Arendal 1528 Bookshelf 8 review

If Arendal isn’t a familiar name, you are not alone. Until this review, we had never reviewed a product from this Norwegian speaker specialist, but having spent some time in the 1528 Bookshelf 8’s company, we’re now glad we did. While not quite fully rounded, these speakers offer an interesting alternative to the more conventional class leaders at this level.

You won’t find Arendal’s products in your local dealer. The company operates on a direct-to-customer model that bypasses traditional dealers and distributors (and their respective margins), allowing the brand to offer its products at hugely competitive prices.

What Hi-Fi? has always favoured the traditional dealer approach. It allows potential customers to get advice, listen and compare before buying, but even we can’t ignore the hugely attractive savings that Arendal’s business model offers. The company operates on a 60-day money-back policy – you can return the speakers free of charge if you don’t like them – and backs it all up with a 10-year warranty. It’s hard to argue against that.

Build & design

If we didn’t know the Arendal 1528 Bookshelf 8’s price, we would have guessed it to be around double the amount Arendal charges based on the quality of build and finish. These speakers are beautifully made, using stiff 25mm HDF (High Density Fibreboard) panels for the enclosure and an impressively thick 85mm front baffle.

That substantial front baffle is curved to focus the output of all three drivers at the listening position.

At over 55cm tall and 29 cm wide, these speakers are big for standmounts. They dwarf rivals like the Epos ES14N and are right up there with the likes of Mission’s huge 770.

More than that is the weight, which at 30kg is pretty close to a two-person lift for most. As a comparison, the similarly-sized Missions come in at a third less.

The Arendal’s driver complement is unusual too. A 28mm lithium-magnesium dome tweeter, claimed to offer class-leading detail and dynamics, delivers the highs; its dispersion is controlled by a strongly dished faceplate.

A 13cm carbon graphene-coned midrange sits just beneath; the close positioning helps integration. The crossover point between the two is set at a fairly conventional 2.8kHz.

This midrange covers a pretty wide frequency band, handing over to the 20cm long-throw aluminium bass driver at 420Hz. Bass is tuned by an unusually large 71.5mm rear firing port. Arendal provides a dense foam bung to block the port should the low-frequency output prove too much.

Compatibility

While the company is hardly alone in offering the foam bung option, it is something that we rarely end up using with most of the speakers that come through our 3 x 7 x 5m hwd testing room. Typically, speakers tend to sound too lean and retrained with their ports blocked. However, that isn’t the case here.

The 1528 Bookshelf 8 produce a particularly generous amount of bass, with the specifications claiming the low-end roll-off point as an impressive 37Hz (-3dB). In our listening room, it all proves a little overblown with the lows swamping the midrange, affecting overall clarity. With the ports blocked, the speakers sound more balanced and even-handed.

Interestingly, we’ve had bigger speakers with more extended low-end reach in our test rooms, PMC’s Fact Fenestria comes to mind, and not had any issues. This suggests the Arendals may prove a little room-fussy. That ability to try the speakers at home and return if they don’t work well looks even more attractive.

Given the vagaries of speaker/room matching, we are pleased to note that Arendal offers a degree of tonal customisation with these speakers. It is possible to alter the treble and midrange levels by + or - 2dB, which can prove useful depending on the acoustics of your listening space.

Arendal has assumed that anyone buying speakers at this level is likely to partner them with care. Given the 1528 Bookshelf 8’s relatively low sensitivity figure of 84dB/W/m and 4 ohm nominal impedance, you will need an amplifier with a bit of muscle.

During the review sessions, we use our reference Burmester 088/911MkIII pre/power (180 watts per channel into 8 ohms) and PMC’s more price-compatible Cor integrated (95 watts per channel into 8 ohms) without issue. Those with low output amps, say below 50 watts per channel, may be disappointed with the results.

Placement

The performance of any standmounter is heavily dependent on the quality of its support. While this speaker has Bookshelf in its name, we certainly wouldn’t recommend that you use it on one. Arendal makes a set of dedicated stands called the 1528 Stand 8 that cost a pretty hefty £1200 / $1150 / AU$1800. These have to be assembled, and that turns out to be a far more convoluted process than we expected due to the number of parts and bolts involved.

This is the kind of thing that you only have to make once, so normally we wouldn’t complain. But in this case, many of the bolt hole threads in the massive central column (made of HDF) are poorly machined, so the Allen bolts don’t screw in easily.

The shame is that, threads aside, everything else about this HDF/Aluminium stand feels lovely. It is a chunky design, but the quality of the fit and finish is otherwise great.

These Arendal speakers work best when given a good amount of room to breathe. While the foam port bungs give a certain degree of flexibility, we still find that the 1528 Bookshelf 8 perform optimally when positioned well away from the back and side walls. Arendal recommends a minimum distance of 30cm from the rear wall, but we end up with them around 90cm into the room.

A little bit of angle towards the listening position improves stereo image focus and stability, but don’t take it too far, as that spoils the speaker’s impressively expansive stereo imaging.

The curve of the front baffle is there to focus the output of the three drivers, and it pays to be at least 2m away from them to really get the benefit. Do this and you will find that these standmounters sound impressively focused and precise. They have seamless integration between the drivers and sound pleasingly cohesive.

We didn’t feel the need to alter the high and midrange level settings, as the 1528 speakers sound convincingly even and neutral out of the box. That was once we decided that blocking the rear firing ports was the way to go, of course. Using the foam port bungs makes the sound a little leaner through the bass, but gives improved clarity through the midrange and aids low-end agility.

Sound

When it comes to scale and authority, we can't think of a similarly priced alternative that comes close. Listen to a large-scale piece of music such as Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10 or Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, and little else at this price can deliver the music with such power and drama.

Listening to these speakers is a physical experience that’s reinforced by their ability to sound comfortable at high volume levels. In this aspect, they remind us of a high-quality PA system.

Large-scale dynamic shifts are handled with enthusiasm and accompanied by a good deal of composure. General detail levels are good, and instruments are rendered with solidity. Dig deeper and you will find it easy to track quieter instrumental strands even when the music becomes busy.

Such strengths are impressive, especially at the price. But as we work through our music collection, taking in the likes of Bob Marley, Billie Eilish and Bill Evans, we notice some small cracks in the Arendal’s otherwise pleasing performance.

Compared to class leaders such as the Epos ES14N, the Arendal sound a little flat-footed rhythmically. Given a track such as Marley’s Exodus, the Epos sound more purposeful and communicate the music’s sense of momentum better. They pull us into the music in a way that the Arendals don’t.

Equally, we note that the Epos are just that bit more convincing at delivering vocal and instrumental textures, as well as the dynamic nuances that convey changes in emphasis or emotion.

That PA system analogy comes to the fore again. The 1528 Bookshelf 8 tends to throw the sound at the listener, and that can be terrifically exciting with the right kind of music, but they seem less willing to step back and let the music breathe, so Billie Eilish’s Blue loses some of its appealing sense of flow and space.

Verdict

Despite all that, we can’t help but like these speakers. They are a refreshing alternative to the class leaders, offering a blend of talents that’s not easy to replicate.

If you have a larger room and prioritise the physical aspects of music reproduction - scale, authority and bass power in particular - these Arendals are convincing.

Review published: 11th December 2025

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Epos ES14N

Also consider the Mission 770

Read our Fyne 701SP review

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