Sound Quality & Character
“A top compact loudspeaker with a rather forward character and almost fear-inducing bass capabilities.”
“The bass of this speaker belies the cabinet size and hits incredibly hard. It is simply astonishing.”
“It sounds as if an active subwoofer were playing along. Your jaw drops.”
“The Arendal does not beautify, it is very honest and lets poor recordings sound poor.”
“This speaker is more rocker than gentleman, and that is a tuning I can live with very well.”
“Very lively without tipping into sharpness, and with bass depth that many other speakers do not even reveal on this track.”
“Jazz was always a very pleasant experience with the Arendal, while metal could become painful.”
“Beautiful vocal reproduction without emphasized sibilance, yet highly transparent.”
“The Bookshelf 8 immediately made clear what its greatest strength is.”
Build, Design & Engineering
“The aluminum woofer… explains the model designation. It is flanked by a 13 cm carbon midrange driver and a 28 mm aluminum-magnesium tweeter.”
“The baffle itself is quite massive, consisting of several thin HDF layers glued together to form a 46 mm thickness.”
“The waveguide is not a design gimmick but technically meaningful and important.”
“The steel plate provides ideal working conditions for the midrange and tweeter simply because it hardly resonates.”
“Even at a loud 95 dB, the speaker does not give up… Resonances are very well controlled.”
Listening Impressions
“On ‘You Look Good To Me,’ it was astonishing how many details the speaker revealed, greatly enhancing the live-like character of this studio recording.”
“The speaker delivers a nice balance of presence, directness, and spaciousness.”
“Once run in, the Bookshelf 8… hits incredibly hard.”
“Harold Faltermeyer’s ‘Axel F.’ As expected, it was simply awesome.”
Final Verdict
“Reference Class 1.0 – Price/Performance: Very good.”
“A direct hit for those who prefer a more upfront presentation.”
“Lively, engaging sound… attractive and well built.”
