The Perlisten S7t speakers landed on my Favorite Gear of the Year list back in 2021. Here’s something I said about ‘em in my review from that same year:
The Perlisten S7t speakers release music into the room, into the Barn in this case, in a manner that belies their size and complexity yet they do not sound like horns or single driver speakers. Rather they sound like ghosts, shape shifting apparitions that take on the form of the music in play, dissolving into pure energy, free from source and boundary. Poof!
I remember when Perlisten hit the hifi scene seemingly overnight with a very full line of speakers that felt nearly too mature for the company’s age, having many an audiophile wondering—Who the hell is Perlisten? Where the hell is Perlisten?
Perlisten, a portmanteau mixing “perceptual” and “listening”, was founded in 2016 by Dan Roemer and Lars Johansen, industry veterans with decades of combined experience. Early on the company set the goal of obtaining THX Certification which they achieved in 2017 by becoming the first brand in the world to receive THX Dominus certification.
From a THX press release in October 2020:
During our rigorous testing process, we pay special attention to distortion levels at high volumes. And with Dominus, we push this to the extreme, subjecting these speakers to 120 dB sound pressure levels where they must keep distortion to a minimum. Dominus speakers must also be sensitive enough to reach the cinematic THX Reference Level with THX Certified Dominus and certain THX Certified Ultra power amplifiers. We’re happy to report that the 92 dB sensitivity requirement for THX Certified Dominus loudspeakers is the most sensitive of any THX loudspeaker category.
There are plenty of hifi companies who talk about taking an engineering first approach and we can easily place Perlisten in that category but I would add to that in this case to read—engineering first and foremost in the service of music (and movies).
By the time 2021 rolled around and the S7t arrived in Barn, Erik Wiederholtz was part of the Perlisten team bringing some 30 years of experience along with him that reaches past hifi into things like digital microphones with MEMS technology (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) and hearing aids, things that listen as well as things that make music. And I’d add another job to that list, something I learned on this trip—farmer. Erik grew up on his family’s farm and unlike some of the homes I drive by in Huntderdon County, NJ with hand painted wood signs like “Misty Mountain Farm” in front of their 5 acres, Erik’s farm was a real one where he and his brother helped their father work the land and tend to live stock.
To fill in the current company management team, Walt Zerbe came on board in April 2025 as Director of Global Business after spending 30 years in the industry including serving as Senior Director of Technology and Standards at CEDIA.
Who is Perlisten? A team of experienced engineers and industry veterans with two of the principals, Dan and Erik, Wisconsin natives and Lars residing in Denmark while production happens in the company’s factory located near Dongguan City, China.
A Perlisten speaker is filled with Perlisten parts and tech right down to their in-house designed and manufactured drivers wrapped up in in-house designed and manufactured enclosures. One stand out feature that set the company apart early on is their proprietary patent-pending DPC-Array, developed over 18 months using acoustic modeling software from COMSOL to work through what I imagine were countless variations on the theme. That theme being a way to improve a speaker’s mid and high frequency in-room response by directing the sound at the listener more than the room.
Aspects of loudspeaker performance like controlled directivity and power response—measurable things—can translate into a reviewer writing, “Rather they sound like ghosts, shape shifting apparitions that take on the form of the music in play, dissolving into pure energy, free from source and boundary. Poof!”
You can read a lot more about Perlisten’s approach on their website and how that plays out when playing music in Barn in my reviews of the S7t Black Edition (2026), S5t (2023), R7t (2022), and S7t (2021).
It’s funny, in a not so funny way, how some audiophiles get put off by words like engineering, testing, rapid prototyping, and even Klippel as if these are bad things when it comes to the enjoyment of listening to music. My best guess is some people prefer to dabble, poke, and hope when it comes to getting the sound they prefer which is as valid an approach as any—for a consumer. I’ve come to appreciate a more reliable, repeatable, and dependable path and towards that end Perlisten includes detailed measurements for every speaker they sell.
This Road Tour of Perlisten’s new headquarters in Verona, WI was organized by Fidelity Imports whose other brands include Cambridge Audio, Audia Flight, Matrix Audio, Wilson Benesch, Unison Research, Michell Audio, and more. You may remember another Fidelity-organized trip c.2024 where a group of reviewers, including yours truly, toured three hifi factories in three different towns in Italy and I bring this up to highlight two things—Fidelity knows how to organize a trip and they understand how valuable this kind of access is for people interested in better understanding brands (and food and wine).
Here’s the thing I love about visiting hifi HQs and factories—you get to know the people behind the products. You get to talk and listen and ideally laugh. Back in my IT days, I interviewed hundreds of potential new hires and my part in that process was to focus on the person and personalities more than technical knowledge in an effort to hire reliable, honest, and hard-working folks. It’s amazing the things you can learn from a brief interview and I’m thinking specifically about one instance where the interviewee admitted (bragged) to killing someone on the streets of NYC using his martial arts skills (we did not hire him).
Another thing I love about spending time with very knowledgeable people is learning and this brief visit to the new Perlisten headquarters in Verona, WI had my head ready to explode, nearly over-filled with fascinating facts from Erik, Walt, and guest speaker Rich Green of Rich Green Design who works with companies, including Perlisten, on leveraging AI for business. Rich has nearly 50 years of experience in the CE industry and through his company he’s worked with clients like Steve Jobs, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Luciano Pavarotti. Not bad company.
Here’s a favorite question Rich asked the group—“How does a Fitbit know who you’re having sex with?” A question that returned a lot of puzzled looks. “It knows whose phone is in the room.”
Look, I’m obviously not anti-tech by any stretch but it’s worth noting that AI has already pulled off some positively frightening AI-initiated shit that even its creators weren’t aware of. Back in July OpenAI agents broke out of their sandbox, a ‘contained test environment’ that wasn’t, found a way onto the Internet, and breached another AI company’s systems. Why? To cheat on a test. But it turned out OK, this time, because the AI company under attack used AI to combat the rogue AI agents.
Perhaps the most intriguing thing I saw and learned about at Perlisten HQ was their DSPx Active Digital Crossover, which they brought in prototype form to Axpona 2026 to control 4 D8is subwoofers that circled the listening area. Erik went into real detail about the deep, and I mean DEEP, level of options the DSPx offers to properly set up subwoofers in 2-channel and multi-channel systems as well as its numerous connectivity options—if you like to tweak with DSP-assisted precision to ensure you’re getting the best possible performance from your hifi in your room, you’re going to lust after the DSPx.
Of course DSP’ing your woofers in the time and frequency domains also means you have to have your room’s response to all that bass energy in order which means room treatment becomes another essential ingredient in overall system performance.
The stunning looking treatments in the main 2-channel listening room are custom designs from Italy’s Officina Acustica, the first room treatments that made me think—I could live with that! Erik also explained how they take a meticulous approach to room measurements using tools like REW and how most every room out there in the real world defies simulations and modeling and how doing something as common as sticking a big comfy couch in a listening room will alter room response requiring further adjustments when dialing in a system, especially a system that incorporates multiple subwoofers.
I spent some real time in this listening room just listening to music and was reminded of how much I enjoy the S7t Black Edition speakers I reviewed back in April about which I wrote:
Perlisten set out to make a better S7t with the Black Edition and I have no doubt they succeeded. Everything I heard from the S7t Black Edition during their 2 month+ Barn stay spoke to a speaker that sounded out as pure music energy source with a powerful yet delicate voice capable of moving me physically and emotionally no matter what I asked them to play all wrapped in a sleek and very well made package.
One nice thing about an engineering first and foremost kinda company like Perlisten is they can tell you exactly why and how they built a better S7t, something you’d think every hifi manufacturer would be able to do when it came to their own products. My experience says, think again.
The S7t Black Edition speakers were powered by the mighty and musical Audia Flight FLS 10 (review), an integrated amp I still think about and another brand in the Fidelity Imports portfolio.
I did not photograph the engineering rooms at the company’s request, and my photos of the listening room adjacent to the conference area were all crap, but there’s plenty of prototyping and testing going on at Perlisten HQ including running speakers through their paces using the KLIPPEL Analyzer System, rapid prototyping courtesy of 3D printing, and of course scads of simulations.
The Perlisten line continues to grow with the recently released A-Series that embeds their tech in lower priced speakers including the floor-standing 2 & 1/2-way Bass Reflex A4t which come in at $3495/each, a very nice price considering the amount of engineering and expertise that went into their making. As you can see from that extensive product list, Perlisten remain focused on 2-channel audio and multi-channel/home theater with the Architectural Series allowing you to play music any damn place you want. And lots of subwoofers.
The new Perlisten HQ is an impressive place and the Perlisten team are an impressive bunch. It’s abundantly clear that these are people passionate about their products who also know how to have a good time. During an immensely enjoyable and educational wine tasting hosted by Perlisten Operations Manager and sommelier (!) Morten Magh who like Lars resides in Denmark, Lars gave a heartfelt toast to Dan Roemer who passed away last year and you could feel the shared sorrow and celebration for the man Dan was and for the company he helped build that continues to flourish, now in a beautiful new home.
Thinking back to 2021 I also remember how the then new Perlisten speakers had people guessing about the company’s origins—Denmark, Germany, China, etc. No one ever picked Wisconsin which makes sense seeing as Perlisten is a truly global brand while remaining firmly rooted in the heartland.
Company Website: Perlisten