Feedback QLN Prestige Three Speakers Requested


Forum Members -

While I have another thread asking for general advice on speakers & preamps/power amps, I was hoping to hear feedback specific to the QLN Prestige Three speakers. I am close to purchasing a used pair and would welcome input from folks who own and/or have heard the speaker in-person. 

Based on their reviews and sound clips I've found, they appear to be what I'm looking for: 

 

  • Laid back, yet immersive sound 
  • Musical vs. analytical presentation 
  • Sounds good with tube amplification 
  • Great base for a smaller floor standing speaker 
  • On the warmer and smooth side 

At the end of the day, I'm looking for a speaker that is warm, laid back and musical. After work, while making dinner, or relaxing in the living room, I'd love the speaker to help create a relaxing and comforting environment in my household. 

Musical taste: Classical piano and cello sonatas, acoustic guitar, slowcore/shoegaze rock, bossa nova, electronica/techno and lots of 90's English guitar bands. In brief, I'd like to be able to play lots of different styles of music. I'm finding that's not the case with my existing system, unfortunately. 

I'd replace the Dynaudio Heritage that just fall short on base response... 
 

The Current System 

  • Dynaudio Heritage Special Speakers 
  • Innuous Zenith Music Server
  • Merason DAC1 
  • Qualiton/Audio Hungary Tube Preamp
  • Qualiton/Audio Hungary 100 Watt Power Amp
  • Cardas Clear Interconnect and Cardas Cygnus Speaker Cables 
  • Lessloss Power Cable for Power Amp 


**I've got a Linear Tube Audio Microzotl Preamp on the way to replace the Qualiton/Audio Hungary Tube Preamp 

My Question for Forum Members: 
What are your impressions of the QLN Prestige Three? Based on what I'm looking for, do you recommend the QLN Prestige Three? If not, what else might you recommend that fits what I'm looking for? 

THANK YOU! 
 

bluethinker66

Regarding Hungary, I've been there twice and the women are stunningly beautiful! It's bananas! I'd like to go back! 

Ha!  I went to Budapest years ago and thought the same thing.  Tall and gorgeous women everywhere.  Who knew?


And thanks for the recommendation on the SVS subs. It might be awhile before I pursue them, but I'll look into them. Did you ever try Rel subs?

No, but I’ve heard nothing but good things although they’re quite a bit more expensive apples to apples and don’t offer any room integration software although they seem relatively easy to place given their high-level input architecture.  I mentioned SVS due to their performance/$, small size, user-friendly room integration software, and 45-day trial.  I do believe that once you hear your system with 2 subs you won’t go back.  It’s that significant. 

@bluethinker66

Bay Park, in the middle of SD proper.

Since I lived in Budapest for 30+ years I don’t know about the women being that beautiful but pretty spectacular for sure.

I tried different subs: Elac, SVS, Polk, Klipsch. I settled on a Martin Logan 700w. It was a step up from the "boom and chaos". But I need decent crossover control. Without it, generally, while the sound stage and 3D improved, it’s often sound chaos, reverb issues. Which is expected when both my monitors and the sub pound on the same frequencies and however sophisticated the Martin Logan and the placement are, it’s still not a clean soundstage.

I have a general dilemma with high quality monitors and subs: if a company invested so much in engineering two perfect speakers, who am I to mess with it and add a sub?

Are you able to get good bass when you crank the volume? I have the HS paired with a Willsenton R8 tube integrated and the bass is tremendous when you let it rip, lets say 5-10% before clipping or between 9 and 11 o’clock on the dial depending upon the song. What can be really confounding about the HS is that at lower volumes the bass becomes much less noticeable due to the prominance of the highs and mids which stay full sounding regardless of volume. You really have to push the tubes to get the bass. It’s a great low volume speaker due to all that detail, but it won’t shake the room. I imagine you’d need a really muscular Class A or AB design to get the low end at lower volumes.

It seems like your bass problems have continued despite moving to the QLNs, which makes sense since its still the same amp. I have a new preamp coming, I’ll be able to test the HS with my SimAudio W3 later this week and see if that gets better low volume bass results. The Sim isnt a Wattage monster, 240 watts into 4ohms, but its a high current design with a massive 1.1 kVA toroidal transformer.

@soix @arafiq - Thank you! I'm very happy with my purchase! 

@grislybutter - That's sort of my hesitation with subs. It just sounds like getting a sub dialed in is painstaking and not guaranteed. Just hesitant to take that plunge, but I could be convinced otherwise. I was perusing the Axpona feed on LinkedIn and heard an impressive demo of what appears to be a new company -https://www.lchaudio.com/. What I heard was impressive and sort of seductive. 



@perkadin - I'm glad you brought this up. I am able to get the bass going on the Dynaudio HS with my 100 watt tube amp, but I really need to crank it to a level where my wife is guaranteed to ask me to turn the volume down. SUPER BUZZ KILL. But marriage is about compromise, right? 

As for lower volume listening, I've spent many evenings transfixed with the Dynaudio HS speakers. The treble frequencies can be sublime. I just felt like I was missing the bottom end. Over time, I realized I wasn't satisfied. 

The QLN speakers are, overall, more balanced with my current amp. You lose some upper frequency detail, but I'm ok with that.

What new preamp are you getting? 

that LCH sub looks interesting, but pricey for sure

(and I know I should not judge a speaker by its web site but it’s pretty flaky)