Arendal Sound 1610 Hits Budget Friendly Sweet Spot for Audiophiles?
Sound Quality & Performance
“These speakers have a balanced sound, and they hold that tonality over a broad angle.”
“They turn an electrical signal into an acoustic signal with very little distortion.”
“They have deep bass extension for a standmount loudspeaker.”
“In the bass-heavy movies that I watched, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything for lack of a subwoofer.”
“They can get loud, too, if they are provided with enough amplifier power.”
“These were bookshelf speakers with almost subwoofer-like bass.”
“I didn’t miss the subwoofer at all, a feat achieved by few bookshelf speakers.”
“The 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers projected an image that was much wider than their actual placement, a very nifty effect.”
“Classical aficionados looking for standmount speakers that can do it all should be taking a close look at them.”
“The 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers conveyed these qualities with aplomb.”
Build Quality & Design
“These things have a solidity and heft befitting their price tag.”
“Many of the components are high quality. Arendal isn’t cutting corners here.”
“This bookshelf speaker should deliver relatively deep bass.”
“Arendal has given us a very well-executed port design.”
“The 1610 Bookshelf 8 is a well-controlled, linear loudspeaker.”
“They have mounted the midrange very close to the tweeter… greatly increasing the width of the vertical listening angle.”
“The 1610 Bookshelf 8 is a great speaker and is easy to recommend.”
Value Proposition
“Despite their cost, a close look at their construction and parts shows that Arendal is pricing these things pretty aggressively.”
“Buyers looking for a beefy, full-range, high-fidelity loudspeaker have a great choice in Arendal’s latest offering.”
“Buyers also get industry-leading customer service and extras… a 60-day audition with free shipping both ways… and a 10-year warranty.”
“Arendal has yet to show me a mediocre product, and these speakers continue that trend; keep up the good work, Arendal!”
Design Analysis
Arendal’s 1610 Bookshelf 8 speaker is a 3-way bookshelf speaker designed for high output, low frequency extension, and smooth linearity. The cost of these design goals is sensitivity: wattage doesn’t go quite as far on this speaker as one without as deep bass, but we will get back to that later. The recipe to accomplish these goals is largely the same as that used in Arendal’s 1528 series, hence the visual similarity. It worked well in the 1528s, so it seems like a safe bet that it will work in the 1610 speakers.
The 1610 Bookshelf 8 uses a 28mm (about 1.1”) aluminum-magnesium dome tweeter that is driven by a neodymium motor. The neodymium magnet must be a formidable one since Arendal says the tweeter sensitivity comes in at 95dB for 1W and 1m. The tweeter motor uses a copper shorting ring in order to lower inductance, thereby increasing bandwidth and lowering distortion. It is set in an elliptical waveguide that Arendal calls the “Røst™ Essence waveguide.” This waveguide looks to be going for a wide horizontal dispersion and narrow vertical dispersion. There is an acoustic lens covering the dome that looks like a grille. Not only does it protect the fragile dome, but it also helps to prevent acoustic energy radiating from different parts of the dome from interfering with each other, thereby reducing comb-filtering.
The midrange driver uses a 5” carbon cone that should offer a combination of high stiffness and light weight. Much like the 1528 midrange driver, it has a sealed basket and backplate. It also uses a copper shorting ring; this complicates the magnetization of the motor in the manufacturing phase and makes it costlier to produce, but, again, it allows for increased bandwidth and lower distortion. As with the tweeter, Arendal claims a 95dB sensitivity for 1W at 1m for the midrange driver, so the midrange motor must be pretty powerful. One thing Arendal has done that I really like is that they have mounted the midrange very close to the tweeter, and by doing so, they have greatly increased the width of the vertical listening angle before crossover nulls start to affect the response.
The bass driver uses an 8” aluminum cone. It has a beefy surround that looks to allow for a fairly high excursion. The surround has been reinforced with internal ribs, which should help lower distortion from deformation or flutter noise. The drivers are crossed over at 330Hz and 2.3kHz with a fourth-order filter for the tweeter and second-order filters for the midrange and bass driver. The crossover components are high quality with aluminum heatsinked wire-wound resistors, air-core inductors, and polypropylene capacitors.
The enclosure for the 1610 Bookshelf 8 is a stout affair and clocks in at 35.8 lbs. While it’s not a small bookshelf speaker, it isn’t huge either, so there is a lot of internal mass to have that kind of weight. It is constructed using high-density fiberboard, and the front baffle has nearly 2” of thickness with ¾” thick side panels and braces. The tweeter/midrange assembly is mounted to a thick steel plate, so the heavy-duty midrange driver is securely seated even during high amplitude levels. Arendal supplies a fairly robust plastic grille that is magnetically applied, and it definitely does a good job of protecting the woofer. The terminal plate has two solid-copper five-way binding posts that are plated with rhodium for better conductivity and corrosion resistance.
This is a bookshelf speaker that wants to give you deep bass, but, in this form factor, that means it will need a good amount of wattage to get loud. This is not a big deal since wattage is pretty cheap these days, and you do not need to spend a fortune to get a few hundred watts per channel anymore.
Read more about listening sessions and loudspeaker measurements HERE.
Conclusion
At the top of the list of their strengths is their acoustic performance, i.e., their sound quality. These speakers have a balanced sound, and they hold that tonality over a broad angle. This means they will keep an even sound over a wide range of circumstances and uses. The 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers are an accurate transducer of sound; they turn an electrical signal into an acoustic signal with very little distortion. They have deep bass extension for a standmount loudspeaker, and in the bass-heavy movies that I watched, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything for lack of a subwoofer. They can get loud, too, if they are provided with enough amplifier power. They might not be the most efficient speaker per watt, but they can handle a lot of power, so they can still blaze if fed a beefy amp.
After their sound quality, the next best thing about the 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers would be their build quality. This is not surprising coming from Arendal, who have always had the best-built speakers for the money. These things have a solidity and heft befitting their price tag, and many of the components are high quality. Arendal isn’t cutting corners here, and despite their cost, a close look at their construction and parts shows that Arendal is pricing these things pretty aggressively.
The 1610 Bookshelf 8 is a great speaker and is easy to recommend, but one thing that complicates that decision, ironically, comes from other speakers from Arendal. Arendal has two other very strong stand-mount offerings that do not cost that far off from the 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers themselves. I am talking about the 1528 Bookshelf 8 and the 1723 Monitor THX. With a product as strong as Arendal’s 1610 Bookshelf 8, there are not many weaknesses to speak of. The only point of criticism I can think of is their wonky impedance load combined with the low sensitivity, which means these speakers will need a decent amp. But, as I mentioned, few people buying speakers at this price are going to run them on budget AVRs, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Any amplifier comfortable running a 4-ohm load should work fine with these speakers.
Buyers looking for a beefy, full-range, high-fidelity loudspeaker have a great choice in Arendal’s latest offering. What is more is that buyers also get industry-leading customer service and extras by buying from Arendal, which comes with a 60-day audition with free shipping both ways in case the buyer does not wish to keep the speaker for any reason. A 10-year warranty sweetens the deal. I enjoyed my time with the 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers, and I think that most, if not all, buyers will feel the same way. Arendal has yet to show me a mediocre product, and these speakers continue that trend; keep up the good work, Arendal.
