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Thread: Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

  1. #51
    Join Date: Nov 2017

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

    Posts: 59
    I'm Rob.

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    Quote Originally Posted by steve-z View Post
    pulling them a couple of inches further from the back wall and adjusting the spikes to tilt the speakers slightly backwards to get the tweeter axis closer to ear level which has helped quite a bit, although I’m expecting they’ll improve more over the next few days.
    They will keep improving for a while tilting them backwards helped a lot for me too especially after adding the other stabilizers, I am wondering if a more powerful power-amp still improves the sound.
    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.

  2. #52
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Tube View Post
    They will keep improving for a while tilting them backwards helped a lot for me too especially after adding the other stabilizers, I am wondering if a more powerful power-amp still improves the sound.
    With the high efficiency I think extra power would be a bit of a waste, at my normal listening level I bet I barely deliver much more than an average of half a watt or so.To get the backward tilt I just used the rubber spike caps on the front spikes.
    If I could afford one I'd power them with a Quad VA1 valve amp which is just 15wpc, bet that would be a sweet combo.


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  3. #53
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    Earlier on today I thought I’d try the 3050s with the supplied foam port bungs. Results were not very good as although from upper bass upwards there was no change, mid to low bass was seriously curtailed making the speaker sound more like a small standmount.
    So I though back to a pair of speakers I owned in the early 1980s, the Meridian M3 actives, they were small active standmounts which had twin reflex ports, the interesting thing was that the ports were filled with what looked like small diameter plastic drinking straws I assume to partially resist the air flow in the port.
    So I decided to try the same idea with the 3050s, bought 2 party packs of drinking straws and cut them down to 4” in length, packed them tight to the inside of a roll of duct tape that happened to be the same diameter as the port, bound them together with tape and then pushed them into the ports leaving about an inch protruding. So what was the result ? a probable reduction in low bass output of 10-20% but with no loss of extension coupled to a degree of tightening on transients, so I think I may have struck gold at the first attempt as the result is exactly what I wanted, basically a way of curbing the room effect to a small degree without really losing anything, good result for an outlay of £1.


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    Last edited by steve-z; 12-01-2018 at 05:38.

  4. #54
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    Well I have just completed my first week of ownership of the QA 3050s and now they are fully broken in I have to say that I'm pretty delighted with them, I'd be very surprised if there's another speaker at the price which has the same wide spread of abilities. Yes, they have needed a bit of tweaking to suit the position I'm forced to have them in, not surprising really as they're designed for free space positioning and they're nothing like in free space. In fact in comparison to my Jordan Eikona 2 VTLs in my main system in the living room I must say the 3050s run them quite close, they're not as good as the Jordans but the margin is small particularly considering the Jordans are double the price it's a great result, the 3050s have the edge though with bass weight and punch which is to be expected.
    Having just read an interesting write up from the guys at QA about the benefits of bi-wiring that's going to be the next step.
    https://www.qacoustics.co.uk/blog/20...tion-benefits/


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    Last edited by steve-z; 19-01-2018 at 10:04.

  5. #55
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    The Audioquest 14/4 cable arrived this morning and is now hooked up to the 3050s. Initial impressions are certainly favourable, there seems to be a slight general improvement across the board. First thing that struck me was the music seemed smoother and easier to listen to, the treble seems cleaner in particular perhaps due, as measured in QAs tests by a reduction in IM distortion in the line to the tweeters, whatever, it sounds better to my ears, cymbals in particular sound really natural and with the right amount of decay.
    The bass end seems to have a little more grip and speed, so much so I may hold off on trying any further experiments with varying the resistivity in the ports, the extra control in the bass is very welcome particularly where I'm forced to have the speakers positioned as it's curbed the slight bass excess even more, £12 for the cable appears to have been money well spent


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    Last edited by steve-z; 19-01-2018 at 15:04.

  6. #56
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

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    Approaching 2 weeks of ownership of the QA3050s now and I'm continuing to enjoy them immensely. It has taken a bit of tweaking and fine tuning to get the balance of the bass right.
    Although my initial experiment with the drinking straws in the ports seemed to work out well extended listening revealed there was still a little too much at the low end which still needed to be corrected to get the balance right.
    Although on day 1 of ownership I had tried the supplied foam port bungs their effect had been rather too drastic and cut the bass level too much I decided to give them another try.
    This time the effect on the bass level was nothing like as drastic, previously I think the poor result was due to the drivers not being broken in to any degree, now they are the bungs are proving to be far more usable. With the bungs in about 2-2.5cms the bass level I think is now very close to ideal and the ultimate bass extension does not appear to have been affected, there's also a degree of tightening on transients.
    As they stand now the bass balance is not too far adrift from my Jordan VTLs, they have very slightly more bass than the Jordans, maybe 1-2db, close enough for it not to be a culture shock going from one to the other. It's taken a bit of work and patience to get them just right but the end result has been worth it. For the money they are absolute stunners imo.


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  7. #57
    Join Date: Nov 2017

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

    Posts: 59
    I'm Rob.

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    Nice to hear that I was not mistaken, i changed my cables to the van Damme cables, it took a while to get used too, but my 3050’s sound really great now, i soon have a week off, then i will test with the van damme for low and middle combined with the silver based cable fot the high tones. I prefer the van damme for low and middle the base is more tight and the sound is in general more plesant to listen too.
    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.

  8. #58
    Join Date: Nov 2017

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

    Posts: 59
    I'm Rob.

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    I have now biwired the 3050’s with van Damme for middle and low and Chord for the high tones, this is the ideal situation, a nice punchy base plenty of middle and a stunning high and you can listen for hours without fatigue. I am sticking with this configuration I think this is the ultimate that I can get out this system without braking the bank.
    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.

  9. #59
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

    Default Q Acoustics 3050 speaker

    Having been so happy with the 3050s in the bedroom setup I just couldn’t resist the temptation to try them downstairs in the living room today.
    Slight problem, due to the short cable lengths I’ve been using upstairs I couldn’t get them in the same position as my Jordan VTLs, so a little narrower spacing. I was hoping that driven by the Cambridge CXA60 and in a bigger room the SQ would be a little better, it wasn’t, it was a LOT better !! The changes have elevated it far more than I could have imagined. When I changed from the Yamaha AS501 to the CXA60 there was a noticeable improvement driving the VTLs, tighter bass and crisper transients, same effect with the 3050s, the slight mid/upper bass lift I got in the bedroom has gone, proving it to have been a room effect, the 3050s bass is now very even indeed in the larger living room and possibly a little more extended. In comparing the 3050s and the Jordan VTLs, the Jordans appear to be slightly more forward in the midrange, projecting vocals more, the 3050s are equally as detailed but with a “slightly” more laid back presentation, which is better or more correct I think is probably down to personal taste. Although both sets of speakers are a very enjoyable listening experience my very slight preference is for the 3050s mainly for their bass performance but also for their bit of added HF extension and sparkle. Appreciated at my age.
    Unfortunately it appears that my more expensive speakers are going to be consigned to the bedroom bit of a shocker really.
    The 3050s should sound even better when I get some longer lengths of 14/4 cable and can get them wider apart.


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    Last edited by steve-z; 13-02-2018 at 01:34.

  10. #60
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

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    Just thought I’d add this to the thread now I’ve had the 3050s in the main system in the living room for about a month now. Firstly I think my estimation of the speakers having being fully broken in after a week was definitely incorrect as they have continued to improve over the last few weeks and are now giving optimum SQ now.
    Their improvement has increased the gap in SQ between the 3050/Cambridge and the Jordan/Yamaha AS501 by an even larger margin to the point of the second being clearly and irritatingly inferior. As I know the Jordans sounded excellent when driven by the cxa60 I have to point an accusing finger at the Yamaha, because of this the Yamaha was sold a couple of days ago. I have thought about trying the Jordans with a Class D or Tripath amp, in fact I started another thread asking for users recommendations a couple of weeks ago, in fact I had the offer of an SMSL Q5 Pro on loan from Jerry (jandl100) which I’m hoping will arrive in the post today, should be interesting. Other than that there seem to be a lot of good reviews and reports on the Onkyo A9010 amp with positive comments about it lively dynamics and fine treble quality, as an improvement in treble is what I’m after it could well suit.


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