Audiophilepure

https://www.hifinews.com/content/perlisten-d15s-active-subwoofer

This ability to augment what’s there across all genres of music, without upsetting the balance of the system, is this subwoofer’s calling card. In unison with the B&W speakers, and with careful setting of the level, the D15s slotted slickly into place. There was no sense of colour to its sound, just solidity and effortless extension, so that both the deep drums and low piano notes of Michael Giacchino’s theme to The Batman [Water Tower Music; 48kHz/24-bit] appeared bigger, but naturally so. Then, once the piece segued from foreboding introduction to more optimistic tones, the subwoofer threw its weight into the swelling strings without muddying the sweet detail higher up the audio band.

So, what we have here is a sub that combines hair-raising power and slam with speed, delicacy, and control – and even if your taste in music doesn’t benefit much from the former, it will from the latter. Whether it was The Doors’ ‘The Changeling’ [L.A. Woman, Warner/Rhino, 192kHz/24-bit], with its propulsive blues groove and staccato keyboards, or Club For Five’s ethereal 2009 cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ [WM Finland; 44.1kHz/16-bit], the D15s always elevated my enjoyment.

THX Dominus is the next step in the certification from THX in terms of objective performance in a loudspeaker (a subwoofer is a loudspeaker, something we tend to forget). In objective terms, a THX Dominus certification means the speaker in question can deliver SPL levels of up to 120 dB in rooms of up to 6,500 cubic feet. This is more than double the 3,000 cubic foot requirement that THX Ultra has, and it demands that a subwoofer has some serious firepower. The fact that Perlisten was able to achieve Dominus status with a single 15-inch driver is remarkable. The listening sessions bring the subjectivity of good sound to the objectivity of good science built into this subwoofer. Being the greedy bass soul that I am, the thought of “what would a pair of D215s do in our theater room if a single D15s is bringing home such power?” Each D215s brings dual 15-inch drivers to the party, and the thought of having a quad pack of these drivers trying to dismantle our theater room is a fun concept, to say the least!

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/1264-nice-guy-jason-and-the-bowers-wilkins-db2d-subwoofers

Simply put: this is the best bass I’ve yet had in my room. Not the most. Not merely the tightest. No, it’s more than that. It’s like the juicy, whip-crack tight bass of the 801s, sure, but add in a sense of natural integration combined with a feeling of realism that I’ve not experienced before.

Back to the original premise of this project: creating a half-price 801 D4 Signature. I haven’t listened yet to the DB2Ds fronted by the 805 D4 Signatures. That’s going to have to wait until I get back from the Florida International Audio Expo in late February. And that means it’s time to get my passport and Metamucil ready for international travel from my home in Toronto, Canada.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rel-no31-powered-subwoofer

After I began using my dedicated listening room, in early 2023, my hankering for high-quality subwoofers returned. Pinging REL Acoustics seemed like a good idea. There are other great subwoofer manufacturers, but REL—born in Britain but especially prominent in the US—is the brand that pops up more than any other when audiophiles talk about high-end subs. Owner John Hunter readily agreed to lend Stereophile a pair of REL’s No.31 Reference models ($7500 each). For my 21′ × 15′ space, the No.31, with a 12″ carbon-fiber driver and a 900W class-D amp, seemed the ideal choice. REL’s larger, louder top dog, the No.32 ($10,000), which has a 15″ driver powered by a 1000W amp, might be overkill for spaces under 400 square feet or so. The models are so named, by the way, because they were designed 31 and 32 years after the company’s founding.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/perlisten-r18s-thx-dominus-18-sealed-subwoofer-review

I can only conclude that when Perlisten designed the R18s, it understood that there was a gap in the premium sealed subwoofer market in need of filling. That a machine combining the displacement offered by an 18-inch driver, the refinement of an audiophile-quality true high-end hi-fi design from a company focused on measurable, provable high fidelity, plus the relatively compact nature of sealed subwoofers, which allows for impressive bass extension and delivers the significant displacement needed to achieve it, these things come together in a superb subwoofer that, in my view, hits a Goldilocks price point, a Goldilocks performance point, at a Goldilocks size. It is a clear Sound & Vision Top Choice selection for a premium sealed subwoofer, but it also gets the unofficial triple-Goldilocks award for really nailing what a premium sealed subwoofer should offer.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/perlisten-r18s-thx-dominus-18-sealed-subwoofer-review

This magical subwoofer transformed any and all the high-quality speakers I auditioned with it connected into true full-range powerhouses. The sub is so clean, it always sounds like an extension of the speakers, and never like a box on the floor huffing and puffing to dig deep, like so many other subs. Its poise and power create a sense of awe. No other audio component I have reviewed so instantly transformed the rest of the system, elevating the fidelity to levels you’d rightly associate with the very best sounding stereo systems in the world. And nowhere was this clearer than when I was using my TV as the streaming source, the Kantos as my speakers, and the mighty Perlisten to take care of all the bass the speakers could not handle.

Bottom line: The sub makes the system. Yes it’s great to have a five-figure AVR-based Atmos rig singing and dancing, but goddam it is mind blowing what a killer sub can do for a modest-sized and priced pair of active speakers. Only a serious expletive can do it justice: The Perlisten R18s is the shit!

https://audiophilepure.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

The applications for this new subwoofer system don’t stop with SVS’s speakers. This subwoofer is so powerful, linear, and tuneful that one can add SVS as a go-to subwoofer for speakers from Magnepan, B&W, Sonus faber, and a host of other high-end speaker companies. SVS was also recently chosen as the official subwoofer partner for luxury HiFi brand Metaxas & Sins, and their upcoming Electrostatic loudspeakers. A pair of SB-17 Ultras for under $5,000 could elevate a lot of wonderful speakers (which do everything except the bottom two octaves of bass) up to world-class performers. Yes, this new Ultra subwoofer is that good.

So, there are the results for the comparison between the SVSD PB16-Ultra and the PB17-Ultra R|Evolution Subwoofers. Even though distortion is more prominent in the PB16-Utra, I don’t see it being a problem at all because the harmonics are also very low frequencies. If you use a low-pass filter of 70 Hz – 80 Hz in your home theater processor like I do, 30 Hz will only produce one harmonic since the 3rd-ordered harmonic at 90 Hz is reduced due to the low-pass filter.