View Full Version : Q Acoustics 3050 speaker
For the last few months I’ve been using a very inexpensive pair of speakers the Q Acoustics 2020i in a second tier system in the bedroom and have been quite astonished what good sound quality I’ve been getting from them, driven by a Yamaha AS501 amp. These speakers were recommended highly by a friend and at the price seemed like a no brainer buy. This is only QA speaker I’ve ever heard but checking out the rest of the QA range I came across the 3050 floorstanders which seem to be fantastic value at £389 from Richer Sounds, on investigating further they seem to have garnered a string of very positive reviews. I was wondering if there are any 3050 owners on the forum that could give some first hand insight as to how these speakers perform, particularly with regard to whether or not they are very critical of room positioning. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Rob Tube
04-01-2018, 16:28
Hi Steve, I have the Q Acoustics 3050 speakers, I find that they are critical to the placement but that is nearly every speaker.
I a quite satisfied with the 3080's when my friend Chris (Lerxt) heard the speakers he bought them too.
For the price you get a lot for your money, I use a valve pre-amp and a Arcam Alpha 8 power amp and I am quit happy with the system, I found it aslo extremely important to have goot interconnects and speaker leads, I just ordered van Damme speaker cable to get a bit warmer sound , but I am very happy with the speakers they have good build quality too.
Hi Steve, I have the Q Acoustics 3050 speakers, I find that they are critical to the placement but that is nearly every speaker.
I a quite satisfied with the 3080's when my friend Chris (Lerxt) heard the speakers he bought them too.
For the price you get a lot for your money, I use a valve pre-amp and a Arcam Alpha 8 power amp and I am quit happy with the system, I found it aslo extremely important to have goot interconnects and speaker leads, I just ordered van Damme speaker cable to get a bit warmer sound , but I am very happy with the speakers they have good build quality too.
Thanks for the reply Rob, I’d be interested to know what dimensions your room has and what you find is the optimum position particularly with regard to room boundaries ? Also do you use the port bungs ?
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Rob Tube
04-01-2018, 17:14
Thanks for the reply Rob, I’d be interested to know what dimensions your room has and what you find is the optimum position particularly with regard to room boundaries ? Also do you use the port bungs ?
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Hi Steve my room is about 4 by 6 meters, my setup is not ideal as it is the living room i have the speakers about 25 centimetres from the wall slightly directed inwards but i think that the setup will be different for each room, Chris has a slight different setup. I never used the port bungs. The speakers come with a stabiliser that is setup at the front, but they are not very stable, i ordered a second set, but found they sound better if you adjust the spikes so they lean a bit backwards.
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The speakers come with a stabiliser that is setup at the front, but they are not very stable, i ordered a second set, but found they sound better if you adjust the spikes so they lean a bit backwards.
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From the photos I’ve seen the outrigger stabiliser is at the back of the speaker base, is it interchangeable and can go on the front ?
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Rob Tube
04-01-2018, 18:04
Yes it can go both sides, so I have one at the back an one at the front this wat they are extremely stable, and my spikes set at maximum hight at the front and minimum at the back.
Yes it can go both sides, so I have one at the back an one at the front this wat they are extremely stable, and my spikes set at maximum hight at the front and minimum at the back.
Sounds like a good idea, how much were the extra ones ?
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Rob Tube
04-01-2018, 20:21
Sounds like a good idea, how much were the extra ones ?
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It is a while ago, I think it was £16 or something, it won’t break the bank
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It is a while ago, I think it was £16 or something, it won’t break the bank
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I think they would probably be a good investment as my living room floor is a bit uneven, in fact with my home brewed Jordan VTLs I replaced the rectangular base with a much larger circular one and used 3 spikes which allowed for easier levelling and better stability.
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Hi Steve,
I am pleased with mine too - for the price they are very good. One of mine broke a tweeter after 7 months though, but it was replaced under warranty. The connections at the rear are a bit fiddly too and don't like any of the banana plugs I have tried - they just fall out. I have run them bi-wired but now I don't bother as I can't hear the difference. I think Rob is bi-wiring and experimenting with different cables for hi and low.
I have mine about 25 cm away from the wall and toed in a bit - I didn't get a good soundstage otherwise (my amp's soundstage is not its strongest point). About 2.5 meters apart and a little further away to where I sit.
They are easy to drive and sound Ok when at low volume too. My room is about 6 x 5 m with thick carpet, curtains, sofa and bare plasterboard walls which does get boomy corners at certain frequencies. Not much else. I don't have to use the supplied bungs for the single rear vent.
I would say they are a tiny bit bright, nice mid-detail, a little clinical but quite nice authoritative lower end. When driven hard they don't seem to go flakey. I have run them with a bright amp though and it was awful. So, if you have a neutral-sounding amp you will be OK.
I paid about £550 so for £389 they are even better. I didn't like only the one stabiliser on each speaker so have two on each - the holes all match up, same screws. I only got that idea when I had to send the first set back - DPD had really smashed them up in transit, but I kept the first pair's stabilisers. So mine were free.
I have a concrete floor. They seem to stand solidly enough. Construction is chipboard covered in a (nice) laminate. A heavier construction would have been nice but for the price you can't expect everything.
They are quite tall at 1 meter, but that puts the drivers right at ear-level for me.
Hi Steve,
I am pleased with mine too - for the price they are very good. One of mine broke a tweeter after 7 months though, but it was replaced under warranty. The connections at the rear are a bit fiddly too and don't like any of the banana plugs I have tried - they just fall out. I have run them bi-wired but now I don't bother as I can't hear the difference. I think Rob is bi-wiring and experimenting with different cables for hi and low.
I have mine about 25 cm away from the wall and toed in a bit - I didn't get a good soundstage otherwise (my amp's soundstage is not its strongest point). About 2.5 meters apart and a little further away to where I sit.
They are easy to drive and sound Ok when at low volume too. My room is about 6 x 5 m with thick carpet, curtains, sofa and bare plasterboard walls which does get boomy corners at certain frequencies. Not much else. I don't have to use the supplied bungs for the single rear vent.
I would say they are a tiny bit bright, nice mid-detail, a little clinical but quite nice authoritative lower end. When driven hard they don't seem to go flakey. I have run them with a bright amp though and it was awful. So, if you have a neutral-sounding amp you will be OK.
I paid about £550 so for £389 they are even better. I didn't like only the one stabiliser on each speaker so have two on each - the holes all match up, same screws. I only got that idea when I had to send the first set back - DPD had really smashed them up in transit, but I kept the first pair's stabilisers. So mine were free.
I have a concrete floor. They seem to stand solidly enough. Construction is chipboard covered in a (nice) laminate. A heavier construction would have been nice but for the price you can't expect everything.
They are quite tall at 1 meter, but that puts the drivers right at ear-level for me.
Although my room is rather smaller at 4x4.2m it has very high ceilings so there’s a fair volume, there’s also additionally a bay window which the speakers back onto, the speakers are just forward of the 90 degree angle of the wall into the bay, so they don’t really get any reinforcement from it. The amp in the living room is a Cambridge CXA60, the one in the bedroom is a Yamaha AS501 both of them I think are pretty neutral in tonal balance. Which room the 3050s will end up in depends on how they compare to my Jordan Eikona 2 VTLs, quite a tough act to follow particularly as the Jordan’s are a considerably more expensive speaker. The thing I like when comparing the Jordan’s to the 2020i is that the QAs seem to handle less than perfect recordings better than the VTLs which tend to be ruthlessly revealing of such recordings and make them less enjoyable to listen to.
I’ve always thought using a single run of good thick stranded cable was preferable to bi wiring, I use 19/0.45mm 12AWG Teflon coated silver plated copper wire at £3/m for single run cable, it’s a bit inflexible but workable, I keep the wire pairs together with heat shrink and terminate them with Fisual right angle banana plugs which are excellent.
According to QA the sonic signature through their range of speakers is the same in the midrange and treble with differences just being in the amount of bass weight and extension with the larger drivers and cabinets. I certainly don’t find the 2020i to be bright and would hope the 3050 would be similar.
Did QA give any indication as to what caused your tweeter failure ?
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I only said a tiny bit bright - I changed cables recently though and now they are not bright at all. You might find your silver-plated cables enhance the tendency to brightness though - from what I hear. I was using Chord C-series and moved to Van Damme Blue (which someone on here recommended for "warmth").
I have used a CXA60 with them with good results.
QA gave no reason other than it was broken and replaced. If you google it there are no stories of QAs having a tweeter problem, so I assume my speaker just had a bad unit. If anything else happens they are going back though.
Funny you mention the ruthlessness of your VTLs with less-than-perfect recordings. I have found the opposite with the QAs as well. In fact my old CD collection got new life. I never liked U2, ELO or old Van Halen recordings much, for example, but now I find them OK. I don't know the VTLs at all however.
QA is right about the bass weight and extension - my jaw still drops with certain recordings. If you want to come down and have a listen let me know. I still have the CXA60.
I only said a tiny bit bright - I changed cables recently though and now they are not bright at all. You might find your silver-plated cables enhance the tendency to brightness though - from what I hear. I was using Chord C-series and moved to Van Damme Blue (which someone on here recommended for "warmth").
I have used a CXA60 with them with good results.
QA gave no reason other than it was broken and replaced. If you google it there are no stories of QAs having a tweeter problem, so I assume my speaker just had a bad unit. If anything else happens they are going back though.
Funny you mention the ruthlessness of your VTLs with less-than-perfect recordings. I have found the opposite with the QAs as well. In fact my old CD collection got new life. I never liked U2, ELO or old Van Halen recordings much, for example, but now I find them OK. I don't know the VTLs at all however.
QA is right about the bass weight and extension - my jaw still drops with certain recordings. If you want to come down and have a listen let me know. I still have the CXA60.
Certainly the listen ability of the 2020i with older recordings is one of their plus points for sure, being an old timer I have a lot of stuff from 60's 70's and 80's, they're all in the iTunes library on my Macmini as lossless files that being my main digital source.
Surprisingly the silver plated cables don't increase brightness and I use them all the way from amp to drive unit in the Jordans, with the Eikona being full range there is no crossover between amp and driver.
When I changed the cable I hoped it would be a bit brighter but the main thing it improved was grip in the bass. Thanks for the offer of an audition, a possibility if I'm not too far away, where are you located ?
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Rob Tube
05-01-2018, 09:57
Hi Steve, I stream via usb to an external dac via Audirvana I find that gives a better quality that streaming via the apple tv, but I also stram 24 bits files and the apple tv smaples that down ti 16 bits.
Hi Steve, I stream via usb to an external dac via Audirvana I find that gives a better quality that streaming via the apple tv, but I also stram 24 bits files and the apple tv smaples that down ti 16 bits.
I used to use an external DAC the Cambridge Dacmagic + but I sold it when I got the CXA60 to cut down on the box and cable count, I find the onboard DAC just as good sound wise, I use optical connection from the Macmini. I have an iMac as source in the bedroom setup and use the DAC in the AS501.
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Seems an odd thread for this area of the forum.
walpurgis
05-01-2018, 10:47
Seems an odd thread for this area of the forum.
Quite so. Moved to Blank Canvas.
Rob Tube
05-01-2018, 12:12
I am streaming music via usb, to a musical fidelity V90 dac, to a Nobsound ns-01P tube pre amp and then to a arcam Alpha 8 power amp.
Quite so. Moved to Blank Canvas.
Lol. Where was it then?
walpurgis
05-01-2018, 14:59
Lol. Where was it then?
In Analogue Art for some mysterious reason! :)
well they are analogue in a way;)
My apologies, being a newbie I'm a bit unsure about what should go where on the forum, no doubt I'll get used to it eventually.
Checked out the extra stabilisers with QA, they quoted £15 each but they didn't say if that included postage or not.
Did an AB test this afternoon with my QA 2020i and my Jordan Eikona 2 VTLs, the comparison was interesting but didn't throw up any surprises, one thing it did confirm is what excellent sound per pound you get with the QAs, considering the 10x price differential the SQ is certainly in the same ball park. With the QAs there is a slight but obvious tilt towards HF and a lack of low end weight and extension compared to the Jordans which is to be expected, I also noticed a slight clouding in the midrange with the QAs which might to some degree explain their better handling of less than perfect recordings, I get the feeling this could be a crossover effect, the Jordans lack of a crossover being beneficial here to improve transparency. The other possibility is it could be a cabinet effect and perhaps the reason for the development of the Concept 20's high tech cabinet design.
It will be interesting to audition the 3050s in the near future and perhaps the Concept 20's as well, the latter could be a lower cost option if I can't quite run to the cost of the 3050s.
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As noted above, the Q binding posts seem to be very critical of banana plugs.
I have a pair of Q2050i's which at first had problems with my fancy goldplated plugs.
They seemed to drop out at the slightest provocation...as the posts are located under the speakers this was a mayor hassle.
Good idea in the showroom but God what a bind during setup...especially if you elect to use the spikes, which REALLY tighten up the bottom end.
I resolved this issue with shorter plugs from maplins, didn't even know they existed....a nice tight fit.....oh missus etc.
Rob Tube
06-01-2018, 17:20
I just used the Wire clamp on the 3050's works fine.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4x-Right-Angle-Gold-4mm-Banana-Plug-Audio-Speaker-Cable-Connector-Screw-Type-UK/282324542406?epid=874504328&hash=item41bbdaa3c6:g:4X0AAOSwv0tVf5p2
Try these that I use, never had one fall out yet, in fact you have to pull hard to get them out.
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I just put mine on a brick and hit them lightly with a hammer until the sides splayed out a bit - not as tight as I like though (fnaaaar).
Rob Tube
07-01-2018, 10:46
My apologies, being a newbie I'm a bit unsure about what should go where on the forum, no doubt I'll get used to it eventually.
Checked out the extra stabilisers with QA, they quoted £15 each but they didn't say if that included postage or not.
Did an AB test this afternoon with my QA 2020i and my Jordan Eikona 2 VTLs, the comparison was interesting but didn't throw up any surprises, one thing it did confirm is what excellent sound per pound you get with the QAs, considering the 10x price differential the SQ is certainly in the same ball park. With the QAs there is a slight but obvious tilt towards HF and a lack of low end weight and extension compared to the Jordans which is to be expected, I also noticed a slight clouding in the midrange with the QAs which might to some degree explain their better handling of less than perfect recordings, I get the feeling this could be a crossover effect, the Jordans lack of a crossover being beneficial here to improve transparency. The other possibility is it could be a cabinet effect and perhaps the reason for the development of the Concept 20's high tech cabinet design.
It will be interesting to audition the 3050s in the near future and perhaps the Concept 20's as well, the latter could be a lower cost option if I can't quite run to the cost of the 3050s.
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I had a problem with the warmth of the sound but I am listening now after I adjusted the spikes but the sound is brilliant I also changed my maplins 5 meter usb cable for a one meter QED performance audio a to b graphite cable, and I can’t imagine what the van Damme cable is going to do, some of the people here find the Q Acoustics a weak link but for a budget speaker it does a hell of a job.
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I’ve finally decided to bite the bullet and I’ve ordered a pair of the QA 3050s, called up my local Richer Sounds only to be told they have no stock and could not give me a definitive answer as to when they’re getting some in, so I did an internet search and found another supplier selling them at the same price with free next day delivery so I’ve ordered a pair in the American Walnut finish. My order went in too late today for delivery tomorrow so they’re coming on Wednesday. Will see how I get on with the standard base spike setup before I decide whether to buy the extra outriggers for the front of the speakers. Wonder if any of the other owners who have contributed to the thread can advise if their speakers had any noticeable break in period and if so roughly how long was it, or are they spot on straight out of the box ?
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Rob Tube
08-01-2018, 16:53
Hi Steve they are not spot on straight out of the box, when we went to Richer sounds we were disappointed in the first place they promised us to run them in but they were straight out the box no stabilizers, after we changed the placing a bit they started to sound better, after an hour they sounded okay, but when I had them at home they started to sound really good after a day or three, depending on how much you listen to them.
Hi Steve they are not spot on straight out of the box, when we went to Richer sounds we were disappointed in the first place they promised us to run them in but they were straight out the box no stabilizers, after we changed the placing a bit they started to sound better, after an hour they sounded okay, but when I had them at home they started to sound really good after a day or three, depending on how much you listen to them.
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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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.
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/en/blog/how-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.
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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Rob Tube
09-01-2018, 09:14
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 am also checking out those banana plugs, Steve
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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walpurgis
09-01-2018, 15:52
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.
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 [emoji846]
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Rob Tube
10-01-2018, 11:11
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 [emoji846]
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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.
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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.
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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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The 3050s arrived at lunchtime today and are now setup in the bedroom, I’m certainly glad they came in separate boxes as it was a hard enough job getting one up the stairs.
As expected, from other users comments, they didn’t sound good straight out of the box, rather thick and bloated would be the best description. Thankfully that was short lived and by the time an hour had passed they were already starting to sound very good.
For someone like myself who has never owned a large floor stander with multiple drive units the 3050s are a bit of a culture shock, although the bass on my Jordans is tight, fast and extended there is no way it can match the punch of the 3050s twin bass drivers which can just shift so much air at low frequencies so effortlessly.
One of the first test tracks I played was the theme tune from Twin Peaks by Angelo Badalamenti, the melody is played quite forcefully on electric bass guitar, to my amazement I noticed that there was a low level kick drum underlying the bass guitar, none of my previous speakers ever managed to pick that kick drum out, impressive !! They aren’t just about the bass as the midband and treble aren’t too shabby either, although as expected the 3050s can’t match the midband transparency of my Jordans, but then again very few speakers can. The treble is sweet and clean and not overly prominent.
Being out of the house for the rest of the day till late I’ve left the 3050s playing on shuffle play to help run them in a bit more so no doubt they could sound better when I next have a listen. Just as a matter of interest the low frequency sweep test shows the 3050s bass cutoff in my room is at about 35hz which I think is low enough to satisfy most bass heads.
I think for the money they have to be classed as a bargain, I’m happy [emoji4]
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Glad about it. They get sweeter over time too. The tip you gave about those banana plugs was great: perfect for the job. Cheers - and happy listening!
Rob Tube
10-01-2018, 18:59
I am happy with that comment, I was not sure where we exactly stood with the quality, my previous speakers were Magnat all ribbon 8's they were about 30 years old, we saw the advert and the reviews and by impulse we went to Richer sounds, where we listened to them and I ordered them, sometime it is just time to treat your self, but I don't really know how these speakers compare to the more expensive ones. Chris and me went to the Bristol audio show and we listened to a lot of different systems and I think our systems wouldn't sound bad in comparison to a lot of speakers there, of cause there were way better speakers, but they had a much higher price tag.
I am happy with that comment, I was not sure where we exactly stood with the quality, my previous speakers were Magnat all ribbon 8's they were about 30 years old, we saw the advert and the reviews and by impulse we went to Richer sounds, where we listened to them and I ordered them, sometime it is just time to treat your self, but I don't really know how these speakers compare to the more expensive ones. Chris and me went to the Bristol audio show and we listened to a lot of different systems and I think our systems wouldn't sound bad in comparison to a lot of speakers there, of cause there were way better speakers, but they had a much higher price tag.
I think over the last 10 years or so the gap in quality between speakers below £300 and those at close to £1k has narrowed considerably, competition is fierce in the lower market sector and companies like Q Acoustics have really upped the ante as to what sort of sound quality can be achieved without having to spend much money. Older companies with products in the same market sector have been caught with their pants down somewhat by being too complacent and not pushing forward with product development, QA have worked on the premise of market share being more important than profit per unit sold, and it’s worked well for them, particularly as their product development is second to none atm. When you look at the 3050s you’re getting a hell of a lot of speaker for the money. Back in the 1980s I had a pair of Mission 753s, which were a similar size to the 3050s, back then they cost £599, equating that to moneys value today it’s probably equivalent to £2500-£3000 and the drivers in them were dirt cheap.
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Glad about it. They get sweeter over time too. The tip you gave about those banana plugs was great: perfect for the job. Cheers - and happy listening!
I thought you’d find those bananas would do the trick, those are the best I’ve found, must admit I find 90 degree plugs a lot more convenient and tidier particularly if using fairly stiff cables. Will need to order some more if I intend to try bi wiring the QA 3050s.
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walpurgis
11-01-2018, 15:05
I favour 'Z' plugs, as per Nordost. They have excellent contact with sockets and can be opened out or closed a bit if need be to make a snug fit.
http://i66.tinypic.com/2wm4d5h.jpg
basslover
11-01-2018, 16:10
Steve how do they compare to your ADMs ?
Steve how do they compare to your ADMs ?
My ADM9s were sold on when I got the Jordan VTLs about a year ago, although I had the ADM9s for 10 years thinking they had no peers it was an eye opener when I found something so much better and realised I’d been deluded for so long.
Listening to them when I’d started using the Jordans really showed them up to be very mid prominent and quite bland with no real bass so they were promptly sold on.
As to the 3050s they are still breaking in and improving almost hour to hour, the bass is considerably tighter today than yesterday and the overall balance is becoming more open and even, I have done a bit of fine tuning of position today 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. Small stands mounts just can’t compete with these.
I’m assuming from your question that you know me from a certain other forum ?
What was your username on there ?
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basslover
11-01-2018, 18:38
Yes, I posted on HDD as pianoman and nearly bought your 9s (I think..) some years ago as i'm just in Huddersfield, but couldn't decide if they were for me - the 3050s look a real proposition for me as a reasonable size floor stander is what I'm really after. Would a Cyrus 8 (70wpc) drive them ?
Yes, I posted on HDD as pianoman and nearly bought your 9s (I think..) some years ago as i'm just in Huddersfield, but couldn't decide if they were for me - the 3050s look a real proposition for me as a reasonable size floor stander is what I'm really after. Would a Cyrus 8 (70wpc) drive them ?
The 3050s are 92db/w so anything from 10-15 watts will get them to decent levels, your Cyrus should be fine. You get a lot for your money with the 3050s but unless you’ve got a big car or a van get them delivered, the boxes are massive.
If you’ve not done it already check out Martin Colloms review on Hifi Critic, you can get a link from the Q Acoustics website, it’s very in depth and informative, even as they stand at the moment I’d recommend them but I’ve no doubt there’s more to come from them.
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Rob Tube
11-01-2018, 19:41
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.
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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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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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/2016/06/08/bi-wiring-speakers-exploration-benefits/
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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 [emoji846]
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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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Rob Tube
27-01-2018, 09:09
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.
Rob Tube
10-02-2018, 08:53
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.
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 [emoji47] 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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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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Just to round the thread up, I finished up getting an Amptastic Mini 1 which I’ve found outperforms the Yamaha AS501 by a considerable margin, obviously within it lower power envelope but for a second system it’s certainly enough. Although a good overall improvement I still found the treble a little lacking so I installed the AU Lab software on my Mac which allowed me to add a bit of necessary EQ to get the balance right. The Jordan’s now sound excellent particularly with the addition of the Xiang Sheng DAC 01 which has upped the performance even more, hopefully that’s the last of the spending now [emoji6]
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I just thought I’d add a little to this old thread I started rather than starting a new one. Since the last post quite a lot has changed, firstly I finished up selling the Jordan VTLs and replaced them with Q Acoustics Concept 20s. Because of ongoing problems with multiple faults on the Xiang Sheng DAC I decided to sell the Amptastic Mini and get a combined DAC/amp, I bought the very reasonably priced SMSL AD18 which has proved to be a bit of a revelation.
It amazes me that something so inexpensive and small can pack in so much, optical digital, Bluetooth and USB as well as an analogue input, even a subwoofer output and DSP EQ presets as well as conventional tone controls, and of course remote control. The 80w/4ohms is not too shabby either, all that for £120, a real bargain that sounds excellent.
After having the Concept 20s in use with it in the bedroom for several weeks it became obvious that in many ways they were superior to the 3050s in the main setup so they were transferred downstairs where they have been in use for almost 2 months now. In the living room without a rear wall for bass enhancement the bottom end is obviously no match for the 3050s but in every other area they’re a cut above and what bass there is, is faster and better textured if lacking ultimate weight and extension. After procrastinating for a while I decided to sell the 3050s, their new owner collected them yesterday enabling me to put in an order for their replacements which will be arriving on Monday. Because of my love affair with the Concept 20s, the 3050s replacement could only be the Concept 40 floor standers. I’ve no doubt the Concept 40s will give me the improvement in the bass that I’m after with all the same positive qualities that I’ve been enjoying with the Concept 20s for the last couple of months, I certainly hope this will be the last speaker change, particularly going a bit more upmarket and paying the thick end of £1k for them. Once I’ve had them up and running for a while and given them a decent break in time I’ll report back.
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Q Acoustics Concept 40s arrived this morning, normally I’d reserve judgement until they’d had plenty of break in time as my 3050s had.
Thing is the 40s were pretty stunning straight out of the box, now after 9 hours of continuous music play any difference from first playing is pretty tiny, maybe the bass is just a tad more taut after 9 hours but I wouldn’t swear to it. Having had a 2 month love affair with the Concept 20s I pretty well expected Concept 20 mids and highs and just more bass with the 40s, in all honesty I’d have been more than happy with that, but that would be selling the 40s short, the whole spectrum from top to bottom is better with the 40s, considering the same tweeter is used in both the 40s seem to have a little more treble than the 20s, that’s a plus in my book for someone my age (66 next month), they seem to have a bigger soundstage and more of a see through quality, the transient sharpness is probably the best I’ve ever heard, these things love electronica, played Homework by Daft Punk and the level of attack was staggering.
They aren’t all attack, they do subtle beautifully as well rendering low level details extremely well.
One or two reviews I read said they thought they were a little too laid back, makes me wonder what amp they used (they’re certainly not laid back with the CXA60)and if they bothered to make the effort to bi-wire them, probably not the latter, even though it really is worth doing.
Very positive start for the 40s then, makes me wonder if there’s more to come, maybe.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181008/204b8a208d23d33baf2cca75b06d9861.jpg
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Just coming up to a month of ownership of the Concept 40s. Although In the first few days I didn’t think they appeared to change very much they are now (I believe) fully broken in and have improved noticeably from the very good level of SQ that they had straight out of the box to an altogether higher level, the main change has been in tightness of the bass and bass weight. I’ve struggled with bass boom problems before in my living room with lots of different speakers, with regard to this I can say without doubt the Concept 40s produce the best bass balance and control I’ve ever heard in my living room and good though the 3050s were their bass was rather bloated in comparison, the reworking of the Concept 20s drivers (larger voice coil and larger magnets) to suit the 40s has definitely paid dividends with bass speed and tightness. Any misgivings I may have had about spending more than double the amount I paid for the 3050 has proved to be totally justified, as, in my room at least they have definitely hit the sweet spot.
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I've followed this thread with some interest Steve. You might remember that I shared your enthusiasm for Q-Acoustics speakers in earlier threads on AoS . I also had a pair of 2020i and was equally impressed by their performance. I was for a while toying with the idea of moving up to the 3050s, based on your positive experience, but in the end opted for a pair of Quad 22L floor standers instead (mainly because they were going very cheap locally = £200...)
I'm curious about your current set-up. I have a 'room with a bay' very similar to yours and initially had the floor standers in pretty much the same place as where you have yours. However, I suspected that they were not giving their most in that position .. a slight lack of definition overall and wooliness to the bass that I figured was down to deflected waves bouncing around the 'dish' curve of the bay window. I have since moved them to a side wall (see sketch below) and found that this to be a marked improvement - much better definition and more bass punch.
Just wondered if you had experienced anything similar or had tried them in any other part of the room?
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4871/45038942994_8b69c38baa.jpg
I've followed this thread with some interest Steve. You might remember that I shared your enthusiasm for Q-Acoustics speakers in earlier threads on AoS . I also had a pair of 2020i and was equally impressed by their performance. I was for a while toying with the idea of moving up to the 3050s, based on your positive experience, but in the end opted for a pair of Quad 22L floor standers instead (mainly because they were going very cheap locally = £200...)
I'm curious about your current set-up. I have a 'room with a bay' very similar to yours and initially had the floor standers in pretty much the same place as where you have yours. However, I suspected that they were not giving their most in that position .. a slight lack of definition overall and wooliness to the bass that I figured was down to deflected waves bouncing around the 'dish' curve of the bay window. I have since moved them to a side wall (see sketch below) and found that this to be a marked improvement - much better definition and more bass punch.
Just wondered if you had experienced anything similar or had tried them in any other part of the room?
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4871/45038942994_8b69c38baa.jpg
Tbh I’ve never tried speakers in any other position, my room layout is exactly the same as yours except the wall on the right when you’re facing the bay window has a chimney breast.
Interesting that you have Quads now, I had some 11Ls about 12 years ago and couldn’t get on with them, I think Quad tuned them to try and get the most bass possible from the cabinet size and in doing so made them boomy except when they were in lots of free space. Where you have your speakers set up the 3050s would probably have needed the port bungs in place or the bass would have been a bit OTT. Not sure if ceiling height is a factor but my room has just short of 9’6” floor to ceiling, rather more than the norm I think, when I used the Concept 20s in the living room I don’t think the bay gave their bass any extra weight and there was certainly less bass than using them 8” from the back wall in the bedroom. The Concept 40s have I think hit the sweet spot for bass in my room, it’s very even and extends down to about 35hz, I tried them with the port bungs for the first time yesterday and the effect was less pronounced than with the 3050s probably due to the smaller bass drivers with bigger magnets being less constrained with the bungs in place.
Shifting stuff around would be problematic as I had 3 sets of multi plug power sockets fitted to suit where all the gear is to remove the use of extension blocks, there are still lots of cables but much tidier.
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