I know this post could not be very popular expecially here on Whathifi forum, they always goes 5 stars for any single Q Acoustics product they review, and this was originally also the reason becouse I bought them for my studio room, the place where I mostly work and in the same time I listen to music.
For long time, in that room, I was pretty ok with an old Rotel RA-560 and some three way Pioneer CS-535 bass reflex speakers.
It simply sounded ok at mid to high level of sound with my records and cds.
Two years ago I added an Arcam IrDAC and it was fine play also with digital music formats, I didn't really feel the need to buy something more recent until - after like 15 years of faithfull use - Rotel had a problem with one power end of his channels.
Considering it was very old, I think it was good time for it for a very deserved pension.
I had friends with modern equipment and I always trusted Whathifi more than other sites to get advise from hi-fi gears and - incredible to say - when it was time to choose the speakers for my new system, I trusted Whathifi more than my ears, and what a mistake I did!
Two close friends got very good modern working racks powered by Rotel RA-10 and Monitor Audio BX2. I listen to them and I liked the sound, then this Q Acoustics speakers, advised so well by Whathifi guys, were wondering in my head. No one in my area used to sell this speakers, no person I know got a pair to listen too, so no option to heard them before buy.
Lucky, this days, we have very many options and the monster seller we all known, got a good market place seller offering Q Acoustics in my country even if not in my area.
For the amp, the option was to stick with faithfull Rotel, I had to choose between repair my old amp or choosing a new one, like maybe the RA-10.
Then, some further reading and considering I owned and a friend of mine still own a NAD original 3020 (fantastic piece of vintage hardware!), I decided to sell my IrDAC to a friend asking for it and buy the all in one solution, the revamped NAD D 3020, with plenty of inputs and a modern, integrated DAC.
For the speakers I then decided to give Q Acoustics 2020i a try: they should be great, I was wondering reading what Whahifi experts says, even if the corporate site on Q Acoustics got little technical references, no end user support (think about the great NAD end user support via NAD Saloon), no e-mail support addresses. I found just an e-mail address, I think this e-mail add is generally used and they never ever reply to my inquire before and after the purchase, never ever reply even when I got problems with them speakers.
I bough the two pieces of equipment from two different sellers. NAD comes first, connected to my 60+60 Watt over 8 Ohm vintage CS-535 Pioneer speakers and I was satisfy about the sound.
Even if the NAD is just 30+30 Watt over 8 Ohm (probably, like in the NAD tradition, it really is like 40+40 more than 30+30), it drive the CS-535 at the same volume level and musical pressure compared to my old and beloved Rotel RA-560, nomially rated at 40+40 Watt on 8 Ohm.
Then Q Acoustics comes and the nightmare start. I swapped the Pioneer with the brand new Q Acoustics 2020i and the sound was very good, like expected, at low to mid level, then when I pump up the volume the sound was still good, but a bit cranky on some bass on some recording, not all.
I said... Mmmmm, this speakers need to be trained for like 40/50 hours before I get the best from them, so I patiently tolerated the cranky sound high level volumes on some registrations. Same registrations sounding and doing great with my others Pioneer vintage speakers, swapped for the 2020i.
I also went wondering about buy a subwoofer, considering my NAD D 3020 do have a passive output just for connection to a subwoofer.
After like 150/200 hours of unsatifying listen becouse of the cranking up bass. I contacted the seller to get a warrantly exchange of the speakers, considering IMHO they never sounded good to my ears becouse of the cranks. I also noted that when the speakers arrived to me, they didn't had the Q Acoustics stickers they usually do have and that should certify they are brand new.
Seller was very fine, it exchanged them to me, without any comment. This time he sent me a new pair with the warrantly sticker on both the single speaker envelope. They were surely brand new.
Connected to my NAD D 3020 and - finally - I got the sound I was expecting from 2020i. Controlled bass (no more cranky sound on some recordings).
Honestly, considering I'm listen loud and the music I listen too is very mixed, then mainly it is electric blues, rock'n'roll, hard rock, both old school and vintasge recordings and new recordings, I was considering to buy the subwoofer becouse I needed more bass. I was expecting it, I mean the deficiency of bass, considering usually this happen with bookshelf two way speakers, so I wasn't too much disappointed.
I had normal listening sessions for like two weeks, then one day I was listening to the last Chris Robinson Brotherhood cd (phosphorescent Harvest). This guys got great jam band, american southern roots music, Chris used to be in the Black Crowes, rhythmic, a lot of percussion, a controlled bass, twin funky guitars, pumped organ, some horns.
Speakers at a certain point, started to buzz and then both the woofers stopped to work pretty much in the same time. Good God, what I did so specially wrong becouse this speakers stopped working?
Nothing really. I connected the vintage Pioneer to the amp, the sound started to play again, very loud, very controlled, very ok, no distortion nothing.
I wrote to the seller and it said: do your amp works? It is so strange. Send back those speakers to me, He tells me he do not sell a lot of this Q Acoustics, then on like 10 pairs just two customers got problems. I sent back and he called me back telling me the woofer internal connections - externally those woofer been in perfect conditions - was totally burned away probably from an execcive volume and noise distortion, I played them too loud, he said!
I said: WTF? First thing I did, considering I got a NAD official repair center in my area, was to bring my D 3020 to them for a check. I was sure it was perfect, it wasn't involved in this mess, guys from NAD saloon said it was impossibile this will happen if the amp was still fine with other speakers.
They said this new generation of amps, are not like '60s/70s amps, in case of problems they suddenly got protection, even when current level exceed the specification for like 200/300 mV (0.2/0.3 volt). If this wont to happen, not just the woofer thin connections will burn, the whole amp and the whole speaker will go.
If you consider the NAD D 3020 go in protection position even if - say - you crack a vinyl disk on the pickup, it was quietly impossible for him to make such a waste without kill himself too.
The NAD lab checked my amp and they said it was perfect.
I sent the NAD technical report to seller, I said him I never ever wanted to hear about Q Acoustics and I choose some Monitor Audio BX2 as the exchange trade.
It is like three weeks they now work with a lot of fun and satisfaction from my side on my system, I can crank my NAD D 3020 volume up to 100 x 100 and they still sound great with pretty much no distortion and especially they do not fail.
Now, you can said, MA BX2 are 8 Ohm speakers, so they pretty much run under specification considering they are rated for 100 Watt on 8 Ohm and they get at a very maximum 40/45 per channel from the NAD. You could also said, Q Acoustics are 4,4 Ohm so they get pretty much 60/65 Watt from the NAD: yes, it is true, then they are rated for 100 Watt too and between 65 and 100 you still fot 35 Watt of gain.
During this painfull story, I wrote two e-mails to Q Acoustics, I never ever heard from them. In the same time NAD Saloon guys reply to me like three times in 72 hours; seller same great assistance, NAD local repair center offered the service to me in one day under warrantly.
Q Acoustics do not have repair centers in my area (Italy), do not have headquarter and they do not reply to e-mails in my experience.
I also asked to few sellers in my area, quietly pretty good passionate store owners selling pretty much everything (Dali, Monitor Audio, JBL, Denon, NAD, Rotel and so on) why they didn't sell Q Acoustics: they reply they never think about this brand becouse they never had repair center in the area and they generally speaking heard about problems with the brand.
Now, ok, it's over, then I would suggest people NOT to buy this brand, such a brand with no decent web support site, check if they got direct repair center support in your area. My idea is this speakers are very fragile and they could be ok for people listen smooth, background music: not exactly me. To fail so easy, they should be made of poor quality material, there is no other explanation based on my nightmare with them.
And about Whathifi giving them stars over stars: how do you guys test your speakers? Q Acoustics doesn't sound bad, then you should also check how they are made, how they can handle work loads and stuff like that. Well, then we all knows, often, brands send special equipment to reviewers, not just what we buy.
That's all, curious to hear about how other customers relate with them Q Acoustics gear and if anyone got such nightmare experience like i got.
For long time, in that room, I was pretty ok with an old Rotel RA-560 and some three way Pioneer CS-535 bass reflex speakers.
It simply sounded ok at mid to high level of sound with my records and cds.
Two years ago I added an Arcam IrDAC and it was fine play also with digital music formats, I didn't really feel the need to buy something more recent until - after like 15 years of faithfull use - Rotel had a problem with one power end of his channels.
Considering it was very old, I think it was good time for it for a very deserved pension.
I had friends with modern equipment and I always trusted Whathifi more than other sites to get advise from hi-fi gears and - incredible to say - when it was time to choose the speakers for my new system, I trusted Whathifi more than my ears, and what a mistake I did!
Two close friends got very good modern working racks powered by Rotel RA-10 and Monitor Audio BX2. I listen to them and I liked the sound, then this Q Acoustics speakers, advised so well by Whathifi guys, were wondering in my head. No one in my area used to sell this speakers, no person I know got a pair to listen too, so no option to heard them before buy.
Lucky, this days, we have very many options and the monster seller we all known, got a good market place seller offering Q Acoustics in my country even if not in my area.
For the amp, the option was to stick with faithfull Rotel, I had to choose between repair my old amp or choosing a new one, like maybe the RA-10.
Then, some further reading and considering I owned and a friend of mine still own a NAD original 3020 (fantastic piece of vintage hardware!), I decided to sell my IrDAC to a friend asking for it and buy the all in one solution, the revamped NAD D 3020, with plenty of inputs and a modern, integrated DAC.
For the speakers I then decided to give Q Acoustics 2020i a try: they should be great, I was wondering reading what Whahifi experts says, even if the corporate site on Q Acoustics got little technical references, no end user support (think about the great NAD end user support via NAD Saloon), no e-mail support addresses. I found just an e-mail address, I think this e-mail add is generally used and they never ever reply to my inquire before and after the purchase, never ever reply even when I got problems with them speakers.
I bough the two pieces of equipment from two different sellers. NAD comes first, connected to my 60+60 Watt over 8 Ohm vintage CS-535 Pioneer speakers and I was satisfy about the sound.
Even if the NAD is just 30+30 Watt over 8 Ohm (probably, like in the NAD tradition, it really is like 40+40 more than 30+30), it drive the CS-535 at the same volume level and musical pressure compared to my old and beloved Rotel RA-560, nomially rated at 40+40 Watt on 8 Ohm.
Then Q Acoustics comes and the nightmare start. I swapped the Pioneer with the brand new Q Acoustics 2020i and the sound was very good, like expected, at low to mid level, then when I pump up the volume the sound was still good, but a bit cranky on some bass on some recording, not all.
I said... Mmmmm, this speakers need to be trained for like 40/50 hours before I get the best from them, so I patiently tolerated the cranky sound high level volumes on some registrations. Same registrations sounding and doing great with my others Pioneer vintage speakers, swapped for the 2020i.
I also went wondering about buy a subwoofer, considering my NAD D 3020 do have a passive output just for connection to a subwoofer.
After like 150/200 hours of unsatifying listen becouse of the cranking up bass. I contacted the seller to get a warrantly exchange of the speakers, considering IMHO they never sounded good to my ears becouse of the cranks. I also noted that when the speakers arrived to me, they didn't had the Q Acoustics stickers they usually do have and that should certify they are brand new.
Seller was very fine, it exchanged them to me, without any comment. This time he sent me a new pair with the warrantly sticker on both the single speaker envelope. They were surely brand new.
Connected to my NAD D 3020 and - finally - I got the sound I was expecting from 2020i. Controlled bass (no more cranky sound on some recordings).
Honestly, considering I'm listen loud and the music I listen too is very mixed, then mainly it is electric blues, rock'n'roll, hard rock, both old school and vintasge recordings and new recordings, I was considering to buy the subwoofer becouse I needed more bass. I was expecting it, I mean the deficiency of bass, considering usually this happen with bookshelf two way speakers, so I wasn't too much disappointed.
I had normal listening sessions for like two weeks, then one day I was listening to the last Chris Robinson Brotherhood cd (phosphorescent Harvest). This guys got great jam band, american southern roots music, Chris used to be in the Black Crowes, rhythmic, a lot of percussion, a controlled bass, twin funky guitars, pumped organ, some horns.
Speakers at a certain point, started to buzz and then both the woofers stopped to work pretty much in the same time. Good God, what I did so specially wrong becouse this speakers stopped working?
Nothing really. I connected the vintage Pioneer to the amp, the sound started to play again, very loud, very controlled, very ok, no distortion nothing.
I wrote to the seller and it said: do your amp works? It is so strange. Send back those speakers to me, He tells me he do not sell a lot of this Q Acoustics, then on like 10 pairs just two customers got problems. I sent back and he called me back telling me the woofer internal connections - externally those woofer been in perfect conditions - was totally burned away probably from an execcive volume and noise distortion, I played them too loud, he said!
I said: WTF? First thing I did, considering I got a NAD official repair center in my area, was to bring my D 3020 to them for a check. I was sure it was perfect, it wasn't involved in this mess, guys from NAD saloon said it was impossibile this will happen if the amp was still fine with other speakers.
They said this new generation of amps, are not like '60s/70s amps, in case of problems they suddenly got protection, even when current level exceed the specification for like 200/300 mV (0.2/0.3 volt). If this wont to happen, not just the woofer thin connections will burn, the whole amp and the whole speaker will go.
If you consider the NAD D 3020 go in protection position even if - say - you crack a vinyl disk on the pickup, it was quietly impossible for him to make such a waste without kill himself too.
The NAD lab checked my amp and they said it was perfect.
I sent the NAD technical report to seller, I said him I never ever wanted to hear about Q Acoustics and I choose some Monitor Audio BX2 as the exchange trade.
It is like three weeks they now work with a lot of fun and satisfaction from my side on my system, I can crank my NAD D 3020 volume up to 100 x 100 and they still sound great with pretty much no distortion and especially they do not fail.
Now, you can said, MA BX2 are 8 Ohm speakers, so they pretty much run under specification considering they are rated for 100 Watt on 8 Ohm and they get at a very maximum 40/45 per channel from the NAD. You could also said, Q Acoustics are 4,4 Ohm so they get pretty much 60/65 Watt from the NAD: yes, it is true, then they are rated for 100 Watt too and between 65 and 100 you still fot 35 Watt of gain.
During this painfull story, I wrote two e-mails to Q Acoustics, I never ever heard from them. In the same time NAD Saloon guys reply to me like three times in 72 hours; seller same great assistance, NAD local repair center offered the service to me in one day under warrantly.
Q Acoustics do not have repair centers in my area (Italy), do not have headquarter and they do not reply to e-mails in my experience.
I also asked to few sellers in my area, quietly pretty good passionate store owners selling pretty much everything (Dali, Monitor Audio, JBL, Denon, NAD, Rotel and so on) why they didn't sell Q Acoustics: they reply they never think about this brand becouse they never had repair center in the area and they generally speaking heard about problems with the brand.
Now, ok, it's over, then I would suggest people NOT to buy this brand, such a brand with no decent web support site, check if they got direct repair center support in your area. My idea is this speakers are very fragile and they could be ok for people listen smooth, background music: not exactly me. To fail so easy, they should be made of poor quality material, there is no other explanation based on my nightmare with them.
And about Whathifi giving them stars over stars: how do you guys test your speakers? Q Acoustics doesn't sound bad, then you should also check how they are made, how they can handle work loads and stuff like that. Well, then we all knows, often, brands send special equipment to reviewers, not just what we buy.
That's all, curious to hear about how other customers relate with them Q Acoustics gear and if anyone got such nightmare experience like i got.
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