A reviewer, an astronaut & a cowboy walk into a bar......

Not hearing of Q Acoustics shows the rarified hifi atmosphere you inhabit :-) . They've been a favourite among the lower rungs of the ladder for some years, and their low cost speakers are excellent and great value. They've recently gone up a few notches with speakers based on a suspended chassis design (using gel of some sort), which apparently works...

IIRC Karl-Heinz Fink has done much of the design work on the Q Acoustics speakers. He also had design input on the Naim Ovators.

GuyCaballero posted:

 The Q Acoustics Concept 500 floorstanders

I had a passing interest in these not long ago, based primarily on recent favorable reviews and the fact that they are sold direct with a 30-day return policy (in the US). They also have an adjustable high frequency link. In the end I decided no, too much to risk, due to both the $6K price and the cost of return shipping if they didn't work (quite heavy speakers at 42 kg each). Interesting price range of floorstanders sold in the US; $400, $620, $1,000 then jumps to $6,000.  

I'd also be interested in anyone's experience with the 500s. Are these only sold direct in the UK or can you go hear them in a showroom? Where do you live Guy?

Salmon Dave posted:

Not hearing of Q Acoustics shows the rarified hifi atmosphere you inhabit :-) . They've been a favourite among the lower rungs of the ladder for some years, and their low cost speakers are excellent and great value. They've recently gone up a few notches with speakers based on a suspended chassis design (using gel of some sort), which apparently works...

Rarified? Hardly.

I was out of the loop so to speak for a bunch of years & didn't follow what was going on the the industry at large & I live in Canada so seemingly common brands in Britain don't always make it over here. Q Acoustics are now based in the U.S. but that's a recent development but they have no Canadian toe hold & are not able to ship here from the U.S..

joerand posted:

GuyCaballero posted:

 The Q Acoustics Concept 500 floorstanders

I had a passing interest in these not long ago, based primarily on recent favorable reviews and the fact that they are sold direct with a 30-day return policy (in the US). They also have an adjustable high frequency link. In the end I decided no, too much to risk, due to both the $6K price and the cost of return shipping if they didn't work (quite heavy speakers at 42 kg each). Interesting price range of floorstanders sold in the US; $400, $620, $1,000 then jumps to $6,000.  

I'd also be interested in anyone's experience with the 500s. Are these only sold direct in the UK or can you go hear them in a showroom? Where do you live Guy?

It is a big jump in price points but they feel it's warranted so more power to them & the reviews I've read have been pretty heady

As far as I can tell they are based in the Southern U.S. as a distribution point only, they don't ship to Canada & they don't have a Canadian presence yet but according to their reply via e-mail if that changes over the next few months they'll let me know.

For that kind of money I need to listen first, mull them over & then see what to do. Ordering something unheard even with their no problem return policy is daunting especially accounting for shipping. Right now I can take a leisurely walk to the store & have Kurt plug in a pair of Tannoy for me, sip a coffee, chat & leave.

I think Q Acoustics was started up by some old employees of Mission speakers who have had a lot of success in the sub £1000 category over recent years. I myself owned some Concept 20's which were a great little set of speakers that I used with a UnitiQute 2.  Like  JOERAND I had a passing interest in the concept 500 and even started a thread about them here but I got the feeling they were looked down upon for being made in China which is the same place that the Naim Muso range are made funnily enough.

Great Designer and great design IMO and well worth a listen in the end I went with some Dynaudio but didn't actually get to the point of hearing the Concept 500.

The other thing with the Concept 500 is that they have a 25-200 W rating with no specification I could find for sensitivity. I'd definitely want to have an amp with plenty of headroom to drive them for a demo. Unclear whether a Nait XS2 would be up to the task.

I was able to hear the Concept 500's at a dealer with a Uniti Nova. For me they were the best speaker of the day for the Nova, after we listened to: Neat Motive 2, Focal 926, Dynaudio Excite X38 and Contour S3.4, Proac D48.

The cabinet gel sandwich technology seems to be the big differentiator, as these speakers seem to suffer less box colouration than most floorstanding speakers with typical square MDF boxes. I really liked the voicing on these as well, which was less boom/tizz than most modern speakers I hear - great for long-term listening and designed for real-world rooms, although if you have a very damped room/lots of soft furnishings they may sound a tad rolled off in the top end.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend getting these on your audition list. This model has properly advanced the engineering technology for speakers under $10k, and amongst all the speakers I've heard, set a new standard for musical engagement at the price.

TL;DR  I want a pair, but can't yet justify the price which is more than double my current speakers! Must audition if you can..

GuyCaballero posted:

Right now I can take a leisurely walk to the store & have Kurt plug in a pair of Tannoy for me, sip a coffee, chat & leave.

It might be polite to, at least pretend to, listen to them.

Are you sure you're in Canada?

Adam Meredith posted:

GuyCaballero posted:

Right now I can take a leisurely walk to the store & have Kurt plug in a pair of Tannoy for me, sip a coffee, chat & leave.

It might be polite to, at least pretend to, listen to them.

Are you sure you're in Canada?

The last time I was in for as listen I was there fur 1 1/2 hours! And everybody was thanked profusely. I'm Canadian. Being polite is in our DNA eh.

DC71 posted:

I was able to hear the Concept 500's at a dealer with a Uniti Nova. For me they were the best speaker of the day for the Nova, after we listened to: Neat Motive 2, Focal 926, Dynaudio Excite X38 and Contour S3.4, Proac D48.

The cabinet gel sandwich technology seems to be the big differentiator, as these speakers seem to suffer less box colouration than most floorstanding speakers with typical square MDF boxes. I really liked the voicing on these as well, which was less boom/tizz than most modern speakers I hear - great for long-term listening and designed for real-world rooms, although if you have a very damped room/lots of soft furnishings they may sound a tad rolled off in the top end.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend getting these on your audition list. This model has properly advanced the engineering technology for speakers under $10k, and amongst all the speakers I've heard, set a new standard for musical engagement at the price.

TL;DR  I want a pair, but can't yet justify the price which is more than double my current speakers! Must audition if you can..

I'm glad I won't be upgrading for a while. Hopefully they'll have a presence here in Canada (where I'm from Adam Meredith {if that is indeed your real handle}) so I can have a polite listen when I am ready to purchase a new pair.

I've talked to a pal who deals with B & W et al at the retail level & is thinking of opening up hjis own shop in the new year & he didn't know much about them either. It's a bit frustrating seeing they seem to sell direct only & on paper have a very interesting design utilizing new technology. (?) 

GuyCaballero posted: It's a bit frustrating seeing they seem to sell direct only & on paper have a very interesting design utilizing new technology. (?) 

The paper stuff, design, and reviews are intriguing but really go only so far. In my experience no review or progressive technology factor outweighs getting speakers directly into your room for a listen. Speakers either work in your room and for your ears or they don't. Nothing else matters once you find a match.

I always rely what my ass tells me after taking a car out for a drive: that was good. Or not. My ears are the same. Actually they're much prissier.

Richard Dane posted:

IIRC Karl-Heinz Fink has done much of the design work on the Q Acoustics speakers. He also had design input on the Naim Ovators.

Aren't those the ones that are no longer in production for some reason?