Arendal Sound’s New Flagship 1528 Series Is Finally Here!

Arendal Sound Goes 3-Way with 1528!

Arendal Sound has been teasing its new flagship 1528 Series loudspeakers for the last several months, occasionally dropping crumbs of information and tantalizing sneak peaks as fans of the brand waited with varying levels of impatience. In early September, Chief Audioholic Gene DellaSala sat down with Arendal’s Thomas Gunvaldsen to drop some knowledge about the new speakers’ advanced driver technology and time-aligned, compound-curve baffles. (See our YouTube video: Arendal Sound 1528 New Loudspeaker Series Details.) Now, the wait is finally over and Arendal is ready to formally introduce the 1528 Series to the world. As I write this, our review samples are on their way, but for now, we can take a look at what makes these speakers so special, and how they differ from their predecessors. The lineup includes the 1528 Tower 8 ($9,500/pair), the 1528 Monitor 8 ($5,900/pair), the 1528 Bookshelf 8 ($4,500/pair), the 1528 Slim 8 ($3,500/pair), the 1528 Center+ 8 ($4,700 each), and the 1528 Center 8 ($2,900 each).

The 1528 Series doesn’t replace Arendal’s previous flagships, the 1723 THX Series. Those rightfully-popular and critically-acclaimed speakers remain in Arendal’s lineup, with the new 1528 Series sitting above them, promising even higher performance, albeit at higher price points. (For those curious about the names, the year 1528 marked the first time that the town of Arendal began to appear in toll papers linked to the booming timber trade in Norway. Arendal received market city privileges in the year 1723.) The 1528 Series represents “a dedication to quality, innovation, and the pursuit of perfection,” according to the company, “ensuring that Arendal Sound stands out in the world of high-end audio just as Arendal did in the world of timber trade.” Arendal also says that the 1528 Series is “a movement against overpriced products.” Designed in-house by Arendal’s engineering team, the 1528 Series includes all custom parts, from the complex curved front baffle to the all-new drive units, which reportedly provide superior dispersion and a wider listening window to deliver the best possible sound.

Arendal Sound 1528 Series: Driver Technology

All previous Arendal speakers have been 2-way or 2.5-way designs, but the 1528 Series is designed around a new, sophisticated 3-way design. The high frequencies on all models are reproduced by a custom 28mm Lithium-Magnesium tweeter, which delivers “unparalleled detail and dynamics,” according to the company. The tweeter is housed in a newly-designed controlled directivity waveguide, which is said to enhance clarity and detail, while precisely directing sound dispersion across your listening space. This reportedly results in an expansive soundstage. The controlled directivity design also makes the 1528 speakers easier to integrate into most rooms, according to Arendal, because both direct and reflected sound maintain the same signature. The Lithium-Magnesium tweeter is the first of its kind in the world of home audio, and Arendal says it offers “unparalleled detail, dynamics, and resolution,” The Lithium-Magnesium tweeter has a performance that is similar to Beryllium, but is more readily available for sourcing.

The new 5-inch midrange driver used in the 1528 Series is made of a Carbon-Graphene material, providing “exceptional accuracy and minimal distortion” to deliver “a rich, natural sound that seamlessly blends with the crisp highs, making every note, dialogue, and musical detail come alive with incredible realism,” according to Arendal. The custom 8-inch aluminum long-throw bass drivers are also new. These unique-looking woofers feature inverted surrounds and a prism ridge structure for added stiffness. Arendal says they produce “deep, impactful bass that you can feel as much as hear.” The woofers are appointed with massive aluminum trim rings, each weighing nearly 1kg (2.2 pounds). Steel grilles can be used to cover each of the woofers; these are made with a rubber backing and designed to give the illusion of floating off the cabinet, creating a space between the trim ring and the front of the grille, according to Arendal. 

Driver Engineering Details from Arendal Sound Engineering Team:

Tweeter — The 28mm Lithium-magnesium dome offers exceptionally low material density (about one-third of that of a beryllium dome). Combined with high stiffness and good inert damping, it offers exceptional clarity and detail while remaining completely natural sounding. The tweeter motor uses a large copper shorting ring, and a substantial neodymium motor ensures ultra-low distortion. Combined with the ultra-light dome, it offers high sensitivity (96dB 1w/1m) and high power handling capabilities.

Midrange — 5-inch Carbon-graphene cone. The carbon layers are not woven like a typical carbon cone, but instead the long carbon fiber strands are mashed together in ultra-thin layers with graphene. This gives the cone a random break-up behavior which avoids known resonances in more normal carbon cones, and with the added graphene, the cone is incredibly stiff and light. The random break-up behavior of the cone means that we have exceptionally good damping properties of the cone itself, which is critical in the upper midrange area, in order to have a natural sound. The high stiffness of the cone translates to a high level of detail and accuracy, and literally scary dynamics. The motor is a giant for the midrange’s overall size, combined with a fully enclosed basket. We get exceptionally high sensitivity (97.5dB 1w/1m) out of the driver, which together with the copper shorting ring, leads to ultra-low distortion and low dynamic compression, even at high SPL levels. The midrange driver in the 1528 series features a sealed basket design for higher sensitivity. Within its operational bandwidth, it provides more equivalent output than the dual 8” drivers in the 1723 MTM configuration!

Woofer — The woofer is an 8-inch Aluminum cone with a bespoke shape and added ribs in the form of a prism-pattern to create exceptional stiffness and accurate reproduction of the bass and lower midrange area. This is a driver with low-inert damping properties, which would be a disaster in the upper midrange area where some manufacturers use such cones. But, according to Arendal Sound, it is a total blessing for the lower midrange and bass, far away from any cone break-up and resonance. It ensures a clarity and detail in lower male voices and bass dynamics that are said to be nothing short of breathtaking. Arendal Sound has designed the motor to have high excursion capabilities, while adding massive amounts of copper in the motor to significantly reduce distortion. In comparison, this new woofer has half of the distortion of their 1723 Speakers, which are already extremely high performers in this area. The substantial inverted surround with ribs is simulated using Comsol for optimal performance of the drivers, and together with the effort made in the motor, this ensures optimal behavior of the cone. Even at extreme excursion levels it helps keep distortion to a minimum. Excursion capabilities of the woofers are tailored to their specific cabinets and models within the series. This means the 8in woofers for each 1528 loudspeaker product are specifically optimized for best system performance and integration. With individual adjustments to the woofers, Arendal Sound claims to have achieved optimal performance and T/S parameters for each cabinet.

Waveguide/midrange assembly — The elliptic shaped waveguide is made to mount the tweeter and midrange as close to each other as physically possible to ensure good vertical dispersion with minimal lobing characteristics. The shape of the waveguide is optimized for a wide listening window, even in the upper frequencies. The grille in front of the tweeter is optimized to increase sensitivity (and lower distortion) in the 7-15kHz area, while improving off-axis behavior. It is also a protector of the lithium-magnesium dome, which is a sensitive material that would deteriorate if touched with bare hands. The waveguide assembly is directly mounted to a thick piece of steel, for the main purpose of properly mounting the midrange unit, whose motor is so large that it is impossible to use screw inserts in the wood directly. Instead, it is mounted via the waveguide assembly to the threaded steel plate.

Arendal Sound 1528 Series: Cabinet and Port Design

Arendal speakers have always been praised for exceptional build quality, but the 1528 Series is on another level. All 1528 speakers feature custom cabinets with an advanced compound curve — they’re curved on two axes — resulting in enhanced acoustics and a more sophisticated aesthetic, according to the company. The curved, decoupled front baffle is unusually thick at 3.15 inches, and is designed to time-align the drivers for “a more coherent and immersive soundstage.” These heavy-duty cabinets are built entirely from high-density fiberboard (HDF). Arendal says that the cabinets are exceptionally heavy and inert, in order to reduce unwanted vibrations. Inside, they feature extensive bracing and butyl dampening to further reduce resonance. Wall panels are nearly one inch thick.

Cabinet Engineering Details:

The entire baffle consists of two pressed pieces containing multiple thin pieces of HDF with glue between each layer, one outer baffle and one inner baffle that is first glued as a part of the cabinet – then the outer baffle is glued under pressure to the inner baffle and cabinet. This is a process that takes multiple stages. First, we press all the thin layers of HDF that has to cure for 75 minutes (under several tons of pressure in large machines, equipped with the custom-made tooling to press the shape of our baffle), without applying heat as would be normal on thinner baffles – but to get a perfectly uniform gluing process, as well as a uniform moisture level throughout the baffle, which avoids any defectives that bend out of shape after the fact. This process then takes place twice for a single speaker. After the baffle is pressed into the large radius curve, we must CNC mill out the second curve in the opposite direction, making it a compound curve, requiring an advanced 5–axis CNC. All in all, this process is extremely time-consuming.

With the exception of the sealed Slim 8 model, all speakers in the 1528 Series come with plugs for their bass-reflex ports. These are to be used when the speakers need to be positioned near a wall or in a corner, and doing so can help balance the sound by reducing low-end output. Arendal says this methodology creates a more controlled bass response and is therefore especially effective when the speakers are being used alongside a subwoofer. Arendal suggests experimenting with different configurations to see what works best in your room. (Usage note: for the 1528 Center+ 8, you should either leave all ports open, or fully seal all ports.)

Port Engineering Details:

Over-sized ports are used for all speakers except the Slim (which is a sealed design), tuned very low for great bass extension while avoiding turbulence. The sheer length of the ports would induce port resonances unless they did something to alleviate it. Arendal Sound induced a cancelling airflow into the port’s tube to phase out the resonances appearing in the port by adding strategically placed holes that are covered in damping material to give just the right amount of turbulence reduction in the pipes.

Arendal Sound 1528 Series: Input Terminals and Level Adjustment

Arendal says that the anodized terminal plate is designed to be both beautiful and durable, and to provide both performance and flexibility for the user. The custom rhodium-plated-copper bi-wire binding posts promise superior conductivity and durability for high-quality audio signals, accommodating single wiring, bi-wiring, or bi-amping. High-quality rhodium-plated-copper jumpers are included, eliminating the need for what Arendal describes as the “inferior steel connections” seen in some other speakers. The use of superior materials preserves signal integrity and sound clarity, according to the company. On the back of the 1528 Tower 8, Monitor 8, and Bookshelf 8, you’ll also find Level Adjustment jumpers, which are designed to simplify achieving the perfect sound balance in your room. New for the 1528 Series, this feature allows the user to adjust the tweeter and/or midrange sections individually by 2dB, either boosting or attenuating the sound to achieve the desired tonal balance. This flexibility facilitates the accommodation of various room acoustics and personal preferences, simply by moving the jumper from the REF (Reference) position to either the LO (Low) or HI (High) setting.

Arendal 1528 Series Crossovers

• Arendal says the following high-performance components are employed in the entirely new crossover networks developed for the 1528 Series:
• Heavy-gauge air-core inductors for the woofer sections (2 square-millimeter thickness), and air-core inductors also for the midrange and tweeter, for better clarity, dynamics, and transparency
• Polypropylene caps for the tweeter and midrange, and large polyester for the woofer
• Wire-wound resistors (green types) and aluminum heat-sinked wire-wound resistors (which handle extreme amounts of heat) for optimal sonic clarity and longevity
• 4th order filters for the midrange/tweeter, and 3rd order filters between the woofers/midrange for the entire series
• Non-ferrous parts only in the signal chain of the speakers — no steel nuts and washers that can smear the signal in any way

Arendal Sound 1528 Series: The Lineup

1528 Tower 8 ($9,500/pair)

The 1528 Tower 8 is a take-no-prisoners assault on the state of the loudspeaker art, “designed to set new standards in sound quality,” according to Arendal. It uses four 8-inch aluminum woofers alongside the 28mm Lithium-Magnesium tweeter and 5-inch Carbon-Graphene midrange driver used across the 1528 range. Arendal promises “unparalleled clarity, deep bass, and a wide dynamic range.” The spec sheet shows the Tower 8 to be down 2dB at 42Hz, with an F10 point of 21Hz. The 3-way 1528 Tower 8 has a specified sensitivity of 89.5dB. As fans of the brand might notice, that’s a bit lower than the 2.5-way 1723 THX tower, which is rated at 92dB. The 1528 series has slightly lower sensitivity across the board than the 1723 lineup, but it will play even louder, with significantly more bass extension and lower distortion than the comparable 1723 models, given the right amplification. Arendal recommends feeding these speakers with lots of power — up to 1,000 watts for the 1528 Tower 8. This is a large speaker, measuring 53.1 inches tall, and weighing in at 174 pounds each. (For context, the Perlisten S7t is 51 inches tall, and weighs about 123 pounds.) The sheer size of the speaker is somewhat tempered by its curved, seamless cabinet design, with no visible screws. The 1528 speakers offer a more refined overall look compared to the chunkier, somewhat utilitarian aesthetic of the 1723 speakers.

The 1528 towers ship with the Puck+, a footer designed to work on a variety of floor types. But those looking for “the ultimate upgrade” can instead use the Puck Pro, which delivers “the next level of acoustic performance,” according to Arendal. The Puck Pro reportedly offers “superior decoupling and isolation from the floor, enhancing clarity and expanding the soundstage like never before.” Arendal tells us that the Puck Pro comprises a machined aluminum cup with a unique prism ridge design, paired with a more compliant soft rubber compound that excels in absorbing vibrations. The Puck Pro also lets users adjust the height on the front versus rear feet, in order to achieve the perfect angle for any given listening position relative to the speakers. The precision-crafted Puck Pro offers up to 10mm of height adjustability, which you can dial in thanks to a printed-on scale in 1mm increments. Adjustments can be made without tools, or using an Allen key if you prefer. Each Puck Pro set includes 8 pieces and costs $400.

1528 Monitor 8 ($5,900/pair)

The 1528 Monitor 8 promises “high end tower performance in a smaller form factor, delivering high output, deep bass, and low distortion.” At 32 inches tall, the 1528 Monitor 8 will require stands for ideal placement. They may be smaller than the towers, but these puppies still weigh 106 pounds each, so make sure the stands you choose are exceedingly sturdy. The Monitor 8 uses the same tweeter and midrange driver as the rest of the lineup, along with a pair of the new 8-inch aluminum woofers. Arendal says to expect “clear, dynamic sound with wide off-axis response.” Compared to the towers, this somewhat smaller speaker naturally offers lower max SPLs, and substantially lower sensitivity at 85dB. But the other side of that coin is that it actually extends slightly deeper in the bass; the Monitor 8 is rated -2dB at 38Hz.

1528 Bookshelf 8 ($4,500/pair)

The 1528 Bookshelf 8 is “a powerful speaker designed to deliver high-end sound in a smaller form factor,” according to Arendal. Still on the large side for a bookshelf speaker, the 1528 Bookshelf 8 is 21.9 inches tall and weighs a hefty 66 pounds. It uses just one of the 8-inch woofers, but still promises “exceptional clarity, deep bass extension, and low distortion,” according to the company, which calls the Bookshelf 8 “both a performance and aesthetic marvel, perfect for those seeking top-tier full-range sound in a bookshelf speaker.” Its sensitivity is quite low at 84dB, so be prepared to feed the Bookshelf 8 with some serious power. Arendal recommends up to 500 watts. The Bookshelf 8 reaches down to 42Hz (-2dB).

1528 Slim 8 ($3,500/pair)

Like the Bookshelf model, the 1528 Slim 8 measures 21.9 inches tall and 11.4 inches wide. But while the Bookshelf 8 measures 14.5 inches deep, the sealed enclosure of the Slim 8 is just 7.8 inches deep, making it perfect for wall-mounting. Arendal calls the Slim 8 “the most versatile speaker in the 1528 range,” as it can easily be used as a stereo or surround speaker, a center-channel speaker, or even a height-channel speaker. Installation should be a cinch thanks to the Slim’s VESA100 mounting standard. The 1528 Slim 8 features the same driver layout as the Bookshelf 8, and is rated at the same 84dB for sensitivity. But because of its smaller, sealed cabinet, the Slim 8 is down 2 dB at 57Hz. Since these speakers will almost certainly be used in conjunction with a subwoofer, this limitation is easily overlooked, especially when you consider the advantages of its flexibility and slim design.

1528 Center+ 8 ($4,700 each)

Arendal calls the 1528 Center+ 8 “the pinnacle of high-end center speakers.” And to be fair, this thing is a beast. It is essentially a reconfigured 1528 Tower 8, featuring four 8-inch woofers — two on either side of the tweeter/midrange assembly. Measuring 53 inches wide and 11.4 inches tall, it’s certainly among the largest center speakers available today. The 1528 Center+ 8 also weighs a back-breaking 185 pounds, thanks in part to its ultra-solid HDF construction and resonance-dampening materials. One of the few complaints I ever heard about the 1723 speakers was regarding the MTM arrangement of the center speaker, which does not perform as well for viewers sitting off to the side as a properly-designed 3-way. Thanks to the 1528’s 3-way design, acoustically time-aligned driver baffle, and advanced controlled directivity waveguide, the Center+ 8 can boast “smooth, precise sound with an expansive listening window, even when seated off-axis.” Arendal says that it’s the “perfect timbre-matched centerpiece for any high-performance system.” Like the 1528 Tower 8, it has a sensitivity rating of 89.5dB.

1528 Center 8 ($2,900 each)

The 1528 Center 8 may be smaller than its gargantuan sibling, but it’s still a formidable center-channel speaker, measuring 31.9 inches wide and weighing 105 pounds. With the same driver complement as the 1528 Monitor 8, it has a lower sensitivity than the Center+ 8, with a rating of 85dB. Arendal says that the smaller Center 8 can still be paired seamlessly with the Tower 8, and is obviously a perfect match for the Monitor 8, Bookshelf 8, and Slim 8.

Conclusion

The 1528 Series speakers from Arendal Sound come with a reassuring 10-year warranty, covering all costs for you as a customer within the warranty terms. This warranty can even be transferred to a second owner, as long as the sales receipt is provided by the original buyer. All models are available in a satin white finish called Polar, and a satin black finish called Basalt. Exact shipping dates are TBA as of the time of writing. All things considered, we can’t wait to get our hands and ears on these new speakers. Rest assured that we will be putting them through their paces to see how they compare to the competition. So far, we have every reason to be optimistic about how they will perform. What do you think of the 1528 Series loudspeakers from Arendal Sound? Share your thoughts in the related forum thread below.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.