Q Acoustics 2010 vs 2020

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my home cinema setup. The front pair of speakers are the last to be purchased.

I have been trying to decide wether to get the Q Acoustics 2010s or 2020s for the front pair. Not that much difference in price £95 vs £125

I have read the WhatHiFi reviews but have not been helped much. What are peoples views on these two?

It will be used for movies 95% of the time but now and again I will be playing music CDs/MP3s.

My current setup consists of:

Amp: Pioneer VSX-C502s
Fronts: ????????
Centre: Q Acoustics 2000c
Rears: Q Acoustics QAV
Sub: Paradigm PDR-8

Thanks,

Mark

 

[chudleighpaul]

If you read the last Big Question, you will see that we hated the Q-Accoustics, they were far too harsh. Stay clear of these.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I havn't got a copy of the magazine (was it the sept issue??)

I thought the q acoustics 2000 series where widely regarded as good entry level speakers?

Did you want them for listening to music or av?

 

[chudleighpaul]

When we auditioned them it was in a movie situation, we were shown a clip from the Dark Knight and a Beyonce concert both on Bluray. The sound through these speakers was awful and no amount of expensive amplification could correct it.

 

[chudleighpaul]

It was in the September issue, I suggest you try and get hold of a copy.

 

[Steve Reichert PR Manager ArmourHome]

Hi Mark,

Paul's remarks do rather contradict the views of the many thousands of people who have purchsed and are delighted with their Q Acoustics loudspeakers, as well of course of the universally positive reviews they continue to receive from around the globe.

However, with regard to the 'The Big Question' article in the September issue. I too would like you to read it very carefully because it concludes that the £550 Q Acoustics 2000 series 5.1 home cinema package is not as good as a £15,000 (yes fifteen thousand pound) Mordaunt Short 5.1 package.

Well, it's a fair cop, I don't expect it is. But then of course you can buy nearly thirty Q Acoustics systems for the price of one Mordaunt Short system.

Please also note, in the article Paul is quoted as saying of the £15,000 speakers that "Most of the harshness has gone." which I guess implies he found even the expensive system a little harsh? Another panelist (Denis) stated of the £15,000 speakers: "some of the harshness was still there." Whilst the third and last panelist (Gavin) said the £15,000 speakers: "still lacked a little bit of bottom end for me,"

Now I'm obviously far from neutral on this subject, but I'm very confident you won't find better speakers than the 2010 and 2020 at their price. The 2010s will sound exactly like your 2000C, the 2020s will deliver the same sound but with added bass extension and weight.

As guys with a passion for home cinema, I'm sure Paul, Denis and Gavin would all agree with me that your best option is always to get a demonstration at a decent dealer and compare the differences for yourself.

Very best regards

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

 

[professorhat]

Indeed, I would imagine that virtually no speaker systems below even the £5,000 bracket would come out that well against the £15,000 Mordaunt Short system, let alone the poor old £550 Q Acoustics package. As I remember, WHF even made a reference in the Big Question article to the fact that the Q Acoustics were coming in for some serious and unfair grilling from the panel against speaker packages that frankly no one would ever compare together other than in that particular Big Question scenario.

In answer to your original question, the obvious answer is of course to visit a dealer and listen to the two setups to see if you can perceive the difference in quality to justify the extra £30. However, from reading the reviews and from Steve's comments above, it would seem to me that, unless you're going to struggle with the extra dimensions of the bigger 2020s, they would seem to be a better bet.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your comments.

If the comparison in the Big Question article is between a £500 and a £15k system I am not going to worry too much about the result. I would be very disappointed if the dearer system did not sound substantially better

I will see if my local Superfi has both the 2010s and 2020s in to demo. I could really do with seeing how much bigger the 2020s are.

 

[ear]

What bout the Sub in the 2000 series? how is it? heard it once with some madona dvd or bluray and it sounded to boomy , only thumps with no real notes..am i right in thinking it is monotonal and not fast enough? it is certainly cheap and has lots of features..

 

[Anonymous]

Well I went to SuperFi today to demo the 2010s and 2020s.

Listened to the 2020s first. Wow, the bass was quite incredible, I had to double check that a separate sub was not still hooked up and running. They sounded really nice. I was sold on them.

But thought I'd better listen to the 2010s while I am here as I (well the wife) would prefer the smaller speakers.
They sounded better somehow. Not as much bass but they sounded tighter and more controlled.

As I already have a sub and its mainly going to be used for movies, I went for the 2010s.

If I just wanted a pair for stereo music listening then I would have bought the 2020s.

Both speakers sounded amazing for the money.

 

[Anonymous]

What cables are you using for the 2010s?

 

[Anonymous]

what cables are you using with the 2010's?

 

[Steve Reichert PR Manager ArmourHome]

Hello Siblington,

You may not be surprised to learn (because Armour Home owns QED as well as Q Acoustics) that we use exclusively QED speaker cables throughout the design process for Q Acoustics loudspeakers. However, being completely honest, you would get excellent results using any good cables from any of the leading cable manufacturers.

Best regards,

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