Q Acoustics 2020i Bookshelf -- My Early Take

[zieglj01]

There has been a lot of praise and talk going around about the Q A speakers, and I wanted something to test against my reference Digital Phase AP-.5 two way with a 3 inch woofer and a Titanium spun tweeter. The Digital Phase is pretty much linear in the bass, mids, and highs as the designer was serious about that goal. They are also a take on the transmission line and H-PAS type system. The Q A 2020i are nice looking speakers with good strong cabinet build that easily passes the door knock test -- with a 5-1/4 inch woofer and 1 inch soft dome tweeter. I will mainly just comment about the Q A

Now to be fair to both sides of the fence, I did give them 13.2579 minutes to break in.

The Q Acoustics 2020i speakers are currently going for $159 a pair as they have been replaced by the 3020 -- however, with Q A I wanted to know what all the fuss is about and this is just my subjective take. My room is 10 X 11 X 10. The speakers are placed on stands with room from behind the back and side walls, and I am 9 feet back. I do not care much for EQ above 200 hz and my room is damped with carpet and a good amount of decorative foam on the walls. There is no real echo or echo flutter. Also with all due respect, I will not debate about using Audyssey or any receiver set-ups. I am using an Integra 50.2 receiver that is rated 135+ watts.

They seem to be voiced to stand out some -- they are not laid back or warm sounding. They also seem to have some type of happy bump in the midband that can give it a more so-called presence feeling. There also seems to be a slow rise in the treble. For some reason it seems that these speakers are made to sound loud.

Some of the songs

Chris Botti with Sy Smith - The Look of Love
Chris Botti with Lucia Micarelli - Emmanuel
Jackie Evancho - Angel
Lauren Hall - Forgive them Father
Lauren Hall - Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Livingston Lovely - Isn't She Lovely
Sade - No Ordinary Love
Sade - Kiss of Life

Other Music

Mozart Ave verum
Bach Jesus Joy of Men's dressing

Over all the speakers sound nice and smooth, and are better than the general mass-market speakers on the Best Buy or Fry's type stores. And are competitive with the likes of Definitive and HTD Level Three. However, they do have some minor faults and are missing what one would get from higher end speakers. They are vivid sounding and upfront, and this seems what a lot of people like. They do not have a so-called lush or sweet sound to me. However, they are not sour and are not in your face or ear slapping. They are not as linear like the Digital Phase or Dennis Murphy type mods.

The mids and highs are over all smooth but tend to lack some refinement. Music and voices tend to be a little coarse and grainy at times. And they will not smooth or cover over a poor recording. They throw a nice and wide soundstage, however tends to lack some central imaging and depth. The tweeter can be a little forward and splashy at times and somewhat sibilant at times. Some of the vibration is missing off the string instruments, such as guitar and violin. The resolution is good but not really high resolution. Bass is there but it is more on the punchy side and tends to lack some depth, like a lot of speakers they can benefit from a sub. The Digital Phase is more linear and strong to below 60 hz. Voices in the Q A are overall nice but somewhat lacking a little in tonal character, layering and depth. Overall the sound is spacious and wide, but I desire the sound to be a little more coherent.

They are a little better for me on Movies/HT -- with good detail and dynamics for their size and are not brash sounding. They are not bright like a lot of movie theaters. On test tone sweeps they do have some decent spl -- however in real world listening I find the bass somewhat lacking. However, that is why they make subwoofers.

All in all they are a winner for the price and a good option -- on a scale of 1 to 10 compared to $250 down -- I rate them 7.75 -- They will still receive a recommendation in the forums from me. And they are more rich and detailed than the JBL Arena B17 -- however the Sony and Cambridge can still hang with the Q A -- however with different compromises and trade-offs.

The Digital Phase is from the mid 90's and still have a richer tonal character with better detail, definition, and depth with deeper and more tight and articulate bass. They did use to list for $499 mail order (direct). I got them off Ebay for less than $50.

There is some picture slides for those interested
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php...9;start=166609

 

[KEW]

Thanks! Nice to see another competent speaker design enter the fray!

Is that both slotted and round ports on the back?
Wait! What is going on with the terminals? Is the slot where the speaker cables enter if you cannot access the bottom?

Can you elaborate on comparison with the Sony Core Series? Since the Sony's seem to be on sale (~$120) more than at their regular street price, I have been recommending them as a "go to" for anyone looking for decent sound on the cheap, but if the QA's have attributes that make them competitive, it would be good to know the differences!
Thanks!

 

[zieglj01]

Thanks! Nice to see another competent speaker design enter the fray!

Is that both slotted and round ports on the back?
Wait! What is going on with the terminals? Is the slot where the speaker cables enter if you cannot access the bottom?

Can you elaborate on comparison with the Sony Core Series? Since the Sony's seem to be on sale (~$120) more than at their regular street price, I have been recommending them as a "go to" for anyone looking for decent sound on the cheap, but if the QA's have attributes that make them competitive, it would be good to know the differences!
Thanks!

On the back is the round port -- on the bottom that looks like a slot port is actually for the wire, as the terminal plate is on the bottom.

The Q A are competitive, but have a more robust sound and tend to be more vivid so to speak, the Sony is more even handed and not as vivid in the mids and highs. The Q A seem to be a little more up front, whether you are seated in the mid or back section of the concert hall.

The Q A may sound a little more punchy while the Sony may have a little more depth. They both have decent resolution, however the Sony may be a little more linear in the highs. The Q A may have a wider soundstage, and the Sony a little more central focused.

 

[Pogre]

Great first impressions Zieg. I know your focus is on the QA's, but the Digital Phase speakers really grabbed my attention visually when you first posted them. They're a TLS design, right? I'd love to give them a listen. I see you still have them, so I take that to mean you really like them.

 

[zieglj01]

Great first impressions Zieg. I know your focus is on the QA's, but the Digital Phase speakers really grabbed my attention visually when you first posted them. They're a TLS design, right? I'd love to give them a listen. I see you still have them, so I take that to mean you really like them.

I really like them -- they use what is called Acousta-Reed bass technology. There are 2 boards inside the box with slits cut in them -- one is above the port connected to the front baffle, and the other is below the port connected to the back wall. Now how much this really effects the bass I do not know, however these speakers have a lot of good bass that is strong even below 60 hz. Part of the trade off for bass is lower sensitivity. But I do have the power to drive them loud.

Picture of top board here which sits under the woofer on top of the port -- the port is located on back at bottom -- picture of woofer which has a 1-1/2 inch voice coil -- picture of measurement goal (I do not know the octave smoothing), however bass does fall off before 35 hz -- however, electrical and acoustic bass and organ notes can still be heard around 40 hz with my test sweeps. The speaker sound tends to be linear and favors the signature sound of the Murphy mods. I enjoy these better than the mod he did on the Cambridge S30 and the original AA monitors.