Qln Prestige Three Loudspeakers
My introduction to Qln loudspeakers was at the 2019 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest where they played along side Vinnie Rossi’s new L2i-SE Integrated Amplifier ($18,995—review up next month). This room was chosen by all Audiophilia attendees as one of their favourites. For sure, there were other rooms featuring systems approaching a million dollars which sounded like the proverbial ‘million bucks’, but there was an innate musicality to the presentation from Rossi’s integrated design and these Swedish floor standers that improved upon superb every time we returned. Mark Sossa of Well Pleased A/V and distributor of both Qln speakers and Vinnie Rossi gear had the moderately-sized room sounding balanced, dynamic and musically inviting.
Sossa is as pleasant as they come in high end audio. Professional, patient, knowledgeable and kind. In partnership with his high end star roommate, Vinnie Rossi, Sossa’s carefully curated representation (also incl. Swiss Cables and Gigawatt) produced amazing, digitally-sourced sound (Innuos—review forthcoming).
The Qln loudspeaker on show was the Prestige Three, a two-way that leans back on its heels, baffle angled proudly to the world (a time-aligned baffle with minimized area around the drivers). My review pair came in a standard walnut veneer ($9495). They looked good (see cover photo), but, if you are buying, consider the $2500 upgrade for the Burl Walnut or Bird’s Eye Maple (this surcharge gets you some minor crossover improvements, too). It was the gorgeous Burl Walnut model (see below) on view in Denver. Qln speakers are designed and manufactured in Gothenburg, Sweden by Mats Andersen.
My Use
The two large boxes arrived on the island unharmed. Boxes are quality cardboard with excellent foam interior protection and a small box containing the machined-metal feet with attached cones, support pucks (in the same hard damping material as the cones), and sundry items. I received the typical follow up distributor emails—did they arrive?; the stands are important; the pucks even more so; the units have zero hours; try different positions, etc. The speakers ship with a beautiful, hard-bound manual.
All directions were followed. Run in was the standard 50 hours. They were plenty good cold, and, over the break in, continued to remain focused with a rich midrange and deep bass. I noted a little brightness toward the end of break in, in contrast to the smooth treble heard on initial setup, but this subsided quickly, and the Threes continued to improve through the two month review period with more coherence and enviable transparency.
Moving the speakers should be a two person job. All tools are provided to attach the feet and pucks. I placed the speakers 9 feet apart, 3 feet from side and back walls (music room: 14 feet wide, 18 feet in length with a 10 foot ceiling). Like many box speakers, they prefer a slight toe in. The Qlns worked beautifully in my room but I would imagine will work equally well in larger rooms.
During their time here, my review queue was busting with high quality pre/amplification options. The Threes had it good. And they sounded wonderful powered by Class D (MBL or Jeff Rowland) or Class A/B (Vinnie Rossi). They also enjoyed tube preamps, whether via the matched Elrog 300Bs ($1500/pair) of the Vinnie Rossi integrated or my reference Allnic Audio L-7000 Preamplifier ($16,500), also with 300Bs (interestingly, designer Kang Su Park uses his 300Bs as voltage regulation).
Speaker cable was an eight foot pair of Allnic Audio ZL-5000 Speaker Cables with spade termination ($3800—review forthcoming).
The Prestige Three upon initial placement/photo op aglow in orange backlight with my reference Bergmann Magne Turntable, Allnic Audio H-7000 LCR Phono Stage, Phasemation PP-2000 MC Phono Cartridge on a Salamander stand.
Features
truncated pyramid cabinet top with its minimized baffle area suppresses any standing waves inside the cabinet also offering improved 3D imaging.
Qboard® technology, structural resonances are eliminated [more on this below].
Cabinet is de-coupled from the floor via solid feet with cones and pucks constructed out of hard, high damping materials.
The constant impedance crossover is hardwired with non-inductive capacitors for the tweeter and high-end oil-filled capacitors for the woofer with flat foil inductors used at the most critical places.
All components are fastened with damping glue and remaining coils are baked to avoid any internal component and filter resonances [more on this below]. Resistors with high power handling capabilities offer lower noise and temperature stable performance, altogether resulting in perfect timing within the crossover and with low noise throughout the entire frequency range.
Internal cabling is proprietary and feature solid core pure copper wires wrapped around a polypropylene core with polypropylene isolation.
Custom Scan Speak drivers. The Kevlar® bass/mid-range driver has built-in copper rings in the magnet system and a 19mm long voice coil; Tweeter has a large roll surround and textile dome diaphragm which provides a flat frequency response above 30 KHz. The unique AirCirc magnet system and its rear chamber eliminate any reflections and resonances.
The bass reflex port with its trumpet shape at both ends eliminates air turbulence. I heard no chuffing during the review period. Speaker terminals are WBT Nextgen® connectors with minimal connection material used for lower distortion. They are made from a silver and copper mix.
Specifications
Impedence: 8 ohms
Amplifier requirements: 25-250 Watt RMS
Sensitivity: 87.5 dB
Low frequency performance: -3dB 28Hz
Dimensions (HxWxD): 90x21x42cm, with feet 95.4x31x48.3
Weight: 27.0 kg each
Finish: Walnut Piano, Walnut matt, White satin
Mats Andersen
Before we get to the sound, I emailed some questions to designer Mats Andersen and I report his answers here:
1. How long have you been designing speakers? Always with Qln?
Hi Anthony:
My whole life more or less. When friends built ready made kits, I made my own kit started when I was 16 years old. Except my first speaker with a drive unit from an old tube radio and put it in an Oboy can connected to my small mono cassette deck when I was about 10 years old:). Production started when I was 18 years old with 10 pairs KEF B110 5” woofer and KEF T27 tweeter and sold to friends. But professionally it was 1982 when I come in contact with Qln company due to the Q-board technology. At that time I was a student, but later on 1986 I joined Qln as a 50% owner. My first professional design was a woofer (sub woofer) to the Qln One bookshelf speaker. Tested in Stereophile 1984.
1982-2003 I designed speakers for/with Qln. The company was then sold.
2003-2012 I worked as a consultant for a company in Sweden DLS and build up their home hifi department from start. When I worked for DLS, I started to build drive units and learned a lot about design and different material (cone and more) behaviour.
2013 I bought back Qln brand again as 100% owner.
Mats Andersen.
2. What is the purpose of the slanted baffle design and how many degrees slanted?
Time alignment. 11.5 degrees for Prestige Three. Angle is set from the drive units acoustical center.
We would like the Train, Bus, People to be on time. But when it comes to music, the different frequency (woofer, mid, tweeter) some don't think that is important. Strange for me.
When you listen to a rock band, symphony orchestra or other it is important that they play together at the same time otherwise the dynamics will be smeared, less dynamic, focus, less interesting to hear. And you become less engaged to the music. And it is same for speakers, where, instead of band members, we have different drive units.
3. What is Qboard Technology?
Qboard Technology is to convert vibration (energy) to heat (energy). Energy can never disappear. Some use spikes, pads, different de-coupling devises. They just transfer vibration-energy to some other places or by reflection smear out the vibration energy.
In all cases it always better to go to the source. If the cabinet vibrates, cure it there. If you have a headache, instead of taking a pain killer try to figure out why you have it (not always possible but try). This is done by sandwich design with viscoelastic glue or viscoelastic/high damping pads that is placed in right amount at right places.
4. What coils are baked and why?
Vibration-noise kills dynamics. Instead if increase force, lighter cones, more, more more. Try to do less!
Increase peaks by 3-6 dB cost a lot of efforts and cost, not always the best way to increase dynamic. If you can make more silence between the tones you can more “easy" decrease noice by 10dB and then increase the dynamic range by 10dB. More silence between the tones create wider contrast in music, more “blackness”.
To achieve this, nothing should vibrate except the drive unit cone. When you put signal (current) through a wire, coil, capacitor they starting to move by magnetic or electric field (like drive units and electrostatic speaker). And this become noise in the music that we don’t want. So, the wire in the coil should not move, glue/bake (by heat) so they don’t move, put some oil film in the capacitor that damping the movement (glue, to thick and create losses), shield the cable from acoustic vibrations inside the speaker by high damping material, and so on.
If you the have a turntable, turn up the volume and tap on the phono cable, than you will hear it through your speaker.
Hope this make some sense. I’m a designer not a writer:)
If you need to have more info or other questions please mail me again. Always welcome.
Have a nice day!
Best Regards
Mats Andersen
Thank you, Mats, for your detailed answers to my questions. I know our readers appreciate information from the manufacturer/designer.
Sound
As you can read from the feature set above, Andersen has taken great care with the design and structural components of his Prestige Three speaker.
The Prestige Threes arrived at a fortuitous time. I recently sold my Alta Audio Celesta FRM-2 reference loudspeakers (MSRP $15,000/pair) and was waiting for the new ‘M’ upgrade version to be shipped. The Qlns arrived the day my original Celestas sold. The new M version arrived mid Qln review. Comparisons below are to my original Celestas.
The Alta Audio Celesta FRM-2 had been my dream speaker for a long time (introduced in 2005), and while other Audiophilia writers used them in their reference systems, I waited patiently. Finally, a pair was mine. And yes, they were everything, and more, as I explained in my review. However, there is nothing quite as exciting as the portent of great sound replacing a much loved component. Yes, you are gone, but are you missed?
While it would be impossible for me to forget the sound of the Altas, the Threes quickly displayed many facets of what a well-designed box speaker can do. They go very deep, below 30, and can handle gobs of power without flinching.
One of the first records played was my Classic Records reissue of the Dorati/LSO/Mercury The Firebird by Stravinsky. I’ve never been a big fan of Dorati (I sat in on one of his rehearsals many years ago—RPO/Beethoven 7/Royal Albert Hall), but there’s no doubt all the musical Gods were aligned on those London recording dates in 1959. It’s a mesmerizing record—the orchestral execution is easily the best, the recording incredibly dynamic and realistic, and Dorati knows his way around this most colourful of scores.
It sounded spectacular through the Qlns; nothing fazed the speakers. Delicate, muted string choirs were transparent with a gorgeous sheen and Lowry Sanders’ piccolo solos were heard to perfection. A quality wooden piccolo timbre (and its myriad of overtones); the instrument played effortlessly by a master. Even a Gervase de Peyer (clarinet) micro squeak as he negotiated a particularly quiet, high solo was noticed (that’s some super detail) and the slightest accent on Barry Tuckwell’s muted French horn (from the back of the hall). Thus, the central core of instrumental timbre is never diluted. Tone is fulsome and orchestrally accurate.
As an audiophile, there’s nothing more spectacular coming through the system than a full on Firebird. The bass drum sound on this record is spectacular. Yes, there are booms galore in the finale and throughout the piece. And they sound under ideal conditions like few other bass drums on record. The initial power/thump is far more prevalent than the usual resonance in decay. Just as in a live concert played on a good instrument by a fine player, these speakers have technique.
Last Boxing Day, the whole family was over for dinner. The Qlns were in full song with the Vinnie Rossi integrated driving them. I played the finale for my identical twin. Roger has great ears and while a very successful entrepreneur, could have been a first class French horn player. He’s heard my systems over the years and said ‘I have never heard your system sound as good as this’. The huge power needed was delivered easily by the Vinnie Rossi Signature and played to glorious effect on the speakers. This was the sound much loved at the 2019 Denver show.
Detail and specificity are earmarks of the Threes but as appearing in musical layers. Lots of components homogenize sound and many the ravenous audiophile jumps on the purchasing bandwagon. And, why not? They make lovely sounds, are dynamic and have a good soundstage. Yet, the Qln’s give a purchaser all those qualities, and much more. You’ll also hear transparency and layered detail only experienced from more expensive speakers.
Voices and rock/jazz orchestrations also sounded refined and detailed. The remarkable Aja analog remaster 180g pressing demonstrates just how shortchanged Steely Dan was by the initial public releases. This pressing is remarkable and was shown ably by the Threes. The players’ ensemble was tight yet had ambiance around the instruments (‘Deacon Blues’) not usually heard on the standard releases—studio bound. Maybe the combination of the quality remaster and the Qln’s knack of unveiling detail were the reasons.
The same for the my ‘record of the year’ nominee, the magnificent Impex Records 45 RPM analog remaster of Friday Night in San Francisco. The speed-of-light guitar wizardry of Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia held no fears for the Threes, transferring the quicksilver sound through its tweeter. You won’t miss a note. Yet, each player’s unique approach is heard easily—differences in strings, style, technique and sound.
So, how did these three particular albums sound on my Alta Audio speakers? Life changing. For the $4000 premium for the Celestas, you get the very best polyester piano black finish and a coherence and inherent musicality that connects with me deeply. Sure, they go a little lower than the Qlns and have a driver pair that work together like a dream, but they have idiosyncratic looks and need quality stands. I’m very much looking forward to the upgraded version. Yet, while the Prestige Threes were in my system, I was very happy and content. No pining.
Summary
Visual aesthetics are an important component in the trifecta we use as guidelines for a Star—sound/value/aesthetics. Initially, I had some scepticism regarding the look of the standard finish (not its superb build quality). You should still opt for the gorgeous upgrade if it’s in your budget, but the sound is so wonderful and the standard veneer such value at $9495, who could resist?
The Qln Prestige Three is a superb speaker for a knockout price; a high end audio gem that will last your lifetime. Very highly recommended.
Note: Qln is debuting the new Prestige Fives at this year’s Axpona. MSRP is approximate at present, but for those who want to start saving, 15/16K for standard finishes. FYI, a Burl upgrade will be available and a ‘Special Edition’ version is being planned for $20,000/pair. Watch this space.
Further information: Qln
