencies.
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Air flow venting underneath the dust cap (vents in cone body), spider (vents in the basket) and a vented pole piece are added for two very important reasons. Air heat from the voice coil is forced away with each stroke of the cone diaphragm. This continuous exchange of air mitigates thermal compression and increases the woofer’s overall power handling capability. Second, the airflow relieves asymmetric compliance and noises (ie, distortion) due to non-linear compression and rarefaction of air typically trapped under the dust cap and spider. Typical, vented pole designs will be limited in effectiveness due to the lack of airflow volume. Meaning, at the highest power and excursion where the airflow is needed most, the pole vent alone will not be sufficient. Shielding is added to all drivers to avoid any problems with air shipping as UPS and other carriers have an upper Gauss (magnetic field) limit. As Arendal Sound are shipping world wide, we did not want to risk leaving anything behind at the airport just because we use such powerful motors in our drivers. We wanted your speakers to get the drivers you deserve!
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Not to be forgotten, the connection point of each speaker offers potential pitfalls for installation woes and signal degradations. Each binding post is made from copper (not brass or other lower conductivity metals), then CNC machined into shape. After the machining process is completed, each component is polished to insure burr free, smooth function and clean cosmetics. The final step is Rhodium plating. Chosen for its excellent conductivity, corrosion resistance and hardness; all serve to protect the copper material and music signal carried within. Each post accepts commonly used wire terminations - banana, spade, pin and bare wire. Input jumpers, made from the same materials as the binding posts, create a simple bridge between inputs without any compromise in quality for use when Bi-wiring is not employed. The exclusive terminal plate in brushed and anodized aluminum does not only have a beefy look but it also offers a, rigid resonance free performance. The reason for its size is the massive crossovers which are mounted on the back and they need all the space they can get. Mounting the crossovers directly on the plate gives the option for easy future upgrades‌
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Crossover design is a culmination of model, measure, listen, remodel, remeasure, re-listen, all while refining performance in increasingly small steps. This is the single most time consuming task in loudspeaker design, as it is the glue without which, even the best components can be made to sound disjointed and poor. As with the overall design goals for all Arendal Sound products, the crossover must be up to the task to deliver on the promise of hifidelity and robust construction, without compromise. All models within the Arendal Sound family share common drive units and this applies equally to the treble to mid-bass crossover designs across the range. The Tower gains an extra low pass section for the additional bottom bass drivers. Whilst all the attention and praise is shone on driver selection and design, the crossover plays the most critical role in delivering a smooth, seamless transitioning of the mid-woofer to the tweeter. Special attention must be paid to magnitude, phase and polar response so that the transition is contiguous on and off axis. Components used are tight tolerance, audio grades, and where no suitable item was found, components were custom made for Arendal Sound. Selection was further refined through destructive testing with 24 hour cycles of pink noise, played at progressively higher levels, without a break, over a period of days. If it could break, we found out why, how soon and rejected it anyway.
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For the Monitor and Center the crossover is a 2-way design, with a crossover point of 1500Hz and 1400Hz for Surround, between the mid-woofer(s) and tweeter. Slopes are all 4th order (24dB/ octave) which serves to further protect the tweeter at high SPLs, submerge out of band cone resonance in the mid bass drivers to inconsequential levels and limit out of band interactions between the drivers. The tower design starts as a 2-way design very similar to the Monitors, using the upper two woofer with the tweeter. This ensures consistent voicing throughout the family. What sets the tower apart is the addition of the lower two woofers. These operate in tandem in below 120Hz with the upper mid/bass drivers to further extend low frequency capabilities and increase headroom across the entire frequency range. To summarize, all Arendal Sound crossovers have the same characteristics: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
TECHNICAL STUFF
24dB/octave slopes. Heavy guage, low DCR air core coils. Metalized Polypropylene capacitors. High power, low inductance wire wound resistors. Wide, 1oz copper traces on 1.6mm thick FR4 pcb’s. Low inductance, low insertion loss, twisted pair wiring.
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Sealed box
Vented box
All Arendal speakers start with an optimal, low Q sealed box designs. Low frequency performance is accurately damped delivering a tight impulse response - the time the driver takes to stop moving after the signal has passed is very short - and rolls off at the natural sealed box rate of 12dB/octave below the combined box and driver resonant frequency. This frequency (quoted as the -3dB point for the bass extension) is somewhat higher than a vented alignment, but the roll off below a vented speaker’s -3dB point happens at 24dB/octave. On paper the vented alignments -3dB point will look deeper, but the sealed speaker compensates with a more extension below roll-off.
The Monitor, Center and Tower enclosures offer the ability to alternatively be used in a vented alignment. By removing the foam plugs inside the ports, low frequency -3dB point can be extended and given different bass characteristics. Damping and therefore impulse response are slightly less optimal than the sealed alignment, so the bass gains a slightly ‘fatter’ and warmer quality, with the extended response obviously delivering more bass output down to the ports tuning frequency. The other trade-off is that the port’s output adds a phase rotation at the bottom end, making addition of a subwoofer harder to integrate, but not impossible.
It is worth bearing in mind that smaller rooms or speaker positions closer to a wall, tend to add 6-12dB of extra gain per octave with descending frequency below about 40Hz. This dovetails in nicely with the natural opposite delivered by the sealed alignment, to give a surprisingly extended and naturally flat, in-room response. Thus, sealed boxes exhibit excellent, accurate sound reproduction, with a fast transient response and well damped impulse response. Their naturally flat in-room response and lack of ports, delivers minimal phase shifts, making them the easiest to integrate with a powered subwoofer.
Larger rooms and/or speaker positions further from room boundaries, may value this extra natural output as they will be less supported than in a smaller room. Equally, some listeners may enjoy this extra output in smaller rooms to deliver truly earth shaking (if not entirely accurate!) bass. Where Arendal Sound has been clever with the particularly bass proficient Tower, is the added flexibility of plugging combinations of the 3 ports. With all three 3 ports open maximum bass output is guaranteed, but with a higher roll-off point. With two 2 ports open, the -3dB point is lowered and the response curve starts to shelve down from roughly where the sealed alignment would, but at a lower rate of roll-off. With one port open, the -3dB point is lower still, but with an increased rate of roll off. Obviously all
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ports plugged brings the Tower back to a fully sealed alignment. The Tower therefore delivers a choice of multiple roll-off, output and damping ‘tunes’ that will suit a wide variety of tastes, room acoustics and speaker placement. In the case of the Monitor and Center, our recommendations are in line with the recommendations above with respect to port tuning, room type and positioning. Although remarkably bass proficient, it is envisaged that the Monitor and Center will typically be supported by a subwoofer for maximum bass extension and will therefore always perform at its optimum when run sealed in this situation.
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The brain of Arendal Sound subwoofers, the Avalanche 500DSP and Avalanche 1000DSP, are built around a Texas Instrument’s 48bit data path (with 28-bit filter coefficients) DSP engine, allowing virtually unlimited design flexibility with the assurance of no signal degradation along the way. Each amplifier’s transfer function, power output limiting and thermal protection are monitored to the millisecond and are customized for each individual drive unit and cabinet combination. The high efficiency Class D amplifier modules are based on a proven topology that has been continuously refined over the past 4 years. Excelling in transient response, high current output and very low distortion, they deliver the necessities for highly accurate, deep bass with output capabilities that drives and controls each 13.8” woofer to its fullest potential. Perfectly matched, by design.
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Avalanche Pre-amp features: • LED mode indicator (power on, standby, mute/protect). • Auto on/off (defeatable) on both RCA and XLR inputs. • 2 position user EQ modes for your taste: - EQ1 - Frequency response is extended to the lowest octave offering more energy below 40Hz. This effect matches well to effects found in movies and often times is found work well for music tracks as well when more bass emphasis is desired. - EQ1 is recommended for larger rooms or if you lust for the extreme bass levels in smaller/ larger rooms. - EQ2 - Frequency rolls off gradually below 40Hz, counteracting the effects of “room gain” which raises in smaller rooms. The combined result can be a more accurate, balanced bass level across all octaves. - EQ2 is recommended for smaller rooms, especially for music. • Volume control with preset for home theater subwoofer gain calibration (reference level).
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• Continuously variable phase control from 0-180 degree. • 24db/Octave Linkwitz-Riley Low Pass Filter, variable from 40Hz-160Hz with bypass option for use with pre-processor’s internal bass management. • Subsonic protection filter in Subwoofer 3 • Fully balanced differential XLR input & XLR pass- through output. • Soft start volume rise at power on. • Amp modules communicate with preamp protection circuit for status monitoring, shutdown & soft start functions. • Limiter continuously monitors bass energy content and within milliseconds will control the waveform to prevent any potential overdrive or unwanted distortions. • The measured latency is 3ms - Only adds 3ft/90cm in your preprocessor/AVR channel delays.
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• Excellent transient response and low distortion across the entire power range. • Features 2x500W monoblock modules for the Avalanche 1000DSP amps, that are invert-cross-coupled to form a full bridge to more efficiently use the AC power and lowering distortion. • Features 1x500W for the Avalanche 500DSP amp. • Protection against over-current (and shorted outputs), over temp, over voltage and DC fault. • ETL, ROHS and CE certified.
Avalanche Power amp features: • Integrated high current switch-mode power supply with >90% efficiency. • Standby low power mode with <1W power consumption. • Self-oscillating PWM generation; less complex and more stable than many other Class D topologies with the benefit of reduced EMI. • High current output stage. • High damping factor.
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Why 13.8”? The 25% larger surface area, when compared to a 12” driver, yields a woofer that requires less excursion and power to achieve the same SPL levels. The result is lower distortion, higher power handling and most importantly - tighter bass. Every part for this driver has been custom tooled to deliver high output, low distortion, accurate bass.
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The symmetrical suspension consists of a heavily analysed NBR surround and Connex spider with integrated tinsel leads. All combined to create a very high excursion with linear suspension. Again, contributing to high output and low distorting accurate bass.
Hybrid cone
Design features Ultra-high temp polyimide former with CCAW voice coil (copper clad aluminum wire) for low mass, high motor force and optimal thermal dissipation. Benefits: • 85% Aluminum / 15% Copper allows larger wire for more surface area. • 68% as conductive as copper, but only 40% the mass for lighter weight. • Ultra-high temp Polyimide prevents insulation breakdown at high power levels (aka “burnt voice coil”) After thorough optimization and testing (using FEA, Klippel and other methods) we refined a motor featuring multiple aluminum shorting rings with focused field “T” pole design. The result is a linear magnetic field over a long voice coil throw, with very low inductance.
Our unique hybrid cone of long fiber pulp and fiberglass, takes advantage of the pulp’s superior stiffness to weight ratio, with the additional rigidity of fiberglass to deliver a driver of massive durability that inherently inert and self damping. The result is a cone that achieves optimal pistonic motion at all frequencies it is asked to produce and beyond.
Air flow venting Air flow venting underneath the dust cap (vents in cone body) and spider (vents in frame) are added for two very important reasons. Air heated by the voice coil is forced away with each stroke of the cone diaphragm. This continuous exchange of air mitigates thermal compression and increases the woofer’s overall power handling capability. Second, the airflow relieves asymmetric compliance and noises (ie, distortion) due to non-linear compression and rarefaction of air typically trapped under the dust cap and spider. Typical, vented pole designs will be limited in effectiveness due to the lack of airflow volume - At the highest power and excursions, where free, smooth airflow is needed most, the pole vent alone is not sufficient.
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Driver shielding Shielding is added to all drivers to avoid any problems with air shipping as UPS (and other carriers) have an upper Gauss (magnetic field) limit. As Arendal Sound speakers and subwoofers are shipped world wide, we did not want them to be held at the airport terminals. We absolutely would not fit them with smaller motors than they deserve. We compromised nothing.
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Sealed box All Arendal subwoofers start with optimally damped, high Q sealed box design. Low frequency performance is accurately damped delivering a tight impulse response - the time the driver takes to stop moving after the signal has passed is very short - and rolls off at the natural sealed box rate of 12dB/octave below the combined box and driver resonant frequency. This frequency (quoted as the -3dB point for the bass extension) is somewhat higher than a vented alignment, but the roll off below a vented subwoofers -3dB point happens at 24dB/octave. On paper the vented alignment will look deeper, but the sealed subwoofer compensates with a more extended roll-off. As with Arendal speakers, but even more so because of the even lower frequencies involved, the sealed alignment naturally suits smaller rooms and positions closer to a wall. Room gain really kicks in hard below the rooms lowest resonant frequency, delivering 6-12dB of extra gain per octave below about 40Hz. This dovetails in nicely with the sealed alignment to give a surprisingly extended and naturally flat, in-room response and in the right room, will register output down into room shaking single figure Hertz!
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rear panel. Position Two (EQ2) is just the raw response of the subwoofer, but position EQ1 adds in a little extra bass lift below 40Hz. Not enough to make the sealed subwoofer anechoically flat, but just a bit more to compensate for the lesser room reinforcement offered up in larger rooms, or rooms of more flexible studwork construction. Of course, many will be quick to realise that this extra lift can also add additional bass in rooms that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really need it, turning action movie sound tracks into a bombastic bass-fest! We deliver the choices, you use them to suit your taste without worry, because our sophisticated DSP has your back protected.
Vented box Subwoofer 3, due to itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sheer internal volume, also offers the ability to also be used in a vented alignment. By removing the foam plug from the big slot port, low frequency output can be extended with different bass character. Damping is slightly less optimal than the sealed alignment, but the compensation is sheer sound pressure level. Maximum extension is slightly more restricted than sealed operation, but at all audible frequencies, there is a lot of output.
In all Arendal Subwoofers, we are offering options to tailor the output to suit your room and your tastes. Our Subwoofers have additional EQ (Equalisation) settings, user switchable on the
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GUIDES How things work
LOUDSPEAKER PLACEMENT AND SETUP
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should be doing the heavy lifting of the power hungry, big cone excursion, air shifting bottom end and so in reality, your speakers can be smaller than if you were attempting to generate the same SPLs with speakers alone as you would in 'traditional' stereo. For now, we will assume that you have chosen wisely (Arendal Sound, naturally!) and now you're ready to get the best out of your new or existing speakers.
Too often, calibrating a home cinema is a task that is often entirely left to the the AV Receiver/Processor and an 'Auto Setup' or 'Auto EQ' feature. However, by taking steps to choose and setup your equipment properly, you reduce the requirement for EQ and less is always more with audio. EQ should be thought of as a bandaid for small problems; there just to add a final polish to the end result. It should not and cannot make poorly chosen, or positioned loudspeakers perform optimally. For that to be possible, we have to start with the basics and in this article, we will deal with the front loudspeakers.
Positioning - Why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done what we have! All Arendal Sound speakers are designed with emphasis on not just having an linear on-axis (directly in front of the acoustic center of the loudspeaker) frequency response throughout the frequency spectrum, but also off-axis. At Arendal Sound, we place much emphasis on having a linear power response - This being the sum of the frequency responses in all directions.
First Steps First, we start by reading the manufacturer's instruction manual before you buy the loudspeakers. It's a good idea to download the handbook and see if the manufacturer's recommendations match the space you have available. It is no good buying a massive loudspeaker and putting it in a corner, if the manufacturer intended it to be at least 1m clear of all walls. Indeed, it's one of the most common misconceptions you see repeated on-line that a bigger version of a loudspeaker must be better than a smaller one. Not true.
Much scientific research has been undertaken on this subject and a linear power response has a greater positive impact on the overall sound, because the frequency response is more even in all directions. This means an Arendal Sound speaker will be more tolerant of differences in room shape, size, construction and materials.
If you have a smaller room and limited positioning options a well set up small speaker that offers more flexibility will more than likely out-perform a larger one that can only go in one place. Also bear in mind, that in a home cinema system, a subwoofer
In speakers with a tweeter mounted flat on the baffle, the frequency response can vary wildly compared to the ideal as you move away from this axis in any direction and that uneven sound reflects from
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elsewhere within the room and arrives back at your ears, tainting the flat response. This type of speaker will be very room dependent - read inconsistent from one room to the next.
that in a dual use Home Theatre and Stereo System, you follow the guidelines for Home Theatre setup, as that will tend to benefit more than one person.
The controlled directivity design that Arendal Sound has refined, aids the speakers in having a linear frequency response at the listening position, even when placed relatively close to side walls, so Arendal Sound speakers are relatively room independent and allow more freedom with positioning. This does not mean they will not benefit from careful attention to positioning, but simply that positioned correctly, they will tend to remain consistent performers wherever you are listening to them.
Again, Arendal Sound have given you more freedom to cope with less than ideal circumstances, so do be prepared to tweak and tune for that final polish!
Positioning - Listening Axis Most front loudspeakers like to be positioned with the listening pointing at ear height and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true for Arendal Sound loudspeakers. The listening axis is the point on the front baffle where the output of all of the drivers sums to a smooth whole, and in the case of Arendal sound with a mid/bass driver above & below the tweeter, the tweeter is at the acoustic centre and the axis is firing perpendicular to the baffle.
In terms of the actual positioning in the the room, there are number of factors to balance and perfecting one element, can be at the detriment to others, so it is always a case of balancing stereo imaging, bass power, bass evenness, etc, not to mention a significant other in your household may not want to treat a loudspeaker as a traffic island!
The Arendal Sound waveguide does a lot to lessen this requirement. As a result of carefully controlled dispersion and efficiency gains in the lower frequency regions of the tweeter's output, potential issues inherent in normal tweeter implementations are shifted down in frequency where they are easier to deal with. However, listen too far above or below this axis and you will be changing the relative distances between the drivers and will be causing the response through the crossover regions to become uneven and ragged.
What follows are our general recommendations in line with the capabilities and design of Arendal Sound speakers. Most recommendations follow general convention, because Arendal Sound Speakers are designed to work with normal systems in normal rooms and applications like Home Theatre mandate certain speaker placements and angles. We would also recommend
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Arendal Sound 1723 Tower (and 1723 Monitors when mounted on dedicated 1723 Stand) have a natural 2.5 degree layback, as the Mid-tweeter-Mid layout places the tweeter slightly low relative to the average listening height. The spikes have been engineered to be easily adjustable without tools, from above the outriggers, without having to lift the speaker. Tilt them until you are on axis in the horizontal plane and for the sake of aesthetics, the speakers are vertical when viewed from the front - Nobody likes a wonky speaker!
spacing does tend to serve the central listening position better, but as stereo listening tends to be a more individual, hedonistic pursuit, who cares!
Positioning - Toe In
Positioning - How to cope with walls and floors
Whilst we have taken great care with the design of the Arendal Sound waveguide to control dispersion and reduce the impact of side walls, Arendal Sound speakers are designed to be toed in toward the listening position, to further reduce issues from the closest boundaries. This will increase image focus across the soundstage and serve a wider range of listening positions more consistently in holding that focus between the loudspeakers rather than the sound collapsing toward the one which you are sitting closest.
We recommend a minimum 20-30 cm between the front wall and the rear of the speakers. Any closer than this will make the speakers sound muddy in the lower midrange and thicken the upper bass, making voices and instruments generally sound congested and indistinct. Contrary to popular belief, plugging one or all ports in a loudspeakers makes no difference in this area. All that does is retune, or remove the very lowest bass output of the loudspeaker.
In stereo world, it’s also worth trying slightly less severe toe-in to help open up the soundstage a touch and allow it to breathe. However, that will result in a very gentle roll off of the very highest frequencies (if you’re young enough to hear them!) and it should be balanced against the evil of early side-wall reflections.
The optimal placement is up to 1m from the wall. This distance will tend to also benefit stereo listening as it delivers the right amount of sound reflected from the front wall to give the soundstage the right sort of feel. Music is about ‘feeling’ and painting a picture of depth from only two speakers, requires a certain amount of assistance in what, after all, is the illusion of the soundstage.
In the case of Home Theatre use, we recommend the traditional equilateral triangle between you and the speakers, with them as far apart as you are from each loudspeaker. For stereo listening, we recommend you experiment, but rather that the 60deg angle of Home Theater, we feel a greater soundstage depth and focus is achieved with the front stereo pair closer to 45deg apart. This closer
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Of course, this ‘good practice’ of soft furnishing the floors first reflection points, also applies to the walls we’ve previously mentioned. However, hanging rugs or other soft sound absorbing items on walls is rather a matter of taste; or lack of, depending on your point of view.
1m is an ideal minimum from sidewalls too. Although Arendal Sound speakers are engineered to ensure a reduced amount of upper frequency energy is lost sideways and that which is, is engineered to be of equal power across as wide a range of frequencies as physically possible, further from a sidewall is always better. The energy reflected from the sidewall effectively creates a wider phantom speaker between the point of reflection and the real speaker. If you add that time delayed version of the sound to that arriving direct from the loudspeaker, it will not only make the sound busier and less clear, it will blur the size and positioning of images across the soundstage, as well as making the extreme left and right of the soundstage dominate over the central images.
None the less, the methods described for the floor apply equally to the walls and at least one wall will generally have a window, that is even worse in acoustic terms than a painted wall. If that window has curtains, then the room will sound better with them closed. Whilst we’re getting picky - Are you sitting on a leather sofa? If so, the hard surface of the leather places a mid-high frequency reflection point right behind your head. Cover it with something soft and it will have a positive impact.
One set of reflection points you really can’t avoid, wherever you point your loudspeakers, is the floor. If you have a carpeted floor, move on! If you don’t, we strongly recommend a rug positioned across the first reflection points. If you wish to know where these points are, place a mirror on the floor and the point at which you see the tweeter reflected in the mirror when seated in the listening position, is it. Use a bit of tape to mark the point and repeat for any of the other listening positions and for all of the front speakers. You will then see the area that needs covering and add 30cm in all directions for good measure - After all, who doesn’t slouch up, down or to the side occasionally!
We’re not trying to make your room look like something out of a Moroccan Souk, but it is worth noting that the Moroccans will likely enjoy a better acoustic than someone living in the sparse, modern pages of an IKEA catalogue! That’s the point we’re making. If you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated room, then easily one of the biggest upgrades you can make to any system, is to add proper room treatment. It’s slightly out of the scope of this guide, but there is a massive range of pre-made and DIY solutions available. Backed with research and/or professional guidance, engineering the correct blend of absorption, diffraction and reflection can have
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an absolutely staggering effect on the quality of reproduction of even modest systems. The mantra that a €1000 system with a €1000 of treatment, will outplay a €2000 system in a poor room, is very much an inconvenient truth.
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Again this is a rule of thumb as you don’t want that measurement to be equal of any of the three used to position the front speakers and preferably not a multiple of the speaker to front wall dimension for the same reason. However, moving a sofa an appreciable amount can be the cause of much ‘discussion’ in a family household, but as we said, these are just handy rules of thumb that should be accommodated, if they can.
Getting back to the speaker positions; One final consideration, is try and ensure that ideally, the relative distance from the floor to the centre of the bass drivers, is not equal to the distance to the front wall behind and in turn, that the distance from that point to the sidewalls is different again. This has to do with the way bass reflects and reinforces/cancels within a room and by randomizing these distances, you are helping to spread out and reduce the impact of these room (not speaker) related artifacts. It’s just a logical extension of the golden ratios employed in ideal listening room dimensions to achieve exactly the same end.
Basically, other than the distance from you to each speaker, try and mix it up a bit!
Positioning - Center Speaker The Arendal Sound 1723 Center & 1723 Monitor, uses the tweeter waveguide to great effect. As previously mentioned, increased tweeter efficiency allows a lower crossover than conventional systems, so the problems of off-axis comb filtering have been greatly reduced and down-shifted to much less sensitive frequencies. Thus, the 1723 Monitor is ideally suited to center duties and used with identical left and right monitors, provides an absolutely perfect tonal match.
Positioning - You! It would also be worth mentioning that, you the listener are also part of this bass and stereo imaging equation. Just as it is ideal for the speakers to be 1m from the front wall to assist in creating the right image depth, it is also ideal that you as a listener are 38% of the room’s length from the rear wall. This is considered ideal in terms of reducing the rear wall influence on the sound from the front speakers (that sound will have travelled just over twice as far and be over 4x quieter), but also divides the room’s dimensions so as to help smooth the bass response.
Whilst positioning has been (relatively!) unproblematic to achieve for the front left and right loudspeakers, owing to the spatial freedom they enjoy, the center channel will have to deal with the small matter of fitting in with where your screen needs to go.
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Positioning - Surround Speakers
Whilst you might be able to fire the center speaker through an acoustically transparent projection screen, that obviously isn't possible with LCD/OLED/Plasma displays. Do all you can to mount the center speaker up as high as possible and try to avoid housing it in an enclosed space in a cabinet; It will just end up sounding thick, muddy and unclear on dialogue. Likewise, sitting the Arendal Sound 1723 Center Monitor on a solid shelf that is up against the front wall is akin to putting the left or right speakers in a corner and will also thicken the bass and mid-bass making voices sound chesty and indistinct. In this case, you can at least pull the speaker to the front of the shelf to ameliorate this effect.
Our 1723 Surround TriAxial Surround speakers come in a configuration of Left and Right speaker. This design is a culmination of a regular direct-firing two-way speaker, with two full range drivers added to the sides. It is a mix of a monopole and dipole configuration and in our opinion this is the superior layout for a surround channel. The reason for the left and right specific speakers is that the side mounted drivers in this TriAxial surround are mounted out of phase with each other, is to create a large, rear surround field. The side driver that is in phase with the front mounted drivers, needs to be the one pointing at the front speakers for optimal surround effect placement and steering. This means that the TriAxial surrounds are mirror image pairs.
The center speaker equivalent of toe-in is limited to tilting it up/ down until itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s firing straight at you. If you are lucky enough to be firing through an acoustically transparent projection screen, we recommend placing the center speaker at at least ear height and if possible slightly higher as this gives additional help in terms of lifting the combined output of the front three loudspeakers up into the middle of the screen. As Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hidden behind a screen, it should be mounted in the upright position as this will give the widest even frequency dispersion to the left and right. If you can mount three Arendal Sound 1723 Center/Monitors behind the screen, try and get then all to the same height, ideally 1/3 of the way up the screen, or ear height - whichever is higher.
This speaker works equally well as height or presence channels as well and can even be mounted on the ceiling with our wallmount brackets. For 5.1 or 7.1 music playback we recommend disconnecting the side mounted drivers for a purely pinpointed image of all instruments. This is easily achieved by only connecting the bottom terminals and removing the straps between them. Ideally you have a rectangular room, with at least 38% of the room behind the listening position, solid front and rear walls and nothing to block the forward and rearward radiation of the TriAxial
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Surrounds. Unlike the front speakers, the strong front and rear wall reflections are very much part of how the TriAxial (and any other surround with side firing drivers) surround works.
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Meaning, the Left speaker should be placed to the Right and the Right speaker the the Left side.
Recap
TriAxial surround speakers should be ideally mounted 50-60cm above head height and directly to the side of, to 10deg behind the listening position. Higher will work too, as will a bit further back.
• Choose speakers that suit the room, not shoe-horn the speakers you want. • Try to avoid enclosing the center speaker in a cabinet or between shelves of a rack. • Position the speaker at ear level. If you can't point them up or down so they point at ear level. • Position the left and right speakers at a maximum of 60deg, but no closer than 30cm to the nearest wall and preferably more to the sides. • Cover the first reflection point on the floor with a rug as a minimum. • Toe the speakers in to point directly at the center listening position, even if you habitually sit off axis.
Surround Back Channels When mounting as the surround back channels in a seven channel system, the in-phase drivers should be mounted pointing at each other in the center of the rear wall. Meaning, the Left speaker should be placed in Right position at the back wall, and the Right speaker on the Left side. This means the out of phase drivers are working in phase with the out of phase drivers on the side channels. Between them, this pairing continues to assist with placing pin-point images at the rear, whilst working with all of the other drivers to diffuse the sound field around these effects.
Now you can press the Auto EQ button!
Height Channels When mounting as front heights, the in-phase drivers should point outward so they are working in concert with the same driver on the side surrounds - If you follow the logic, it’s easy to see how you can get and expansive, seamless sphere of sound from the height channel deck, that is also capable of passing objects around between the 1723 Surround TriAxial speakers with real precision.
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HOW SUBWOOFERS WORK AND HOW TO CHOOSE ONE
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In our speaker guides, we discussed how to choose, position and optimize your loudspeakers in a stereo or surround sound system. By choosing speakers appropriate to your room and the restrictions it may place on positioning, you can achieve remarkable results that minimize the requirement for additional electronic equalization (Room EQ/Compensation/Auto Set-up - whatever you want to call it!) to try and hammer the result into shape. We've said it before and we say it again - less is always more where electronic processing is concerned. Done right, you can achieve a seamless surround sound-field, with pinpoint effects hanging in space and apparently disconnected from the speakers. If your partnering amplifier and sources are up to the job, the levels of transparency and detail available from modern AV receivers (AVR) and processors at surprisingly modest prices, mean surround sound can now call itself 'hi-fi', in the true sense.
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improve the sound of those same speakers and get improved bass performance. By improved, we mean greater low frequency (LF) extension, higher dynamic headroom from the speakers and much lower LF distortion. To understand how, we need to know why and this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t short!
Why? The only time a loudspeaker and to a lesser degree an amplifier is not distorting the pristine source signal, is when it is not playing. That's a high price to pay for zero distortion, so let's assume we want to enjoy our movies and music, whilst minimizing distortion. Distortion takes many forms, but simply put, the more a loudspeaker driver moves from rest, the more distortion it introduces. Low frequencies, which require the largest volumes of air to be moved, require the greatest speaker cone excursions and the highest power demands on the amplifier. In all but the largest multi-driver loudspeakers, the mid-bass cone that is flying in and out is also doing it's best to reproduce your delicate mid-range too.
Why Do I Need a Subwoofer? Indulging in the world of surround sound enables these modest systems to significantly trump the performance of much of the hi-fi world in one significant area; Bass.
In the amplifiers case, it's trying to do all that and the even more delicate treble and remember; The amplifier is not only doing that, but it's also receiving the signal that a speaker trying to spring back to rest is sending back down the speaker cables and damp it out. The deeper the bass, the exponentially higher the power requirements to keep reproducing it at the same sound pressure
The key feature here is AV Receiver/Processor bass management, which is a simple idea, but one that continues to elude the hi-fi community despite its manifest benefits. Here in AV world, we can thankfully take it for granted. Put simply, by redirecting bass away from the main speaker channels to a subwoofer, you immediately
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levels - 100w for a given level at 80Hz, will require 400w at 40Hz for instance.
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Using the figures above, your 400w required to reproduce the 40Hz signal, effectively capped your amplifier to 100w at 80Hz. Now all of that 400w is available at 80Hz, which means you can effectively play 80Hz 6dB louder and that is a lot. These figures are plucked for the purposes of making a point, because a continuous 400w at 80Hz would likely render you deaf (or more likely kill the average speaker) but big transient peaks like a bass drum or an explosion can briefly hit these levels, even with the subwoofer handling the low stuff. You can't have too much headroom and it is worth remembering that the power output claims made by AV manufacturers, may be measured in such a way as to make you believe you have just bought a power station. The reality is that all channels driven, many €1000 AVRs can muster no more than 5080w all channels driven and the more channels you are driving, the more likely it is to be the lower figure. You need to hang to every amplifier watt you possibly can and keep away from deep bass!
Furthermore, it's not just a case of the size of driver, because just as it is with treble and midbass, the requirements of a driver that can deliver high quality sub bass are quite distinct from other drivers. Electrically, as well as mechanically, they are all quite different to each other. The big roll surround of a sub-bass driver will ring like a bell if it's hit with midrange frequencies and it's too big and springy to help damp the resonances and high frequency breakup of the large cone. Likewise the smaller roll surround of a mid-bass driver is insufficiently large to cope with more than 5-8mm of excursion. The big voice coil required to soak up all of that power is a subwoofer is a very large coil of wire, which is an inductor. Inductors are used in crossovers to roll-off higher frequencies, so by asking it to handle lots of power, you are restricting its maximum reproducible frequency. Etc, etc. In a subwoofer, you have a driver, a cabinet and amplifier that are optimized specifically for the task of very low frequencies and no amount of 5-7" speaker drivers can be squeezed into a floorstanding loudspeaker to replicate that task and do what a speaker needs to do.
That’s Why; But Which Subwoofer? As with speakers, there are a plethora of subwoofer designs, but we’ll stick to sealed and ported subwoofers. These two alignments are responsible for 99% of all commercial subwoofers and provide enough debate to rival even the valve vs solid state amplifier protagonists and that one has been running for fifty years! Let’s not make it more complicated than it needs to be.
So, by taking the low bass away from the loudspeakers you massively reduce cone excursions and reduce the demands on the amplifier, lowering distortion across the entire pass-band (the frequencies covered) by the loudspeaker. That's right - a subwoofer even gives you better treble.
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Let’s say you have two identical subwoofers, but one has a port and the other is sealed - also know as acoustic suspension and for good reason. The sealed subwoofer uses the sealed volume of air to to add to the suspension of the driver. This combined ‘spring’ damps the driver, causing it to come to a stop faster after an input signal has passed. It stops quicker; has less overhang is a frequently used expression and more correctly, its impulse response is shorter. In raw basic terms, it’s a more accurate description of the signal, adding less of it’s own output. The simplest solution is the best then. Well, sort of.
A sealed subwoofer in it's most simple state, is a driver in a box with an amplifier. The driver and the volume of the air in that box (should) deliver a flat frequency response from the chosen crossover frequency, down the point of the combined resonant frequency of those two components, below which the response rolls off at 12dB/octave. That is, for every halving of frequency below resonance, the output naturally drops by 12dB, but it continues to do so down to virtually DC if the manufacturer has allowed it. In a ported subwoofer, it is much the same as above, except a port (which is a tuned pipe like an organ pipe) has been inserted into the box. The tuning of this port is chosen for a point below the resonance of the driver/box combination, so as the driver starts to roll off, the port starts to roll in, extending the frequency response down to its tuning frequency. Below this frequency the response drops off at 24dB/octave and for reasons we shall deal with, the manufacturer will choose to electronically roll off the output completely a few Hertz below this point.
That air, sealed in the box, has to be squeezed (it’s an air spring) and that sucks up power. Likewise, all of the bass output of the subwoofer has to come from the driver and so as volume goes up and/or frequencies descend, the driver and amp have to work exponentially harder and as discussed, that’s a recipe for increasing distortion. Now, a ported subwoofer is, in acoustic terms, a sealed box above the tuning frequency of the port. However, physics, dictates that in order for a ported box to deliver a naturally flat response and go deep, for our given theoretical identical driver, the box will be two to four times the volume of the sealed equivalent. That pushes it from being a box that sits near furniture, into being the size of furniture. A pertinent consideration for many.
On the face of it the choice seems simple, as the ported subwoofer goes deeper for the same driver and power, but in these most simple of speakers, pesky physics has a lot to say about how these designs are achieved in an effective manner. There are no free lunches under the laws of this universe!
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This increased volume is also compressed less by our driver for a given cone excursion, so it exerts less of an air spring - less control - of the driver, which will take fractionally longer to return to rest. It will waffle on for a fraction of a second longer, so it has a worse impulse response. It’s not quite so accurate.
to run out of travel, hitting the end stops with it’s voice coil. This generally destroys the voice coil former, which is expensive. Therefore, manufacturers will fit an electronic filter to roll off the bottom end response pretty swiftly below the port tuning frequency. Thus, a ported subwoofer goes deep, but no further.
Why poke holes in a box then? Well the port, that tuned pipe does two things. At its tuning frequency, it is outputting a lot more bass into the room than the energy being fed into it by the driver. This is the famed free lunch of a ported sub; massive output for the same power/driver combination.
So essentially, that’s the trade off porting delivers. Greater SPL, louder deep bass with less harmonic distortion. The quid-proquo is slightly less accuracy and a big box. It’s an awesome way of getting a lot of bass for the money. The driver and amp are the expensive bits and the cabinet and port are cheap by comparison. A ported sub tends to only be a bit more expensive than it’s sealed equivalent. A lot larger, granted, but not a lot more money for the raw output increase.
A lesser discussed benefit is that whilst the acoustic output of the port is physically in-phase with the driver - summing to give a greater bass output where the band-pass of the driver and port coincide - at the end of the port inside the box, it’s pressure is out of phase with the driver. This means that as the output of the port starts to increase, it exerts a back pressure on the driver reducing its excursion, which by definition, reduces distortion. Ta da! That’s what we want - More free lunch!
Let’s get real - In a real room. So it would seem simple choice of listening preferences, space and other constraints, but then you have to add the room in which you will be listening into the equation and that brings a set of interesting variables into play. It’s perhaps the subject for another article, but the wavelengths of the bass emitted by a subwoofer, correlate with the dimensions of a typical room rather closely. As these long waves reflect within the room, they can add to the output of the subwoofer to create a massive peak in output, or overlap in such a way as the room and subwoofer conspire to cancel each other out. Worse still, these peaks and nulls are position dependent, meaning a booming
But there is an issue, when you get below the pass-band of the port. As frequencies descend below this point, the port no longer resists the driver and the driver now starts to find that it’s operating with no air spring resistance. It’s unloaded and unprotected, operating in free air. In this situation, very little power can cause the driver
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are a good natural fit in this regard. The ported subwoofer, that will naturally have a flat response, will now actually gain an upward tilt to it’s response and that may result in too much bass in the 10-20Hz below the lowest room mode, but above the tune of the subwoofer.
peak in one listening seat, can be totally absent in another, adjacent position. Nightmare. In our ‘Subwoofer Setup and Calibration’ guide, we make some recommendations for placing an Arendal Subwoofer that will do the best job of producing the most consistent results in a room, although moving the listening seat relative to the subwoofer a few inches can move these peaks and dips around to give a best compromise at the listening position. The complex and these days, very competent Room EQ of your AVR/Processor will sort out the rest to a greater or lesser degree. The bit we’re interested in is what happens in a room below it’s lowest mode - the boom or dip that correlates to its longest dimension.
What doesn’t change is that the ported subwoofer has next to no output below the port tune, so this extra 6dB/octave has no effect on the adding additional extension a sealed subwoofer enjoys. Hang on! You say. We’re talking about frequencies below the audible threshold, so what’s the point? Good question. The answer is that these infrasonic frequencies are the ones that describe the subliminal acoustic of a live concert hall, hold ‘the fear register’ and they’re the ones that shake the room, the sofa and anything not bolted down. In essence, they contain the atmosphere below the audible sound track and if you’re in a room with subwoofers that have serious output in this area, it’s as impressive as it is obvious.
This area is a where a phenomenon called room (cabin, if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic!) gain happens. Basically, below this frequency, the bass naturally starts to increase at a rate of 6dB per octave. This amount varies up or down with the size of room, with wooden construction and it’s ability to absorb bass delivering less gain than brick/block, but let’s run with the assumption that 6dB/octave is the figure.
And this is where the sealed subwoofer comes back into the picture. You see, the easy way to increase bass output is simply to add another, identical subwoofer. This adds 3-6dB of extra output across the entire passband of the subwoofers. In the case of a ported subwoofer, there is no extra extension to be had, so you simply get a louder version (or lower distortion for a given volume level) of
If you’re running a sealed subwoofer with it’s natural 12dB/octave roll-off, then you can add this +/-6dB/octave extra output back into the equation and suddenly, the bottom end appears much more extended than the raw figures would suggest. Sealed subwoofers
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what you already have, which is not a bad thing. What’s not to like about monster output and low distortion?
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For a moderate sized family room in a detached house, that would be a step too far, but you may have the space to accommodate a large ported subwoofer and therefore deliver a still epic bass experience. The same sized room in an apartment has to take into account the proximity of neighbours and thus a sealed sub will give enough output as the extra bottom end of the ported box will never be played loudly enough to be heard, nevermind felt.
In the case of the sealed subwoofer, this additional output continues all the way down into the single figures of Hertz, so each additional subwoofer increases low bass extension, in a way that a ported sub can’t. But there’s more. Two subwoofers placed together experience a mutual coupling that delivers a full 6dB (quadruple the output) gain across the entire pass band. This is true for both ported and sealed subs, but it has greater impact on performance at the bottom end and suddenly, the sealed subwoofer starts to shake off it’s natural restraints and starts to look like less of a compromise.
A small room with ample cabin gain, will give surprising levels of performance from a sealed subwoofer full stop and leave many not wanting more.
Etc, etc.
Again, we have recommendations in our ‘Subwoofer Setup and Calibration’ guide on the best way to use multiple subwoofers together and indeed, further smooth the in-room response.
Contrary to often stated ‘fact’ there is no right or wrong, simply a solution that fits your expectations, physical limitations and budget.
Conclusion? This discussion of the relative merits, does not conclude with a definitive recommendation as to what is right or wrong. Cost no object, a stack of sealed subwoofers will give the ultimate in accurate, deep, low distortion bass. That’s great for a deep pocket and a dedicated room that can be given over purely to the pursuit of audio nirvana. That equation largely ignores price and the visual impact of multiple subwoofers. It is the cost-no-object, high end, definitive solution.
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Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wriggle room for a bit of personal preference and also solutions that naturally provide for an upgrade path. Going sealed to start with, may result in a little less performance initially, but the rewards are there to be reaped further down the line with additional subs. Equally, if that line is buffered by considerations like your family, the single large box is still a pretty healthy compromise. The one and only thing that is definite is; the subwoofers of today, offer a level of performance, in a range of sizes, that was unimaginable as little as ten years ago. We live in rich times indeed!
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SUBWOOFER PLACEMENT AND SETUP
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Subwoofer placement can make or break system performance. As the foundation of rhythm, timing and impact upon which music or movie soundtracks are built, a poorly positioned subwoofer will deliver uneven, tuneless, slow and soggy bass. The whole system will not sound good. End of.
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on this, as your room is what it is. But why a corner? For starters, a corner delivers the most possible boundary gain, increasing for free, the apparent bass output. You may not want all of this output, but you can always turn the subwoofer down and as a result, you will enjoy increased dynamic headroom and lower distortion. That bit is standard subwoofer lore, but that’s not the whole story, because corner placement delivers two other benefits.
The performance of a subwoofer is inextricably linked to the room in which it sits It is therefore impossible to optimize the subwoofer without considering the room and it’s contribution. This contribution takes two forms. The first is the structure of the waves reflected within the room and how they super-impose on top of each other to deliver excessive peaks at certain frequencies, whilst causing total cancellations at others. The second is the room’s ability to absorb bass (or as you will hear it, let bass leak out) through flexible structures like stud walls.
The first of these is that you have greatly simplified the structure of room modes (the peaks and dips the overlapping bass waves produce) and therefore the ease with which you can tune the bass to flat with EQ, for more listening positions. This may sound counter-intuitive, as corner placement is known for emphasising the axial modes - the main ones that are associated with the rooms largest dimensions. What corner placement does is greatly reduce the number of reflections within the room, because in subwoofer terms, the wall against which the subwoofer sits, is effectively removed from the equation of the first reflections.
Even though what follows may seem contrary to what many will say (or rather parrot what they have heard) there are good, solid acoustic reasons for what follows. Here is why:
Corner placement
How so? If you place a subwoofer at some point out in the room, all of the walls have a first reflection that will bounce around the room to create modes. If you place a subwoofer against a wall, the first reflection of that wall is, to all intents and purposes, removed as the few inches of clearance between the subwoofer and wall, mean
Arendal Sound therefore recommend starting with a front corner placement, even for the mighty 1723 Subwoofer 3. Try to use the corner with the most solid structure - usually brick or block, or if in a timber framed construction; the one with the larger, thicker timbers which are usually an outside wall. Don’t get too hung up
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they are effectively the same place. Remember, we’re dealing with wavelengths of metres in length, so even 30cm is comparatively irrelevant. So, as that wall is effectively at the subwoofer, it’s reflection has been removed. Put the subwoofer in the corner and you have effectively removed two walls.
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sound using information from the third dimension of time. Indeed, our brain has a very difficult time differentiating a loud sound, from a quieter one that lasts longer. Of course, in an ideal world, we would have a flat response and a smooth fast decay of sound, but the decay time dominates our aural perception, so these algorithms will turn a given frequency down below the flat response, in order to trick our brains into hearing it as flat. Against this background, it’s easy to see why putting a subwoofer into a corner, removes reflections, simplifying the response in both the frequency and time domains in a way that modern equalisation likes to see and deal with and our ear will hear as tighter and better defined.
You will still get the first reflection from the opposing walls, but that’s half the number of first reflections and the resulting peak/ dip structure in the room might be slightly increased, but it will be simpler and more likely to be similar across a wider number of seating position. This presents a far simpler proposition for the Auto EQ in your AV-Receiver or Processor.
But there is more
But I want more subwoofers!
Each first reflection, sits on an indirect path to your ears, that is longer than the direct path from the subwoofer. So, it seems obvious that each reflection having travelled further, is time delayed. That a succession of delayed signals arriving at your ear will time smear the original signal into a longer, drawn out version. This is clearly not accurate and is just another form of distortion of the original signal, robbing the signal of dynamic impact and obscuring bass texture.
As a manufacturer of fine subwoofers, Arendal Sound will not argue with you! In our defence, the benefits of multiple subwoofers are well known, for extending headroom, lowering distortion and increasing the depth of audible response. There is no argument there. So where do you put this second subwoofer? The optimal position for a second subwoofer, is co-located on top of the first one. This is true, even if you can’t put the first one in a corner. The second best position is co-located next to the first one. There is a school of thought that mirror image position of the first one is best, especially now some AV-Receivers and processors
This is important because, whilst we tend to visualize sound in a two dimensional world of frequency versus amplitude and love a graph showing a flat response, our brain very much processes
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It is arguable that in the case of stereo programme, stereo bass from two equally distributed subwoofers should be superior. However, the ear/brain makes virtually no use of the sub 80Hz subwoofer bass wavelengths to form a believable stereo image and very few recordings actually mix the bass into different channels - It is nearly always summed into an equal mono signal. In acoustic recordings where a double bass may have been recorded in real space (as an example) it’s still the frequencies above the normal 80Hz crossover that carry all of the directional information. Thus, one source of better bass that serves all channels, is the better overall solution, for more listening positions.
have independently equalisable subwoofer channels and the new, object based surround formats, can carry two channels of sub-bass equalisation. However, we would suggest that one (or effectively one in the case of two co-located) better subwoofer will give superior bass. In much the same way our Subwoofer 2 and 3 take advantage of using the mutual acoustic coupling of two drivers to deliver significant performance gains in place of one, larger driver, without the drawbacks, two co-located subwoofers confers the same advantages - Namely, you get the full monty of a 6dB gain in output, or 6dB reduction in distortion for a given volume setting. Spread the subwoofers further apart, and that advantage halves to closer to 3dB. 3dB is still a useful output, but separation makes a number of factors more difficult to deal with.
But you mentioned stacking the two subs? This comes back to the room and integrating the subwoofers within it. In all practical terms, the raw bass performance of the two subwoofers sitting next to each other across the corner will be the same as two stacked, so why risk slipping a disk trying to lift one up?
For one, rooms are rarely acoustically symmetrical. Even if all of the walls are the same size and structure, it’s unlikely that every piece of furniture in the room is a mirror image and it all counts Each subwoofer will have a different in-room response and require a different EQ solution. Also, whilst each subwoofer will be EQable, different listening positions will have a different path length to each subwoofer. You will just have made it harder for your AVR or Processor to achieve an EQ solution as now, not only is it fighting the room and it’s dimensions, but also the changing dimension of listener to subwoofer distance to not just one subwoofer, but two.
Basically, it’s an extension of working with the room in the way the corner position does, with a couple of added benefits. If there is one dimension that corner placement (or all other placements for that matter) does not deal with, it’s that of the floor to ceiling - normally somewhere in the 2.4-2.7m region which correlates with the 60-70Hz region. Of course, being in the corner
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on the floor has removed the floor’s contribution first reflection, just as it did with the two adjacent walls, but stacking goes further.
may decide otherwise, so side by side is a close second best, with any position that moves the subwoofers apart, progressively worse.
The subwoofer effectively act as a point source, with a spherical wavefront, restricted by the walls and floor. When you stack subwoofers, this spherical wavefront starts to behave more like a cylinder emanating from a line source. Stack them all the way to the ceiling to achieve a cylindrical wavefront, you then get a phenomenon where bass power only halves with a doubling of distance, rather than quarters. So, perversely, you can play the full stack quieter, for the same perceived bass at the listening position, meaning it’s actually less intrusive in the rest of the house. The full stack also completely removed the floor and ceiling from the room mode equation, making it by far the easiest arrangement to EQ.
We will note that there are many other combinations of multiple subwoofer installations including one in each corner, or the center of each wall. However, we would suggest that whilst these ape the staggering results that can be achieved in a professional install with a high end processor (and very expensive measurement and off-board correction equipment) simply positioning the subs so and hoping an automated EQ will sort it out, is still a long way from being a practical reality.
Conclusion? The conclusion is a mix of standard recommendations and our, electro-acoustic engineering focused approach to our subwoofers.
Even if we rewind to having just two stacked subwoofers, you’ve gone a long way in terms of improving all of the possible parameters that you can. You have gained the most you can in headroom and distortion terms. There are no differential path lengths to make EQ difficult. You are moving toward a cylindrical wavefront, simplifying EQ and reducing time domain distortions from first reflection from the ceiling, improving impact, texture and timing.
We could in some cases recommend a single Subwoofer 2 over a couple of Subwoofer 1s, if you’re going to spread them apart. Or a couple of stacked Subwoofer 1s over a Subwoofer 2 in terms of in room response. However, the bigger more efficient Subwoofer 3 at a touch more money than a pair of Subwoofer 1s and although large, isn’t as visually intrusive as a pair of stacked Sub 1s. The ultimate bass experience is enough stacked Subwoofer 2s or 3s to reach your ceiling! There are many combination to bass nirvana.
But That Looks Awful! Nobody said this was an absolute, just the least compromised in acoustic terms. The reality of a harmonious domestic existence
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That’s just a few of the combinations we can think of and of course, we can’t see the possibilities or restrictions of every room out there. No two rooms are the same and that’s why, ultimately there is no one-size-fits-all approach to subwoofers. We encourage everyone to get in touch with us at support@arendalsound.com to get expert help on choosing the right Arendal Sound subwoofer(s) for you and placement options.
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Safety instructions Subwoofers How to connect the subwoofer Connecting to a stereo setup Single subwoofer connection Dual subwoofer connection Connecting to an A/V-Receiver Subwoofer operation Enclosure tuning (Subwoofer 3 only) Amplifier functions Amplifier operations Loudspeakers Enclosure tuning Tower Monitor & Center Connectivity Spikes Kit
MANUALS Do's & Don'ts
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Read these instructions. Keep these instructions. Heed all warnings. Follow all instructions. Do not shower or bathe (with) this product. It does not like water nor soap. Do not restrict the natural ventilation for this product. Do not cover amplifier plate with polar bear hide or similar as this product is built to handle even the cold northern climates without such heating devices. Large house pets like dogs, big cats or bears should be trained not to cuddle or sleep against this product to avoid overheating, scratches and bite marks. Clean this product only with dry cloth. Do not install near any heat sources such as an open fireplace, radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat. Protect the power cord, signal cables or speaker cables from being walked on, chewed on or pinched particularly at plugs and the point where they exit from the apparatus. Only use attachments and accessories specified by the manufacturer. Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time. Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way,
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such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped. • Check that there are no cables under the carpet that may be damaged by the spike/cone feet. Do not walk the product on the spike feet as this may cause them to become detached from the cabinet and cause damage. Take care not to impale yourself with the spike feet.
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• Do not place this product on an unstable stand, tripod, bracket or table. The product may fall causing serious injury and serious damage. Any mounting of the product should follow the manufacturer’s instructions. • For continued protection against fire hazard, use fuses only of the correct type and rating. Mains fuses are located inside the appliance as well as on its back panel. Replacement of the internal fuse should be entrusted to an authorized operative. User-replaceable fuse types are shown in the specification. • WARNING: To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, this apparatus should not be exposed to rain, snow or moisture and objects filled with liquids, such as vases, should not be placed on this apparatus.
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• The mains plug of the power supply cord shall remain readily operable. • WARNING: This product is capable of producing very high sound pressure levels. Please exercise restraint in its operation to prevent hearing damage.
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How to connect the subwoofer PRE-OUT
Connecting to a stereo setup Depending on your subwoofer layout, we recommend two different methods of connecting the subwoofer(s) for a normal stereo playback system, where there is no dedicated subwoofer output from the source.
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Single subwoofer connection When hooking your subwoofer up to an existing stereo setup, where there is no dedicated subwoofer output from your source we recommend that you use both L and R variable outputs (output level controlled by the amplifier volume control) from the source into the subwoofers amplifier. This will ensure that the signal is correctly summed as a mono signal to the subwoofer. If only using the L or R signal some of the bass may disappear as some songs have independant bass tracks on the Left and Right channel causing only one of them to be heard through the subwoofer instead of a summed mix.
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Dual subwoofer connection When using two separate subwoofers in a music system we recommend using L and R outputs to each subwoofer (L goes to left subwoofer, R goes to right subwoofer) instead of summing a mono signal on each subwoofer if they are located on each side of the front speakers. This will ensure a true stereo image throughout the entire frequency spectrum. Note that this method is not recommended if using the two subwoofers in any other configuration than on each side of the room close to the main speakers. For any other configuration we recommend summing a mono signal to each subwoofer. If both subwoofers are placed at the same position (side by side or stacked), we recommend summing the signal to mono to both subwoofers.
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Connecting to an A/V-Receiver For a typical AV Receiver/Processor connection, we recommend using a single RCA (fig. 1) or XLR (fig. 2) cable between the receiverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Subwoofer output (SW Out, LFE Out or similar, please refer to your product manual) and connect to the LFE input on the subwoofer amplifier. Where an AVR/Processor has two or more subwoofer outputs, only use one to each subwoofer. There is no advantage in using two outputs into one subwoofer. 1
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Subwoofer operation
Quick panel overview
Enclosure tuning (Subwoofer 3 only) Subwoofer 3 offers the ability to be used with either vented or sealed alignments. By removing the foam plug from the port, low frequency output can be extended with different bass character. The subwoofer offers greater deep bass extension and more power as a vented design. As a sealed enclosure it offers even better transient response and a smoother roll-off that may suit music listeners and/ or smaller rooms better.
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LED mode indicator Pairing - Currently not utilized Auto ON/OFF switch - Works for both RCA and XLR inputs 2 position EQ switch - Different tuning options Low Pass Filter - Toggle on to use the subwoofer amplifiers crossover 6. Bass Level - Adjustable gain control 7. Phase - Adjustable from 0-180 degree 8. Low pass filter - Adjustable crossover from 40Hz-160Hz 9. LFE & Line inputs - Gold plated RCA inputs 10. XLR Balanced Input - Fully balanced differential XLR input. 11. XLR Direct Pass-Thru - Fully balanced differential XLR output 12. Mains power switch - On and off 13. C18 Power inlet - With fuse holder
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1. LED mode indicator - Indicates what status the amplifier is in, whether it is in standby, power on, mute or protect. It will also blink during boot up and shutdown (unless shutdown from standby). Standby is indicated by a RED light. Power on is indicated with a GREEN light. 2. Pairing - For future WISA wireless module upgrade. Currently not utilized. 3. Auto ON/OFF switch - Works for both RCA and XLR inputs. The typical turn-on/off thresholds are as follows. The LED will be solid RED until it senses a signal, then will turn solid GREEN. NOTE that the gain, phase or crossover do not affect this turn on threshold appreciably. 2 x RCA is for 2 independent sources driving each RCA, not a simple y-connector: 2xRCA
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Always on After the amp boots up it will attempt to detect a signal at one of the inputs. LED flashes green. The signal threshold follows the chart above for required voltage to sense. Once turned on, the LED will be solid GREEN and the other input will be ignored.
Since these amplifiers are mini computers there are certain areas that the amp will function differently than familiar analog circuits.
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Signal Selection Whether the amp is in “auto” or “always on”, the DSP will monitor the XLR and RCA inputs for the presence of a signal. Once detected the amp will lock on only one input (XLR or RCA’s). If there is signal applied to both the XLR and RCA, the amp will select XLR. Since the Avalanche amps are digital, there are 2 main differences here compared to an traditional analog amplifier platform; • Approx. 5-10 seconds to sense signal then turn on. • You cannot hot swap input because the amp will not look at the other input. The amp will need to be powered down, then turned back on to change inputs. 4. 2 position EQ switch - EQ1 gives a flat anechoic response, which will give great emphasis on the lower octaves. For movies this can be especially appealing. For smaller rooms and/or music listening, the EQ2 setting can be beneficial. The bass will roll off with 12db/octave from around 40Hz which will give a smooth bass response in smaller rooms for the lower octaves.
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5. Low Pass Filter - Toggle on to use the subwoofer amplifiers adjustable crossover. By-pass option for use with AV-Receiver/ Processor’s internal bass management which is recommended when possible. 6. Bass Level - Control with preset for home theater subwoofer gain calibration (reference level). The Reference level is 2-3db above THX specifications which fits perfect with our Tower speaker in terms of sensitivity. 7. Phase - Adjustable from 0-180 degree. We recommend leaving the phase at 0 degrees when using a AV-Receiver/Processor with time (channel distance) alignment feature. For music setups the phase need to be adjusted so the subwoofer blends with the front speakers. 8. Low pass filter - 24db/oct Linkwitz-Riley low pass filter. Adjustable from 40Hz-160Hz. 9. LFE & Line inputs - Gold plated RCA inputs. Use either one input for a single subwoofer signal (LFE / Subwoofer out or similar from the pre-processor). For stereo use, both inputs (Left and Right) needs to be connected for a proper mono signal summation. 10. XLR Balanced Input - Fully balanced differential XLR input for sources with balanced XLR output. If your AV-Processor supports XLR connection, it is the recommended option. 11. XLR Direct Pass-Thru - Fully balanced differential XLR output. For daisy-chaining several subwoofers the XLR input needs to be utilized to achieve signal on the XLR output. When
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there is only RCA connections from the source, an RCA-XLR adapter/cable is needed. 12. Mains power switch - Boot up - Once flipping the power rocker switch, the amp will take approx. 30-45 seconds before it is ready to make signal selection. Signal selection and time for an actual sound present at the subwoofer will take another 5-10 seconds. This amount of time doesn’t seem long, but it is different than an analog circuit which will play music almost immediately after flipping the rocker switch. Shutdown: Flipping the rocker off will start the shutdown. During this time the LED will blink (unless it is in standby). This takes approximately 20-30 seconds. The amp is muted during this time so noises are not transferred to the outputs. NOTE: If you try to flip the rocker back on during shutdown, the amp will give an error (red/green blinking) and not turn back on. If this happens, simply flip the rocker back off and wait for the LED to completely stop blinking, then flip the rocker on to power up. Remember it is a “mini computer” and treat as one. 13. C18 Power inlet with fuse holder - There is no ground pin on this amplifier. The fuse specification is printed on the amplifier board. More information on how to achieve the best result is found in the subwoofer calibration guide in this handbook.
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Enclosure tuning The Monitor, Center and Tower enclosures offer the alternative of being used in a vented alignment. By removing the foam plugs inside the ports, low frequency -3dB point can be extended and given different bass characteristics. Damping and therefore impulse response are slightly less optimal than the sealed alignment, but the extended response delivers more bass output down to the ports tuning frequency.
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Please Note: With only a single port open, higher listening levels could generate some port noise (sometimes called ‘port chuff’) from the extremely high velocities of the air within the port. It is therefore not recommended for high SPL listening, but may perform quite well at moderate levels. Monitor & Center In the case of the Monitor and Center, we recommend only fully sealed, or fully ported operation, in line with the recommendations above with respect to room type and positioning. Although remarkably bass proficient, it is envisaged that the Monitor and Center will typically be supported by a subwoofer for maximum bass extension and will therefore always perform at its optimum when run sealed in this situation.
Larger rooms and/or speaker positions further from room boundaries, may value this extra natural output as they will be less supported than in a smaller room. Tower The Tower has the added flexibility of plugging different combinations of the 3 ports. With all three 3 ports open maximum bass output is guaranteed, but with a higher roll-off point. With two 2 ports open, the -3dB point is lowered and the response curve starts to shelve down from roughly where the sealed alignment would, but at a lower rate of roll-off. With one port open, the -3dB point is lower still, but with an increased rate of roll off. All ports plugged brings the Tower back to a fully sealed alignment. The Tower therefore delivers a choice of multiple roll-off, output and damping ‘tunes’ that will suit a wide variety of tastes, room acoustics and speaker placement.
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Connectivity All Arendal Sound 1723 Speakers offer the possibility of Bi-amp & Bi-wire, as well as normal single wire operation. In all cases the tweeter (High) crossover is electrically separated from the mid/bass (Low) crossover, by removing the external jumper plates that come fitted between the top and bottom pairs of speaker input terminals. If using separate amplifiers to power the high & low speaker inputs, care should taken to ensure the power amplifiers are gain matched, to prevent an imbalance in the output of the drivers.
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NEVER connect across the high pair of terminals, or the low pair of terminals using the jumper plates or other cable, while the amplifier is connected. This will result in permanent damage to your amplifier. Always shut down the amplifier when connecting the speakers.
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Now, if required adjust the front or rear spikes as a pair to tilt the speaker, up or down until the front baffle is firing directly at the listening position. Owing to our wide dispersion Waveguide Tweeter, this is not critical but aesthetically, it looks wrong if the two speakers are not level with each other.
Supplied with The Tower and Monitor Stands, The Spike kit is there to ensure a firm stable mounting of your loudspeaker, with the ability to adjust tilt to suit listening seat height and uneven floors. We recommend optimization of speaker positioning (see How to Setup Loudspeakers in this handbook) prior to fitting the spikes to prevent damaging floors and floor coverings. Due to the massive construction of Arendal Sound Speakers and despite the large size of our spikes, we do not recommend walking the speaker, or dragging the speaker on its spikes as this may damage The Spike Kit.
Finally; Secure this position by tightening the lower Locking Ring up to the underside of the spike bar.
Once positioned, you need only slide the locking ring under the Spike Bar and then screw the spike in from above using the top Adjusting Ring. We recommend starting with the lowest adjustment required to lift the Spike Bar just clear of any floor covering, such as carpet. Adjust levelling by screwing down the spike at the lowest corner, using a spirit level to level with the highest opposing corner. Then adjust of the opposing spikes to set the cabinet level. The fourth spike should then be adjusted until no rocking of the speaker can be felt.
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WARRANTY Because we care
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Should you prefer to send the complete product back to us for service - please contact us at service@arendalsound.com. When sending the product back to us it is important that you use the original packaging or something of similar quality. We are not responsible for damage caused by inadequate packaging but we will be helpful with arranging the return shipment.
Luckily for you and for us, Arendal Sound products are extremely durable products which have gone through extreme stress tests during development. However failures may happen and if it does, you will always know we are backup you up. Arendal Sound have up to 10 Years warranty (5 for electronics) which cover all costs for you as a customer within the warranty terms.
Important! Do not try to repair the product without permission from us. Disassembling or removing parts from your product(s) in one way or another, can damage your product(s) without the right instructions. It will void your warranty rights.
All Arendal Sound products can easily be repaired by the customer, by replacing components yourself. This means we may send you the replacement part/module which is needed, instead of sending the complete product back and forth, this saves down time and you will be guided by qualified staff from the Arendal Sound team. We will only ask you to do very simple steps to fix the products and you do not need any servicing experience at all. In the unfortunate event of a product failure, it will usually only take a few days to get the problem fixed. If you have a problem with your product, contact us at service@arendalsound.com and send us the serial number of the product which is failing and we will help you to identify the defective component.
Non-authorized sales Any sales done outside arendalsound (or lsound) domains are non-authorized and will therefore not be under the warranty. Please email us at sales@arendalsound.com if you have any questions. Get support! If you have any difficulties or just simply want to ask us questions to optimize your Arendal Sound products please email us at support@arendalsound.com or call us at +47 4000 2188 (+47 4000 2288 for Norwegian customers).
If we ship you a replacement part for your product, which can swap out by yourself, we will send pre-paid return labels to return the defective part to us. This part must be returned or you will be invoiced for the replacement part in full. Every cost is covered by us if the product is under warranty.
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