Intro
Contents
The American brand Perlisten is a newcomer to the scene but is rapidly gaining a foothold in the crowded audio market. They are doing this by having their loudspeakers confidently tested by the entire international press. And by doing things a little differently than usual. In fact, they are fully committed to innovation, and this is evident not only on the outside but certainly also on the inside. Besides exotic materials and a high quality finish is measured and tested to obtain a frequency range as linear as possible. The Perlisten S4b monitor we are looking at today actually belongs in a luxurious 2.1 or 7.2 setup but we just tested it as a stereo speaker. How that went we are happy to tell you in the story below. Enjoy!
We carefully remove the speakers from the box, using the gloves provided. They deserve it. Unfortunately, our predecessors were not so careful, as evidenced by the many fingerprints on the paintwork. That paintwork is of exceptional quality and the ‘High Gloss Black’ specimens we received are painted inky black and look downright menacing. The Perlisten S4b is quite large for a bookshelf/monitor speaker. At 42 cm tall, you’re really not going to put this speaker in a cabinet or on a sideboard. That would also be a waste, of course.
Perlisten therefore makes two different stands for its monitors. They cost 995 euros and 1995 euros respectively. Not cheap but the stands, like the speakers, are produced to perfection and weigh almost as much as the speakers themselves. We used a pair of Solidsteel SS-6 stands with optional 19 cm plate and that went fine. But the optional Perlisten stands look amazing with the S4b’s.Â
Futuristic
The Perlisten S4b is, surprisingly perhaps, for once not a two-way but a three-way closed-cabinet monitor. It comes standard in black and white but four other versions are available at extra cost: Cherry Natural, Black Cherry Natural, Ebony Natural and Ebony High Gloss.
If you look closely, you will see not one but three tweeters sitting in the DPC-Array mid-driver. The middle one is a 28 mm beryllium tweeter, the upper and lower are then TPCD (Tin Ply Carbon Diaphragm) tweeters. An in-house design by Perlisten. We always get a little nervous about such abbreviations but it indicates that Perlisten has put a lot of time, money and research into their products. And that they are only satisfied with the very best results.
The bass driver consists of Carbon Fiber, a special type of carbon which, you guessed it, was again developed entirely by Perlisten. For their exceptional performance, Perlisten even received the prestigious and rarely awarded THX Dominus certificate. The Perlisten S4b is a 4 Ohm (3.2 minimum) loudspeaker with a sensitivity of 85 db and must therefore be driven by a potent amplifier if you want to get the most out of it. The frequency range goes from 36 Hz to 37 kHz but we never reached anything below 45 Hz in our room.
