Perlisten S7t Speaker Review and Measurements (Audioholics)

[richard12511]

We are going to have a slug fest at the end of August/September with a pair of Perlisten S7t and Revel F328Be's in my theater room. I own the F328s and a bit disappointed in their anemic bass response for a tower of their size. I'm looking forward to this comparison to say the least. I'm also getting in a pair of Paradigm 100Fs soon too. Good times.

I think they purposefully ditched the deep bass response in favor of getting a bit more sensitivity. Compared with the -3dB of 23Hz on the previous flagship, the -6dB of the F328Be is a bit disappointing, but I can see how it's actually a good thing for those who use external subs. I'd probably need external subs if I went with the F328Be.

Will be interesting to see the comparison between the F328 and the S7t. Side by side, the Revel's measurements are a bit better, but if the S7t seems to have the output advantage(and maybe an extension advantage?). Be sure to measure them side by side, so we can see which extends deeper in room.

 

[Gene DellaSala]

I think they purposefully ditched the deep bass response in favor of getting a bit more sensitivity. Compared with the -3dB of 23Hz on the previous flagship, the -6dB of the F328Be is a bit disappointing, but I can see how it's actually a good thing for those who use external subs. I'd probably need external subs if I went with the F328Be.

Will be interesting to see the comparison between the F328 and the S7t. Side by side, the Revel's measurements are a bit better, but if the S7t seems to have the output advantage(and maybe an extension advantage?). Be sure to measure them side by side, so we can see which extends deeper in room.

They did as I mentioned here:
https://www.audioholics.com/tower-speaker-reviews/revel-f328be-vs-ultima-salon2

It's too much of a compromise for a tower of this size and price, IMHO. You definitely .need subs with these speakers if you're a bass head like me.

 

[Descartes]

They did as I mentioned here:
https://www.audioholics.com/tower-speaker-reviews/revel-f328be-vs-ultima-salon2

It's too much of a compromise for a tower of this size and price, IMHO. You definitely .need subs with these speakers if you're a bass head like me.

I thought you bought them?

 

[MZKM]

We are going to have a slug fest at the end of August/September with a pair of Perlisten S7t and Revel F328Be's in my theater room. I own the F328s and a bit disappointed in their anemic bass response for a tower of their size. I'm looking forward to this comparison to say the least. I'm also getting in a pair of Paradigm 100Fs soon too. Good times.

SoundStageNetwork has measurements available, not bad and that it looks really nice. Directivity could be better.

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...-series-100f-loudspeakers&catid=77&Itemid=153

 

[Kachda]

SoundStageNetwork has measurements available, not bad and that it looks really nice. Directivity could be better.
View attachment 143286

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...-series-100f-loudspeakers&catid=77&Itemid=153

Wish they would upgrade their graphics to show the spin and DI in a single graph like Klippel does.

 

[MZKM]

Wish they would upgrade their graphics to show the spin and DI in a single graph like Klippel does.

They do limited horizontal data and very limited vertical data, so not enough for a Spin.
Hell, I’d ask just for color coding, sometimes I can’t tell which line is for which as when they overlap.

 

[BenB]

I've spent a fair amount of time theorizing about multi-way line arrays, and I've built some with off-the-shelf parts. I'm glad to see them getting some attention here. If I worked for a speaker company with a budget large enough to have parts manufactured, I wouldn't use a horn tweeter in the middle of my design. There's a significant discontinuity in the horizontal dispersion of the perlisten 7 at 3 kHz. Personally, I like to keep horizontal dispersion wide high in frequency. In order to accomplish that in an uncompromised way, I would want to work with ribbon manufacturers to develop a double ribbon: a 60 mm ribbon and a 180 mm ribbon side-by-side in a single unit, possibly even sharing some magnets. This would allow for very close spacing horizontally, avoiding any horizontal lobing.

 

[VintageFlanker]

If you look at the SoundStage S7t measurements, bass rolloff starts at 80Hz with a -12dB drop by 29Hz. If these measurements are accurate that's a lot worse than my F328Be in room REW measurements

As you said: in-room. James Larson uses ground plane measurements: "The above graphs show the S7t’s low-frequency responses that I captured using groundplane measurements (where the speaker and microphone are on the ground in a wide-open area). We can see that the response gently tapers off a bit below 100Hz, and this is a very common design; in fact, it’s what we see in nearly every tower speaker I have reviewed. The reason is that domestic rooms will always give a boost to low frequencies whether through boundary gain or pressure vessel gain and usually a combination of the two."

 

[richard12511]

The reason is that domestic rooms will always give a boost to low frequencies whether through boundary gain or pressure vessel gain and usually a combination of the two."

Is this really true, though? Much of this thread is over my head, but I think it's saying that "room gain" as Matthew is describing isn't a thing for home listening(only for cars). At least that's what I gathered(it's just a series of nulls and peaks). This isn't my experience at all(my speakers have always extended much deeper in every room than anechoic), but it's clear to me that @René - Acculution.com knows what he's talking about, so I'm inclined to believe I've just been lucky.

Maybe I'll start another thread with questions on "room gain", as all my rooms somehow seem to get lucky and have it. Assuming that room gain isn't a factor at all for home listening, it is odd that the in room measurements extend flat down to near 20Hz. The -6dB point on the speaker is 37Hz, so that should be the "average" -6dB point, right? Some rooms will have a higher -6 point (say 40Hz), while others will go a bit lower(34Hz). Is that correct?

Comparing it to the F328Be, the Revel does extend a bit deeper(29Hz vs 37Hz), but the Perlisten has the output advantage. Sensitivity is the same, but the Perlisten can play ~10dB louder according to @Matthew J Poes' tests. That necessarily means it must be capable of almost like 10x the power handling? Very impressive, especially given that I'm guessing the Revel can probably take 500watts or more. Assuming it's true that it really has 10dB more output, that's crazy good power handling from the Perlisten. Hard to tell who has the better distortion performance, but both are beyond excellent to the point where it shouldn't be audible for either speaker. In my estimation, it's a great race, and I think both are appropriately priced.

 

[Gene DellaSala]

If you look at the SoundStage S7t measurements, bass rolloff starts at 80Hz with a -12dB drop by 29Hz. If these measurements are accurate that's a lot worse than my F328Be in room REW measurements. In addition, the distortion numbers are higher than Amir's measurements for the Revel F328Be. It would be nice to see a review of the S7t by amir.

I watched Gene's F328Be vs Salon2 review but it didn't have any measurements and was mostly a spec rundown and Revel employees giving their opinion. No reviewer measurements = a total waste of time for me. Hopefully, the S7t vs F328Be article will have substance? No, that's asking too much.

That was NOT a review but just a teaser. If you spent anytime reading our articles or watching our actual YT reviews you know that we are a very heavily oriented measurement publication.

 

[René - Acculution.com]

Is this really true, though? Much of this thread is over my head, but I think it's saying that "room gain" as Matthew is describing isn't a thing for home listening(only for cars). At least that's what I gathered(it's just a series of nulls and peaks). This isn't my experience at all(my speakers have always extended much deeper in every room than anechoic), but it's clear to me that @René - Acculution.com knows what he's talking about, so I'm inclined to believe I've just been lucky.

Maybe I'll start another thread with questions on "room gain", as all my rooms somehow seem to get lucky and have it. Assuming that room gain isn't a factor at all for home listening, it is odd that the in room measurements extend flat down to near 20Hz. The -6dB point on the speaker is 37Hz, so that should be the "average" -6dB point, right? Some rooms will have a higher -6 point (say 40Hz), while others will go a bit lower(34Hz). Is that correct?

Comparing it to the F328Be, the Revel does extend a bit deeper(29Hz vs 37Hz), but the Perlisten has the output advantage. Sensitivity is the same, but the Perlisten can play ~10dB louder according to @Matthew J Poes' tests. That necessarily means it must be capable of almost like 10x the power handling? Very impressive, especially given that I'm guessing the Revel can probably take 500watts or more. Assuming it's true that it really has 10dB more output, that's crazy good power handling from the Perlisten. Hard to tell who has the better distortion performance, but both are beyond excellent to the point where it shouldn't be audible for either speaker. In my estimation, it's a great race, and I think both are appropriately priced.

I don't think I said that it was not a thing at all in rooms, but that one should be aware that the theory presented pertained to a totally closed room, which nobody probably has. How bass extension in a normal room compares to bass extension in an anechoic chamber was not mentioned, but I would think you get less bass in an anechoic chamber.

Those Perlisten's have some really cool composite cone technology going on, would like to listen to a pair

 

[ctrl]

We are going to have a slug fest at the end of August/September with a pair of Perlisten S7t and Revel F328Be's in my theater room. I own the F328s and a bit disappointed in their anemic bass response for a tower of their size. I'm looking forward to this comparison to say the least. I'm also getting in a pair of Paradigm 100Fs soon too. Good times.

Wow, this is likely to be an "exciting" comparison.

When comparing LW, SP and SP-DI, one can notice significant differences.
I'm curious about the auditory impressions in the damped theater room. The differences should actually be clear, if corresponding room reflections are present.

Personally, I would probably have problems with overtones of voices, trumpet, saxophone, piano,... and distorted guitars with both speakers, as both speakers emit a bit too much sound power in the frequency range 2-4kHz - the F328Be hardly, the S7t clearly too much.

F328Be:

S7t:

 

[ctrl]

With my RME ADI-2 DAC FS I leave the EQ flat and it sounds fine. I don't notice any issues with the F328Be with horns, saxophone and piano. It sounds fantastic in my room.

That's why I started the sentence with " personally". The extent to which the exaggerations in the sound power, in the 2-4kHz range, come into play depends on the room and personal taste.

One speaker that @amirm regularly uses as a comparison/reference is the Revel M16, which he describes as warm and pleasant sounding.
SP, LW and SPDI of the Revel M16 looks like this:

The differences in radiation and crossover tuning are clearly visible.
Such a speaker would very likely be more to my taste (with regard to tuning)
.
.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

One speaker in this price class that may be able to compete with the SPL of the Perlisten and F328Be is the Funk Audio 8.6P. Their speakers aren't as popular as their subwoofers, but just going by the specs they publish they are real SPL monsters. Their subwoofers have been measured and are some of the lowest distortion and lowest compression drivers money can buy. The drivers going into their speakers are likely built to the same standard. I've never seen measurements of them though. The width of the tweeter is a concern.

 

[Luminous White]

I just heard the S7Ts paired up with the D125S subs at the Capital Audiofest last weekend. They are ****ing phenomenal! Better than Revels in my personal opinion, and one of if not the fastest dynamic speaker I've heard. Can actually keep up with actually good planars like Wisdom. Also have a look at this. A review with measurements and by someone at Stereophile who actually knows what the heck he is talking about, just look at his reference system in the article for starters. He owns Salon 2s and said while those have a slightly better soundstage and midrange character that overall these are the best speakers he's ever tested in his room. I figure if you had decent dsp and room correction to the PerListens, especially something like a Trinnov they'll be as close to perfect as possible.

https://www.perlistenaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/STRP_4412_PERLISTEN.pdf

 

[Shazb0t]

one of if not the fastest dynamic speaker I've heard. Can actually keep up with actually good planars like Wisdom.

What does this actually mean? What does "fast" sound like??

 

[Kal Rubinson]

He owns Salon 2s....

I own Studio 2s, fwiw.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

I just heard the S7Ts paired up with the D125S subs at the Capital Audiofest last weekend. They are ****ing phenomenal! Better than Revels in my personal opinion, and one of if not the fastest dynamic speaker I've heard. Can actually keep up with actually good planars like Wisdom. Also have a look at this. A review with measurements and by someone at Stereophile who actually knows what the heck he is talking about, just look at his reference system in the article for starters. He owns Salon 2s and said while those have a slightly better soundstage and midrange character that overall these are the best speakers he's ever tested in his room. I figure if you had decent dsp and room correction to the PerListens, especially something like a Trinnov they'll be as close to perfect as possible.

https://www.perlistenaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/STRP_4412_PERLISTEN.pdf

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that maybe I could afford a pair...

There undoubtedly seems to be an audible effect of controlling vertical directivity that people enjoy. You get a similar thing with line sources and large ribbons. My experience with ribbons is that they have more detail and resolution in the treble, but there is something wrong with how they image. It's a subtle thing, but to my ears domes sound more accurate in the vertical domain. Now, the Perlisten isn't a ribbon or a line source, so I can't say much about them, but I just have a feeling based on experience that there will be something off about how they image with the mismatch between horizontal and vertical directivity.

 

[Luminous White]

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that maybe I could afford a pair...

There undoubtedly seems to be an audible effect of controlling vertical directivity that people enjoy. You get a similar thing with line sources and large ribbons. My experience with ribbons is that they have more detail and resolution in the treble, but there is something wrong with how they image. It's a subtle thing, but to my ears domes sound more accurate in the vertical domain. Now, the Perlisten isn't a ribbon or a line source, so I can't say much about them, but I just have a feeling based on experience that there will be something off about how they image with the mismatch between horizontal and vertical directivity.

Imaging was top notch in my book. I work in the industry and have heard almost of all of it by this point. B&W, Sonus Faber, Totem, Revel, Monitor, Paradigm, you name it, all flagship grade stuff too. For imaging Totem's Element series speakers such as the "Metal" generally takes the cake unless we are taking about properly (and I mean properly with correct active crossovers and DSP) configured line source Wisdom which has been my personal all around favorite until now. But now I just might buy the PerListens in a couple months. Thinking about selling my Wisdom system, and granted its their on wall and more entry level Insight series, but I still can't believe I'm saying that especially having heard their serious stuff too.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

Imaging was top notch in my book. I work in the industry and have heard almost of all of it by this point. B&W, Sonus Faber, Totem, Revel, Monitor, Paradigm, you name it, all flagship grade stuff too. For imaging Totem's Element series speakers such as the "Metal" generally takes the cake unless we are taking about properly (and I mean properly with correct active crossovers and DSP) configured line source Wisdom which has been my personal all around favorite until now. But now I just might buy the PerListens in a couple months. Thinking about selling my Wisdom system, and granted its their on wall and more entry level Insight series, but I still can't believe I'm saying that especially having heard their serious stuff too.

Perlisten is coming out with an in-wall series soon. Something to consider if you are going to go that route. I imagine they will be even better than the standalone models.