“Superb build, purposeful styling and sumptous sonics make for a winning combination”

Mark Craven, Hi-Fi News

PERLISTEN S4b

Having wowed us with its flagship S7t floorstanders, PERLISTEN is looking to do more of the same with its DPC driver tech pressed into a more modest, room-friendly cabinet

Wherever you put it, you’ll be rewarded with a good-looking (albeit not ‘classically styled’) model with excellent build quality – these loudspeakers feel worthy of their asking price. The HDF cabinets are solid, as are the bi-amp binding posts mounted to the metal rear-plate, and the finish of our High Gloss Black sample was luxurious. The other option at the base price is High Gloss White, but for an extra £1520 you can enjoy four premium variants – High Gloss Ebony, Cherry Natural, Ebony Natural and Black Cherry Natural. Pantone special editions are also an option. The S4b is a three-way loudspeaker, albeit with two distinct installations. Occupying the bottom half of the baffle, which is CNC machined both front and back to better accommodate the drivers and improve airflow into the enclosure behind, is a 180mm ‘Textreme’ thin-ply carbon diaphragm (TPCD) woofer. This uses a layered construction and is said to be 30% lighter than typical carbon fibre, while its chequered weave ‘distributes break-upmodes without sharp response peaks’.