ads Klifoth, with his father in the picture (more HERE), had proudly told me about the new QR series, the successor of the X3, which he had prepared for Audiovector by himself from start to finish, a moment before the photo was taken. Even though these are the cheapest speakers of that manufacturer, they are surprisingly mature when it comes to technology and look as good as (or even better than) those from higher series.

The characteristic feature of this series is the original version of the AMT (Air Motion Tweeter) with the so-called Gold Leaf, i.e. gold plated mesh whose role is to minimize signal distortion without signal modification. The transducer operates together with two classic piston speakers, each 150 mm (6”) in diameter, with “sandwich” membranes consisting of three layers. Both outer layers are made of aluminum, with foamy glue in between to counteract resonances. Mads Klifoth says that the membrane performs like a pure piston up to the frequency of 3 kHz and that is why the system was called Pure Piston Technology.

The QR3 that we tested are rectangular floorstanders with a bass-reflex system, radiating towards the plinth integrated with the speakers. This makes it possible to control sound dispersion from the bass-reflex system better and to make the amount of bass-reflex more independent of the distance between the speakers and walls. Three color versions of the speakers are available: white matt, black piano lacquer and a novelty in Audiovector’s offer – dark walnut natural veneer. Magnetically mounted grilles are also included.

The speakers perform best when they are facing a listener directly. Their tonal balance changes when they are moved to the rear wall, but not as much as in other speakers with bass-reflex systems. So, they are quite easy to set up. They should also be easy to drive because of their high sensitivity – 90 dB. Although their impedance is between 4 and 8 Ω, so we should probably think of 4 Ω and below, but experience shows that they will perform even with a small amplifier.
The speakers are placed on spikes (included), but you have to buy insulators. Let us not use just anything, but think of something decent. I used Acoustic Revive insulators.

It is, naturally, impossible, as we do not know each other that well, but I get the impression that Mads Klifoth’s and my way of thinking about sound have a lot in common. It came to my mind for the first time when I saw small QR1 bookshelf speakers powered by the powerful Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated amplifier at the High End 2016 exhibition in Munich. Owing to the enormous price difference between the two devices (costing, respectively, 4490 PLN and 53 999 PLN in Poland), the system was regarded as an oddity by most visitors.

However, it is sometimes similar in the case of “High Fidelity” readers who regularly ask me why I test speakers, e.g. the Russell K. RED 50 with a two-piece amplifier which costs 300,000 PLN (without cables). Well, for a really simple reason: I want to hear the given product the way it sounds, without being modified by the remaining elements of the system, to the extent this is possible. Mads was probably driven by the same goal and wanted to demonstrate what his speakers are really capable of.

There is one more thing which also makes me feel connected with Mads in an unexplainable way – the sound of the QR3 (and also the QR1) has features that I value and that I was searching for while working on the Emerald Touched by High Fidelity speakers. These are not the same speakers – not only do they look different, but also, ultimately, sound different. However, the main goal of the search is really similar.

The QR3 focus on the sound fill and tone. Their bass-midrange resolution is not high – we get larger sound planes rather than details, but treble differentiation is outstanding. We have been expecting that, haven’t we? AMTs (Air Motion Tweeters) are known for their excellent resolution. Even though they look like planar (ribbon) speakers at first sight, their sound is much denser and warmer, and that is why it is easier to integrate them with other drivers. When I see a ribbon speaker in an inexpensive product, I wonder what caused the constructors to place it there…

The metal membranes of the bass-midrange drivers might suggest an analytical musical message, but it is not so. They sound really similar to the AMT, nicely providing density and contributing to tangibility. This is what the QR3 sound like – they focus on the foreground and tangibility. They have excellently differentiated treble, which cannot be achieved for the same price with domes in speakers. The differences in tone, sound decay and attack are excellent with these speakers and represent features that are typical for the high-end.

The speaker sounds excellent with recordings that are well-made, but does not get lost with those that have been made for streaming services and to be used with small headphones connected to smartphones. While listening to Pet Shop Boys Super album, I got very well emphasized rhythm, nice pulsating bass and a clear vocal which was neither sharp nor glaringly brightened up – this is another feature of the QR3. There was no depth and the vocals were one-dimensional, but we are talking about a highly compressed recording with a limited range and speakers that are not very expensive.

The bass goes low and it is not uniform. It is differentiated depending on the recording and the instrument, without merging everything into a pleasant, perhaps, but also monotonous low-pitched “background music”. It is also necessary to know that although the bass is nicely filled and has good tone, it is also quickly suppressed at the very bottom of the range. These are not speakers designed to go as low as possible. Thanks to such an approach, the QR3 are highly effective and easy to drive, but they will neither surprise us with a sudden burst nor built up a powerful volume.

Comparing the QR3 with the RED 50 Russell K. speakers is especially instructive. The latter were meant to sound “big” and impress the listener, which was excellently accomplished by the constructor. The price we pay is lower sensitivity – we need a quite strong amplifier to drive the speakers and the sound as a whole is a little “tuned”. There is nothing wrong in it, but it is impossible to listen to them really loud because the magic is gone then. Subjectively, the QR3 neither go much lower nor build larger phantom images. The images are large, but not larger than those we get with the RED 50. What we get thanks to the size of the Audiovector speakers, their two bass-midrange drivers and a better tweeter, are: breath, relax and a lack of “pressure” somewhere at the back. We can also play music louder with them, without violating its coherence.

What do we not get is resolution at the bottom of the range and a deep look into the back of the sound stage. These are not speakers aimed at a spectacular presentation of sound planes behind the musicians right in front of us. The backgrounds are pulled up and function as part of the foreground which is robust, strong and full. The lowest bass is not strongly presented. It cannot be heard directly as the speakers sound natural and we neither hear compression nor get the impression of sound being compressed. Despite this, when I played recordings in which the bass is really low, the speakers suppressed its lowest range at a certain moment. I do not know whether this is important because most speakers will probably not notice this, anyway, without comparing the QR3 to large speakers, but I just want to make things clear.

Summary

The award for quality sound during the exhibition in Munich was not a coincidence. What I heard then in the Audiovector’s room was intensified and more audible in mine. Larger QR3 housings and two bass-midrange drivers brought the sound a level or two higher, towards saturation and richness. With these speakers, music will sound warm and nice, but also with excellently differentiated and distributive treble which is going to remain in a very good relationship with the rest of the range and will never get separated from it. Anyway, we will tend to listen to the treble more attentively than to the lower part of the range because it will let us discover a lot of information that we did not know before. RED Fingerprint.

The QR series is small and includes only two models: the QR1 bookshelf speakers and the QR3 floorstanders. It is the cheapest series of the Danish manufacturer but it is really well made – the speakers are nice and make use of an advanced technology.

The QR3 are two-and-half-way floorstanders with a bass-reflex housing. They are not particularly large (942 x 190 x 232 mm), but have good proportions emphasized by their rounded upper edges. They are available in a few color versions – white matt, glossy black and natural dark nut veneer. A black plinth is attached at the bottom of each speaker. Plinths usually serve to improve speaker stability thanks to being broader than the bottom panel. The plinth in the QR3 is almost as large as their bottom panel and has a different function – it regulates the distance between the bass-reflex port and the floor. It is because the rectangular bass-reflex port (called the “Q-port” by the manufacturer) is located at the bottom of the speaker. Spikes are attached to the plinth. The set does not include insulators and it is worth buying some really good ones.

The speakers, as Mads Klifoth says, are made by “the best (Danish) manufacturers” using parts designed and supplied to them by Audiovector. The housing is also manufactured outside the company and I guess it is made in China – it looks great. The cross-over frequency is 400 Hz/3 kHz. There is a special tweeter on the top – the AMT (Air Motion Tweeter). We wrote a lot about it in the test of the Kaiser Acoustics Kawero! Chiara so there is no need to repeat that.

Audiovector considers AMTs to be the best tweeters and uses them in the high-end versions of its speakers as the top upgrade. The version that we get with the QR series was designed specifically for these speakers. The front of the speaker is machined from thick, rigid, aerospace grade aluminum and there is a neodymium magnet driver. Metal parts are anodized in the “Tungsten Titanium Grey” color. A gold-plated mesh is placed in front of the membrane. As we can read in company materials, the aim was to control sibilants, just like in the case of POP filters used with microphones in the professional recording industry. Although POP filters mainly aim to minimize the so-called “pops” (strong “p” sounds) , they also reduce sibilants. The frequency range of the speaker (with a -3 dB drop) is up to 40 kHz, but emits sound up to 105 kHz. The manufacturer’s name of the tweeter is the “Gold Leaf AMT with S-stop”.

The bass-midrange drivers are also interesting. Designed by the Audiovector, they have a sandwich membrane consisting of three layers: two external aluminum layers and foamy damping material that connects them in between. There are no classic dust filters here as the membrane has no opening to place a coil. The coil is attached, using another patch of aluminum, to the back. Similar solutions, i.e. the sandwich membrane and the coil attached in the same way to the speaker, can also be found in speakers made by other manufacturers – for example, the British company Monitor Audio. The driver baskets are made of sheet metal and there are dual magnet drivers. The company claims that this allows the drivers to operate as pistons within a wide range, much higher than other drivers (manufacturer’s name: “Pure Piston”). So, milder filters can be used with them.

Talking about the crossover, let us say that it is attached to a small printed circuit board located behind the middle driver. It does not look complex, with air coils and a polypropylene capacitor. The interior of the housing is reinforced with rims and a little damped – especially in the top part, using felt and sponge. Bituminous patches are used at the bottom. One of them is placed on a large aluminum plate with single gold-plated speaker terminals.

It is worth repeating that these are very well-made speakers with advanced drivers that have no well-known logo but are very good.

Technical specifications (according to the manufacturer)

Frequency response: 30 – 45 000 Hz
Gold Leaf upper limit: 105 kHz
Sensitivity (2.83 V/1 m): 90 dB
Impedance: 4 – 8 Ω
Cross-over frequency: 400 Hz/3000 Hz
Power handling (music): 200 Watts (music)
Dimensions (H x W x D): 942 x 190 x 232 mm
Net weight per piece: 15.4 kg