Loudspeakers

With its line/digital inputs and direct-coupled Class D amplifiers, the Pearl Pelegrina has no meaningful sensitivity – 'impedance' is the 47kohm load seen by a preamp driving either of the RCA or XLR line inputs. The forward responses plotted here [see Graph 1] are referenced to 90dB SPL/1kHz by way of comparison with modern passives in this class. Also for the purposes of testing, the grilles were removed, Cabasse's DFE (Dynamic Fidelity Enhancer) was switched off and latency configured at the absolute minimum, although there is still a 100msec delay through the analogue/digital/analogue signal chain within the Pearl Pelegrina.

In factory default mode, the response is presence/treble forward with a declining bass/mid that shelves down ~3dB from 1kHz-100Hz [black/red traces]. Once calibrated however, the Pearl Pelegrina's forward response [blue trace] is flat to within a creditable ±2.1dB (re. 200Hz-10kHz) while the dome tweeter reaches out to 35kHz (–6dB re. 10kHz). Also, the impact of the protective metal grille [grey trace] is – surprisingly – ameliorative up to ~10kHz above which cancellation/reinforcement notches at 12kHz, 18kHz, 20kHz, 22kHz and 28kHz cause the response uniformity to drop from circa ±3.5dB to ±5.0dB.

The rear 300mm 'HELD' active subwoofer is digitally filtered with a steep ~36dB/octave roll-off above 165Hz and a useful bandwidth extending down to 18Hz (–6dB). Calculating the diffraction-corrected bass extension of a spherical loudspeaker is not straightforward but this is still estimated at <20Hz – a 'deeply' impressive result! The CSD waterfall [Graph 2] reveals a resonance, with harmonics, associated with a 'blip' in response at 1.5kHz, but otherwise the Pearl Pelegrina is largely free of higher frequency modes. As for conventional THD, an increase in 3rd harmonic boosts bass distortion to ~0.3% but through its midband the Pearl Pelegrina boasts one of the lowest THD figures we've measured – just 0.03% (all re. 90dBA/1m). PM