Question KEF R3 & Arendal 1723 Monitor info please...

SgtMajor

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Hi all,

I would consider myself a music first person, love my 2 channel hifi, but also enjoy a good film or series on Netflix etc etc.

I am looking at a new system, and am very much interested in finding a speaker that excels with music first and foremost, but also equally good for AV use.

Now, I am not sure if I will go down the AVR route and buy an AV receiver, I will first purchase an amp, right now looking at the Hegel H390 and then add a sub, with the intention to go dual subs later. So for now, it would be a 2.1 system and later 2.2.

So, no surround initially planned, but I still enjoy movies and shows through this kind of system for the added dynamics and immersion.

The real question is here, I am looking for feedback and opinions from those who had heard both of these speakers, and given my intended usage, which do they feel works best?.

I know the Kef R3 are great HIFI speakers, and they are some of the best scaling speakers you can buy, the Hegel will drive them superbly, but I have read great things about the Monitors by Arendal, I must confess, I do love power and scale, so something about the large Monitors and their 8" drivers attract me.

I need insight into how the Monitors might perform for mostly music tasks while being driven by a dedicated 2 channel HIFI high end amp like the H390.

Thanks for reading,

Cheers.
 
I have KEF R300s and one of the reasons I went with them is their versatility for both music and film duties. They are driven by a Rega stereo amp with HT by-pass. I expect the R3 are no less a performer than the 300s.

In all honesty with the H390 I would be looking at the KEF Reference 1. As much as I enjoy my R300s they would be wasted on the Hegel.
 
For what it’s worth a guy on one of the KEF groups on Facebook has just sent back a full set of Arendal speakers and is replacing with KEF R series. Apparently the Arendal’s were too harsh sounding - I’m fairly certain he was using a Marantz SR8012.
I’ve not heard Arendals myself - but I can say the R’s are certainly phenomenal speakers for music and movie, and the R2C is very clear for dialogue.
 

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