Perlisten S4b bookshelf speaker review

[Mikado463]

Look I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, I'm sure these are amazing but just a bit over the top at 8 grand for the pair and then $1,500 for stands. I honestly don't care what they are made of or how.

LOL, like anyone considering these speakers is gonna care what you or I think ! Personally I'd like to hear them and make judgement from there. If they present themselves in my view as well as reviewed here then in the grand scheme of things 8k might not be that bad !

 

[dutchholic]

The treble measurements +/-90 degrees are not good comparted to for example Revel speakers. Huge dip around 10.5khz and not smooth overall and also a huge dip starting around 3khz. That besides the complete lack of bass.. for that price you can buy an perfect performing tower including good bass and off axis treble response. Extremely overpriced when you look at the measurements IMO.

 

[highfigh]

Look I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, I'm sure these are amazing but just a bit over the top at 8 grand for the pair and then $1,500 for stands. I honestly don't care what they are made of or how.
But hey Qacoustics has 4,500 dollar bookshelf speakers now with fancy stands too.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Which sounds better? Isn't that the main criterion when choosing speakers?

 

[shadyJ]

The treble measurements +/-90 degrees are not good comparted to for example Revel speakers. Huge dip around 10.5khz and not smooth overall and also a huge dip starting around 3khz. That besides the complete lack of bass.. for that price you can buy an perfect performing tower including good bass and off axis treble response. Extremely overpriced when you look at the measurements IMO.

That ignores all the advantages that these speakers have and hones in on "flaws" that aren't audible or relevant. Sounds like someone is feeling insecure about their audio equipment...

 

[Golfx]

Great review Sir James. I’m listening to your suggested album, Vulture Prince, right now. Smugly content that another S model Perlisten emits measurements and sound justifying Perlisten’s intent. I recently bought two S7Ts, the S7c & 6 S4s from Matthew Poes. Sure they cost more than what I thought I would spend but they sound wonderful and effortlessly fill my 5500 sq ft room with joy.

 

[shadyJ]

Great review Sir James. I’m listening to your suggested album, Vulture Prince, right now. Smugly content that another S model Perlisten emits measurements and sound justifying Perlisten’s intent. I recently bought two S7Ts, the S7c & 6 S4s from Matthew Poes. Sure they cost more than what I thought I would spend but they sound wonderful and effortlessly fill my 5500 sq ft room with joy.

Wow, that is a hell of a system, must surely sound fantastic. Congrats!

 

[Golfx]

Wow, that is a hell of a system, must surely sound fantastic. Congrats!

Thank you. I trust the your reviews. My ears don’t have yours or Mathew’s comparative depth of listening experiences. So I rely heavily on trusted experts for narrowing my choices and nudging me in the right direction.

 

[dutchholic]

That ignores all the advantages that these speakers have and hones in on "flaws" that aren't audible or relevant. Sounds like someone is feeling insecure about their audio equipment...

Huh? Why do criticism about a speaker (review) sound like I am insecure about my own audio equipment? I am more then happy with my own equipment.

In my opinion it are serious flaws in the measurements at that pricerange, yes maybe on the on axis location it's not audible since on axis is very good (but far enough of axis it MUST be audible, depends how the placement is and where the seat locations are(with 3-4 couch seats it WILL be audible, and that's regular for movie watching for example)) but since Perlisten and Revel and for example Focal all 3 have Beryllium tweeters and a sort of waveguide, so it's fair to compare them to each other. Perlisten simply measures worse on this area, it's clearly seen on the measurements, if this is not audible for you then it's nice for you of course. But to call it not relevant? Why is that not relevant?

Of course there are many advantages of these speakers but the Perlisten s4b have a fast rollof below 100-120hz, and that is not relevant also? We are talking about 9500 dollar speakers including their stands here, then you should be able to expect something (close to) perfect in all area's. Of course it's not doable because of their size but that brings me to the next subject:

Let's not forget that with the stands together they are comparable in size to good towers/floorstanders and good floorstanders from Revel/Focal and maybe even Kef will blow these speakers away in their same pricerange of 9500 dollar.

So what is the benefit of these speakers at this pricerange if you use them together with stands which make them equal size as towers? Close to zero benefit, in my opinion. To say "that there aren’t really any significant weaknesses" is simply something that I don't agree with for the mentioned reasons.

The s4b's, in my opinion, are only great as rears/sides to a complete surround setup of Perlisten speakers with towers as fronts and good LF extension. But for that area they are overpriced imo.

 

[Eppie]

Look I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, I'm sure these are amazing but just a bit over the top at 8 grand for the pair and then $1,500 for stands. I honestly don't care what they are made of or how.
But hey Qacoustics has 4,500 dollar bookshelf speakers now with fancy stands too.

I could probably find a few more bookshelves in that price range but I don't mind. There is obviously a market for them or they would be scarce, and many companies trickle down the technology from their higher lines to their mid-range speakers later on so there can be benefits below that price point.

 

[highfigh]

Great review Sir James. I’m listening to your suggested album, Vulture Prince, right now. Smugly content that another S model Perlisten emits measurements and sound justifying Perlisten’s intent. I recently bought two S7Ts, the S7c & 6 S4s from Matthew Poes. Sure they cost more than what I thought I would spend but they sound wonderful and effortlessly fill my 5500 sq ft room with joy.

Square feet or cubic feet?

 

[shadyJ]

Huh? Why do criticism about a speaker (review) sound like I am insecure about my own audio equipment? I am more then happy with my own equipment.

In my opinion it are serious flaws in the measurements at that pricerange, yes maybe on the on axis location it's not audible since on axis is very good (but far enough of axis it MUST be audible, depends how the placement is and where the seat locations are(with 3-4 couch seats it WILL be audible, and that's regular for movie watching for example)) but since Perlisten and Revel and for example Focal all 3 have Beryllium tweeters and a sort of waveguide, so it's fair to compare them to each other. Perlisten simply measures worse on this area, it's clearly seen on the measurements, if this is not audible for you then it's nice for you of course. But to call it not relevant? Why is that not relevant?

Of course there are many advantages of these speakers but the Perlisten s4b have a fast rollof below 100-120hz, and that is not relevant also? We are talking about 9500 dollar speakers including their stands here, then you should be able to expect something (close to) perfect in all area's. Of course it's not doable because of their size but that brings me to the next subject:

Let's not forget that with the stands together they are comparable in size to good towers/floorstanders and good floorstanders from Revel/Focal and maybe even Kef will blow these speakers away in their same pricerange of 9500 dollar.

So what is the benefit of these speakers at this pricerange if you use them together with stands which make them equal size as towers? Close to zero benefit, in my opinion. To say "that there aren’t really any significant weaknesses" is simply something that I don't agree with for the mentioned reasons.

The s4b's, in my opinion, are only great as rears/sides to a complete surround setup of Perlisten speakers with towers as fronts and good LF extension. But for that area they are overpriced imo.

You talked about a "huge" dip at 10kHz? There is no dip at 10kHz, in fact, there is a small peak. You criticized these speakers for not having a great response at 90-degrees? Well, I guess that rules these out for people who listen to their speakers at a hard right angle. Then you criticized them for not having deep bass extension. That is the trade-off any bookshelf sized speaker will make, either extension or output, you can have one but not both. As for the stands, they aren't a compulsory buy if you get the speakers. They are simply an accessory that you can buy if you want, but these speakers will work with any stands that can handle their weight and size. If you are happier with tower speakers, good for you, however the people shopping in this product class are not cross-shopping for tower speakers. You are picking nits in order to look past the larger picture. What these speakers do well, there are no speakers in their class that can do better that I know of. It seems like every time we post a review of anything that costs more than a hundred bucks, we get commenters saying that it is over-priced and that you could get brand X which is only ten bucks.

 

[Golfx]

Square feet or cubic feet?

Cubic. Sorry.

 

[ryanosaur]

It seems like every time we post a review of anything that costs more than a hundred bucks, we get commenters saying that it is over-priced and that you could get brand X which is only ten bucks.

Duh.
Clearly being successful enough to freely afford these (or others in a price class beyond the 90%) is a social crime. So why waste time on these trivialities. Hereafter, the only speakers that you can review are $30 ea from Amazon.
Have fun.
Populism rules.
Never mind that the people supported by that populism can all afford these. Just not those being tasked as foot soldiers.

 

[dutchholic]

You talked about a "huge" dip at 10kHz? There is no dip at 10kHz, in fact, there is a small peak. You criticized these speakers for not having a great response at 90-degrees? Well, I guess that rules these out for people who listen to their speakers at a right angle.

Of course on axis there's a peak, I wasn't talking about that at all. I'm talking about the off axis response: horizontal frequency repsonce +/- 90 degrees on axis. From 50 degrees+ it get's real bad around that area fast. Not everyone wants to sit at exactly the same spot to listen to speakers and especially with several people in the same (living)room/same couch it's impossible in real life situations. It's maybe a design choice, but in my opinion it's a flaw at such a pricerange. We don't have to share this opinion, but it's a fact which can be found in the measurements and I take my own conclusion from that.

That is the trade-off any bookshelf sized speaker will make, either extension or output, you can have one but not both.

As I mentioned: with stands they are equally sized as an tower/fullsize floorstanding speakers. For 8000/9500 dollars you can buy better tower/fullsize floorstanding speakers from different brands which measure and sound better and that take EQUAL space as these speakers including their stands. As I mentioned, I was already aware of the bookshelf limitations but since the speakers are not priced as bookshelf speakers and with stands combined they take equal space as floorstanders; it's fair to compare them to other speakers that take equal space and are equally priced. For that reason they are overpriced in my opinion. Am I allowed to have this opinion?

It seems like every time we post a review of anything that costs more than a hundred bucks, we get commenters saying that it is over-priced and that you could get brand X which is only ten bucks.

Just for your information, I'm not such a person I'm able to afford these speakers. You're judging people to fast, I'm the kind of consumer that is able to open the wallet for good performance. I own speakers that are highly recommanded by audioholics and that cost the same as these perlisten bookshelf speakers. That is not the reason that I think that they are overpriced, they are solely overpriced because of the reason that I mentioned above here.

 

[Hetfield]

Um aren't we comparing prices all the time? What's the best bang for the bucks or what's a better value? It's this suddenly a crime? And this isn't just over a hundred bucks, it's 10 grand with the stands. People can buy what they want, what they can afford and I don't have problem with that but discussing value is something we do with every speaker.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[dutchholic]

Um aren't we comparing prices all the time? What's the best bang for the bucks or what's a better value? It's this suddenly a crime? And this isn't just over a hundred bucks, it's 10 grand with the stands. People can buy what they want, what they can afford and I don't have problem with that but discussing value is something we do with every speaker.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Exactly this! I don't understand what's "against it" either.

 

[ryanosaur]

Yes we do compare and contrast prices all the time. Agreed. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with that. We talk about the point of diminishing returns all the time, too. I'm one of those that is firmly in the camp of less$$$-for-more-quality.

But Shady has a point. Many of the reviews we've seen (both from him and others on AH) for any luxury- or up-market product have more recently met with blatant disbelief, derision and outright negativity for the consideration.

Certainly, I find it laughable that a company would sell purpose-built custom stands for $1500, but that in no way makes their consideration for the market they are targeting somehow a crime against us who cannot, will not, or choose not to afford such products.

I was being very tongue in cheek with my post, but there is a very serious element of truth to it at the same time.

 

[lovinthehd]

At least they are high performance items, sometimes you can pay a lot for "high end" audio gear and not do so well in that regard. Mix in some nicer cabinetry for aesthetics and prices do tend to go up. I'd love to hear GolfX's setup in any case....pay for it not so much

 

[Golfx]

we

At least they are high performance items, sometimes you can pay a lot for "high end" audio gear and not do so well in that regard. Mix in some nicer cabinetry for aesthetics and prices do tend to go up. I'd love to hear GolfX's setup in any case....pay for it not so much

Well thank you. I do love listening to it. As for price, I would not spend that much by chance. I deferred to expert reviews and Matthew Poes for advice. He had me also looking seriously at the high ends of Salk, Focal, Dutch Dutch and Revel.

 

[lovinthehd]

we

Well thank you. I do love listening to it. As for price, I would not spend that much by chance. I deferred to expert reviews and Matthew Poes for advice. He had me also looking seriously at the high ends of Salk, Focal, Dutch Dutch and Revel.

What did you do for subs?