Q Accoustics 2020

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Right, I eventually decided to buy a pair of Q Accoustics speakers having pondered for months. I settled on the 2020s rather than the 2010s as the shed where they're going is on the "spacious" side, and What Hifi said that the 2020s have more presence the the 2010s. I've gone for a full Carlos Fandango set-up here to replace a Yamaha DAB CD Minisystem (I forget the model no, but it used to be a 5 star system in What Hifi). I also had an old rubbish pair of JVC speakers that came free with a previous system, and some rusty old free speaker wire (I can't bring myself to call it cable!).

So......... I set up the newly-purchased Denon M37DAB system, connecting it to the new 2020s with some spanking new Chord Silvershield cable to really make it all zing.

And the overall effect of these top-of-the range shiny goodies? Worse sound than my old system!!! And having tried different bits of it combined with other bits of it, I've come to the conclusion that it's the 2020s that's the weakest link. I actually had one 2020 connected with Silvershield on one channel, and the other channel was running the rubbish cable with the rubbish JVC speaker. The 2020s just don't seem to do low frequencies. Listening to the 2 speakers side-by--side it's obvious which is the better speaker. And no amount of knob twiddling will make the 2020s sound as good as the old system. When you listen to them you are aware of a lack of something, and that something is bottom end drive. In order to get any sort of bass out of them you have to turn the bass up, but then it becomes overbearing. So you turn it down again. The sad thing is that even when you turn the bass up, it still lacks bass. It's difficult to explain. And I don't know why, cos the speaker cones on both sets of speakers are exactly the same size. And the JVCs are about a third of the weight! But they give an altogether more rounded sound, with every frequency repsresented if it's there in the music.

So................... I'm bloody furious I've spent £150 on new speakers and cable on the recommendation of What Hifi, and they're frankly a bit of a waste of time. The Denon's ok, but it's no better than the Yamaha, just slightly louder.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe you just need to give the speakers time to bed in, try to leave them running on a low volume for a day or two and you might just be surprised at the results, if not check with your dealer and take them back and maybe audition a set of Wharfedales 10.1's or the like...

 

[Sizzers]

Well I've not heard the Q's so I can't comment on the speakers but there's nothing wrong with the Denon.

Just noted that the review says that they are fussy about positioning (but doesn't say in what way), so have you experimented with this? And are they standed?

 

[ear]

yesterday I also listened to the 2020.they are less bright than the 1020 , but even so I also found they lacked in bass.I surely won't buy them for stereo.but try difrferent position., when I heard them they were on a shelf at the store close to wall.

 

[Steve Reichert PR Manager ArmourHome]

Hello Mr Grohl,

I'm sorry to hear you are disappointed with your new Denon/Q Acoustics/Chord system. I confess I'm not familiar with the Denon system, but I would be very surprised if it wasn't extremely good. Needless to say, we don't recommend Chord cables (we own QED after all

) but it would be churlish of me not to concede that they make first class cables. All of which means your 'strange bass' problem probably does lay with our 2020 loudspeakers.

If I may be frank, the words 'lack of bass and/or drive' doesn't sound like the 2020s I listen to. In my opinion (shared by both hi-fi magazines that have reviewed them so far) is that their bass performance is outstanding at their price. Having said that, you are experiencing the sound you are hearing, so what can be the problem? Please forgive me if this is an obvious question. The 2020 is bi-wireable, are you using bi-wire cables and/or have you checked the links are in the correct configuration? I ask this because the sound you describe would be what you would hear if the bass units were out of phase. Secondly, are the supplied 'port bungs' in place? These are designed to reduce the bass level if the speaker is used with its rear close to a wall. It the speaker is away from the wall, they should not be used. However, without them and close to the wall you will get both 'boom' and a cancellation of detail which may also be the sound you are describing. Lastly, as other posters have mentioned, a 48 hour 'running in' period will certainly reveal an improved performance.

Very best regards,

Steve Reichert, PR Manager - Armour Home (Q Acoustics)

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the comments guys. You may have caught me bang to rights Steve as I don't actually know what biwiring is! There's 2 +ve and 2 -ve terminals on the bottom of the speakers. I connected a double stranded standard speaker cable to one of each. The Denon only has connections for one set of speakers. I didn't realise it could be any more complicated than that. They are positioned on wall brackets fixed to a plyboard wall in a calf shed (!!). I like to work to music ok?!

I presume the port bungs are the 2 bits of round sponge. I did wonder what those were for! To answer your question, no they are in place. Should I try putting them in place?

I actually tried one of the speakers sat on top of my living room technics speaker to see what it sounded like in comparison with it. It lacked low down bass in that position, compared to the Technics too. The Technics is a physically larger speaker on a stand (with larger speaker cones) so I would expect it to be more capable bass-wise. My problem is with the low down bass frequencies. They simply aren't there. It isn't a question of positioning or tweaking the EQ, you can't emphasise what isn't there in the first place. It's a mystery as they are really quite heavy speakers so the one thing they shouldn't lack is bass surely? And there is no more detail than I'm getting from the rubbish JVCs either. The overall effect is that the 2020s aren't as good as the JVCs, which may not be the best speakers in the world, but at least they provide a complete spectrum.

I'm quite sure there are speakers available (such as the 10.1s) that will deliver what I want, but I 'm not inclined to spend more money than I already have in an attempt to get back to where I was in the first place.

 

[Dougal1331]

You say the shed is on the 'spacious' side- I would take an educated guess that the 2020s are simply too small to fill the space. I doubt the plywood wall helps matters either, as this will resonate and cause all manner of phase-related oddities.

You could try a subwoofer or a larger set of speakers. Your complete lack of bass does suggest that the 2020s are just too small for the job in hand. Biwiring would not really change this.

 

[Dougal1331]

DaveGrohl:
So................... I'm bloody furious I've spent £150 on new speakers and cable on the recommendation of What Hifi, and they're frankly a bit of a waste of time. The Denon's ok, but it's no better than the Yamaha, just slightly louder.

...and this is why WHF have always said to audition the kit yourself before buying it. Their reviews are intended for guidance only- let your own ears be the judge, as everybody's tastes are different!

 

[d_a_n1979]

Looking at this I think Steve from Q Acoustics may have got this one right; Dave, I think you may have mis-wired the speakers.

IMO you'd be best to take all speaker cable out of the connections and then just connect it to the back of the Denon DM37 and then connect it to the LF connectors on the speakers only (one red, one black).

You will need to make sure that the speaker terminal posts are still connected on the speakers by their connectinbg bars that they will have come with (this means that the LF connections are connected to the HF connections by the gold bar and powering both mid/bass driver and the tweeter).

This will give you single-wired speakers as IMO you don't need to bi-wire the 2020's in this instance; more so as the Denon has only one set of speaker outputs.

 

[Anonymous]

Dan, I've had a good read of the manual and now know about the biwiring situation. It seems I have actually wired them correctly. The joining plates are still in position so everything's as it should be.

Dougal, you make good points which I won't argue with. But the thing is; the JVCs were installed exactly the same but had greater everything. I've tried with and without the sponges also. No joy. As an indication of what I mean; on the JVCs when I play Oopsy Daisy by Chipmunk (via iPod connected into aux line sockets), when the bass line comes in at the chorus it gets louder and more prominent as the notes go down, to the point where you think the speakers are going to disintegrate. With the 2020s the base line gets less and less until the bottom note is a bit of a wet fart!! Even my car stereo speakers get louder and louder with these notes. I'm giving them another day or two to bed in but I'm not hopeful.............