Best Speakers $20k-$40k Series: Perlisten S7t SE Review

The design of the S7t is surprisingly different than most competitors’ offerings, despite its use of cones in a box. What may not be apparent is that this is basically a four-way speaker. All four 7” woofers operate from low bass up to the lower midrange, then just the two center mid-woofers run into the region around 1.5 kHz. There, a transition is made to Perlisten’s Directivity Pattern Control tweeter array, which features three 1.1” mid-tweeters in a waveguide. This combination allows a lower-than-normal crossover point for tweeters and much higher output capability which yields lower distortion. Finally, the two outer mid-tweeters are rolled out leaving the single central tweeter to cover the treble.   

All of this effort is there to control the directivity of the speaker. That is, Perlisten is trying to have specific predictable output at both horizontal and vertical angles around the speaker. Why? There are many reasons, but one is that smooth power response (output around the speaker at different frequencies) is needed for good imaging. Maybe even more fundamental is that research shows that having smoothly controlled dispersion in the horizontal plane aids soundstage and soundspace reproduction. Output in the vertical plane, if limited, can reduce certain problems with real rooms. One of these is ceiling reflections, which are often untreated. The other is the reflections from the floor, which are almost untreatable in the real world lead to bumpy upper bass and lower midrange response. The waveguide, the stacked mid-tweeters, the small-ish woofers and the vertical woofer array are all part of making this work. So is a very complex crossover.  

The cabinet features a bass reflex ported design to extend low frequency output, but not with the standard 24 db per octave rolloff below the port frequency. While plugs are provided to run the bass loading as a sealed box, we listened without the plugs.  

Sensitivity is specified as 92 db for 2.83 volts at 1 meter, which is refreshingly high. Impedance is 4 ohms nominal. An amplifier comfortable with low impedance loads is advised.  

Perlisten seems to greatly value science in their design process and have both patents and research on multiple aspects of the design. They design their own transducers, use Comsol acoustic modeling, and apply Klippel testing to the prototype designs. The S7t is the first speaker from any manufacturer to be certified for THX Dominus.  

But, as we say, most of us can’t reason from specs or design processes to sound quality. So, we listen and share our objective observations about the sound on offer.   

What Is Special About the Perlisten S7t? 

I like to start with the sonic specialties of audio components. This allows you to assess whether the product might fit your needs. If I’m reviewing a car, and its specialty is comfortable 9-passenger seating, and you want a sports car, you know this isn’t your thing. The test car isn’t bad; it doesn’t suit your purpose. This is harder with audio because some part of suitability to purpose comes in the particular strengths and weaknesses the product shows in SQ. You have to know what you want. “Perfect sound forever” isn’t going to happen soon, so you need to know your preferences for inevitable tradeoffs.  

At this price level, the S7t had four standout strengths in my testing. The first Is an overall sense of low distortion. I’m not just talking about harmonic distortion here, but about the broader definition of distortion to mean any manipulation of the signal that alters its delivery. Of course, speakers aren’t like preamps in that distortion of most types can be reduced to extremely low levels. But I have observed with a few speakers that the complex array of distortions that seem endemic to speakers can in fact be reduced below some threshold level that changes the listener’s relationship to the music. This change involves the listener shifting his or her focus from audio parameters to the music itself. If you prefer, you might think of the idea as reducing coloration below an important threshold level. This takes away the distracting search during listening for “audio moments” like “bass power” or “sweet treble” because the colorations or distortions seem minimal and so you just have the music as recorded. And you focus on that.  

This shift is rare, rare enough that you may not have experienced it, but this is something the Perlisten S7t does allow regularly. At least after you stop looking for “audio events”. Ask me how I know. Different people will have different threshold patterns, I suspect, so I offer some detail here, but this is a wholistic thing that probably requires you to listen to the S7t to see if it works on this level for you. 

The second standout with the S7t is soundstaging. The S7t does a good job of getting the image off the speakers. But the kicker is that the S7t image is larger than with most speakers in this category. The stage and performers are larger vertically than is common, stage width is excellent, and depth is well portrayed. Many speakers do seemingly accurate performer placement from left to right, and some have a layered sense of depth, but many have two problems. One is that the stage seems vertically squished. Not here. The second problem typically is that the performer placement front to back seems to have a discontinuity when far left or right – the stage is too U-shaped with central performers too far back or left and right performers artificially far forward. The S7t isn’t perfect here, but on many cuts, it is closer to believable than most, with good continuity across the stage.  

The third standout quality is a combination of treble smoothness and tonality. The S7t does a much better job than average of delivering flat treble that is rich in detail without being ugly or rolled off. The result is a treble tonality reminiscent of the best tube amps which sound gorgeous but not tone-shaped. Or they don’t sound gorgeous because the recording has problems, but their low-artifact presentation makes them more listenable. The S7t treble also seems to “unpack” treble tones so that they are more accurately spread out in time rather than muddled. This is how you achieve higher definition without an etched or artificial result.   

Standout Feature or Bug? 

Fourth, the S7t has a characteristic that will be a reason to buy for some and a reason to pass for others. Below 80 Hz, the S7t bass is flat or slightly diminished relative to midrange, depending on your perspective and environment. Basically, Perlisten has done research on room gain and found that +6db per octave room gain is typical below a certain frequency. This frequency varies with room size. They’ve designed the S7t with the assumption that a 6 db/octave rolloff from about 70 Hz down to 20 Hz is useful for getting flat bass in real rooms. Note that +6db room gain – 6db speaker rolloff = flat. 

In listening, this expected result is pretty much what you get. The result isn’t a bass rolloff, it is more of a “shelf” or simply flat response. Bass output in larger rooms is perhaps 1-2 db lower than some listeners might consider ideal from about 70 Hz to maybe 40 Hz. But, and this is a critical “but”, note that the output is actually not just usable in this range, it extends at its basic mid-bass level down to 30 Hz or lower (I measured flat output to 28 Hz and my room is designed with a null in the low 20s, so this is about as low as test speakers can get). Which means that the S7t may be a more broadband speaker than many competitors. That is, it goes lower and performs better on music that really goes deep. It performs better because the “Q” of the bass is set to 0.5 which means bass should be tight and not resonant or blurry. Your room will likely add some of that, so the speaker doesn’t need to.  

As always, if it wasn’t clear, your mileage may vary because of room construction and dimensions.  

To put this in the context of the absolute sound, some listeners want a mid-bass rise or bump. This may be simply what they are used to since many speakers have some bass roll off and designers sometimes voice these speakers with a bass bump in the 50-70 Hz range. Some of this preference may be a continuation of the preference for a slight downward tilt from low to high frequencies in the main musical band from 40 Hz to 4 kHz or so. Some of it may be due to listening rooms and setups that diminish bass. The S7t doesn’t play these games or offers different solutions which we will discuss. 

Given this, and assuming my listening results were indicative, why might you prefer this voicing? 

One obvious reason is to cater to the listeners who prefer a high-resolution and detailed sound. The same could be said for listeners who know what acoustic instruments in a real space sound like. By voicing the bass around what we can call “flat” or linear or balanced response, bass will tend to sound more defined and resolved.  

I listened to many albums that showcased this capability. For example, the first track on Air’s Moon Safari features a sinuous bass line. With the S7t, the sense of bass tone and detail is outstanding. My notes look similar for St. Vincent’s All Born Screaming, where there is a better sense of strings being plucked and exact notes being played than on many speakers. Till Bronner’s Nightfall also showed the glory of wide bandwidth and flat response. The combination of string bass weight and tuneful detail seemed about perfect compared with live jazz up close.  

The flat bass idea also may be especially beneficial given the reality of room modes which often show swings of plus or minus 6 db. The more you bump up the bass tuning of the speaker, the more ugly room modes are likely to stick out. Research shows that room modes that emphasize frequencies are more noticeable than dips or nulls.  

Also, making the bass voicing of the S7t match its resolved soundstaging and upper ranges creates a more coherent sound overall. If our goal is believability, then we want to rid the reproduced sound of as many indicators of artifice as possible. 

Another reason in favor this voicing could be to appeal to the roughly 20% of listeners who do not like any semblance of elevated bass. Typically, these listeners end up with stand-mount monitors that have smaller woofers and a bass roll-off, sometimes sharply, in the 80 Hz region. Some of these are rather refined (think of the BBC monitors and speakers inspired by them or planar speakers). But it isn’t hard to imagine someone with these tastes who also wanted high output capability (the S7t is specified at 117 db maximum output with low distortion and wide bandwidth). And it is easy to imagine such a listener wanting the lovely soundstaging of the S7t. Finally, we can imagine such a listener wanting a somewhat restrained bass voicing but with full bandwidth down to 20-30 Hz to maintain the musical foundation on certain works (e.g. classical or electronic).  

A third reason to like this voicing is for listeners with large, well-treated rooms who want to use subs to smooth out the bass and to correct for room effects in ways that can’t be done with just main left and right speakers. Technically, for example, a sub can address inevitable speaker boundary interference issues. If the sub offers EQ (Perlisten subs for example have 10-band EQ) the sub can be tuned to limit the impact of room modes. And if you wanted slightly more bass below, say, 70 Hz, the sub could easily add just a bit of output, without requiring any signal manipulation of the main signal. We will test this in an upcoming review. 

A speaker like the S7t benefits from a listener who is willing, able and probably excited about getting involved in setup adjustments. And probably benefits a listener most who has a room that supports the low bass capability of the S7t. I should note that the S7t’s merits mean purchasers will benefit from a dealer willing to allow longer than normal listening and consulting. This speaker is somewhat different from others; you deserve the time to understand it. If you’re on a steady diet of Tex-Mex, it takes a more than a minute to adjust to the refinements and subtleties of sushi or even steak. But those refinements are basic to why you would move up to equipment like this. 

Voicing 

Now I normally go into detail about voicing, but with the S7t the full voicing picture starts with factors I’ve already covered, particularly low bass and mid bass. To continue… 

General frequency balance 

The S7t has a slight downward sonic slope from the upper bass to the upper midrange. Basically from 200 Hz to 3 kHz, output falls about a few db, aided by the smoothness in the power region thanks to the woofer array. If we use the average psychometric listener preference for a -1db downward tilt per octave, we’d be down perhaps 4 db, so Perlisten seems to be following the psychometric average pretty carefully (always remember that these numbers are approximate).  

You can really hear the excellence of the power region on the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle. This piece has some rock ‘n roll drum, bass and cello sections that have superb rhythmic drive on the S7t. I made full use of my air baton skills after I elbowed Rattle off the podium.  

Treble 

I’ve talked about the tone color and low distortion of the treble. What may not be clear is that the S7t seems to end the -1db tilt just described in the upper midrange and then has slightly rising or flat treble above this point. This may contribute to the treble tonality I found to be impressively believable. It may also be a matter of good designers emphasizing low distortion and timing and phase response more than just frequency response because there is research suggesting the ear/brain is more of a timing discriminator than a frequency discriminator at high frequencies. In any event, this is not a rolled off speaker, if you think that’s what you want. I don’t think it sounds bright, at least on good recordings, rather it sounds resolved. And there is more to this story.  

Transient Response 

Here is where things get interesting if they weren’t already. In my listening, the S7t sounds very well-controlled. I don’t offer that as a technical description, I’m saying that is how it sounds. The speaker is very clear, it separates performers well, and complex mixes are not muddled. That is a real accomplishment. The leading edge of transients is about as good as it gets with dynamic speakers, but it still is slightly soft compared to the absolute sound. Unless you listen to a lot of live music, I think you’ll rate the S7t transient response as excellent.  For context, on Mezerg’s Extended Play, the track Pelicula has a sustained set of transients that pop and have great, realistic control. Then on Patricia Brennan’s Breaking Stretch, the track Mudanza has some middle range bass plucks that are simply alive with attack and detail. I think you’d be impressed with these on the S7t. Because believable. 

My question mark, and every speaker has these, is with the trailing edge of transients. These seem to die off a bit more quickly than with some speakers. The very low-level harmonics of instruments or the long reflections of sounds in the performance venue seem slightly diminished compared to the very best speakers in this price range and higher. This could be a byproduct of the S7t’s radiation pattern, mixed with my controlled T30 room. Again, I’m not trying to explain it technically, I’m trying to convey what it sounds like. 

This well-controlled transient behavior, I need to add, is probably a good thing for many listeners.  Which is why I have it in the voicing section. First, if you have a more reverberant room than mine (which is likely), the S7t may nail the sense of low-level harmonics and venue reverb. And, from research with consumers it seems that what I am calling “well-controlled transients” may help a bit with distortions that seem to bug a lot of listeners. These include stupid mastering tricks and digital distortions. The S7t doesn’t fix these, but it doesn’t amplify them either and make you writhe in pain. And it doesn’t make you pay a price in terms of muddle or roll-off. Lower distortion seems to have benefits here. 

Dynamics 

Now to avoid confusion, this transient behavior is about micro-dynamics not macro-dynamics. In fact, the S7t swings quite well on larger changes in output. It is a speaker that works impressively for lower-mid volumes (average decibel readings in the mid 70s) and upper-mid volumes (decibel readings in the low 80s). These levels have plenty of impact, and you have a huge amount of headroom, like 30 db in both the lower and upper direction.  

Of course, to the degree that a track you are listening to depends on high bass output, the S7t may sometimes sound slightly reserved if your point of reference is speakers with more overhang or if you have a very large room. This, for example, is the case with Fakear’s ‘Sea Song’ from the album All Glows in my 4000 cu ft room. The low synth is there, but it isn’t as rich as with some speakers. Francine Thirteen’s ‘Queen Mary’ on the other hand does its full subterranean thing. Some of these balance subtleties may require time for you to adjust to what bass sounds like as part of a song’s orchestration by turning your attention more to the pace and detail and pitch of the playing. 

Speaking of orchestration, I listened to a number of orchestral albums. A representative composition was the Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 with the LSO under Noseda. This is a very dynamic symphony and the S7t delivered a stunning version from the very quiet passages (of which there are many) to the full-on bombast of the orchestra signaling invasion, war and destruction. When great works are rendered this well, you feel grateful for the recording and the speaker engineers.  

Summary 

The Perlisten S7t is highly sophisticated design that could easily outperform other options in this price category. We should add that listeners may have searched for speakers with the S7t’s specific strengths, but have been unable to find them and they will be delighted. The S7t requires some attention to setup, but less than many speakers while perhaps delivering more ultimate real-world quality. More than required setup effort, you get tuning options with the S7t. That increases your chances of experiencing the special sauce of the S7t. And the S7t definitely has special sauce.