Arendal Sound 1528 Tower 8

LOUDSPEAKER

- THOMAS J. NORTON

Geez, they're big! The Arendal 1528 Tower 8, the premier model in Arendal’s new 1528 loudspeaker line, reached higher than my chin and weighed roughly 200lb unpacked; you can add another 100lb or so for the shipping boxes and pallets.

Sure, I've experienced such jumbo loudspeakers before, but never in my own listening room.

Available in either gray (“Basalt”) or white (“Polar”), each imposing Arendal Tower employs four 8" custom-designed aluminum-cone woofers crossing over to a 5" carbon-graphene composite-cone midrange driver at 420Hz. The midrange driver gives way to a 28mm (1.1") lithium-magnesium dome tweeter at 2.8kHz. All drivers are well protected, the woofers by a small setback into the front baffle and the midrange and tweeter by metal screens, said to be acoustically transparent. In addition, removable covers—also acoustically transparent—are included for the woofers to keep small (or not so small) curious hands from doing damage while exploring. I left the woofer covers off for all my listening.

The Arendal Tower's front baffle is configured in a gentle arc, intended for time alignment: the shape ensures that the output of each driver will reach the listener at roughly the same time, though this depends on the height of a listener's ears and the distance of the listener from the loudspeaker. If you're auditioning the Towers, sit down!