Arendal 1723 Speakers/dual PSA TV1813M Sub Setup

[KeithL]

As a broad generalization plywood is structurally the best... because it doesn't have a single grain direction along which it will split or warp.
A lot of high quality furniture is made of plywood with veneer - because it doesn't warp or split like solid wood.
(And, for a mounting plate, it will also be stronger, and cost less.)

DON'T use chipboard or fiberboard.

Chipboard works great for small things like speakers... where you have a structure with edges attached to other edges...
But for things like shelves, or even large support brackets, it will sag and warp over time.  
Plywood is much more dimensionally strong and stable.

Any time you use wood with a grain, especially soft wood like pine, there is a chance that it will eventually split along the grain.

Oct 3, 2022 20:59:23 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

So this past weekend I headed to Home Depot to get the hardware necessary to mount my new Arendal Sound 25lb Height/Atmos speakers. After thinking it through for a week or so, it's apparent that the wall mounts I bought for these height speakers are more than capable of handling their weight. On the other hand, I don't believe two of the four mounting holes in the wall mounts will suffice in supporting the speakers with just two studs being used. So this coming weekend I'll be pulling out the DeWalt table saw and cutting exact backing boards a little smaller than the back of the speakers, attaching that to four stud points and attaching the four wall mounting points to the backing board. For you woodworkers out there, is there a preferred wood, strength-wise, that will handle 25 lb speakers attached to wall mounts where the wall mount will be attached to the backing board which is attached to the wall in four different stud points? I have more than enough wood scraps to make four backing boards, but what type of wood will be the best?....oak, pine or a high grade plywood?

[LCSeminole]

Thanks Bruce and Keith!!! I’m glad I asked as a beginner woodworker. I was told not to waste a good hard wood for this project and to use a good quality plywood. I’ll be painting the back boards the same color as the wall so they disappear to some degree.

[LCSeminole]

I have FINALLY installed my 1723 Height S speakers, and not without difficulty, but nothing that I couldn't overcome with a good nights sleep to mull it over. Just a few extraneous thoughts as I over-engineered the install, but in the end I'm highly satisfied and now confident that 25lb height speakers can successfully be mounted safely and securely to wall mounts secured to backing boards screwed into studs. Table saws are not only a woodworkers best friend in the shop/garage, but a necessity to rip or crosscut lumber precisely. The miter gauges that come with table saws are most definitely an after-thought by all table saw manufacturers(no matter the cost) and are utterly absolute crap!!!....it has taken me four DIY projects, but I'm now coming to this conclusion and will be purchasing a much better built/designed miter gauge with a fence from one of these brands: Incra, Kreg, Harvey, Vevor or Fulton(any of you woodworkers out there have a favorite please feel free to express your thoughts PLEASE!!!). An electric sander, carpenters square, stud finder and an impact driver make your projects so much easier, PERIOD.

More to come today!!! I still have to make a quick run to the Home Depot.

[ttocs]

Oct 9, 2022 14:31:59 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

I'm now coming to this conclusion and will be purchasing a much better built/designed miter gauge with a fence from one of these brands: Incra, Kreg, Harvey, Vevor or Fulton(any of you woodworkers out there have a favorite please feel free to express your thoughts PLEASE!!!). An electric sander, carpenters square, stud finder and an impact driver make your projects so much easier, PERIOD.

The highest quality woodworking tool I know of is made by Shopsmith. My father was part of a Carpenter Club in the 1950's to 1960's, and his contribution to the cause was to buy the Shopsmith 5-tools-in-1 which was in the family for about 4 decades, but I wish we still had it today (it had been unused for a bunch of years so we gave it away). Everyone in the club would share all the tools and knowledge amongst the members.

From Shopsmith.com: "Miter Gauge - Squeeze-style safety grip clamps the workpiece firmly to the gauge bar for slip-free operation - protractor is accurate to 1/2°, with adjustable auto-stops at common angles - gauge bar slides in T-shaped table slots to prevent accidental drops & provide extended crosscutting capacity."

There is also a "micro-adjustment" for the saw blade for extremely accurate rips and dados.
Again from Shopsmith: "Shopsmith's Quill Micro-Feed Feature... Although it's provided primarily for the drill press, this Shared Feature also works for you on the table saw (and other operations), as well. Use it to micro-adjust the saw blade when you need super-precise rip cuts... when you have to shave dado slots or grooves for a snug fit... or when you need to create tight-fitting tenons or adjust molding cuts."


And it only costs $4,795.00.

Regarding impact driver, I like my Milwaukee M12 tools. Yes, the M18 has better power and more battery life, but it's larger and heavier. For non-daily use the smaller, lighter tool is just more handy.

I have a SuperScan M4 Stud Finder which works well for $70. But the Walabot DIY 2 looks like a huge leap in technology, while costing about $100 more at $170.

[LuisV]

How are those Arendal's treating ya?

[LCSeminole]

Oct 27, 2022 16:46:21 GMT -5 LuisV said:

How are those Arendal's treating ya?

I've not had a lot of listening time with my 1723's for the past two weeks or so as I've been traveling for work and it's been demanding. I've had to put running Dirac Live off for that time as well and while I'm working tomorrow(I hardly work Saturdays), I'm going to try and get it run on Sunday. At the very least, speaker positioning is exactly where I want them and the height speakers have been mounted after a bit of a diy project.

[LCSeminole]

Having ran Dirac Live last weekend and tweeking a bit on Friday, had some friends over for college football, we watched Top Gun: Maverick 4K before the FSU/UM game. This was the best my home theater has sounded as well as looked, to date. Definitely a reference quality UHD-bluray movie, and most certainly shines on a professionally ISF calibrated OLED. Todays showing definitely confirmed choosing the 1723 Tower THX’s we’re the right choice for the fronts and the 1723 Center THX speaks for itself, as the dialogue from this center is as good if not better than any center channels I’ve heard.

[lhracing]

I am interested in the Center speaker, I want to get a new Center to better match my JBL M2 fronts and based on some of the review comments the 1723S might work.

Are you using the 1723 or the 1723S?
What frequency are you crossing the center at?

Thanks

[LCSeminole]

Nov 6, 2022 11:07:21 GMT -5 lhracing said:

I am interested in the Center speaker, I want to get a new Center to better match my JBL M2 fronts and based on some of the review comments the 1723S might work.

Are you using the 1723 or the 1723S?
What frequency are you crossing the center at?

Thanks

I’m not at all familiar with your JBL M2 fronts, so without doing any research, is there an accompanying center in the same family voiced to match your M2’s ? If not, how about another M2? As for my center it’s the 1723 Center THX and it’s crossed over @80hz.

[lhracing]

Nov 6, 2022 12:18:12 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

Nov 6, 2022 11:07:21 GMT -5 lhracing said:

I am interested in the Center speaker, I want to get a new Center to better match my JBL M2 fronts and based on some of the review comments the 1723S might work.

Are you using the 1723 or the 1723S?
What frequency are you crossing the center at?

Thanks

I’m not at all familiar with your JBL M2 fronts, so without doing any research, is there an accompanying center in the same family voiced to match your M2’s ? If not, how about another M2? As for my center it’s the 1723 Center THX and it’s crossed over @80hz.

Because the M2 is a Studio Monitor JBL doesn't market them for home theater use thus they do not have a matching center. Due to the size and cost a third M2 isn't something I can do. The 1723S would fit in my situation and with the horn loaded tweeter it may voice closer to my fronts. Thanks for the answers.

[LCSeminole]

So I’ve been running an experiment of sorts to make comparisons with running my front stage, which allow for sealed and ported options. From day 1, since i installed and placed my front stage, I’ve been listening to them sealed, all ports plugged and I’ve quite enjoyed the sound thus far, so much so that the difference between my previous Klipsch Legends was quite drastic in my preferences. The Klipsch Legends are no slouch what-so-ever as I owned and listened to them over 23yrs, but these 1723 Tower THX and 1723 Center THX have won me over, and I’ve been demoing different speakers over the last 5 yrs from manufacturers that include Revel, Monitor Audio, Paradigm and KEF, needless to say I don’t own any of those speakers and I didn’t send these Arendal’s back in their 60 day trial period. Now that I’m 4 months invested as an Arendal owner, I’ve been listening to them sealed, and on Thanksgiving day I decided to pull the port plugs out and go full ported, WOW, I knew I was getting a wonderful, full soundstage, but now the fullness added a bit of a lower frequency, a deepness(is that a word?), if you will, and thus far three days in, fully ported has taken my listening enjoyment to another level. Just to add, I will be running Dirac Live again tomorrow just to be thorough.

[LuisV]

Sounds like you're really enjoying those Arendals... awesome! Are you running them as large or small and what is the crossover setting; lower than the typical 70 - 80hz?

[LCSeminole]

Nov 27, 2022 11:31:22 GMT -5 LuisV said:

Sounds like you're really enjoying those Arendals... awesome! Are you running them as large or small and what is the crossover setting; lower than the typical 70 - 80hz?

Funny that you ask, as I'm still in the middle of an experiment of sorts. Running them as small and I've come to the conclusion in my room is the 70-80hz crossover really are the settings for getting the best bass response. I've also noticed that the lower the crossover, the more localization of my subwoofers occurs, thus the blending of the subwoofers and the speakers just isn't as good. I'll also add, yes these 1723 Towers are THX Ultra rated, and they do tend to have a better dynamic bass output, but are still dynamically limited and no different than any other towers I've listened. Thus why subwoofers are built to handle output up to the 80hz crossover and even higher in most cases, not to mention multiple subwoofers being used in the crossover region the smoother the bass tends to be. While I've been experimenting with 40-50hz crossover settings for my towers, ironically I keep coming back to the 80hz settings because of how much smoother the bass sounds at these settings.

[LuisV]

Interesting experiment for sure... are you hearing any difference in the upper midbass region?

I haven't run Audyssey yet, simply keeping the default surround parameters on the Marantz until the 50hr mark. When I listen to music, I set the Marantz to Pure Stereo and played with the settings of the Arendal 1v sub until I was satisfied.

[ttocs]

Nov 27, 2022 12:31:02 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

Running them as small and I've come to the conclusion in my room is the 70-80hz crossover really are the settings for getting the best bass response. I've also noticed that the lower the crossover, the more localization of my subwoofers occurs, . . .

While I've been experimenting with 40-50hz crossover settings for my towers, ironically I keep coming back to the 80hz settings because of how much smoother the bass sounds at these settings.

At first glance I would think it's because the speakers are weak below 50Hz, which could cause a "hole" between where the sub slopes off and also where the slope for the speakers is still rising, except that you've got the ports open which extends the speaker's response down to the mid 30's Hz range.

So, likely there's a null at the XO when it's set for 40-50Hz. ?

[LCSeminole]

Nov 27, 2022 12:52:30 GMT -5 ttocs said:

Nov 27, 2022 12:31:02 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

Running them as small and I've come to the conclusion in my room is the 70-80hz crossover really are the settings for getting the best bass response. I've also noticed that the lower the crossover, the more localization of my subwoofers occurs, . . .

While I've been experimenting with 40-50hz crossover settings for my towers, ironically I keep coming back to the 80hz settings because of how much smoother the bass sounds at these settings.

At first glance I would think it's because the speakers are weak below 50Hz, which could cause a "hole" between where the sub slopes off and also where the slope for the speakers is still rising, except that you've got the ports open which extends the speaker's response down to the mid 30's Hz range.

So, likely there's a null at the XO when it's set for 40-50Hz. ?

Just noticed that 2 ports goes 4hz lower @34hz and 3 ports is @38hz. When I ran Dirac with the speakers sealed I didn't notice any nulls at the crossover. I'm hoping to re-run Dirac later today, but not sure if that is going to happen as I slept quite late from watching football all day yesterday, yes I watched the late game Washington/Washington St as well and I have a few other more pressing issues to deal with before work tomorrow.

[LCSeminole]

[ttocs]

Good review. I like Jay's reviews, and the others from AEC.

[LCSeminole]

I made this media shelving for behind my couch, my diy project the last two days. I had blurays and other stuff scattered everywhere, so organizing was a must for the New Year. Not sure if I’ll end up staining them, but for now I’m pleased with the finished product. My 1723 Bookshelf S speakers are getting a plug in this picture.

[geebo]

Jan 1, 2023 12:03:25 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

I made this media shelving for behind my couch, my diy project the last two days. I had blurays and other stuff scattered everywhere, so organizing was a must for the New Year. Not sure if I’ll end up staining them, but for now I’m pleased with the finished product. My 1723 Bookshelf S speakers are getting a plug in this picture.

View Attachment

Looks good. Well done!