QLN Prestige 3

Late to the party, but I also own the QLN P3 and love them.  HOWEVER, I found them difficult to position in my room.  E.g., when I had them firing down the long axis of the room, they sounded like what one of the folks in this forum stated: lacking clarity, boring etc.. BUT, when I have  them firing across the short axis of the room, and especially when I have them at least 10 feet apart, they became absolutely magical.  Adding Gaia footers was also a significant upgrade.  Be well and happy listening.

I will be picking up a pair of new to me QLN 3’s next weekend. They will be competing against a pair of Raidho D-2.1’s that I bought used in April. The Raidho’s were designed by Borreson, though reports say they are more relaxed than the Borreson line. The 2.1’s are pretty magical in their soundstage, it will be an interesting comparison.

@zlone - Congrats on the QLN acquisition. How is the speaker shootout going? 

Would love to hear your impressions. 

@bluethinker I have been enjoying them, but my audition so far has been marred by some equipment issues, unrelated to the QLN's, but also related. Their sound quality made me more aware of a channel issue than the other speakers I am auditioning and I finally nailed it down and am working on a resolution. More to come once I get back on track. Thanks for asking.

@bluethinker  I have now had a pair of QLN 3's in my system for a couple of months and feel that I can comment. I conducted a comparison between the QLN's and my original KEF Reference 1's, and a pair of Raidho D-2.1's. ALL of these speakers sound great and have their merits. However, in the end the QLN speakers won me over.

These days I primarily listen to jazz, and almost always at low levels, 65-75dB, but also toss in some rock and the occasional Dead show. Any speaker I own has to play this variety well at low levels, and of course support the occasional outburst. I am also a soundstage nut, and really get into big picture sound. Lastly, I prefer the sound be neutral to slightly warm.

The KEF's meet all this criteria and are the closest to neutral of this bunch. The Raidho's are next in line with a more laid back presentation than the KEF's. The QLN's are the warmest of the bunch, but not overly so.

All of the speakers presented a very good soundstage, but this is an area where the QLN's excelled, they paint a beautiful picture of the performance and disappear completely in my room. Add to that a bit more warmth and musicality and they become addictive and make me want to listen, nay, need to listen, more.

The QLN's are very responsive to system changes, in my case cabling. I have been trying different interconnects, and soon speaker cables, to try to fine tune the sound. Each change has been easily discernible, and makes the process manageable rather than an overwhelming, anxiety ridden splitting of hairs. 

In addition to the wonderful sound characteristics, the QLN's are the most attractive of the bunch for my room, and I had several compliments to that effect. The matte finish walnut veneer is exceptional with no apparent seams anywhere on the speaker. Having done quite a bit of wood working myself, I am impressed.

I did have to replace one of the speaker terminals that had been damaged somewhere along the line, these were used. I inquired with QLN about what to buy to get an exact replacement and Mats Anderson replied quickly with the necessary info. Removing the back plate to replace the terminal I was able to see the internal wiring, as detailed on their site, nice stuff, there is quality on the inside too.

Just like all the other reviews of QLN, highly recommended, they play the music.

Unfortunately, this puts me in a bit of a quandary, as I am wondering how good the QLN 5's might sound, though they might be a bit much for my modest space. I need to get some gear sold off before I can contemplate that move.