Perlisten S4b Bookshelf Speaker review and breakdown. 

Now I understand the name. If you put ten bucks in a bucket "per listen" you'll have paid off the speakers in only a few years.

Thank you Erin! Your reviews are so professional and detailed!

Fantastic review @Erin! ! I never thought you would open them !!!

8k is not inexpensive, but you're getting a pretty innovative quasi synergy horn thing with four drivers and surprisingly even dispersion with an outstanding DI curve and a state of the art textreme woofer, not to mention a beautifully made and slick looking cabinet. Having said all that for 800 dollars more you can get some revel f328be which I'm sure much greater output and similar controlled dispersion but look a a bit plain. Great review Erin. Very cool of the owner to let you take it apart. Nice to see a legitimately new driver configuration in practice.

I approve of this video! oh wait, I see fingerprints on my speaker! WHAT, you pulled it apart?!

I really enjoy your channel. All the work and money what has gone in to these measurements is priceless. I have just started very basic measurements with REW, Dayton Audio mic and Equalizer APO. Now I have basic 2-way bookshelf DIY speakers what I tweak and measure. I hope someone sends you any of Finnish speakers like: Genelec, Gradient, Aurelia, Amphion, Penaudio or Olavi Räsänen.

Great review as usual!

Eye opening speaker. Thanks, Erin.

Hidden away on the S4B info page it says - Bookshelf, main for a 2.1 system, LCR, Dominus Surround, it can transform into anything you need. So Dominus rated for surround sound duties. Though at only 85dB sensitivity you will need a powerful amplifier, especially if used in a large room.

This one was a great review and all but I must really comment on a few of the other things that you have stepped up your game at, at least that is what I felt watching. First, your monologue almost felt like a dialogue with nice pacing, structure to the various aspects and perfect level of context, depth and insights to how other speakers often do or don't. 👌🏼 The, the lighting, bokah in the close ups, and video editing with voice over when time lapse of the mythical kippel hard at work is running was great as well! And also good things to invite the manufacturer as an open letter to come and join the fun, adding the subjective aspects with a good amount of "caution in your interpretations on the things I just said, your application, room, ears, content, biases and experiences are most definitely different from mine" is just the way to do it imho 👍🏽 One thing I kept thinking about though, I'm reading the FR as it has a treble boost of ~2-5dB over 5kHz compared to a vanilla house curve (Harman's, Dirac's default target etc) where one wants a receding higher end similar to the green 40° horizontal response. Could you comment on this? Having the designer at hand would be great since we tend to speculate a bit on these data points (natural tendency when you have the data ☺️) but still, could it have something to do with some recommendations on no toe in, listening distances and setup to position the listener at these ~40°?

Looks like a great speaker, but at $8K a pair, they had better be. The vertical directivity is where a lot of controlled directivity speakers put it; there are a lot of 90x40 and 90x50 horns/ waveguides around with the express intent of minimizing floor/ ceiling bounce in the typical 8 to 9 ft ceiling rooms since those surfaces are hard to treat.

We need more speakers like this in the mainstream. I built myself HT speakers because I couldn't find much on the market designed with a subwoofer in mind. Almost all bookshelf speakers have very poor efficiency, designed to "dig" into the 40-50hz range. If a sub is planned that's not necessarily useful. I used an 8" prosound midbass and dome tweeter. It has compromises in power response, and can only dig to about 80hz out in the open or 60hz when placed near a wall, but they have real-world sensitivity around 90dB@1W, which is rare for something tiny. Easily can reach clean 110dB transients at the listening position.

@Erin's Audio Corner Another fantastic review. We're living in great times in this regard with lots of choices for amazing speakers... Sure they cost real money, but the consistent performance that is achievable due to the current driver and measurement technology and having this type of data and analysis is killer. Erin, I don't recall if you are using delayed differential rear fill in your Honda Civic's car audio system, but if you are, I'm curious if you hear the detail in the snare reverb when playing this Matchbox 20 track? There's another track I use for Demos that has a similar delayed/separate reverb on the snare... I'm pretty sure it's a Tears For Fears track, but I can't remember which one off hand. :-/ I'll come back and post it if/when I remember. Looking forward to your impressions and review of the Kii Audio THREES, as I had suggested you compare them to the D&D 8C's as well. :) Dude, I'll say it again...YOU ARE A MACHINE! Don't know where you find the time, or when you sleep! Convinced you're a BORG, LOL!

Even with all that little bit of extra attention to detail, these speakers do not scream that they are worth $4,000 per speaker. No way, no how. Maybe the manufacturer thinks they won't sell many, so must compensate by jacking up the price. Now, if they allow their dealers a large mark up wiggle room to negotiate down the price with their clients then that's one thing. RBH and Wilson Audio had some crazy-ass speakers at a CEDIA I went to a few years ago and they were insanely expensive, but listening to them they were only a tiny bit better than some speakers costing a fraction of the price, if you crossed them over to a quality subwoofer or two. Even then, you would have a lot of left over money in your pocket.

Great review as always! The midrange seems to be kinda like a 'filler driver' a la some older Bang & Olufson designs, with improved transient behavior as a result.

Thanks for the review. THX speakers are sealed and provide great midrange & high-end sound with low distortion & noise. They are usually great speakers but yes they absolutely need a subwoofer or two.

Very impressive set of measurements. Kudos! I personally wish there were slightly more feedback on subjective impressions. Wish there could be a dual approach with 2 reviewers discussing their objective and subjective feedback. With no prep beforehand. Discovering each other's POV... Cheers from France!

Don’t know about you guys, but I like the frame behind him.

Erin - thank you so much for your scientific evaluations, in addition to your subjective judgement of speakers. This is invaluable information and it's the best information obtainable today. Do you have any comment on the S5m. I plan to use the S5m x 3 for L,C and R and the S4b speaker as surrounds. Would you use the S5m as a sealed or vented version (you have a choice with the monitor)? Thanks, again. Keep up the great work!

Great review man!

I curious how the Perllisten compares to the Revel Performa Be? Thanks in advance.

8000/pair is Genelec 8351B money... except the Genelec is an active speaker with even better directivity. If you're gonna need to run a subwoofer anyway, this is a bit of a hard sell.

Nice review but the limiting factor in this speaker is the bass extension and output and the requirement of a subwoofer. I was considering these but the bass and need for a subwoofer turned me off. Should I go for the next model up which is the s5m or get something like the kef reference 1 metas or dynaudio contour 20i or fyne audio's f bookshelf

Dear Lord! For $8k you could build: three 15 inch neodymium woofers per side, thats a 1 grand, one 8 inch Alnico Seas mid, $850 and 6 planar tweeters from GR = $500. That is $2,350 per side. Still plenty of $ to make some decent OB out of cast iron or even silver ;)

Was the crossover you use on it 24dB electrical or 12dB electrical? As I recall THX was supposed to be used with a 12dB electrical and the speaker's natural acoustic 12dB rolloff combined to produce a 24dB rolloff. The 24dB electrical was only on the lowpass of the sub.

I’ve listened to this review as well as Erin’s review on the Arendal 1723 Bookshelf S THX speaker. Is it just me, but their seems to be quite a bit of similarity between the two speakers. It’s as if the S4B took the base design of the Arendal 1723 Bookshelf S THX and went above and beyond, for example the waveguide with the midranges. We’re these both engineered by Dan Roemer of Perlisten?

The vertical dispersion hypothesis for why the midrange sounds good should be verifiable with headphones, since headphones don't have vertical / horizontal dispersion issues - am I understanding this correctly?

Excellent review. Perlisten is lucky to have EAC’s confirming the state of the art performance delivered. What you keep calling midranges are part of a three tweeter array. Sony calls their version “I-Array tweeter” in models like the SS-NA5ES. Perlisten adds the subtly of mixing the three tweeter array into a very clever waveguide. I agree with the comments about this helping dispersion including the trick with vertical dispersion coverage. I believe another feature the tweeter array brings is power handling thereby lowering distortion at high SPLs. When a designer is going for very high SPLs at some point a 1” tweeter just runs out of acoustic output and voice coil thermal capacity. This occurs first at the tweeter’s lower bandwidth. Note that band 750 to 2k Hz is where Perlisten’s side tweeters are helping. The M&K Sound S300 is the latest in a long running model where M&K uses (an arguably less advanced) three tweeter array to allow recording studio loud SPLs without resorting to horns.

Nice and honest opinion....$$$$

could you include the crossover information and what speaker manufacturers use please in your pull down review

According to Perlisten it is a 3 tweeter array, not midranges and separate tweeter. The pair of tweeters have limited range and cancel vertical reflections

How does the philharmonic BMR compare to this speaker. Seems pretty comparable.

They are dominus as surround speakers

Dynaudio has a DDC lens in the confidence line since a very long time.

With 3 Magnetostats from GRS (BG Neo3 copies, but beware of hilevel playback) chances are good to achieve something similar!

I Just want to ask this. What do you think about Harbeth speakers, because their philosophy is, that the cabinet of the speaker is part of the good sound and tuned to resonate with the speaker itself. I have always thought that Science and measurements are just half of the story, because it is never the same as human ear.

That midrange around tweeter is interesting, I've not seen that before! I think at this price I'd probably go for the Dutch & Dutch 8C, but they look great still

That midrange/tweeter setup response makes perfect sense based on hearing them. All their speakers in the high mids sound grainy to me indicating usually a lot of reflections and time/phase issues. It sounds almost like horn throat distortion to me. It’s the downfall of the speakers for me. They don’t have a sweet sounding high-mid so I have to disagree with you, lol! I feel like if there wasn’t smoothing on the high mid response charts, it might be pretty rough looking with a bunch if phase alignment issues between the mids and high driver because you essentially have a 3 driver array covering the same frequencies.

$8,0000 for a satellite speaker ... the audiophile world has definitely lost its mind!

I think the dominus rating for these speakers, including towers and center, is in an 80hz bassmanagement situation. (Think I heard this in an audioholics video).

I also felt these were overpriced, made in china, traffic light look... boy was i wrong. The midrange on the S7T is outstanding, I'm very familiar with the song Arizona by Kings of Leon, and Ive got Klipsch RF7 III's, Focal Kanta 2's, Polk R500's.... the reverb/echo on the guitar strike sounded like i was there in the room with the guitar echoed infront of me. Never heard it that way before, whatever it is theyve done with that teeeter array is strangely uniquely awesome. Go try it for yourselves :)

Just mount the speaker a little above the tweeter line, then the row behind will be at tweeter line.

Definitely best bookshelf speaker that gets loud and isn't JTR sized. I actually like that they are sealed as a lot of times you're putting speakers within 4 feet of a wall so not getting that boundary gain is nice even if you could correct for it with room correction.

nice video but why no picture og the crossover

cool

Interesting price to go with interesting speakers, im interested how they put a ridiculous price tag.

Hey what’s up Erin thinking about upgrading to some Perlisten I currently have Arendal speakers 1723 monitors. Real question is the Perlisten worth the upgrade?

That is basically an MTM D'Appolito design.

I wish THX weren't so cagey in their specifications. This speaker's peak output is 111db, under 2% distortion, at 1m yet they give their "THX Dominus" rating which means it's meant to play in rooms 6m long at 120db on a speaker with a minimum 92db 1w/1m sensitivity. Even Perlisten's S7 speakers can't hit the 120db specification with their peak SPL at 117db under 2% distortion. However, the S7's do meet the THX Dominus 92db 1w/1m specification though. I know THX Certified is still a great certification that ensures a level of quality and clearly this S4B is well behaved at low to mid volumes. But Perlisten's own data specifies that this speaker tops out at 105db at 2m or 6.5ft away. That's a really close listening distance. So, I'm sure they're fantastic for music and great for movies up to 6.5ft away but beyond that, these simply fall flat of basic Dolby certifications for SPL and they certainly will have audible nasties if you push them any harder. Personally, I don't really care about whether or not a speaker can play meaningfully below 80hz in a small-room environment. It's going to get crossed (time and phase aligned of course) to a sub anyway. Again, I'm certainly not knocking the speakers. Clearly, they're fantastic. But IMO, certainly not worth $4k. Personally, I think the entire line is overpriced. Objectively, Genelec produces a better speaker in FR and phase with identical SPL in their 8361a at $5k than Perlisten's S7T at $10k.

Ouch!

8k a pair, there's a lot of choices out there, including some good actives. Those specs, disappointed in that brand. I can live with the 80hz cut off as I'd always pair with a sub, but that they also don't allow high db levels considering their size and weight and cost, I'm gonna pass. although I'd like to compare them to my ATC SCM 19vs 2 which are my reference currently.

i like it when companies build a no compromise speaker, any port or passive radiator would just hurt the sound quality for some extra bass. bass are for subwoofers.

Is the S5m considered sorta MTM? Thanks Erin Would love to hear the difference in sound between the Revel BE and the Perlisten S7t

Are those "midrange" drivers the same as the tweeter driver or different units?

Great review, as always! Personaly if I listen closely to music I always hear something new. So I never use that point to juge loudspeakers.

Lol I clicked on this video because I was wondering if this might be the next speaker I buy. At $8k and 80hz, its gonna be a hard no. I didnt have the $8k anyway. Lmao

$2k and I'll buy em lol.

Thx cert speakers aren’t made for music typically hence the 80hz and a added sub. They mainly focus on the theater side just my two cents

Did I hear right, $8,000 a pair ?

Awsome review as always. Too bad you did not have two for a full subjective review.

YEAH... INNARDS !!!

My bro it’s a surround speaker!! Although it does look like a bookshelf speaker most surround sound speakers don’t play below 80 hz! But they do cost a lot😧😧😧

When I'm looking for any new speaker, it's a requirement for me that it plays at least good to very good bass. I have a sub and in my experience it makes a difference even if you have subs for your mains to be able to play bass. For $8000 and it doesn't do bass, no way. There's just too many good choices out there for this price point.

the crossover quality is very important so its a shame you didn't at least take Polyfill out and show...

Talk about diminished returns, there is a sucker born every minute

I feel like it really bothered you that no company has pulled this off with less money.

No Neodymium Magnet in this speaker !!!, not so high end for that price tag

80hz....SERIOUSLY??

8000 for a speaker which needs a sub?………… 🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻

Or Elac carina and sub. Much cheaper and much better look...

Thats the biggest and the most expensive Surround Speakers i have ever seen....!!!???

No way.

looks like an XBL2 basket

Are we not supposed to talk about how Epic that Tshirt is?!?!🔥❤🔥❤ "To beat me, he’s gonna have to kill me. And to kill me, he’s gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he’s gotta be willin’ to die himself. I don’t know if he’s ready to do that.”

Not only 8000 bucks, you‘ll need sturdy stands.

Nice review but I will past 😅

If these are still made in China (why... I have no idea, unless Perlisten likes their IP getting stolen), you can bet there is quite a markup between manufacturing costs and the retail price.

No offense but those are not worth 8k a pair. The home theater game nowadays is a bloody rip off..

Tekton Design Mohab destroy them!

There's absolutely nothing that I see inside that speaker cabinet, that is worth a whopping $8k dollars...smh I think speaker manufacturers just make up these random and insane prices for them, without evaluating it's actual cost, or labor.

$8K for Surround/Bookshelf speakers 😱😱😱??? Thanks FOMO. Thanks Erin. Only big ballers need apply😭😅😂

While I own expensive gear and think this is a very good sounding speaker, I also think it's overpriced.

Nice speakers but not worth $8,000

This is a bad review how can you not know how big the woofer is or what the dominus rating is.How can you rate A speaker if you dont ever know what yo are talking about

Passive... Nooooooo!

made in China, lol

They are dominus as surround speakers