PERLISTEN R18s Subwoofer Instructions
- August 14, 2024
- PERLISTEN
Table of Contents
Perlisten r18s/£5,000
Larger than life
R18s Subwoofer
A new model to headline Perlisten’s ‘entry-level’ R series of subwoofers, the R18s benefits from the company’s first 18in driver. Mark Craven introduces it to the King of Atlantis
AV Info
Product:
Sealed subwoofer with 18in driver
Position:
Top model in Perlisten’s entrylevel
R Series
Peers:
Velodyne DD18+; SVS SB16-Ultra; Ascendo The 18 Sub
Stepping up to the plate weighing 57.3kg, measuring a chunky 57cm wide and
deep, and bothering your bank account to the tune of £5,000, Perlisten’s R18s
subwoofer easily outguns some companies’ top-of-the-range models.
But for the American manufacturer, it counts as one of its second-tier
options, less desirable than a dual-driver subwoofer from its premium D
series.
Or maybe not. By debuting Perlisten’s first 18in woofer, the R18s gives the R
series something to shout about beyond simply being ‘more affordable’. And it
also promises some good old-fashioned low-frequency lunacy.
tiny?
As alluded to, this is a relatively big beast, certainly not worthy of
Perlisten’s ‘tiny frame, mighty bass’ description. I’m aware that houses and
listening rooms in its homeland are bigger than they are in the UK, but to
describe any subwoofer that stands 61cm high and requires help getting it out
of the box as ‘tiny’ is pushing it.
At least it looks the part thanks to Perlisten’s now familiar styling. The
cubic nature of the R18s’s main cabinet is softened by the rounded edges of
its front baffle, and the sub’s satin black finish is smart too.
As usual, there’s a grille available to hide the front-firing driver, but as
this is an optional extra I can’t see many bothering to buy one.
The brains of the operation
In terms of features, this model is cut from the same cloth as its R series
siblings, and indeed Perlisten’s D series.
As the company’s chief technology officer Eric Wiederholtz explains [see p30],
the underlying electronics platform remains unchanged between the two ranges,
so the R18s features the same ARM Cortex-M4 processor and 48-bit
DSP platform, and offers the same app control/calibration.
The latter has been covered before [see HCC #344], so I will quickly tell you
it features preset EQs (THX, Boost/ Large Room and Cut/Small Room), manual
10-band parametric adjustment, and control of crossover, phase, level and
more. Backing this up is a 2.4in colour touchpanel built into the sub’s top,
but the rest of the subwoofer offers little – on the back you’ll find only a
power socket, trigger and service ports, and a choice of XLR and RCA inputs
and outputs.
The R18s’s driver is another of Perlisten’s glass-fibre designs, married to a
1,000W amp. The cabinet is sealed, which is a feature of all the brand’s
subwoofers. ‘Ports add a ton of group delay,’ says Wiederholtz. ‘That’s
physics’.
Wet and wild
My audition of the R18s coincided with that of Primare’s SP25 Prisma processor
[see p44], and I was grateful for the latter’s Dirac Live room correction.
Even under Dirac’s authoritative grip, Perlisten’s subwoofer sounded
bordlerline bonkers at times, delivering film LFE with grin-inducing levels of
slam, depth and scale.
Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom (4K Blu-ray) opens with pounding bass sounds as
sailors are thrown against the wall of their ship by some (soon to be very
sorry) pirates, letting you know the film’s Atmos track is going to be very
similar to the first. Then, when our hero lands on the deck, the effect again
hits hard, the R18’s bass sounding big in a way that other subwoofers just
don’t.
Queue Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’, serving as a backdrop to the scrap and
Aquaman’s voiceover. Here, the 18in driver sounds less in control of the
song’s bass guitar as it does the slamming LFE of the movie mix, which
probably indicates where the R18s’s ambitions lie.
Subjectively, this model’s output is not quite as intrinsically ‘pure’ as
Perlisten’s more well-to-do D series models. Stepping up to an 18in driver and
abandoning the push-pull configuration has loosened the reins, so that I
wouldn’t consider this model an obvious partner in a 2.1 music system. But in
an AV environment, with bass management on hand to tighten up impact sounds
and blend the sub with the main speakers, you end up with a performance made
for home cinema.
Skip to Chapter 4 and we’re underwater during the raid on the storage vault.
Various submersible craft are driven forward upon rolling waves of LFE. Nicole
Kidman comes under laser fire, the meaty blasts punching through the soundmix.
A crashing ship causes a jittery LFE rumble that loads the room, and I can
feel my floor vibrate, while later sounds of Mira punching her way through
glass are tighter, higher register and hit more in the chest.
SPECIFICATIONS
DRIVE UNITS : 1 x 18in glass fibre woofer ENCLOSURE: Sealed ONBOARD POWER
(CLAIMED): 1,000W (RMS) Class D FREQUENCY RESPONSE (CLAIMED): 14Hz-340Hz
(-10dB) REMOTE CONTROL: No. App/LCD touchscreen DIMENSIONS: 618(h) x 570(w) x
575(d)mm WEIGHT: 57.3kg
FEATURES: LFE line-level input on both unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR;
RCA and XLR line-level output; level control; polarity switch; 0-270-degree
variable phase; 30Hz-160Hz low-pass filter; 32-bit ARM Cortex M4 processor;
48-bit TI DSP engine; 2.4in LCD colour touchscreen display; iOS and Android
remote app with preset EQs (THX, Boost and Cut) and 10-band parametric EQ;
auto-on; 12V trigger; satin black finish
TESTED WITH
AQUAMAN: THE LOST KINGDOM: The first iteration of the DCEU went out on a
high after a few damp squibs with this fun standalone sequel for Jason Momoa’s
beer-swilling superhero.
Like the first flick, its 4K Blu-ray release can be considered demo-grade for
its HDR-infused visuals and expansive Atmos sound design.
Patrick Wilson, who plays Orm in this film, also turns up in Roland Emmerich’s
Midway (4K Blu-ray), which is a film with slightly more realistic sound
design. When we’re onboard the aircraft carrier, the R18s toils away quietly
to give a low-level rumble, indicating the distant thrum of engines. It also
picks out bass thuds in the Thomas Wander/Harald Kloser score, lending the
impression of mounting doom as we get to the morning of June 4, 1942.
At times during the following, lengthy action scenes, the R18s’s bass delivery
leaves my jaw on the floor. This is not all about pure depth and power either,
there’s its ability to find the difference in low-end effects, and to add to
the impact of the wider speaker array as a hole. One minute there’s a lovely
physicality to the sound of bomb explosions tearing through concrete, next up
the R18s is helping to give the impression of heavy planes flying all air
around you.
The bass gets bigger still when the film goes underwater with the USS
Nautilus, at times sounding a touch overdone. Still, when the depth charges
arrive, the long, deep notes are held impressively.
Back above water, as McCluskey dive bombs (‘4000, 3000, 2000’) the tension in the scene is almost unbearable, underwritten by the LFE. And once the bombing runs have finished, you feel as a battered as the Japanese navy.
Gigantic output
A real ‘home cinema’ subwoofer, Perlisten’s R18s makes use of its 18in driver
to put on a startling show of scale
– this woofer plays as big as you might imagine. However, alongside its
gigantic output it still shows off the benefits of the engineering and
technology that elevate its price tag to £5,000. The R18s slams hard and moves
fast, while sounding rich and clean too. Audition with confidence!
HCC VERDICT
Perlisten R18s
➜ £5,000 ➜ www.perlistenaudio.com
WE SAY : Perlisten’s newest subwoofer finds the brand going bigger with
an 18in driver, and the result is a beast of a bassmaker made for movie LFE.
REPRINTED FROM HOME CINEMA CHOICE FOR GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION
www.homecinemachoice.com
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Read User Manual Online (PDF format) >>