Subwoofers - Final Thoughts with Martin Logan ESL 13A

Good question to ask a dealer. I know that Bliss HiFi in MN handles the line; and the owner Juan is pretty sharp & always happy to answer questions via email or phone.

One reason why they may work is that even the R10 has pretty significant bass boost below 25ish Hz. In fact, I’m seriously thinking of upgrading my Martin Logan sub with a couple of these little guys myself (my room is only half the size of yours, however).

Btw, I obviously misspoke in my last message. Perlisten subs do have a configurable DSP.  What I was thinking of is that, unlike ML models, they don’t have room-correction functionality. So you have to manually tune the DSP using the sub’s buit-in parametric EQ,

One option that doesn’t get much airplay on Audiogon is Perlisten. The company does advertise in the glossies, but rarely offers its products for review, so it’s not surprising that it flies under most audiophiles’ radar. However, when Perlistens are evaluated by a credible reviewer, the raves are almost embarrasing. See the last link below.

The reason I recommend them for use with an electrostatic is their reputation for speed, transient response, detail, and transparency. Having spent decades sub-rolling my vintage Quad ESLs, I’m no stranger to how tricky it can be to extend the low end of an electrostat.

So it strikes me that even a pair of Perlisten’s entry-level R10S (physically smaller than you’d think and reasonably priced at $2K per) might be a great match for a ML stat. 15" cube, 45lbs, sub-20Hz extension. Downside: no DSP / app.

https://www.avforums.com/reviews/perlisten-audio-d15s-subwoofer-review.21554/

https://www.perlistenaudio.com/products/r10s/#techspecs

Oh, and then there’s this:

https://www.audioholics.com/subwoofer-reviews/perlisten-d215s

>The review and real time measurements that Audiolics made it showed that the reviewer never listened the Velodyne HGS 15 or 18 or even the 12 models where all those came with treated paper/pulp woofer material

@rauliruegas

Uh, yeah, maybe, whatever, but so what? I’m not arguing with you, but I don’t get your point. Far from me to defend a second-tier online resource like Audioholics, but when has any reviewer measured every single offering on the market that shares a product class with a PUT? (Spoiler: It’s an impossible standard.) So why would the failure to do so automatically cast aspersions on what a reviewer hears?

For example, you claim that the Velodyne is surpassed only by the Magico model. That’s quite an assertion, so was the source for that statement derived from a reviewer that compared measurements & subjective SQ of the entire Perlisten, Velodyne, and Magico product lines? And, for that matter, of every other sub that might compete with those products?

Again, not trying to start a debate that nobody can win, but unless you can point to a credible head-to-head comparison between the products you’re talking about, I don’t find your comments persuasive. Nothing personal.

PS -- since the OP has stated that the subs you & I mentioned will not be on his short list, I'm not sure why we're even wasting time discussing Perlisten or Velodyne at this point.