The Arendelle 1961 1s subwoofer offers a unique blend of powerful, dynamic sound with a refined aesthetic, positioning it as a compelling option in the competitive subwoofer market.
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what's up guys welcome back to the
channel today i bring you the much
anticipated review of the arendelle 1961
1s subwoofer so uh the reason this got
my attention is because of you guys in
the comments a lot of you guys were like
hey i like have you heard of erindel
subwoofer or like what do you think
about erindale subwoofer or like when i
would review something else you'd be
like how does that compare to arendelle
subwoofers so i got curious i saw spare
change review their larger theater
models and i noticed the front baffle
was kind of narrow and it had this like
unique shape and it's cool attention to
detail and i was like you know what
let's start let's try to get one of
these here and talk about it so here we
go we'll do this review the same way we
generally do i'll tell you about some
specs and standout features i'll throw
the main ones on screen right now so you
can check that out i'll tell you a
little bit about what it sounds like
we'll do some comparisons and then we'll
wrap it up so first let's talk about
some standout features first is going to
be the obvious shape and design where
you know instead of having a driver on
the front as you can see on the screen
behind me the driver is side firing
we've got a single 12.2 inch driver on
the side that gives you it gives it a
narrower front baffle so you know for
those of you that maybe in the past
could only fit like a single eight inch
driver or ten inch driver because your
front wall wasn't very wide perhaps you
could fit a 12 inch now anyhow
yeah i think the shape is super cool
definitely stand out future second thing
as you heard me say it's a 12.2 inch
driver that's a little bit bigger than
the average 12-inch driver so uh you
know i know that doesn't sound like a
lot and it's not a lot but it is worth
mentioning and the reason being
is the outer edge of a circle is going
to give you more surface area than its
inner edge will obviously because it
gets bigger simple geometry right
and you know if you have like the sd
spec for example of the subwoofer which
tells you it's surface area of the
moving mass you would see it should be
larger than your average torment driver
anyhow some other standout features are
going to be and this is this is my
favorite one
no vinyl finish it's not even an option
standard painted finish is what you get
now is it like the highest end painted
finish like 10 coats of hand rubbed
lacquer like you find on rails like s
series subwoofers that are three
thousand dollars no is it worlds better
than vinyl absolutely so thank you
arendelle so much you guys know i hate
vinyl finishes i hate seeing them
especially as a product approaches a
thousand dollars and
i know every time i talk about this i
say a different price amount but you get
my point i just hate vinyl
i hate to see it and it's not here and
you can't even if you if you wanted a
vinyl finish too bad you can't have one
with arendelle they don't offer it
awesome move i want to see this more often
often
around back we've also got some really
nice chassis mounted rcas i love that
attention to detail there's some small
like allen keys holding the plate in
place as well as some torx screws um and
then we also have a screen and you're
probably like what's that why do i have
a screen this thing's not a tv what's
going on here so that is where you make
all your adjustments
um and when i say all your adjustments i
mean a lot there's a lot as much fine
grain control as you want it is there
i'll leave a list on the screen of all
the things you can adjust for you guys i
like to just
get in there with your fine grain options
options
i found the knob and button combination
very easy to use and very intuitive and
i thought that was great
um let me see oh another standout
feature is going to be the kind of
attention to detail and this is one of
those things that's like look it doesn't
affect the sound i understand that but
it tells me that someone at the company
most likely the owner
just cares a lot about the product and
might be a little ocd which i can
appreciate on the the feet there's the
the arendelle logo which i think is a
nice little touch and then on the
surround of the driver it has the word
arendelle stamped onto the surround and
i just thought that was super cool so
so
let's get into some sound impressions oh
of course by the way there is a magnetic
grill you could use you know if you want
to hide the driver so
sound impressions are going to be
interesting here guys because what we've
got going on is a mix of two different camps
camps
there's some attributes that might make
it sound like i'm describing an spl
style subwoofer but then it's got some
other attributes that might make it
sound like i'm describing an sq
subwoofer and it does a little bit of
both in this really interesting way what
do i mean i will explain so
dynamic attack is very very strong very
powerful very forceful
when i review svs subwoofers dynamic
attack attack is something i talk about
and i'll usually say something like svs
subwoofers are second to none when it
comes to terms of attack their attack is
so aggressive it's almost violent the
way it comes on
until now the arendelle 1961 1s i found
to be more dynamic more aggressive in
its initial attack that was very
impressive to me
the interesting thing so this is usually
a characteristic of spl style bass but
the way it presented this dynamic attack was
was
very clean
so it didn't feel overly
overly
boosted or exaggerated
it didn't give the
sound and like a thickness that it
didn't need to have it almost sounded
like it was supposed to have that much
bass it almost sounded like like look i
knew it was more bass than usual right
because you know i listen to the same
tracks like a million times but it
almost sounded like that's how it's
supposed to be it was a really
interesting experience so
because i get this question a lot a lot
of people ask me like i won't base that
kicks like a freight train but still
integrates really well you want that
blend of sq and spl and this for the
most part does that so
i think it's worth looking at for a lot
of people
let's talk about some other sound
characteristics so transient response is
pretty good
i found the the driver starts and stops
when it's supposed to it's not overly
tight some subwoofers when they start
and stop it's like very aggressive it
almost draws attention to itself this
was more like
the way it should be um
um
speed and articulation were very good
note to note distinction was very good
like the difference between say 25 hertz
and 35 hertz was you know clearly a
different frequency for example
the mid bass is something i want to talk
about usually most subwoofers don't have
the best mid bass and i try to keep most
subwoofers below 50 hertz and there's
nothing wrong with that you know
subwoofers they're not mid-bass woofers
they're not really built to produce
strong tactful mid-bass that's really
your speaker's job but a lot of us use
bookshelf speakers that don't have the
strongest mid-bass so i understand some
of you guys might want to cross over
higher than i do i generally try to keep
it below 50 hertz
but the arendelle 1961 one s has a very
clean base region i was able to blend it
up as high as 60 even 70 hertz and all
it did is made my speakers sound like
they were a little bit larger and had
more mid bass
usually with other subwoofers when i try
to crank up that mid bass at some point
it starts to get a little bit muddy and
messy that didn't happen here now don't
get me wrong there are some subwoofers
that have killer mid bass articulation
like rel or rhythmic for example now let
me see if there's any other sound
impressions i want to talk about
there was one thing i noticed um with
the subwoofer in the orientation that
it's designed to have you know where the
driver is you know loading the corner of
the room um
um
base was
you know the lowest octaves it was very
strong it was very authoritative very
forceful and had that strong dynamic
attack i'm talking about for movies that
was super cool but for music it
definitely did feel a little bit
exaggerated at certain frequencies
certain parts of certain songs i was
like there's a little too much there and
a little not enough here and i
discovered turning the subwoofer so that
the driver was facing me gave me a more
natural response for music so if you're
planning to use something like this in a
mix system and you like the sound of
that extra authority and rumble for
movies when it's in its normal
orientation but when i listen to music
every now and then just you know give a
little turn and it'll give you that more
natural response or you could just leave
it in its normal orientation and enjoy
that kind of like i guess you could say
slightly exaggerated frequency response
at you know those lower octaves it's
you know bass is an interesting thing a
lot of it does come down to personal
taste and preference for example i get a
question like this a lot
will x y or z subwoofer be enough for my
room and i usually do my best to answer
and i usually give some kind of answer
but i'm always hoping they're not a
psychopath what do i mean by that so
let's talk about shane from spare change again
again
shane's a good guy i love his content i
subscribe to his channel and even on his
patreon but his room is about the same
size as mine and he has dual 18s that's
pretty intense for a room this size i
have another buddy again room similar in
size to mine dual 18s and dual 15-inch
subwoofers at the same time that's
hardcore stuff i have been happy in this
room with subwoofers as little as eight
inches so we are all quite different
with respect to how much bass we want
it's almost like food if we're eating
like a bowl of ramen how spicy do you
want it you know i like my ramen just a
little bit spicy but i have friends
they'll try mine and they'll say it's
totally bland where's the spice where's
the flavor they're gonna put like a ton
of sriracha or chili oil in there they
just like want it to hit so hard
that's not how i am i like the little
just baby spice anyhow
what other sound impressions do we have
to talk about
integration very good and this surprised
me and i'll tell you why the reason
integration surprised me is because
when a when a subwoofer has really
strong dynamic attack i expect it to not
integrate very well because strong
dynamic attack generally draws attention
to itself it usually makes a subwoofer
localized a little bit and makes the bass
bass
you know it's clearly coming from the
subwoofer but i found that to not be the
case with this because the presentation
was very clean overall the bass was you
know instead of coming from the
subwoofer it was coming just from the
front stage overall it wasn't coming
like from the background like you would
see in like a rel or rhythmic for
example but it was coming from the front
stage the bass never really localized
for me
um in any way or or uh didn't integrate
it just it integrated just fine honestly
that yeah took me by surprise for the
yeah that's it for sound impressions
guys let's jump into some comparisons
and then we'll wrap it up so comparisons
let's talk about this compared to what i
think its most direct competitor is
going to be the svs sb2000 pro
the svs sb2000 pro has tons of dynamic
attack it's very good at that this has
just a little bit more this has a ton of
features the svs sb2000 pro has a ton of
features the svs you can adjust those
features from the cell phone app that
does come with that subwoofer
the fit and finish of both is very good
i would say that arendelle takes the
edge a little bit
let's see what else
the arendelle is going to have a little
bit cleaner mid base and a little bit
cleaner presentation overall
the svs sb2000 pro is very quick with
this transients it's going to have
slightly harder start and stops the
arendelle 19611s is going to be a little
bit softer or natural where this starts
and stops and this isn't a situation of
one being better this is a situation
which you prefer
basically what i'm saying is the svs
sb2000 project has a slightly tighter
sound and the arendelle 1961 1s has a
slightly deeper sound so that pretty
much wraps up that comparison both are
fantastic subwoofers
let's move on and talk about the
rhythmic f12 i understand sometimes you
guys don't like me using rhythmic as an
example because it's not available
everywhere and if it is in other
countries sometimes you have to pay
extra freight shipping and i'm sorry but
it is what it is in the us we don't ever
really have to pay extra freight
shipping but we have a hidden cost
instead of extra freight shipping our
retail price is just higher on a lot of
products so we all pay extra one way or
another when the product we're buying
wasn't made in our home country so don't
feel like you're the only one getting
robbed here some of you guys get robbed
pretty hard with import taxes and duties
i'm sorry that's terrible um but let's
not get into politics say so
rhythmic f12 uh and arendelle 1961 both
are sealed 12 inch drivers
the rhythmic f12 sc is going to be class
a b powered 370 watts aarondell is going
to be class d powered 550 watts
both are going to have a ton of features
but the way they let you adjust those
features are very different arendelle
1961 1s gives you that nice screen on
the back with that button and knob
combination to make your adjustments
because it's all through dsp
rhythmic takes a totally analog approach
you've got a tons of ton of knobs and
switches to make those adjustments
i would not say there's a benefit of one
over the other personally i like knobs
and switches so i like really like
messing with them like really tactile
but again the air intel was very
intuitive and easy to use and easy to
set up
i didn't find any difference in ease of
setup for either unit uh because both
had a ton of options and i was able to
get them both set up very easily
the difference for these two is really
going to come down to that dynamics the
way they present that rhythmic with its
servo technology they're going to be
shooting for the accurate and correct
amount of dynamic attack
the irondale 1961 1s on the other hand
is going to be totally the opposite it
doesn't care what the correct amount of
dynamic attack is it's going to give you
a lot of it it's going to be forceful
and it's just going to hit like a train
so i would say this is going to depend
on kind of like what you want do you
want the amount of bass to be exactly
accurate and correct per the signal the
subwoofer is receiving you might prefer
the sound of the rhythmic
if you want accuracy but you know what
you like your dynamics to be big even if
it's not the way it's necessarily
supposed to be per the signal you know
what i mean
but it hits
you may like the errondell 1961-1s and
again this is a situation where one is
not better than the other the rhythmic
isn't better for being accurate
and the 1961-1s isn't better for being
more dynamic
it's a choice of which one do you like
how spicy do you want your food it's
personal spicy food isn't better than
non-spicy food right no one would ever
say that
but if you like spicy food you will say
spicy food is better than non-spicy food
and vice versa if you don't like spicy
food honestly guys i have a friend who
considers pepper spicy black pepper is
spicy to this man he will definitely
tell you non-spicy food is better than
spicy food but that is not usually how
it works in the real world when we're
speaking generally about products
the choice of taste
preference and options and you have to
find the one that is going to be in line
with what you're looking for what
matters to you let me think of some
other differences uh the rhythmic is
going to give us a lot nicer of a finish
it's a nice piano gloss it is a little
bit more expensive however
both have very good attention to detail
both are built very very well the
rhythmic i would say is
a little bit heavier its cabinet is
going to be a little bit more robust and
things like that but both are fantastic
subwoofers just on opposite sides of the
uh dynamic spectrum and with respect to
attack the rhythmic has better mid bass
the aaron does no slots in that category
but rhythmic is one of the best
subwoofers to buy if you're obsessed
with that kind of like 5200 hertz mid
bass both extend plenty low and play
extend i'm sorry and play plenty loud i
don't know which one extends lower or
plays louder i don't do those like
maximum kinds of tests most of my
testing is going to be done with music right
right so
so
let's jump up or around and talk about
this compared to the subwoofer i always
sit on the rel ht 1205. so the rail hd
12 is a 1205 is an awesome subwoofer i
own one it's one of my personal
subwoofers as is you know the rhythmic i
mentioned by the way um
um
these are quite different
again with respect to feature set where
the arendelle 1961-1s gives us a ton of
fine grain options and controls
rel on the other hand is like no
they believe a subwoofer should be as
easy as possible to set up
the less the consumer has to fiddle
around with the better and
at first you might think if there's less
to adjust you probably won't get it to
integrate as well that's not true rel
has been able to make a subwoofer in the
ht-1205 with just three things to adjust phase
phase
and you want you just zero 180 you just
pick one gain
gain
and crossover frequency and crossover
frequency they generally recommend nine
o'clock so it's really easy to set up
you only get those three options and it
integrates very well both integrate very
well honestly thrill takes the edge in
terms of integration as far as the
performance overall both are dynam both
are dynamic the 1961-1s is going to be
the more dynamic as i said at the
beginning of this video it is one of the
most uh aggressive subwoofers i've heard
with respect to its dynamic attack the
rel is going to play tighter and
surprisingly a little bit cleaner
the 1961 one s is going to have overall
just a more forceful presentation that
is going to focus more on deep bass as
opposed to the rel focusing more on
tight bass quickness and transient
response and speed
both are pretty good again this is a
scenario where one is not better than
the other and it's more a choice of
flavor do you prefer the deep base of
the 1961-1s or the type base of the rel
ht1205 do you prefer the narrow front
baffle of the 1961-1s with its
side-firing driver or do you prefer the
more traditional front-firing 12-inch
driver of the rel ht-1205 you guys dig
what i'm saying here this
today is such a good day to be an
audiophile and
or be in the market for a subwoofer
most subwoofers are really good i've
reviewed a lot of subwoofers now and
guys they're all really good there's
only been one subwoofer i really like
gave it to because it was no good that
was that uh
that velodyne
that was a db12 it was terrible
total ripoff for the money it was no
good at a crappy cabinet hardly had any
power i'll be honest i'm not even so
sure that thing had a class a b
amplifier that they claimed it had
outside of that review i did every other
subwoofer i've reviewed over the past
year has been a good subwoofer
it's an amazing time
and what you need to look for is not
which unit is better than which unit
because they're all so good now don't
get me wrong if we like if i compare
this to something like two thousand
dollars the two thousand dollar item's
probably going to be better like
this thing's own big brother the 1723
that's 1500 bucks is better so once we
start to like incorporate a big price
difference of course there is such a
thing as better
but when they're around the same price
generally like they're all really good
especially in this like around 1 000
category this one's 900 bucks so it's
just under but i consider that in the
around one thousand dollar category
so try to if you can
understand what it is about base you like
like
do you like strong powerful bass that
might draw attention to itself
do you like clean tidy bass that doesn't
draw attention to itself do you care
about dynamics or speed and transients
do you care about mid bass do you care
about low frequency extension it's
unlikely you care about all of these
things let me give you myself as an example
example
transient speed as much as i talk about
it not so important to me and i know
some of you guys are probably can't
believe what i'm saying because a lot of
you guys know i love rel subwoofers
sometimes you guys call me a rel fanboy
which is not true
and you guys might think it's because
they're so quick
but no i don't care so much about
transient response for the longest time
i used a ported subwoofer in my car only
recently that i switched to a sealed
subwoofer and that was in an effort to
save space i don't mind overhanging if
i'm being completely honest
what i care about when it comes to a
subwoofer are a few things
i care about it's low frequency extension
extension
and i like it being forceful around 25
hertz even if it's boosted i don't care
so much about accuracy in that last
final octave i'd like it to be a little
bit exaggerated honestly give me a
little bit of extra spice at 25 hertz if
you can
i like a clean mid bass even though i'm
unlikely to use it most of the time i do
dynamics are important to me but
but
not that much like if a subwoofer is
like crazy dynamic i'm like oh that's
cool if it's a little dynamic and like
not the most dynamic i'm like that's
cool too i do care about texture however
texture i care about more than dynamics
texture i care about more than transient
response or speed
texture is when that bass note hits the
layers that you hear within that sound
field and it's not something i talk
about a whole lot in videos because it
gets kind of like
too much we started to split hairs at
some point too much you know
but i care about texture a lot um
um
i'm gonna say
it's really just those two things that
are the most important thing to me the
speed has to be good enough
the transient response has to be good
enough the dynamics has to be good
enough but the low frequency extension
and authority has to be really good it
has to be really good and the texture
has to be really good those are the
things that like really are at the top
of my list and i think if you guys try
to kind of make a list for yourself
you'll find something similar you'll
want all of the areas to be pretty good
but there should only be like one or two
things that like you really really want
out of a subwoofer
sometimes i hear people say like i want
this because it has the cell phone out
but like this one i want to but it
doesn't have the cell phone app that's
an accessory guys keep in mind these
cell phone apps are super cool i love to
see them but once you set up the subwoofer
subwoofer
most people aren't going to really use
it too much
if you're fiddling around with the cell
phone app constantly
outside of switching from like a music
mode to like a movie mode
you might i don't know you might might
be a little ocd you know what i'm saying
anyway i digress look we're about
approaching the end of this video um
i'll wrap it up with this guys we've got
a good subwoofer here it's got a good a
blend of characteristics of spl and sq
and i think it's a sound a lot of people
are going to like but then again all the
subwoofers i mentioned are really good
in one way or another so
good time to be alive
aarondell is awesome 60 day in home
trial 5 year warranty 900 bucks
delivered to your door paint only finish
sounds like a pretty good deal if you
ask me if you have any questions ask
them about them ask about them in the
comments below and for those of you that
want to hear my impressions about how
this compares to the 17231s model you
will have to wait for me to review that
subwoofer in that video i will make the
comparison i haven't reviewed it yet so
i can't really tell you the
comparison i'll give you a little teaser
a little sneak peek if you will the 17231s
its attack is more accurate and its
presentation more
high end if you will i'll leave you with
that we'll talk about more uh
you know differences when we get to that
review okay
like i said if you have any questions
ask about them in the comments below
guys thank you for tuning in until next
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