speaker upgrade for HIFI

[fristi]

Hi,

First Post in these forums, even if I`m lurking around for a while

Latey I rediscovered the enjoyment of Music and started expanding my CD collection.
Because of that I would also like to start improving my system 1 step at a time.

After lots of reading in here it seems that the first place to start are the speakers
I had my eye on the AM BX2`s Untill I found out that they are 2 cm to high for the place I have avilable for them

So I got interested in the QA 2020i`s since they are a bit lower and even if they are backported they would still produce a decent sound.
But only after reading reviews and making my initial choices I read the specs of my current amp. And this is were my questions start.

I have an old sony hls5 (5.1) system, not really the best around, but that is what I have and where I need to start...
In the specs it states:

POWER OUTPUT:

Rated Power Output at Stereo mode: (8 ohms 1 kHz, DIN) 25 W + 25 W

Reference Power Output: (8 ohms 1 kHz, THD 10 %) 35W / channel

What is the difference between the 2? why would it only produce 25W in stereo mode and 35W in surround mode?
I`m wondering because the 2020i have a min 25W requirement and 6ohm nominal...

I guess that If I can drive them only with a min amount I might be better to look for a lower end speaker like the BX1 which has at 8Ohm min 15W.

Any advice in this arrea would be appriciated.

I would prefer the 2020i`s because it would future prove me when I invest in a "real" hifi system like the Cambridge Sonata or something simular.
Unfortunatly I don`t have such option for now...

so, would my current amp be able to drive the 2020i`s or not?

Thanks for any replies

 

[ear]

Between those 2..the 2020i for sure.

 

[fristi]

Between those 2..the 2020i for sure.

2020i is better for sure but I`m not sure if they will work on my amp

 

[fristi]

Just wanted to note that I`m also open for other options, will try to find a shop where I can hear them.

As I said, I only based myself on whathifi reviews which praise the bx2 / 2020i as best kwality for money option

 

[CarlDW]

The 2020i's IMO are the better option and wil work fine with your amp.

 

[Dougal1331]

POWER OUTPUT:

Rated Power Output at Stereo mode: (8 ohms 1 kHz, DIN) 25 W + 25 W

Reference Power Output: (8 ohms 1 kHz, THD 10 %) 35W / channel

What is the difference between the 2? why would it only produce 25W in stereo mode and 35W in surround mode?
I`m wondering because the 2020i have a min 25W requirement and 6ohm nominal...

The 'rated' output would be no more than 1% THD, and this is the 'clean' rated output per channel. The 'reference power output', as you can see is at 10% THD- you wouldn't want to listen to that, but it's the amp's absolute maximum output power per channel.

 

[fristi]

The 'rated' output would be no more than 1% THD, and this is the 'clean' rated output per channel. The 'reference power output', as you can see is at 10% THD- you wouldn't want to listen to that, but it's the amp's absolute maximum output power per channel.

Thank you! That is realy usefull information

I learned something new!

Between those 2..the 2020i for sure.

The 2020i's IMO are the better option and wil work fine with your amp.

thanks for you opinions. I just hope my amp won`t get too hot because of the extra current needed for 6 ohm.

How about a third canidate? Boston Acoustics A26 seems to be just fitting on my shelf. simmular specs and price I think

2020i`s are still best of the 3?

 

[fristi]

Yesterday and today I did my first auditions... ever...
Felt a bit akward telling a person what to play and so on...

Anyway:

Store 1 : QA 2020i on some marantz all in one.
in the showroom itself. For some reason I wasn`t impressed with what I heard...
I didn`t feel it, the improvment over my current tiny Sony Satelites...
Maybe it was the stress, the environment, don`t know... they sounded fine ofcourse but I didn`t connect, nor did the gf...

Store 2:
Denon amp: BA A26 and Dali Zensor 1
Special listening room in the basement. I went there to hear A26 and 2020i but the salespeople kept pushing to the Dali`s. Both of them were convinced that in this pricerange The Dali`s are king.
Indeed when they played the Dali`s you could really hear the dept.... I mean when a string was touched you heared it comming from far. difficult to describe. Very clean and crisp speakers. The gf was hooked on them, but for me there was still something missing. some warmth or punch...
So they hooked up the A26s. THey were more rough, lesser clean, bit more base... Simular like the QA2020i`s what I heard 2 hours earlier..
So up to this pint the Dali`s were standing out! I mean they left an impression, BA and QA didn`t

The slaespeople in store 2 claimed that Dali Zensor1 is better than BA A26, which is in turn better than QA2020i...

But since the Dali`s were not exactly what I wanted, I mean I could listen to them, good sound, but I would constantly have the feeling that something is missing....

Store3:
Just came back from them. On the site they have the QA, MA, Dali and Wharfdale
I want there because I wanted to check out Diamond 10.0/1 vs MA BX1 vs Dali Zensor 1.
THe showroom was very small.. so they didn`t have much to audition, it was mainly an internet site...
I heard MA RX1 and MA BX2 only.
RX1 because they have a sale on them!

Salesman didn`t even want to bother unpacking the warfdales since he said RX1 is better than all the rest on my list...
But yes, the RX1`s sounded great to me, More what I was looking for. I listened to the BX2`s since they were allready unpacked and I wanted to knowif I would heare a difference in quality, But yes It was obvious to me.... Happy guy since that I`m not deaf and it makes sense to look for speakers and not just buy plain sonys or philips...

So in short:
1) are RX1 worth it? even with the sale I would stretch my budget.
2) Are there any alternatives I didn`t check/think of ? Might nog have the option to audtion them since I did all 3 stores in my area.
3) the rx1`s came straight out of the box, I heard some unclean sound sin them but the salesman claims it will go away after a few hours... that is true?

Thanks

 

[steve_1979]

IMO you can't go far wrong with the Q Acoustics 2020i. They have a polite and refined sound which is enjoyable to listen to.

Try and audition them for yourself first though and compare them to a few other speakers in the same price range from the likes of Dali or Acoustic Energy.

 

[Coll]

How much did they want for the RX1s they used to be over £400 they are great speakers I used to have them

 

[fristi]

How much did they want for the RX1s they used to be over £400 they are great speakers I used to have them

about 350 Pounds, I`m saying about since I needed to convert it using Google

Price before the sale was about 470 Pounds

 

[Coll]

If it were me I would buy them, and later upgrade the amplifier.

 

[fristi]

If it were me I would buy them, and later upgrade the amplifier.

Went back today and I compared the RX1`s to Dali Lektor 2`s since they are simular in price. But to be Honest I didn`t hear much difference ;(

So I decided to take a leap and purchased the RX1`s

The Problem is that when I came home, plugged everything, being all excited I switched on the amp, put on a cd and braced myself!

"Where are my Basses"? I mean In the store these speakers had such a nice full sound, In my place they feel a bit powerless

I thought I would not need my subwoofer anymore but it seems I`m wrong.

Any idea what happened? Did the store owner steal my Bass?

Seriously, is this a problem of my amp? I know these speakers can do more, I heard it....

THe detail is just great, I hear much more sounds than I used to. for sure it is a step up from the small satiltes that came with the receiver.

 

[d_a_n1979]

Sounds like an amp or source (or both) issue!

Sorry but the RX1's are fantastic speakers and your amp just doesn't do them justice!

Are you able to upgrade this at all?

if not what about returning or selling on the RX1's and looking at powered speakers?

 

[Coll]

I used to use my RX1s with a Marantz MCR 603 all in one unit which combined the amplifier, CD player and tuner all in one box and was a brilliant unit.
My MAs sounded great with it plenty of bass intact too much and I had to use port bungs to reduce it.
You can still buy one at a much lower cost than I paid as they have now been super ceded.

 

[JamesMellor]

I'd give the speakers at least a week to losen up / run in , after that , if they still arent doing what you head look at the amp

 

[Petherick]

I hope I don't offend you, but are you also sure you have connected the speakers correctly?

 

[fristi]

Thank you all for the tips

Sounds like an amp or source (or both) issue!

Sorry but the RX1's are fantastic speakers and your amp just doesn't do them justice!

Are you able to upgrade this at all?

if not what about returning or selling on the RX1's and looking at powered speakers?

I have an upgrade plan first upgraded the speakers, next year the amp and later in the year probably the source
I just want to make sure that I will get my basses back when I invest in a better amp.

I used to use my RX1s with a Marantz MCR 603 all in one unit which combined the amplifier, CD player and tuner all in one box and was a brilliant unit. My MAs sounded great with it plenty of bass intact too much and I had to use port bungs to reduce it. You can still buy one at a much lower cost than I paid as they have now been super ceded.

Thank you for the tip, I can see that the MCR 603 has 60 Watts output, where mine has less than half. I`m not a fan of all in ones so I prefer to wait and upgrade slowly to seperated units.

I'd give the speakers at least a week to losen up / run in , after that , if they still arent doing what you head look at the amp

I bought the exact same pair which I auditioned . So I heard them doing more in the store. I remember that the store owner was using arcams.

I hope I don't offend you, but are you also sure you have connected the speakers correctly?

Don`t worry, not offended at all, just starting out so it might be a case of a user problem
These are the first speakers I owned which accept banana plugs and have 4 ports.

I know these ports are for bi-wiring, but since my amp has no such option I don`t care. I see they are connected with a metal plate. So I guess that is how it should be.

The store owner sold me plugs but I tried them at home I couldn`t fit them. Is that possible at all? so I just screwed the wire between the ports. black to botton black, red to top red. they are diagonal because the other ports seems to have some filling in there. don`t know why they did it in a diagonal way...

anything I missed or did wrong?

 

[Coll]

Thank you all for the tips

Sounds like an amp or source (or both) issue!

Sorry but the RX1's are fantastic speakers and your amp just doesn't do them justice!

Are you able to upgrade this at all?

if not what about returning or selling on the RX1's and looking at powered speakers?

I have an upgrade plan first upgraded the speakers, next year the amp and later in the year probably the source
I just want to make sure that I will get my basses back when I invest in a better amp.

I used to use my RX1s with a Marantz MCR 603 all in one unit which combined the amplifier, CD player and tuner all in one box and was a brilliant unit. My MAs sounded great with it plenty of bass intact too much and I had to use port bungs to reduce it. You can still buy one at a much lower cost than I paid as they have now been super ceded.

Thank you for the tip, I can see that the MCR 603 has 60 Watts output, where mine has less than half. I`m not a fan of all in ones so I prefer to wait and upgrade slowly to seperated units.

I'd give the speakers at least a week to losen up / run in , after that , if they still arent doing what you head look at the amp

I bought the exact same pair which I auditioned . So I heard them doing more in the store. I remember that the store owner was using arcams.

I hope I don't offend you, but are you also sure you have connected the speakers correctly?

Don`t worry, not offended at all, just starting out so it might be a case of a user problem
These are the first speakers I owned which accept banana plugs and have 4 ports.

I know these ports are for bi-wiring, but since my amp has no such option I don`t care. I see they are connected with a metal plate. So I guess that is how it should be.

The store owner sold me plugs but I tried them at home I couldn`t fit them. Is that possible at all? so I just screwed the wire between the ports. black to botton black, red to top red. they are diagonal because the other ports seems to have some filling in there. don`t know why they did it in a diagonal way...

anything I missed or did wrong?

Diagonal is the best way of connecting to the speakers it is supposed to give the best sound.

Make sure all the terminals are really tight and all the metal plates are there all 4 of them ,two for each speaker.

Make sure you have the connection right at the amp end.

Play something with some bass and stand between the speakers you should get a well defined central image.

If not they are wired incorrectly or the amp is faulty or the balance control is not set correctly.

Also make sure the bolts on the back of the speakers are tight but dont over do it.

 

[BigH]

They could be out of phase, I find playing some mono music best way to check, but I think you need a better amp.

 

[Coll]

Hi first I did you check out all the things I said, did you find any problems , how do the speakers sound now?

 

[Coll]

Hi fristi intersested to know whats happening

 

[fristi]

sorry for the late reply but I`m not the type that anouces in advance on a forum that I`ll be away from my home for a while. I hope you understand.

Back to the speakers! I checked the 4 plates, the wire connections on both speakers and amp and everything is in order.

Put some chairs in the in the middle of the room, took the speakers from the shelf and on the chairs. This way I could test the the sound when sitting between them. Since they are on a shelf normally it`s rather difficult

I noticed a difference straight away! It seems these speakers sound much bigger when they have more room to breath! I did hear this well defined central image. Things got so much better. Still not on the same level as in the store, but I blame the old weak amp for that. I don`t have much options to play with the balance settings This thing doesn`t even fit the the cable that I got in the store since it is too thick...

So my conclusion after these tests are that: these speakers need more space, (as they had in the store ) and as planned the amp just needs to be upgraded. The speakers itself are just great!

Thanks alot for all the tips and advice.

 

[Coll]

Glad you are pleased with the speakers and that all is working well apart from needing a new amplifier.

 

[gramps23]

Hi Fristi,

Is it possible that you could afford a few quid for some second hand speaker stands at all? As you've noticed, the speakers sound much better with some space around them. On proper stands (which only need cost £20 or so secondhand), you will be able to give them proper support and have a good play about with room positioning, which is vitaly important to the sound that they produce.

Cheers