Feedback QLN Prestige Three Speakers Requested

@grislybutter - Thanks for the prompt! 

THANK YOU to everyone who made a comment and suggestion here. I read them all over the past few weeks and were all greatly appreciated. 

I did end up pulling the trigger on the QLN, purchasing them from a sound engineer in New York. I asked him to make a recording of some music I know intimately, using the QLNs as speakers, as a final validation before purchasing. For any early 90s shoegaze fans out there, I had him record some Ride and Stone roses tracks along with some classical tracks (Satie, Brahms). 

He's a recording engineer, so the recording he sent me sort of blew my mind. The QLN speakers sounded majestic - big, balanced, detailed and musical. 

So I pulled the trigger and had them sent to Portland where I live. When they arrived, I was overly eager to set them up after a long day and ended up doing a little damage to one of them. Ugh... Its ok, because it's cosmetic and sort of made me double-down and commit to them as "my speakers." 

How do they sound? Am I satisfied with my purchase? 

Short answer? Absolutely. I love them and anticipate having them the rest of my life. 

The QLN Prestige Three speakers are incredibly balanced and musical sounding speakers. From the reviews I'd read, I did expect more bass output, but I'm satisfied with what they deliver. The top end treble is enjoyable and never bright. I am coming from the Dynaudio Heritage Special speakers where the amount of top end treble detail delivered sort of blows you away - at moments the detail is mesmerizing and hypnotic, but sometimes morphs into overly bright and overwhelming. I'll miss some of that detail and focused details of instruments from the Dynaudio Heritage Specials, but I'm comfortable trading it for the more balanced delivery of the QLN Prestige Three. 

A few posters suggested and for-warned me the QLN Prestige Three might sound overly polite or "held back." It's true. I can see how the QLN Prestige Three could be characterized that way. These speakers DO NOT demand your attention. 

What they do seem to offer, in contrast, is a listening environment where you just want to listen to the music and forget about the audio equipment. I'm typing here in the living room and could easily spend the day listening to music for the entirety of the morning and afternoon.. and maybe into the evening. These QLN speakers just make it easy to relax and decompress. In this overly frenetic world we live in I consider that to be a wonderful quality! 

Many of us on this forum seem to have the "upgradeitis..." I now have the same affliction. It's crazy how a "I'd like to purchase a proper" audio system leads us down this path, huh?! 

NEXT STEPS 

I've got the Linear Tube Audio MicroZotl Preamp coming next week and will provide a report once I've got it set up in the system and had some run-in time... 

I'm currently driving the QLN Prestige Threes with a Qualiton/Audio Hungary 100 watt power tube amp. It sounds fantastic and I'm happy with it. 

HOWEVER, the AUDIO UPGRADEITIS IS REAL! So, I'm wondering about the Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) VK255SE solid state amp that delivers 150 watts into 8 ohms. I heard it recently and found that it's mantra of "warmth of tubes and details of Solid State" was accurate. If there was any possible improvement to the QLN Prestige Three it would be to drive it with more power. The audio studio engineer I purchased the QLN Prestige Three speakers from, when he made the sample recording, was using one of his powerful studio equipment amps to record, and boy did the QLN speakers sing with that power. 

Will update all on my audio journey/affliction! 


 

thank you @bluethinker66 that sounds very reassuring and fun. I have heard legends about the Dyna Heritage so the QLNs must be special. I assume you don't have a sub(s)?

Portland is an awesome city.

@grislybutter - I think the Dynaudio Heritage Special speakers are fantastic. I've gone to numerous audio dealers to audition speakers and, upon returning home, felt the Dynaudio Heritage Specials were better than I'd just auditioned... 

However, and this is a big caveat, I believe you need to drive them with a lot of solid state power - 200 watts minimum. I don't believe they were designed with tubes in mind, so driving them with tubes isn't going to position them optimally.  

I don't have subs and probably won't pursue them simply because I don't want to crowd the living room area. My wife and I prefer minimalism, so whenever "less is more" is possible, I'll go that direction. 

I think Portland is great. It's easy to live in. I've lived in San Diego, SF, Seattle and went to graduate school in LA. Each city has its magic and charm, but also drawbacks and frustrations. We moved from SF a few years ago because it had just become very challenging... Most of what had made it a great city from my youth has slowly eroded and gone away, including the loss of previous generations who were part of the cities charm and civility. 

thank you @bluethinker66 that sounds very reassuring and fun. I have heard legends about the Dyna Heritage so the QLNs must be special. I assume you don't have a sub(s)?

Portland is an awesome city.

Glad to hear you’re happy with the QLNs but can’t say I’m surprised given their glowing reviews, and I think they look pretty cool too. I think the LTA will add just a hint of more upper octave transparency and detail and may be a perfect addition to your system.  Looking forward to your impressions.

Also, I’d recommend trying a pair of SVS SB1000 Pro subs.  They’re only 13” square so aren’t visually imposing or take up much space, but despite their small size they’ll get you down to an honest 20Hz (-3dB).  Plus they offer onboard integration software you control with your phone so you can easily dial them in from your chair.  And all this for only $1100 for a pair, and they offer a generous 45-day, risk-free trial including shipping both ways, so why not?  Remember, adding subs is not just about bass but also greatly enhance imaging and soundstage.  My guess is once you hear what they can do you won’t mind their diminutive presence too much.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 

@bluethinker66

Greetings from San Diego and from the same year (’66)!

Yes, Dynas are hard(er) to driver. I added a sub to my Dynadio pair and it made a difference. But it took a long log time and trying many subs. For most music with moderate bass, I often don’t turn it on.

Finally, I can’t resist, dump the Hungarian stuff. Nothing good ever came out of that helll-hole, including me. I couldn’t be more embarrassed about the state of affairs of my old country (but of course, the amp may be awesome, I am just joking. But the name is bad marketing.)