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Perlisten speakers

BenB

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I think you are nitpicking here in order to try to argue that somehow this is not novel and was done before.

I have made no claims regarding the novelty of what Perlisten has done. Just because both designs constitute beamforming doesn't mean they are equivalent. Beamforming can be realized in a very wide variety of ways, and new approaches are developed pretty regularly. From what I've seen, Perlisten has managed a directivity that I believe I would perceive to be superior to what snell accomplished, as the snell beamwidth is too wide to drastically reduce the first reflections from the floor and ceiling.

Again, the way the expanding array works is not the same. I am not sure what part of that you are not seeing.

In fact I understand perfectly well that their implementations vary.

In the expanding array, there is a traditional crossover between the midrange and tweeter. Overlap is typical of the order used. They are symmetric. It is a true crossover. In the Perlisten, the tweeter in the center along with the midrange drivers all have a highpass filter at 1khz so they overlap substantially. There is a point where the midrange is phased out so that eventually the tweeter is the only driver operating. But there is large overlap between those points. Something like 4-5 octaves.

Thanks for the information. I suspect you have mischaracterized the amount of overlap, though. If the mids and tweeter are high pass filtered at 1 kHz, and share 4 octaves of overlap, the mids would be low pass filtered at 16 kHz.

I have never heard beam forming defined like you are.

Well, I'm happy to educate.

All speakers have a forward radiation lobe that is directional.

First of all, this isn't true. Second, it has little if anything to do with what I wrote. For counter examples, consider omni-directional speakers, and speakers that radiate more energy away from the listener than toward them, like the bose 901. Getting back to what I actually said, many speakers have inconsistent angles of maximum response across frequency. For example, odd order crossovers will often result in lobes above or below the design axis that are stronger than the response on the design axis (when paired with asymmetric driver layouts).

MTM and WMTMW designs have created symmetric lobes and also have existed for a long time. But I never considered those beam forming designs. If you want to, that is fine. I think we are just mincing words.

MTM designs don't create "a consistent Maximum Response Axis across the band of interest, with attenuated response at angles away from the MRA. They fail to significantly attenuate off-axis response at frequencies above and below the crossover frequency. In order to make a logical argument that MTM designs constitute beamforming, you'd have to argue that the "band of interest" consisted only of frequencies near the crossover frequency. If operated with such a limited bandwidth, they wouldn't be very good for music reproduction. Also, even at the crossover frequency, many MTM designs suffer from grating lobes, which are generally frowned upon in beamforming, but are sometimes acceptable.

For WMTMW designs, the same assessment applies. Some may have sufficient, wide-band directionality and freedom from extraneous lobes (grating lobes) to constitute beamforming, while others don't. Those that do were almost certainly designed with a strong focus on their dispersion characteristics.

the Snell and Perlisten approach are not similar or related. That remains true. Call them what you want.

I understand that you feel the differences between the Snell and Perlisten approaches are significant, and perhaps under appreciated. However, I think you go too far to say they "are not similar or related". They are both implemented using dynamic drivers consisting of woofers, midranges, and tweeters, arranged in symmetric vertical lines, with passive filters, right? I'd say that constitutes a large amount of similarity. Regarding what we call them, we should use words in ways that are consistent with their definitions, and we should try to be precise with our use of language when having technical discussions.
 

hardisj

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S4b on deck…

I rarely create unboxing videos but I was excited about this speaker and couldn’t wait for the review to share it. If you don’t like unboxing videos and don’t want a sneak peak at this speaker, don’t watch. It’s that simple.

Just Arrived! Perlisten Audio S4b bookshelf speaker. (unboxing video; review coming soon)

951DC11C-6F6A-484B-BC1C-819495693CAC.jpeg
 

617

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If you have time, measure the upper tweeter assembly separately. I think many people are curious how this thing works.

Not a cheap speaker but you seem to get a lot for to money. Finish looks wonderful and the textreme satori woofer looks really cool.
 

Everett T

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S4b on deck…

I rarely create unboxing videos but I was excited about this speaker and couldn’t wait for the review to share it. If you don’t like unboxing videos and don’t want a sneak peak at this speaker, don’t watch. It’s that simple.

Just Arrived! Perlisten Audio S4b bookshelf speaker. (unboxing video; review coming soon)
Very interested in this one. We are converting another room and these are on my list for a 5.4.2
 

Spocko

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S4b on deck…

I rarely create unboxing videos but I was excited about this speaker and couldn’t wait for the review to share it. If you don’t like unboxing videos and don’t want a sneak peak at this speaker, don’t watch. It’s that simple.

Just Arrived! Perlisten Audio S4b bookshelf speaker. (unboxing video; review coming soon)

View attachment 158636
Hmmm, I am more interested in those gloves...
 

617

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Now that I've seen it on video I actually like the speaker more. Looks exotic, expensive, really well made.

B&W's industrial design has always been great but they're too stuck on their old designs. Revel has no style whatsoever - well made, well finished, but no style.

Looking forward to this one.
 

BenB

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It looks like Perlisten kept the problematic part of the design, which was the change in horizontal directivity between the mids and the waveguide tweeter, and did away with exemplary part, which was well-controlled, consistent, narrow vertical dispersion across a wide bandwidth.
 

bigjacko

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Oooof..... that is expensive. The drivers are too expensive at this point making it not a good value, but it does catch people's eyes easily. Looking forwards to see how this one performs. How easy is it to scratch the paint when handling it and cleaning it? Is the paint baked in oven?
 

Haint

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Jan 26, 2020
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With all the other companies having price increases, I emailed Perlisten to verify. The updated MSRP (as of August 2021) is ~$8000/pair.

Hard to imagine they don't already have an incredibly healthy price buffer even at $7500, but for anyone buying $8000 bookshelves (whether through means or desire) another $500 is probably as meaningless as a $5 Fast Food combo to most everyone else.
 

peanuts

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Apr 26, 2016
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8k is insane for a bookshelf, regardless of how good you make the drivers its still not going to compare to even cheaper large floorstanders in several areas.
 
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