Perlisten Audio R5t Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
Founded in 2020, Perlisten Audio is a relatively new entrant on the high-end audio scene. The firm was established by a team of industry veterans with the goal of manufacturing high-performing loudspeaker systems to rival the best at their price points. The first model was the S7t, a tall, four-way loudspeaker which utilizes several relatively small bass drivers to deliver satisfying bass extension in a slender design. Priced at around $20,000 per pair (all prices in USD), the S7t distinguished itself sufficiently well from the surrounding mass of competing designs to win several audio awards. From there, the firm has expanded its range to offer a wider range of options.
Do What You Love! Setting Up a European Audio Team Turntable
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
In my August 1 editorial, I talked about the recent arrivals and departures in my review system. It’s been uncharacteristically variable lately, which has made reviewing a challenge. To make this variability work, I’ve been listening pretty much non-stop, and it’s been hard work. Oh boo-hoo, you might be thinking. Poor Jason—he’s got to listen to music all day. World’s smallest violin, etc.
Hard Work or Humble Brag?
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
For me, sitting down and writing a formal article requires a generalized sense of structure and a setting of stability. I’ve had neither for the past couple of months and it’s harshing my mellow.
Voodoo Labs Witchcraft Speaker Cable
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
My father and his parents—my grandparents (obviously)—were kind, generous, inoffensive people. They wouldn’t say shit if they had a mouth full of it.
Charisma Audio Signature Two Moving-Coil Phono Cartridge
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
We’re on an analog roll here at SoundStage! Ultra. In the past couple of months, we’ve reviewed the Thales TTT-Compact II turntable system and the matching X-quisite Voro cartridge, the Musical Fidelity M8xTT and Vertere Acoustics MG-1 turntables, and the Audio-Technica AT-ART20 cartridge. I’ve kept up the pace with the first installment of my VPI Prime Signature tonearm upgrade path and thrown in some analog love from European Audio Team.
What Happens When the Magic Smoke Escapes?
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
Ian, Andrew, and I were standing around at the dog park, chatting as we do each morning. Three boomer-adjacent white males, keeping one eye on the dogs to make sure they weren’t eating things they shouldn’t, although this was more my concern; my dog’s an idiot and will eat anything, including mud and dog shit.
Vertere Acoustics MG-1 Turntable
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
In 2023 I visited Vertere Acoustics, a small London-based manufacturer of turntables and related products. The company was founded in 2006 by mechanical engineer and turntable designer Touraj Moghaddam after he separated from Roksan, a company he had cofounded some 20 years earlier. Roksan achieved early success with Moghaddam’s first turntable design, the Xerxes, which is still in production, after many iterations, and is still highly regarded.
Thales TTT-Compact II Turntable System
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
The Swiss know how to make high-quality, compact machines. They own the high-end automatic watch market, right? Every year, a Swiss manufacturer like Audemars Piguet brings out a new complication—movement—that contains even more parts, does more crazy computations, that never needs resetting for leap years, the orbit of Neptune, Easter, all that stuff. I own an Omega Speedmaster watch, and it doesn’t do any real tricks. It’s a NASA-approved chronograph, so I can time my steaks superbly to ensure they’re medium rare every time, but other than that, all it does is tell the time with great accuracy. I have seen this watch with the back cover removed, and there’s a whole world in there—gears, levers, springs—all manufactured with insane precision. Switzerland is the land of miniaturization.
A New Arms Race—Jason Gets Gimballed
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
My VPI Prime Signature has been in my system for six years now, ever since I reviewed it back in 2018. After I finished the review, I agonized over my next steps. I’d owned a Pro-Ject RPM-series turntable since 2004, starting with the RPM 9, which I bought after I’d finished that review. Then came the RPM 10 in 2007, followed by the RPM 10 Carbon in 2017. Those turntables had made me an honest man three times over, and I really, really enjoyed my time with them.
Munich Exhaustion and EAT’s New Products
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
Show coverage is hard work, but sometimes we make it harder on ourselves.
This year marked my second visit to the High End audio show, which was held May 9–12 in the ginormous Munich Order Center (MOC) in Munich, Germany. This is one of the largest audio shows in the world, and by many accounts, the most important. Coming anywhere close to seeing the whole thing in the four days it’s open requires an Olympian effort. Last year, Doug Schneider and I attempted to cover the show on our own. While we went balls-out to do so, in the end, we felt that it would be a good idea to rope in another writer so we could do better justice to this massive exhibition.
- Naim Audio NAP 350 Mono Amplifier
- Audio-Technica AT-ART20 Moving-Coil Cartridge
- Shelly Manne & His Men: “At the Black Hawk, Vol. 1”
- Read the Instructions! The Perils of Cartridge Setup
- X-quisite Voro Moving-Coil Phono Cartridge
- Musical Fidelity M8xTT Turntable
- Bounce with Counce and Mat Matters
- The Hardest-Rocking Album Ever—“Van Halen” on Vinyl
- Naim Audio NAC 332 Preamplifier and NPX 300 Power Supply
- The Grateful Dead: “Terrapin Station”
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