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Thread: Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

  1. #31
    Join Date: Feb 2014

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    I'm Andrew.

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    Low level isn't going to aid "burn in" as the drivers need to move some. Place them face to face wired out of phase and chuck a quilt or two over them to keep the noise down.
    Or just enjoy the journey.

  2. #32
    Join Date: Sep 2017

    Location: Northampton

    Posts: 177
    I'm Chris.

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    Quote Originally Posted by steve-z View Post
    Thanks for that Rob, I’ll make sure I don’t make too early a judgment on them, the break in time will no doubt be short as I’ll probably be playing them to death when I can once they’re set up. As they’ll probably be set up in the bedroom system first I’ll probably leave them running at low level on random play to accelerate the break in when I’m not actually doing any serious listening. Should be interesting.


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    If you want to use the out of phase method, have a look at this. https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/gbr/e...w-run-speakers

    I used this method myself with mono tracks so the drivers moved exactly the same. Don't crank them up too much at first - you are flexing the "spider" in the driver - it needs to loosen up - it is actually introducing little cracks to let it flex properly. The speakers will be relatively quiet because they will be out of phase anyway so don't get deceived with the volume they make when facing each other. They also get a bit warm (you can feel it if you put your hand gently in between the two speakers). Start off on a low volume and gradually notch it up. These cones do not move much even when really loaded, so don't be worried if you not see movement. My old Mordaunt Short drivers would be rattling around really a lot, but these speakers don't seem to. I made a CD with all sorts of music from quiet piano to Metallica. A couple of hours later they were connected up normally - but they still needed a week to fully come into their own.

    I erred on the side of caution with the volumes when breaking in and they sound great now, loud or soft. I now give em a workout regularly.

    In the demo we had at Richer Sounds I thought they were rubbish for the first 30 minutes. Those speakers were still in the shop months later, damaged and poked around on the dust covers (they were missing the magnetic cloth fronts too). At least they were christened properly - Malignant Narcissism by Rush.

    Richer Sounds was a 1 minute walk away from work but after seeing how they treat their ex-demo speakers I have my doubts about that particular branch, which shall remain nameless. They had some beautiful Tannoy xt8fs in there too which were similarly treated by the look of it.
    Last edited by Lerxst; 08-01-2018 at 23:38. Reason: clarity

  3. #33
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

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    Thanks for all the info on accelerated running in methods, although the face to face out of phase method seems logical I probably won't go that route and I'll just use them normally over a period of time. Every time I get new speakers the first thing I do is to run the subwoofer frequency sweep off YouTube to check how even the low end response is and check at what frequency the bass cuts off, played at a decent level that certainly gets the bass cones moving quite a bit. I've also got a Denon Test CD with lots of test tones, sample music and sound effects which are useful for giving speakers a good workout. Strange thing is the 2020i's sounded really good straight out of the box and I'd be hard pressed to say if, after 3 months or so use that they now sound any different to how they did at the start. Maybe the larger twin bass driver setup in the 3050 being less heavily driven for a given volume level the change with running in may be greater, the proof of the pudding as they say.


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  4. #34
    Join Date: Nov 2017

    Location: Dutch now living in Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom

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    I'm Rob.

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    Hi Steve,

    They surely have to run in, I just ran them in playing all kind of different music, I just swapped my chord cable for van Damme, I didn't have the chance to listen properly but the couple of songs I heard sounded good, hopefully I get the chance to listen a bit more tomorrow, but from what I heard untill now it is the good choice.
    Streaming music from macbook via usb, to a musical fidelity V90 dac, to a Nobsound ns-01P tube pre amp with jj ecc803s gold pin to poweramp arcam Alpha 8 power amp to Q Acoustics 3050 floor standers.
    Favourite music progressive rock.

  5. #35
    Join Date: Sep 2017

    Location: Northampton

    Posts: 177
    I'm Chris.

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    I am also checking out those banana plugs, Steve

  6. #36
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Tube View Post
    Hi Steve,

    They surely have to run in, I just ran them in playing all kind of different music, I just swapped my chord cable for van Damme, I didn't have the chance to listen properly but the couple of songs I heard sounded good, hopefully I get the chance to listen a bit more tomorrow, but from what I heard untill now it is the good choice.
    I’m beginning to think cables do make quite a difference sometimes not necessarily for the better, I recently changed to some thick 12AWG silver plated cable, having been using it for the last couple of months I’m of the opinion it has introduced a degree of distortion which makes certain music tracks almost unlistenable at any more than background music levels. Because of this I’ve ordered some Audioquest FLX SLiP 14/2 cable to replace it, reviews I’ve read comment on the very even tonal balance and a lack of any nasties, not expensive at £3.50/m. Interestingly there was no noticeable distortions with the 2020i’s, maybe the Jordans transparency due to the lack of a crossover shows it up more. If the cable change works it will be a cheap fix.
    Edit:-
    The new cable arrived earlier, fitted the bananas and had a brief listen before having to go out.
    Initial impressions are positive, distortions previously noticed appear to be absent but will have to do some extended listening with different material before I can say definitively if it’s done what I need it to.

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    Last edited by steve-z; 09-01-2018 at 15:31.

  7. #37
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    I've found silver plated stranded speaker cables can add an unpleasant coarseness and brightness. For instance, QED SA sounded awful no matter what I tried it with. You should be safe with Audioquest, they make nice cables.

  8. #38
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    Well I’ve had a few hours listening this evening since connecting up with the Audioquest cable and I’m pleased to report the roughness and distortions I’ve been hearing since using the silver plated cable are now a thing of the past, everything I’ve listened to this evening has been silky smooth and natural sounding and most importantly totally fatigue free, obviously silver adds something which causes a degree of degradation to the sound, pure oxygen free copper is obviously best.
    Having lost a bit of cross sectional area there has been a very slight loss of bass weight but nothing drastic, I think due to what the silver was doing I’m now hearing a much more natural decay of cymbals where before they sounded rather splashy and smeared, all together more natural and “right” sounding. Definitely have got the results I wanted and for just a few pounds. Makes me wonder if it would be worth getting some of the 14/4 cable and bi wiring the 3050s which are due to arrive tomorrow


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    Last edited by steve-z; 10-01-2018 at 09:04.

  9. #39
    Join Date: Nov 2017

    Location: Dutch now living in Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom

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    I'm Rob.

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    Quote Originally Posted by steve-z View Post
    Well I’ve had a few hours listening this evening since connecting up with the Audioquest cable and I’m pleased to report the roughness and distortions I’ve been hearing since using the silver plated cable are now a thing of the past, everything I’ve listened to this evening has been silky smooth and natural sounding and most importantly totally fatigue free, obviously silver adds something which causes a degree of degradation to the sound, pure oxygen free copper is obviously best.
    Having lost a bit of cross sectional area there has been a very slight loss of bass weight but nothing drastic, I think due to what the silver was doing I’m now hearing a much more natural decay of cymbals where before they sounded rather splashy and smeared, all together more natural and “right” sounding. Definitely have got the results I wanted and for just a few pounds. Makes me wonder if it would be worth getting some of the 14/4 cable and bi wiring the 3050s which are due to arrive tomorrow


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    Hi Steve,

    I changed my cabling now too the van Damme, it took me a while to get used to it, but I really start to like it now the bass is more direct, the previous cables were also silver based and i have the same findings as you. I an very interested in your findings about the 3050’s as one off this forum was finding these speakers the weakest link, but I am personally very pleasantly surprised with them, as I can only afford a budget system at the moment and I think it does a very good job.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Streaming music from macbook via usb, to a musical fidelity V90 dac, to a Nobsound ns-01P tube pre amp with jj ecc803s gold pin to poweramp arcam Alpha 8 power amp to Q Acoustics 3050 floor standers.
    Favourite music progressive rock.

  10. #40
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Tube View Post
    Hi Steve,

    I changed my cabling now too the van Damme, it took me a while to get used to it, but I really start to like it now the bass is more direct, the previous cables were also silver based and i have the same findings as you. I an very interested in your findings about the 3050’s as one off this forum was finding these speakers the weakest link, but I am personally very pleasantly surprised with them, as I can only afford a budget system at the moment and I think it does a very good job.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    As the only experience I’ve had of Q Acoustics so far has been the 2020i I have to say for such a cheap speaker I was astonished how good they were. Some time back at a friends house I auditioned a pair of well regarded active compact stand mounts which retail for £1000 and tbh the 2020i’s outperform them at less than 10% of the price. It will be interesting to see how the 3050s perform, at least I do have a pair of comparable sized speakers, the Jordan Eikona 2 VTLs as a reference, I don’t expect the 3050s to be as good as the Jordans but it’s how close they can get to them for a much lower price, fully built and finished VTLs being £900-£1000 depending on finish. Bought mine as fully built but unfinished to keep the cost down and then painted them myself.
    From Martin Colloms review of the 3050s he noted how improving the amplifier was shown up by the speakers which ultimately means the better the amp the better they’re going to sound. The same is true of the Jordans, initially I drove them with the Yamaha AS501 which is a good amp, but they went to another level when I got the Cambridge CXA60.
    Will run the 3050s single wired initially and then try bi wiring at a later date if I feel the need.


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