Poor Q acoustics customer service - Help with Q 2050i

[rendu]

I have tried to get help directly from Q acoustics via e-mail and also via their web site form, unfortunately I have not received reply from them so, I hope somebody can help.

I currently own Q acoustics 2050i , 2000ci & Wharfedale SW150. My AV receiver is an Onkyo 818. Speakers are set to full scale and I usually lisen to music using the stereo mode.

The Q 2050i have great qualities such as wide stereo image, refinement and scale. However, although the sound could be impressive, I also find that it may become overwhelming. Also, another issue that I find is that you really need to be sitting right in front of them, any other place in the room, they lose a lot of clarity. The distance between the speakers is about 2,5 meter and, the distance from the speaker to the sitting position is around 2,8 meter. The room is about 22 square meter. I am starting to question whether the Q2050i speakers are suitable for such small/medium room. They seem to be better suited for larger rooms and louder volumes than what I usually play in my appartment.

Questions - Would the smaller 2020i or even the newer 3020 be better fit/balance? I am concerned that this could be a move in the wrong direction and that I would loose a lot of scale and dynamics. Alternatively, is there a way to balance the sound, ex. Cables, spikes, (already tried foam bungs but do not like it), I have also tried by-amp but it only made things worse.

 

[simonlewis]

Your speakers should be set to small, you only set your speakers to full if you are not using a subwoofer.

 

[rendu]

Simonlewis, thanks for your input, I have tried both ways and I prefer better when they are set as “full scale”. In any case I would see your recommendation probably best suited for movies than music.

My experience for music is that, it sounds more natural when making full use of front speakers and even turn off the subwoofer (off course provided you have proper front speakers). This way it is closer to what you would get with an integrated amp vs an AV receiver. Unfortunately in my case, I cannot turn-off the subwoofer when I use the “stereo” mode (I can, but I would have to do this every time I change inputs). My subwoofer is even less suitable for music as it only has LFE input, no high input available (from speaker terminals).

I know this is probably controversial and quite debatable so in the end it turns to one´s taste based on the combination of all the components.

Changing subjects, it has been almost 2 weeks and no reply from Q acoustics customer service. I believe this is quite disrespectful and impolite, if they do not want to reply to customers, why do they provide e-mail address and forms at all?

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I'm not aware of the Onkyo's capabilities, but my Yamaha has options to save specific settings for different viewing/listening situations. For example, for watching tv and dvds/blu rays, I have a setting that has sounds coming through all the speakers, including the sub. When I listen to music, vinyl/streaming/radio, the music comes through the front two and rear two in multi channel stereo.

I would suggest that if you have floor standing speakers in a small to medium sized room, you don't need a subwoofer at all, or very rarely for films.

I would recommend either disconnecting the sub permanently, or replacing the the floorstanders with bookshelf speakers.

I used to have the 2020i's, but replaced them with Dali Zensor 3's, and I couldn't be happier with the improved performance.

If you can afford it, I would buy a 5.1 set up, 2 x Zensor 3's, 2 x Zensor 1's (for rears), and a Zensor Vokal (centre), and look to replace your sub when funds allow. If you can't afford to do all that, then sell your floorstanders and 2000ci, and replace them with some Zensor 3's and a Vokal, and if you can't afford to do that. sell the floorstanders and replace them with the Zensor 3's and look at replacing the centre with a Vokal when funds allow.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_10153289188761364]

I got the 2050i recently as an upgrade from some 1020i's. I also have the sw150 sub. The sub is redundant now for stereo in my small/medium room but I keep it for the LFE channel when using surround.

Bi-amping and expensive cables are a blind alley in my opinion. It's more productive to consider room treatments and layout to balance the sound. I've also been using Equalizer APO on windows to subtlely eq the signal before sending it to my sony str-dn1000 amp via spdif.

 

[bigboss]

I would suggest that if you have floor standing speakers in a small to medium sized room, you don't need a subwoofer at all, or very rarely for films.?

 

I would strongly disagree with that. If you check the frequency response of the Q acoustics 2050i, it only goes down to 44Khz, so you will lose all bass below this if you disconnect the subwoofer.

 

[bigboss]

Changing subjects, it has been almost 2 weeks and no reply from Q acoustics customer service.  I believe this is quite disrespectful and impolite, if they do not want to reply to customers, why do they provide e-mail address and forms at all?

I have found that emails and web forms aren't the best way to contact anyway. They often get lost. I had a similar experience with Monitor Audio. I called them and spoke to them, also explained the non response to my email and web form. They apologised and took my details down. I then for a response on my email the same day.