Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.

I’d never heard of Arendal Sound prior to reviewing its 1723 Tower S loudspeaker early in 2024. I liked the pair, but I didn’t love them. They were solidly built and sounded remarkably smooth, even at high volumes. But they weren’t as detailed as some of the competition. Regardless, they performed well, and I concluded my review by remarking that I was eager to see and hear what the company did next.

It didn’t take long. In autumn 2024, Arendal launched its flagship 1528 series, led by the Tower 8 that Doug Schneider praised when he reviewed it late last year. Several months after Doug’s review was published, I was sent a pair of Monitor 8 speakers from the same series. It became apparent fairly quickly that there was something special about this speaker. In fact, after spending a lot more time with it, I came to realize this is one of the best speakers I’ve heard in almost two decades of reviewing audio.

Description

Reviews of the 1528 series never fail to say one thing: every speaker in the lineup is enormous. Still, I failed to appreciate just how big they are until the Monitor 8s showed up at my door. Unboxing them was almost comical. Constructed from high-density fiberboard (HDF), measuring 31.8″H × 11.4″W × 17.6″D, and weighing an astonishing 104 pounds, the Monitor 8 is monstrous. Arendal sells direct, and prices include shipping, sales taxes, and import duties. A pair of 1528 Monitor 8s sells for US$6800 (US$7300 in Canada), £5200, or €6200.

The accompanying 1528 Stand 8s (US$1550/pair for US customers, US$1750 for Canadian customers, £1200, €1400) that Arendal sent for the review weigh 46.7 pounds apiece, and with their Puck+ isolation feet installed, each one measures 22.4″H × 18.5″W × 18.5″D. With a Monitor 8 perched atop a Stand 8, the whole assembly tips the scales at just over 150 pounds. Standing 54.2″ tall, the speakers and stands towered over my Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G floorstanders, which looked diminutive standing alongside the Arendals.

Before discussing the speaker, the Stand 8 deserves some attention. Like the cabinet of the Monitor 8, the central column of the Stand 8 is built from HDF; the substantial weight of the stand surprised me as I pulled it from the box. The column attaches to an aluminum top plate, to which is bonded a piece of 1mm nitrile rubber. This protects the bottom of the speaker and reduces vibrations transmitted from the cabinet to the stand. A steel slab, 0.4″ thick, is used inside the column to reinforce the aluminum top plate, while an aluminum block twice as thick is used to fix the bottom plate to the base of the column. Integrated metal holders screw into the backside of the column to guide the cables, keeping them out of sight.

The Stand 8 bolts directly to the base of the Monitor 8, so you needn’t worry about a speaker toppling over and crashing to the ground. That’s always an important consideration, but especially so when you’re dealing with something this large. If you’re going to buy a pair of Monitor 8s, I’d suggest budgeting for the Stand 8s as well.

Arendal sent me the stands and speakers in the Basalt finish (a white finish called Polar is also available). With their dark-gray woofer cones, the Monitor 8s looked sharp in my room. The stands were a significant part of this, as they extended the design all the way to the floor. The sheer size of the speakers was impressive, and despite their uncluttered and clean appearance, they couldn’t exactly disappear. Fortunately, I didn’t want them to. The most telling moment was when my wife saw them for the first time. She’s quite outspoken about speakers whose appearance she dislikes, but she surprised me by saying how much she liked the Arendals in the Basalt finish.

A three-way design, the 1528 Monitor 8 employs a 1.1″ tweeter, a 5″ midrange driver, and two 8″ woofers. These are mounted on a 3.3″-thick front baffle, which appears to float off the front of the speaker, adding a bit of visual flair to the design. The baffle is gently curved to position the drivers so that their sound reaches the listener’s ears simultaneously. According to Arendal, physically aligning the drivers improves phase coherency, resulting in a more accurate soundstage.

The tweeter’s dome is a combination of lithium and magnesium, materials I rarely encounter in a high-frequency driver. It’s situated at the base of an elliptical waveguide that helps to control the tweeter’s directivity, while also improving its efficiency, akin to a horn-loaded driver. This crosses over to the carbon-fiber-and-graphene midrange at 2.8kHz. The tweeter and midrange are in close proximity to one another, with the latter housed in a separate, sealed basket. The midrange crosses over to the two ridged-aluminum woofers at 420Hz. The bass produced by these drivers is augmented by a massive port on the backside of the cabinet, close to the bottom of the speaker. Foam port plugs are provided if you need to place the speakers closer to the front wall. I was able to leave plenty of space behind the speakers, so I didn’t use them.

A pair of level-adjustment jumpers on the backside permit limited tweaking of the Monitor 8’s sound. By moving the jumpers around, one can either boost or decrease the output of the tweeter and/or midrange by 2dB. The tonal balance sounded fine in my room, so I kept the jumpers in the REF (reference) position throughout the review.

Similar to the 1723 Tower S speakers, the Monitor 8 features dual rhodium-plated copper binding posts that permit biwiring or biamplification, mounted on a large, anodized terminal plate. The jumpers that link the binding posts are also fashioned from rhodium-plated copper. The feel and overall appearance oozes quality, befitting a flagship product.

Arendal recommends an amplifier of up to 700Wpc for the Monitor 8s, so you may need both sets of binding posts if you want to drive them with that much power. I used the Arendals with an Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 power amplifier that I’d just had in for review, and a Bryston 4B Cubed stereo/mono amplifier. Both had no trouble driving the Monitor 8s to dangerous levels in a large listening area. While the Arendals can handle a lot of power, I found that you certainly don’t need anything close to 700Wpc to get them to sing.

That being said, with 85dB sensitivity and nominal 4-ohm impedance, you’ll still want to partner the Monitor 8 with an amplifier comfortable with a lower impedance. If I were buying a pair of Monitor 8s, I’d drive them with at least 100Wpc. That’s partly because they sounded really good with the volume turned up—a point I’ll return to shortly.

Arendal says the Monitor 8’s frequency response is 38Hz–20kHz (±2dB), which, for such a large speaker boasting dual 8″ woofers, seems like an honest rating. Interestingly, the company specifies that the Monitor 8 is -10dB at 19Hz—meaning it still has some (albeit greatly diminished) output at frequencies humans can only feel—suggesting a speaker that is nearly full-range.

This is remarkable for a standmount at this price point. The biggest factor behind Arendal’s aggressive pricing is a direct-to-consumer business model that bypasses retailers entirely. Buyers purchase the speakers from the company’s website. As noted, the price covers shipping, taxes, and customs charges. Furthermore, a 60-day return policy is offered, so you have time to decide if you want to keep them. Another reason for the low price is that while all design and engineering happen in Norway, the Monitor 8 is manufactured in China, further reducing costs. All of this adds up to a pair of speakers that—on paper at least—appears to offer good value.

Setup

I used AudioQuest Rocket 88 cables to connect the Monitor 8s to either an Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 or a Bryston 4B³ stereo amplifier, both of which were linked using generic RCA cables to a Bryston BP-19 preamplifier. Digital content came from a NAD C 565BEE CD player that was wired to a Bryston BDA‑2 DAC using an i2Digital X‑60 coaxial cable. Music was sent wirelessly from Apple Music on an iPhone SE to a Bluesound Node 2i streamer. I connected the Node 2i to the BDA‑2 using an AudioQuest Forest TosLink optical cable. The BDA‑2 was connected to the BP‑19 with Nordost Quattro Fil RCA cables.

For vinyl playback, I used a Thorens TD 160 HD turntable with a modified Rega Research RB250 tonearm and a Sumiko Songbird low-output MC cartridge. A Pro‑Ject Audio Systems Connect it RCA‑CC cable linked the Thorens to a Pro‑Ject Phono Box DS3 B phono stage, which was powered by a Pro‑Ject Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply. The DS3 B was linked to the preamplifier using Kimber Kable Tonik interconnects. All electronics were plugged into an ExactPower EP15A power conditioner.

Sonics

Given its size, it should come as little surprise that the Monitor 8 needs a large room to sound its best. Arendal recommends a minimum listening distance of approximately 8′ for a pair of Monitor 8s, although the optimal distance at which the drivers converge perfectly is 13′. Furthermore, the company suggests leaving at least 1′ behind and to the side of each speaker, to give them some distance from the walls. In my time writing for the SoundStage! Network, I can’t recall a manufacturer specifying such a large distance between myself and a speaker. Fortunately, I had plenty of space in my room.

Using the track “9 Crimes,” from Damien Rice’s 2006 album 9 (CD, Vector Recordings CDW 43249), I spent more time than I usually do trying to determine how far away to sit. At 10′ from the speakers (my normal listening distance), the sound was more intimate, as the music enveloped me in a way I didn’t quite experience when I moved my seat 13′ away. However, sitting further away rewarded me with a more spacious soundstage, which expanded as I increased the distance from the speakers. I settled on a distance of 11.5′, with the speakers toed in so the axis from the tweeters was aimed just outside my ears. At its closest point, each speaker was 32″ from the front wall and 28″ from the nearest side wall. With 10′ from tweeter to tweeter, the Monitor 8s were placed wider apart than any speaker that has come into my room. In this arrangement, I enjoyed an enormous stage without feeling I was too distant from the music.

One of the first things I noticed about the Monitor 8 was its neutrality. It didn’t embellish what was in a recording. Even as I occasionally found myself wishing to hear a little more bass, the Arendals never cheated by boosting the mid-lows to trick my brain into perceiving them as playing more deeply. “Angel,” from Massive Attack’s Mezzanine (CD, Virgin Records 8 45599 2), provided a good example of this. “Angel” is a dark, brooding track whose atmosphere is underpinned by bass notes that venture into the subterranean. As deep as it can dig, not even a pair of these mighty Arendals could unearth them.

For context, my stereo is set up in an unfinished basement that is fairly large, and I’ve never heard a speaker that can fill it with deep bass. That’s why I added a subwoofer to my system three years ago. In a more typically sized room where it’s likely to be used, a pair of Monitor 8s should provide plenty of low-end oomph without a subwoofer.

The second thing I noticed about the Monitor 8, and what sets it apart from just about every speaker I’ve ever reviewed, was its sense of effortlessness. Bass-heavy recordings could be played at ridiculously high levels, and the Monitor 8s never sounded strained. All speakers reach a point where they compress and distort rather than play louder when you increase the volume. In the case of the Arendal, that’s a level no one who values their hearing should ever use. From the outset, the 1528 series was designed to handle high playback levels, and Arendal has easily met that objective with this speaker. In that sense, it reminded me of the Bryston T10 I reviewed last year, which is also built to handle obscene amounts of power and play at blisteringly high levels, while remaining utterly composed.

All of this is to say that the Monitor 8s were a lot of fun. “Inertia Creeps” (also from Mezzanine) has an infectious rhythm that really pulsed with the volume turned up. The drums were exceptionally clean, delivered with pinpoint precision within a stage whose outer boundaries were expanded by the electric guitars. Centered between the speakers, the vocals were a little more diffuse—a characteristic of the recording, not the speakers themselves. The music was visceral; as good as I’ve heard in my system.

After “Inertia Creeps” finished, I loaded Loreena McKennitt’s Nights from the Alhambra (CD, Quinlan Road QRCDDVD2‑110‑N) into the CD tray and was immediately treated to another toe-tappingly infectious rhythm, this time created mostly by acoustic instruments. The opening track, “The Mystic’s Dream,” starts with a cinematic drone that is soon accompanied by several chanting male voices, before the music opens up, giving way to an assortment of stringed and percussion instruments. McKennitt herself doesn’t necessarily stand out from the large collection of musicians on stage with her, appearing roughly within the plane created by the front baffles of the speakers. Still, centered between them, her voice is undoubtedly the focal point.

Alhambra is a beautiful recording, to be sure, due in no small part to the tangible atmosphere it creates. Just as there are songs that rock out and feature most of the band jamming along, there are serene pieces such as “She Moved Through the Fair” that convey a high degree of intimacy and a sense of the ambiance under the late-summer Spanish night sky. It’s a recording that makes me stop whatever I’m doing and simply listen. For their part, the Arendals communicated all of these moments throughout the show. The wonderful transparency of the Monitor 8s helped to capture the mood, both on the stage and in the audience, while their effortless dynamics transmitted the vibrant energy of more upbeat tracks. A DVD of the concert accompanies Nights from the Alhambra, and though I thoroughly enjoy being able to watch the concert on screen, the Arendals still made it pretty easy to “see” the performance while simply listening on CD.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see Radiohead several times, and at most of those shows, the song “You and Whose Army” was part of the setlist. Listening to it through the Arendals (CD, Amnesiac, EMI 7243 5 32764 2 3) got me thinking about those concerts, and this tune in particular. A video camera attached to Thom Yorke’s piano would show a closeup of his face, which was projected onto huge video screens for the audience to see. At least once during the tune, he’d make a face into the camera and the crowd would cheer, a sort of playful counterpoint to an otherwise gloomy, plodding piece of music. Listening to “You and Whose Army” on CD, there’s far more reverb than I ever heard in concert. Through the Arendals, the bass had a pleasing warmth and weight to it, filling the room with sound. Front-to-back layering on the stage was readily revealed through the Monitor 8s. The song had a see-through quality that made it easy to tease it apart, without getting to the point where I found myself dissecting it. Again, the Arendals thoroughly impressed me.

Listening to The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco (LP, Riverside OJC‑035), I could hear everything through the Arendals. They sounded as clean as any speakers I’ve ever reviewed and seemed to uncover every last detail. Recorded in 1959 at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, this album gives a vivid sense of the vibe at those shows. The opening track, “This Here,” really swings, and the energy on the stage is palpable. You only need to hear the excitement and buzz from the audience to appreciate their love for this music and the sort of magic that must have unfolded at the shows.

Adderley’s band was spread wide across the front of my room, and the position of each musician was a cinch to visualize. The splash of the cymbals coming from the right side of the stage was crisp and vibrant, while the notes from the piano were clear and popped from the strings. The bass had sufficient weight, even if it didn’t punch me in the chest. The record’s overall balance was tipped toward the higher frequencies, which seemed to favor the notes from the right-hand side of the piano, and, of course, Adderley’s alto sax and his brother Nat’s cornet.

Moving to another jazz recording from this era, I cued up Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ Moanin’ (LP, Blue Note ST‑84003). The keys from the piano sparkled, and the overall sound was fuller than the Cannonball Adderley record. This was especially true of the bass, which had more body and a bigger, bolder presence at the front of the room. The wide stage conveyed by the Arendals was bookended by the rich tones of the trumpet on the left and the tenor saxophone on the right. The drum kit emerged with commendable clarity almost directly behind the right speaker, which seemed to disappear entirely. While Moanin’ has its own cool atmosphere and, to my ears, is the better-sounding album, it was made in a studio and simply can’t match the energy of the shows from the Jazz Workshop. As for the Arendals, they called little attention to themselves and simply communicated what was in the grooves of the vinyl.

Comparison

I compared the Arendals with my Monitor Audio Gold 300 5Gs (discontinued, US$9500/pair when available). Like the Monitor 8, the Gold 300 is a three-way design utilizing a pair of 8″ woofers. The Monitor Audio features a Micro Pleated Diaphragm (MPD) tweeter—the British company’s version of an air-motion-transformer high-frequency driver—rather than the dome tweeter employed in the Arendal. The MPD is mated to a 2.5″ midrange cone, and all the drivers are mounted inside a substantial MDF cabinet wrapped in a gorgeous, high-gloss lacquered rosewood veneer.

Once you factor in the price of the stands, a pair of Arendals cost just $250 less than the Monitor Audios. However, you mightn’t guess that based on the sheer mass of materials that have gone into the construction of the Norwegian standmount. At 67 pounds, the Gold 300 is a sturdy speaker, but that’s still 37 pounds less than the Monitor 8.

Eager to hear these two speakers head-to-head, I reached for an album I appreciate more with time, namely Tom Waits’s Mule Variations (CD, Anti‑ / Epitaph Records 86547‑2). I found the opening notes from Waits’s upright piano on “Take It with Me” sparkled a little more through the Monitor Audios, as if they had a bit more energy up top relative to the Arendals. The notes “popped” more through the 300s, helping draw my attention to them. However, I heard more texture in Waits’s voice through the Norwegian speakers. For example, when he sings the words “take it with me when I go,” the coarseness of his sandpaper baritone seemed rougher than when I heard it through the British towers. Additionally, the fuller-sounding Arendals communicated more of his voice’s warmth. The Monitor 8 is an incredibly revealing speaker, and in this instance, I could more easily tease apart what was happening in the lowest register of his voice. Compared to the Monitor Audios, the Arendals sounded more open.

Both sets of speakers have a fair amount in common, regardless of their obvious physical differences. It’s worth noting that in terms of their driver configuration and arrangement, they exhibit more than a passing resemblance to one another. Both the Arendals and the Monitor Audios sounded squeaky-clean, with each delivering a highly detailed, incredibly resolving sound that made it easy to uncover what’s happening in a recording. For example, the rapid-fire percussion that establishes the driving rhythm of “Hunter,” from Björk’s Homogenic (CD, Elektra E2 62061), was vividly conveyed by both sets of speakers. The drums sounded a bit tighter through the Monitor Audios, giving them a subjectively faster sound. For their part, the Arendals had a slightly warmer character that was fuller and more enveloping.

At higher volumes, the Arendals were more effortless, betraying no sense of exertion whatsoever. That being said, the 300s could also play louder than I’m able to tolerate, but the Arendals were just more at ease doing so. They showed no sign of strain at volumes that aren’t safe for any extended period. For this reason, I found they encouraged higher playback. If you have a large room and/or listen at high volumes, you’ll almost certainly favor the Arendals.

Conclusion

I’ve always assumed that the ability to play obscenely loud while remaining composed was the domain of big, expensive speakers, but Arendal’s 1528 Monitor 8 has made me rethink that opinion. The Norwegian speaker can play at ear-damaging levels without obvious signs of strain, but unlike competitors that can do the same, its price puts the Monitor 8 within reach of far more people. Its effortless sound and even tonal balance invites long listening sessions, especially at higher volumes, while it is as transparent as anything I’ve heard. The fact that a pair of them does all of this for US$6800 (US$8350 with stands) has me shaking my head in disbelief. I wish I didn’t have to send them back.

. . . Philip Beaudette
philipb@soundstagenetwork.com

Associated Equipment

• Loudspeakers: Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G
• Subwoofer: SVS SB‑4000
• Preamplifier: Bryston BP‑19
• Power amplifiers: Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2, Bryston 4B³
• Digital sources: NAD C 565BEE CD player, Bryston BDA‑2 DAC, Bluesound Node 2i streamer
• Analog source: Thorens TD 160 HD turntable, Rega Research RB250 tonearm, Sumiko Songbird MC cartridge
• Phono stage: Pro-Ject Audio Systems Phono Box DS3 B and Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply
• Speaker cables: AudioQuest Rocket 88
• Interconnects: Nordost Quattro Fil (RCA), Pro‑Ject Connect it Phono RCA‑CC, Kimber Kable Tonik (RCA), generic RCA
• Digital links: Esoteric Audio (coaxial), i2Digital X‑60 (coaxial)
• Power conditioner: ExactPower EP15A

Arendal Sound 1528 Monitor 8 loudspeaker
Price: US$6800 (US$7300 in Canada), £5200, €6200. Matching 1528 Stand 8 speaker stands: US$1550 (US$1750 in Canada), £1200, €1400. All prices are per pair, and include shipping, sales taxes, and import duties
Warranty: Ten years, parts and labor

Arendal Sound
Industritoppen 6C
4848 Arendal
Norway

Website: www.arendalsound.com