QLN Prestige 3

@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. 

Late to the party, but had to comment. I have a pair of P3s and this comment caught my eye:  

"Unfortunately to my ears they were significantly low on clarity, detail, presence and energy"

I heard this too, but I then put a LOT of time and energy with position/placement. In my 45 years in the hobby I have never heard a speaker, in my room with, my gear, that was so sensitive to placement. At times I wanted to give up.  Glad I did not: in the end, the sound went from, frankly,  bad to the best I have ever obtained. I am truly smitten, these things can make pure magic.  Tip:  they love to be spread apart, further than my other speakers over the years, and in my room the HAD to be placed along the long wall, firing across the short wall - the other way sound TERRIBLE.  If you try these and have issues  be patient, my gosh they can pay off.    

Opps, I see I made a 'late to the party comment back in May!  Just came out of a cardiac procedure and killing time while I recover - so I blame the drugs.  Sorry to be redundant.

@edchapman Thanks for posting, much appreciated. I am at that stage right now where I need to start tweaking the position, I can tell it is not optimal. I agree they do well far apart. I typically don’t toe my speakers too much, what have you found to be optimal with yours?