Perlisten S7t LE speakers
I first encountered the S7t LE (Limited Edition) speakers at a London show in 2023 and they made a very positive impression. Hi-fi shows aren’t always the best place to hear what a product is capable of but occasionally one breaks through and Karma AV’s demonstration was one such scenario. I had reviewed the standard S7t speakers earlier in the year and had some idea of what to expect from this upgraded version, but it exceeded expectations and I put in a request to get them into the listening room. This took 18 months or so to achieve, but it was worth the wait.
If you read my original S7T review you will get a good idea of what Perlisten is about and the technologies they developed for this flagship loudspeaker. In a nutshell, Perlisten was formed by two highly experienced hi-fi industry stalwarts, engineer Dan Roemer and businessman Lars Johansen. They developed Perlisten designs in the US, deciding to have them made in China in order to make the pricing as competitive as it could be. Their market is as much multichannel home cinema (most Perlisten speakers are THX Dominus certified) as it is stereo – making products for both meant that they could project bigger numbers, which equates to lower prices.
The technological crux of all Perlisten speakers is what they call the DPC array. This consists of three tweeter type domes arranged in a single waveguide, which, through passive beamforming, produce midrange and treble with unusually controlled dispersion. Fundamentally they reduce vertical dispersion to avoid reflections off of the ceiling and floor and concentrate on horizontal dispersion. Simply put, the mid and treble energy is beamed sideways much more than up and down.
They use unusual materials in these domes. The tweeter is beryllium and the mids are made of Textreme carbon fibre. The same thin-ply material is found in the woofers, similar to that seen in Borresen drivers but not many others. The differences between the £20,000 S7t and the £30,000 S7t LE do not change the appearance of this loudspeaker a great deal – carbon fibre flanks notwithstanding – but the LE incorporates a number of important refinements that give it a sonic as well as aesthetic edge.
The S7t LE’s woofers have greater linear excursion, lower inductance and increased low frequency capability, which means that they can play at higher volumes, are easier to control and, if I read the spiel correctly, deliver lower bass. In the DPC array Perlisten have made the waveguide out of aluminium, CNC machined from 40mm thick billet apparently, and this acts as a heatsink for the three drivers which means that power handling is increased. This means higher volume, without distortion (THX certification requires high power with low distortion). I would expect that aluminium’s greater stiffness over the polycarbonate found in the standard S7t would also be beneficial, but this is not mentioned in the literature.
The crossover has also been upgraded using hand sorted 1% tolerance components, with boards pair matched to within 0.5dB. One difference that Perlisten enthusiasts might spot is in the support plinth that carries the near 56kg weight of the S7t LEs. Here the usual cone spikes have been replaced with Isoacoustics isolating feet. These are designed to reduce vibration transmission between floor and loudspeaker and that alone is likely to make the Limited Edition Perlistens sound notably better than the standard version. The carbon fibre side panels are curved over an HDF core and slightly increase the internal volume compared to the standard S7t. When combined with the new woofers this helps achieve greater bass extension in the S7t LE.
Sound quality
All of the Perlistens I have tried have impressed with their neutrality and transparency, but this one is genuinely next level. The S7t LE is essentially a large monitor, totally ruthless in its resolution of detail yet uncannily clean in its presentation. In the wrong hands this sort of warts-and-all exposure of everything in the recording can result in an uncomfortably abrasive sound with less than pristine recordings.
The S7t LEs reveal the differences between recordings with absolute precision but don’t make the lesser examples sound nasty, unless of course their creators intend that to be the case. Audiophile productions such as the Reema vinyl album produced by Brinkmann Audio sounds spectacular: her high, clear voice is absolutely stunning. The electronica of Djrum on the other hand is not as open due to compression and the artificial nature of many sounds, yet it too sounds very good indeed, so much so that I ordered the vinyl on the back of the sound produced via Qobuz.
If you want to discover more about your favourite music then the S7t LEs are pretty well guaranteed to do the trick. I used them with my Moor Amps Angel 6 power amp and both the Rega Naia turntable and various streaming set ups through my Bricasti M11 R-2R Classic DAC. The results with both were outstanding but the better vinyl examples stole the show and encouraged purchases such as that mentioned above. Digital still cannot compete with a truly great turntable and that was made all the more obvious here.
For example, on Hendrix’s The Wind Cries Mary I could hear the woodiness of the guitar cab almost as clearly as the brilliance of the playing. The Yardbird’s Heart Full of Soul was totally raucous thanks to its crude, sixties production values, but the Perslistens made it clear that the song is stonkingly good. They also highlighted the Eagles backing vocals on Joe Walsh’s Help Me Through the Night; they’ve always been there of course but their sheer beauty really shone through the S7t LEs.
I also indulged in a Steely Dan session – something that doesn’t happen very often – and was surprised by the amount of previously unclear detail that came through. I didn’t have the Naia last time I did this so that will have had a bearing on the results, but the S7t LEs are clearly very good at exposing everything in the signal. You can often get a good sense of transparency from a speaker that has a strong midrange emphasis, but extended use tends to reveal a masking of fine detail at the frequency extremes. That is clearly not the case here. If anything, the S7t LEs sound smooth, there is no upper midrange sparkle, no bump at 50Hz to make the bass seem more exciting. They are clearly very even handed. This must in no small part be down to the mid/tweeter DPC array and its avoidance of reflections from above and below. The room has the most significant impact on the balance of a system after the loudspeakers themselves, and by reducing the influence of two of those six surfaces, Perlisten has managed to create a loudspeaker that is more tonally even than most.
This means that the treble is clean, extended and open and the bass is extremely deep and powerful with no sense of the cabinet or ports being audible. The S7t LE is an extremely quiet loudspeaker because the box doesn’t join in and the drivers have been developed such that colouration is minimised to a greater extent than in the majority of the alternatives. Those alternatives include speakers at considerably higher prices as well.
You only have to put Factory Girl by the Rolling Stones on the turntable to hear as much. The blend of Jagger’s ludicrous American accent with the superb acoustic picking by Keith Richards, Charlie Watts’ tabla and Dave Mason’s mandolin sounds absolutely glorious despite the crude nature of the production. The rather more recent I’m Free by Symbolico is a piece of largely electronic music that uses reverb to fabulous effect. Via the S7t LEs it expands out into the room to an extraordinary degree, the Perlistens revelling in the restrained use of limiting and urging the listener to increase the volume.
All the work put into increasing power handling really pays off when you do this. In fact, the LEs are so clean that the tendency to up the level is very hard to resist, especially when great recordings such as Bill Frisell’s Shenandoah are on the streamer. This was absolutely glorious and almost made up for the fact that I failed to go and see him live at the time.
The S7t LEs are also very strong when it comes to dynamics. This goes hand-in-hand with the power handling and ease of load. The LEs have the power and majesty of a big active ATC but are distinctly smoother – just as analytical but, thanks presumably to the DPC, easier to live with. It really feels like you hear every note on the tape with familiar material. I have been playing Herbie Hancock’s River, the Joni Letters on digital and analogue for many years, but don’t recall this degree of low-level resolution from previous systems.
The bass from the LEs is also worth mentioning. Rarely have I encountered low frequencies like it: they just appear almost magically in the room with no fuss or flap from the speaker; you feel it as much as hear it. Little is mentioned about the three slot shaped ports with metal grilles placed around the bottom of the cabinet, but these must have something to do with the control and extension available. Whether it’s synth bass that moves the floor or double bass with body and resonance, you get character and definition of the sort usually associated with the midrange. The word ‘natural’ comes to mind but that doesn’t suggest just how powerful the lows can be when produced by unnatural sources such as electronics.
Conclusion
I continued listening via the S7t LEs for a lot longer than was necessary and this has raised the expectation bar for whatever follows. Reviewing is a tricky business! I failed to find the limitations of these Perlistens; every time they appeared to reveal a colouration it turned out to be on the recording. This is the way it should be but rarely is with loudspeakers, and this is why the S7t LE is on the surface an expensive example of the art, but look deeper at the high-end speaker market and you will see many, many more expensive examples that may or may not be a match for this Perlisten’s all-round capabilities.
To be honest I don’t think I have heard them at their very best either. The Naia appears to be the best turntable in the world but I can’t say the same about my digital source and amplification. The fact that the S7t LEs can perform so well with less than crazy high-end ancillaries is very encouraging. It means that they will get better with every upgrade that’s placed before them. They are nothing if not keepers.