The Prince III Electrostatic

I first heard the King Audio Limited (also known as KingSound) Prince electrostatic loudspeaker several years ago at the Montreal show, and was impressed by the transparency of its sound, which reminded me of the KLH Nines that I used to own. I've heard it, as well as the higher-end King model, several times since then, but my impressions have been variable. I remember one time at T.H.E. Show at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, which had the Kings at one end of a large room and the Prince at the other, a setup that did neither speaker any favors.

But the Prince, which has evolved into the Prince III ($9995/pair), came into its own at CES 2015. Carefully set up by Roger DuNaier, in a system comprising of Hegel electronics, Sound Science music server, and Kubala-Sosna cables, in a moderately-sized room, the Prince III had a lovely, utterly natural sound—and more bass than I remember from the KLH Nines.

COMMENTS
bwright's picture

I attended CES this year, and just searched your website to see if anyone at Stereophile had covered this room! I wandered into the KingSound suite almost by accident, and have never been too impressed by ESL technology in the past. Generally I have found them too dependent on listener location, with uneven sound quality and poor bass. But I was shocked at the realism, transparency and bass the Prince lll speakers exhibited - and the Hegel amplification was a perfect match. This was the first time I heard an ESL loudspeaker that I'd actually like to own, and feel this system was a best of show contender.

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