Perlisten Audio — the audio company founded by an all-star team of industry professionals, which had to wait almost three years to show the results of its development efforts due to the global pandemic — has announced the new S5t tower speaker, a slightly smaller version of the company’s flagship S7t. Like its larger sibling, the S5t is a THX Certified Dominus speaker that serves as a missing link between large home A/V speakers and full-size models created for leading movie theaters across the globe.
Following a few first opportunities to premiere its products in public at US trade shows, Perlisten Audio finally promoted some listening sessions with distributors in Europe, and the company attended Integrated Systems Europe and High End Munich 2022 shows. At those events, the highlight had to be the S7t reference tower and S5m monitor, since that was the first opportunity that people had to listen to those systems. But Perlisten continues to work on new products, an while the S7t reference tower deserves the spotlight, there is already more to discover.
Saving as a prime example of the company’s ground-up approach to speaker design, the four-way S7t is the world’s first THX Certified Dominus loudspeaker and responsible for causing an immediate positive impression. Whether configured as bass reflex or acoustic suspension, the Perlisten S7t will meet the demands of any large-scale listening room with its four 7″ inch bass drivers with TeXtreme carbon fiber cones.
Sharing technologies from the flagship S7t, the S5m monitor features Perlisten Audio’s proprietary DPC-Array controlling Mid/High frequencies, centered by the company’s finest 28mm Beryllium dome and dual 28mm TPCD ultra-lightweight domes. The remarkably wide soundstage belies the monitor’s compact size. Now, Perlisten is introducing the S5t Tower and S5c Center Channel speakers.
The three-way S5t speaker (SRP: $6,995/each in piano black; $7,995/each in a custom finish) features Perlisten Audio’s proprietary Directivity Pattern Control (DPC) waveguide, which is centered by three 28mm “beamforming” tweeter and midranges to accurately control vertical and horizontal dispersion. A beryllium tweeter with expanded bandwidth to 40kHz and a rear absorption chamber reduce internal reflections to the bare minimum. The company’s S Series models all share same DPC array, benefitting from a timbre matching technique utilizing beryllium and advanced carbon fiber.
The new S5t is specifically designed to meet the demands of large-scale listening rooms. Three 28mm beryllium drivers and two 28mm TeXtreme drivers are complemented by two 180mm TeXtreme woofers, featuring thin-ply carbon fiber (TPCD) cones that are up to 30% lighter than standard carbon fiber while increasing the strength through the stacking of multiple layers.
Illustrating the company’s commitment to the best possible sonic reproduction, the S5t achieves the goal of total harmonic distortion (THD) rated below 0.5% at 90dB listening levels, and distortion limits at 114.3dB SPL, rendering music and movie soundtracks as accurate representations of the musicians’ and engineer’s intentions.
Dominus is the newest and the largest performance class of THX Certification, meant to bridge the gap between large home theater speakers and those used in commercial movie theaters and exhibits. Home theater owners with rooms up to 184 cubic meters of space and up to a 6-meter viewing distance (or up to 6500 cubic feet and up to 20 feet, respectively) can fill their listening rooms with the superior audio quality they expect from THX Certified products.
S5c Center Channel Monitor
As a perfectly matched center channel for a system based on the S5t, Perlisten is also announcing the new S5c (SRP: $5,995 in piano black, $6,495 in a custom finish), which also features Perlisten Audio’s DPC-Array, with three 28mm Beryllium domes, dual 28mm TexTreme ultra-lightweight domes, and two 180mm TexTreme woofers.
The S5c offers extremely wide horizontal dispersion and controlled vertical imaging, which is essential considering center channel monitors are typically placed lower than other speakers. The controlled vertical dispersion reduces the floor reflections that can blur the critical midrange. And, like the S5t, the S5c is a THX Certified Dominus speaker.
Perlisten Audio Hires Erik Wiederholtz as CTO
Established by audio engineers with extensive experience at some of the world’s most respected audio companies, and as if the company didn’t already have enough in-house talent, Perlisten Audio has recently announced that Erik Wiederholtz is now the company’s chief technical officer (CTO). “Erik’s deep background as an acoustical engineer in unique audio applications brought him to some of the most respected brands in the business, repeatedly spearheading development of products that pushed the boundaries of what can be achieved,” says Dan Roemer, CEO of Perlisten Audio. “His vision, combined with an extensive background in engineering, sales, and marketing, is an ideal fit with Perlisten.”
Erik Wiederholtz joins Perlisten Audio after an 11-year stint at the Knowles, where he held the positions of applications engineer, staff audio development engineer, and staff field applications engineer, specializing in transducer development, hearing aids, and in-ear monitors (IEM). Before, Erik worked with Russound, where he served as a speaker product manager; Altec Lansing as an acoustical engineer; and Mitek Corporation, where he began his career as a senior acoustical engineer in 2000. In his new position at Perlisten Audio, Wiederholtz is helping to direct the vision of the company’s products as it explores potential future markets.
“Perlisten Audio is as much of a passion project as it is a well-funded, smartly run company that is on track to be a market leader in record time,” says Wiederholtz. “It’s gratifying to be surrounded by some of the sharpest minds in the business who, like me, are focused on introducing important new audio products that stand out from the pack. In Q1 alone, we introduced the new R series, and there are plenty of exciting announcements coming soon.”
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