Arendal 1961 1V Powered Subwoofer

  • Sunday, Jan 21, 2024
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Foreword / YouTube Video Review

This speaker was loaned to me for review by the manufacturer. The manufacturer did not see the review before public release. If you are interested in purchasing these, please consider doing so through the below affiliate link:

The review on this website is a brief overview and summary of the objective performance of this speaker. It is not intended to be a deep dive. More so, this is information for those who prefer “just the facts” and prefer to have the data without the filler.

However, for those who want more - a more detailed explanation of the objective performance, and my subjective evaluation (what I heard, what I liked, etc) - please watch the below video where I go more in-depth. Additionally, my CEA-2010 test results can be viewed directly via my Google Sheet here.





Information


The current price for this subwoofer is $1199 USD direct from the manufacturer.



Manufacturer Specs:

  • Woofer 12.2”
  • Enclosure Vented
  • Enclosure material High Density Fiberboard (HDF)
  • Amplifier Avalanche 550IQ, 550W RMS
  • Power cable 1.5 meters
  • Frequency response
    • EQ1 16-200Hz (+/-3dB)
    • EQ2 20-200Hz (+/-3dB)
  • Dimensions without feet 54.5H x 39.0W x 50.0D cm
  • Dimensions with feet 55.7H x 39.0W x 50.0D cm
  • Weight 36.1 kg


Test Setup/Conditions:

All measurements - other than CEA-2010 - are provided as full-space anechoic @ 1 meter. This means frequency response, distortion and group delay were taken outdoors with the SPL referenced to a distance of 1 meter.


Frequency Response

The below shows the response in (4) different modes:

  • Sealed EQ1
  • Sealed EQ2
  • Ported EQ1
  • Ported EQ2

Both EQ1 (sealed and ported) modes yield the more linear response with the -3dB at approximately 35Hz (if referenced to 100Hz, given the response trends downward from here). While vented mode does provide about 1dB more output there is little difference otherwise (for example, the rolloff rate is practically the same). If needing to cross this subwoofer up to 150Hz make sure to note the mild resonance at this frequency.

specs

Group Delay Comparison

specs



Max SPL / Compression

The following test was ran at 3 input voltages:

  • 0.01 Volt RMS
  • 0.10 Volt RMS
  • 2.50 Volt RMS

The frequency response of each is provided below for comparison and understanding of the built-in limiting function that typically attenuates low frequency with higher SPL.

Max SPL is approximately 107dB @ 1m free-field (not groundplane). You can see the max output compresses below 50Hz, increasing in compression going lower in frequency. In this case, compared to the blue line at 84dB, the max SPL is attenuated approximately 5dB at 30Hz and ~8dB at 20Hz.

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Distortion at Max SPL

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CEA-2010 Test Results

CEA-2010-A: Weighted and Limited Maximum Peak SPL (dB) SPL referenced to 2-meters in Half Space (2 pi)

Speaker 12.5 Hz 16 Hz 20 Hz 25 Hz 31.5 Hz 40 Hz 50 Hz 63 Hz 80 Hz 100 Hz
Arendal 1961 1V No Test 101.8 104.3 107.2 111.3 113.5 116.1 117.2 117.3 116.2


Note: All the above data is from my spreadsheet which can viewed directly here.



Parting / Random Thoughts


Good output with most potent output being above 40/50Hz. Many DSP features to tailor the sound for your room without the absolute need for external DSP (though, of course the latter would provide finer tuning capability wrt equalization).





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