Command Performance AV, Qln, The Gryphon, J. Sikora, Doshi, Innuos, GigaWatt, Swisscables, Well Pleased AV

Command Performance AV put forth one of the better exhibits at Capital Audio Fest 2021, featuring products from Qln, The Gryphon, J. Sikora, Doshi, Innuos, GigaWatt, Swisscables, with a little help from their friends at Well Pleased Audio Vida.

The Story

The North American debut of Qln’s Prestige Five loudspeaker has been long awaited. Our own Dave McNair recently reviewed (linked here) the new loudspeaker that builds on the award winning Qln Prestige Three that we also reviewed (linked here) in 2020.

Dave McNair had this to say about the new Prestige Five: “The Prestige Five, with a base price of $17,500/pair, is described by Qln as a 2.5-way design, which is shorthand for saying it’s basically a 2-way with an added bass driver for the lowest frequencies. So it’s like a P3 with more bass? Not quite. Although it definitely has more bass. Lots more bass!”

If you read (red) Dave’s review you likely found out what he was alluding to with the “Not quite.” line.

What Dave and myself found out is that the new Prestige Five builds on the successful Prestige Three in more ways that just increasing bass output by adding a woofer and making the cabinet a little bigger. What else is gained? Well, starting with the cabinet getting larger there is now more room for backwave control for all drivers. Secondly, the crossover components are now more complex, and thus allows the mid-woofer to open up with added lower reinforcement duties being shared. In short it’s just better top to bottom.

Capital Audio Fest ModWright — Capital Audio Fest 2021 Show Coverage powered by ModWright Instruments Inc.

When it comes to 100 lb turntables, the J. Sikora Initial Max Line is on my personal short list of “Whoa nelly!” turntables. The Initial Max Line is the maximum development of the Initial line series of turntables. Featuring twin motors and twin tonearm armboards, a clamp, a glass mat, a HQ PSU, and an extra 40 lb plinth — all included. Built using notable materials that such as aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and derlin — there isn’t much left on the chef’s board for adding to this delicious dish of a spinner.

The Sound

As far audio show exhibits go, it’s Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV who is well known for his center-to-corner speaker placement. And I must admit, it worked wonders here at CAF 2021. The new Prestige Five is a bass monster. Capable of driving just about any room you can domestically imagine. With that, the exhibit space at Rockville Hilton did seem rather small considering what we know of the P5’s ability to play large.

Was the room overloaded? Nope.

Plugging the bass ports on the back of the P5’s is an option Dave and I have explored, but with Sossa’s speaker placement he was able to tame the bass output and furthermore deliver one of the deepest sound-stages of the show. Period.

As many showgoers would agree, this was one of this years favourite rooms.