Richard.
Round & round bits: LP12/Cirkus/Kore/Herc II/Roksan Nima/Hana EL
Megabits: Bluesound Node 2i/TEAC UD-H01 dac
Making it louder bits: Phonostage: Dynavector P75 Amp: Cyrus 8vs/PSX-R Speakers: Royd Sintra II
Connecting it together bits i/c's: Flashback Premier. Speaker cables: Van Damme Hifi
The 2020i's are amazing vfm. Had a pair in the office for the last 12 months. A little too clinical for me for home listening but very neutral and open.
Just had a couple of hours' listening to some music through these little speakers (they really are little - hardly taller/wider than the Control Ones) and a fair bit of the bass bloat has started to disappear. They certainly do like a few watts up them, and really come alive when driven quite hard, where their somewhat lazy attitude to rhythm vanishes. Don't think they'd work too well with a valve amp, or certainly not one which doen't keep a good grip on proceedings.
I'm still not really convinced by their rear-ported bass. There's a bloom (fundamental, not from ambience/reflection) to bass which isn't natural and it does bother me. Saying that, I've yet to hear a rear-ported speaker which doesn't do this to some degree or other. Still, it's a form of speaker colouration and the human ear doesn't do a bad job at adpating to such things over time.
Still, on the upside they really do offer an impressive sense of scale, sounding way larger than one would expect from such a tiny box and in the same way my Royd Merlins did, disappear quite magically when positioned very carefully. They don't put much of a lid on orchestral cresendos either, showing little strain.
The stands aren't ideal (they're Something Solid SL24's which work brilliantly in themselves - Royds sing on these!) and as the bases of the Q's aren't flat - they house a wide channel for incoming cables - they're a wee bit perched, and held on with some Blu-Tak. Q do some rather nice dedicated stands and they're not badly priced either. If the ProAcs don't work out I'll invest in a pair.
Richard.
Round & round bits: LP12/Cirkus/Kore/Herc II/Roksan Nima/Hana EL
Megabits: Bluesound Node 2i/TEAC UD-H01 dac
Making it louder bits: Phonostage: Dynavector P75 Amp: Cyrus 8vs/PSX-R Speakers: Royd Sintra II
Connecting it together bits i/c's: Flashback Premier. Speaker cables: Van Damme Hifi
Great pictures, they are very cute!
Thanks Rob.
They are indeed cute little things, and I'm starting to warm to them too. Been ages since I bought a brand new pair of speakers, JBL's excepted, and it's quite fun, and interesting, hearing the character of these change over time.
They're not frightened to go loud too and judging by the amount of air being shifted through the rear port, that little driver really works for its living. If the ProAcs don't work out (no reason why they shouldn't, mind) then I'll be happy to hang on to the Q's. Our nearest neighbours are 40yds away so it's no problem playing music at realistic levels here, and I really don't want to give the ProAcs a hard life. They're too precious.
Richard.
Round & round bits: LP12/Cirkus/Kore/Herc II/Roksan Nima/Hana EL
Megabits: Bluesound Node 2i/TEAC UD-H01 dac
Making it louder bits: Phonostage: Dynavector P75 Amp: Cyrus 8vs/PSX-R Speakers: Royd Sintra II
Connecting it together bits i/c's: Flashback Premier. Speaker cables: Van Damme Hifi
Hi Richard,
What made you go for the Q Acoustics? They just seem to have appeared on the scene without any 'previous', if you get me?
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & regulator mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat with Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight. Isonoe feet & boots. Ortofon RS-212D tonearm with Denon DL-103GL, in a Denon PCL-300 headshell, fitted with Funk Firm Houdini and Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp and Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp, fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Hi Marco - yup, good question.
They came about several months, probably about a year in fact, ago when wandering around Lincoln. I'd popped into Superfi (a place I usually avoid to be honest but I needed some banana plugs) and saw these tiny little speakers sat there and wondered what the hell they were. I'd never even heard of Q Acoustics but did some reading up on them when I got home, and it appears they'd been causing a bit of a stir in the cheapo speaker market.
Peter Empson (of Deco Audio) really rates them and having previously trusted his judgement on a few items, and mulling over the idea of trying a pair, I tought well 'why not'. Tying this in with having the little ProAcs off my dad I thought if the SuperTabs don't work out, it's still the perfect excuse to try something new and who knows, they may end up as keepers.![]()
Richard.
Round & round bits: LP12/Cirkus/Kore/Herc II/Roksan Nima/Hana EL
Megabits: Bluesound Node 2i/TEAC UD-H01 dac
Making it louder bits: Phonostage: Dynavector P75 Amp: Cyrus 8vs/PSX-R Speakers: Royd Sintra II
Connecting it together bits i/c's: Flashback Premier. Speaker cables: Van Damme Hifi
Peter put me onto the 2020i's. Do you reckon he moonlights for Q Acoustics in his spare time ?![]()
Richard.
Round & round bits: LP12/Cirkus/Kore/Herc II/Roksan Nima/Hana EL
Megabits: Bluesound Node 2i/TEAC UD-H01 dac
Making it louder bits: Phonostage: Dynavector P75 Amp: Cyrus 8vs/PSX-R Speakers: Royd Sintra II
Connecting it together bits i/c's: Flashback Premier. Speaker cables: Van Damme Hifi
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & regulator mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat with Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight. Isonoe feet & boots. Ortofon RS-212D tonearm with Denon DL-103GL, in a Denon PCL-300 headshell, fitted with Funk Firm Houdini and Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp and Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp, fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.