Revel Performa F328Be vs Perlisten S7t Speaker Shootout!

[gene]

After years of requests, it’s finally happening—I brought the Revel F328Be and Perlisten S7t into the same room for an epic speaker shootout. Both of these tower speakers are world-class, with stellar CTA-2034 measurements, but make no mistake—there are real differences in how they perform. If you own either speaker, consider yourself fortunate. But if you're trying to decide between them for your music or home theater setup, this comparison is a must-watch. I break it all down to help you make the right choice based on your needs and budget.

• Revel PerformaBe F328Be (MSRP: $17,600/pair):
  3-way, 5 driver ported tower featuring (3) 8” aluminum cones w ceramic composite bass drivers, (1) 5 ¼” Aluminum - Ceramic composite midrange and a 1” Be tweeter with 85mm magnet and 6th generation aluminum composite waveguide. The tower features dual rear ports, is biampable and stands 51” tall weighing 112lbs.

• Perlisten S7t (MSRP: $21,990/pair):
  4-way bass-reflex / sealed tower featuring (4) 7” textreme woofers, dual 2.1” textreme midranges sandwiched between a 1.1” Be tweeter housed in a waveguide as part of their DPC Array (Directivity Pattern Control). The DPC array is part of their beamforming technology that works in conjunction with the woofers to control vertical dispersion to project more direct sound at the listening area to help minimize the impacts of poor room acoustics. It’s a high sensitivity large tower with deep bass extension and extreme output of 117dB per THX Dominus spec.

 

[Golfx]

Thanks for doing this comparison. I am now a satisfied owner of Perlistens all begun off of James’ early review in 2021 of the Perlisten S7t followed my Matthew’s solid advice. This website provides the best combination of industry news, new product previews and quality reviews backed by measurements.

 

[lovinthehd]

Is better the right word for all situations?

 

[gene]

Is better the right word for all situations?

Depends on what is important to you. If sound quality, build quailty and bass extension are important, than the clear winner was Perlisten. If more casual listening and value (sale price of $12k) are more important to you, then the Revel wins.

 

[lovinthehd]

Depends on what is important to you. If sound quality, build quailty and bass extension are important, than the clear winner was Perlisten. If more casual listening and value (sale price of $12k) are more important to you, then the Revel wins.

How about compared to RBH setup?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Is better the right word for all situations?

Yeah, it's so subjective and just depends on personal preference. All good sounding speakers. Many speakers are good sounding. Most of the time it comes down to cost and personal preference.

I remember the days when I had a bunch of speakers in my house. I invited many people over a course of a year. And the preference was all over the place. Some preferred the Revel, some preferred the B&W, some preferred the KEF, some preferred the Linkwitz Orion.

 

[Mikado463]

Thanks Gene, as a Revel fan I must admit I'd still take the Salon's or in my case my Studio 2's over the F328Be's (which I've only heard one time). I wish Revel had maintained those two offerings. Fit-n-Finish was superior to the F328 Be's as well IMO.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Thanks Gene, as a Revel fan I must admit I'd still take the Salon's or in my case my Studio 2's over the F328Be's (which I've only heard one time). I wish Revel had maintained those two offerings. Fit-n-Finish was superior to the F328 Be's as well IMO.

I agree. I also preferred the Salon2.

 

[Will Brink]

Sounds like the Perl's worth that extra $. Two things I'm glad he mentioned, looks and build quality of the Revels. I heard them in a shop a while ago, and while they sounded good, I thought they looked cheap (especially compared to the Salon2) and build quality was not up to the price. That one was an easy pass for me at the time.

 

[everettT]

Sounds like the Perl's worth that extra $. Two things I'm glad he mentioned, looks and build quality of the Revels. I heard them in a shop a while ago, and while they sounded good, I thought they looked cheap (especially compared to the Salon2) and build quality was not up to the price. That one was an easy pass for me at the time.

Just curious what about the build quality turned you off? I personally thought their cabinet quality was top notch, their finish options could have been better, but the cabinets and the baffle integration seemed very well done to me.

 

[Mikado463]

Just curious what about the build quality turned you off? I personally thought their cabinet quality was top notch, their finish options could have been better, but the cabinets and the baffle integration seemed very well done to me.

perhaps subjective, regardless, take the grills off the 328's vs the Salon's or Studio2's, if you can't feel and or see the difference then oh well, so be it ............

Ok, I did not intend this to turn into a pissin' contest between current and past Revel speakers, so back to the Perlisten / Revel comparison

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

perhaps subjective, regardless, take the grills off the 328's vs the Salon's or Studio2's, if you can't feel and or see the difference then oh well, so be it ............

Ok, I did not intend this to turn into a pissin' contest between current and past Revel speakers, so back to the Perlisten / Revel comparison

It’s a good point though. It would have been more of a fair fight if the Salon2 were in the fight.