I have been selliing AV for 27 yrs. These are quite special. A client “complained” of a trancelike state and difficulty getting back to work!! Very good.
I've had my Polk Signature lineup for some years now. I finally got the urge to replace the center S35 for being to thin and small sounding. Not far fetched since they are only 4" woofers. I tried the S30, which had larger drivers, but the dispersion pattern was narrow, and even slightly off axis, I could hear that, hence settling on the S35. Tradeoffs, right? Now I find myself with a mismatched set, because I found a center that sounds really good to me, while having a good dispersion pattern, the JBL Studio 665c. This has me looking into buying the LR's for it. Question: Does woofer size make a difference? How much difference do woofers in the floor standing towers make in a moderate sized room with 8' ceilings? Mainly for movies btw. The matching fronts are the Studio 698's. They have a 3-way design an 1" inch tweeter, 6" mid, and dual 8 inch woofers. These Q Concept 50's have just a 0.9" tweeter and 2 5" woofers. My Polk S60's have 3 6.5" woofers and don't sound horrible with the 665c. I may just ignore the mismatched fronts.
have these since late 2022, also have 30's as surrounds and 90 for center. best speakers I've ever had. super problematic room, all of them perform good like 30cm/1ft from concrete walls. really good low db performance too, as I don't like to listen at concert levels + I have neighbours who might not agree with my taste in music. only issue is the bass, you need either a sub or, maybe, an ideal room. great review btw, wish I could have a dedicated music/film/game room
I only have the concept 30's, but before I bought them I was looking to get the 50's. How much of a difference there is between them, except the lower extension of the towers?
Awesome review! What would you recommend, is it worth paying more to get the 500's over theese? going to drive them with Mcintosh gear, MC2600. Thanks again for a really nice review.
Hi Ron, from a french listener in the caribbean! I've been following your RU-vid channel for a few months now, and I appreciate the quality of your work and your teaching. I own a pair of Q Acoustics Concept 50 speakers, and they already sound great with my Marantz NR1200. However, I would like to replace it with an amplifier that's better suited to the quality of these speakers. In your opinion, wich one would make a good match with these speakers? The only other amplifier I've been able to try is the Yamaha R-N803D, and the improvement is already significant! More presence and dynamics, clearer vocals, and punchier bass. With a budget between 1500 and 2500 dollars/euros, which amplifier would you recommend? Marantz 40n? Technics G700/GX70?Denon 1700NE/Rega/Roksan/NAD ? Our insularity doesn't allow us to try out many references and the number of manufacturers we have access to is limited. Your advices would be worth their weight in gold to us ... Anyway, keep up the great work and thank you !
What country in the Caribbean are you located in? The Yamaha R-N803D you’ve already demoed is tough to beat in that price range. I’ve been curious about the Q Acoustics speakers. I have the Martin Logan Motion TXi 60’s right now and have been pretty happy with them overall. They are a big step up from the Klipsch I owned previously.
Great to see you back and in the new space Ron! Love how youve upped the features of your review; looks great, too. Im sure you've been fussing over the aesthetics as much as you do sound - it shows! Welcome back.
Welcome back. I will add my unsolicited endorsement for AAC cables and Rob Fritz. Always helpful and educational when I speak with Rob and I use his cables exclusively at this point (Statement Jr power and Statement speaker cables). And I wish I needed to build a second system, I’d buy these speakers without hesitation!
I’m thinking of getting the 30 and add a couple subs.just bought a used pair of kef r3 not sure yet. Maybe a little bright for me. The kefs are very good
Well, welcome back and right off not that your protestations aren't if interest. I really like the color choice for the shed. Was that you or the Little Woman? And Ron the audio clips were even on my phone a clear succinct demonstration even if flawed by the technology of daid phone...in an ear gorgeous and while memory being what it is I believe I certainly could hear that lack or absence there of box coloration. So, thanks so much as I will be looking to pair QA with ny various receivers. 🎉🎉🎉
I bought and built GR X-SLS towers with the flat packs about 2 months ago. Danny tuned the port at 45 Hz and that's pretty much what I hear. The bass is a bit lightweight but very tuneful and clear. I'm well pleased with the result, spending less than $1K for my gateway drug.
@@1mctous that's how it starts. Tens of thousands of dollars later you start to question if it was all worth it. I'm now at an age where my hearing has tapering off and I can no longer hear everything the system has to offer. So at least now I am no longer chasing improvements.
My speakers consist of an OPEN FR driver on the top of the box, and a woofer in the box. Best speakers I ever built and they smoke my B&W 706 speakers. 😅
How much of this review Ron is on the speakers quality VS the listening space you now have. I have a sneaking suspicion that you would get a lot of speakers to disappear in sonic bliss that room. I’d be real interested in seeing you run through some other speakers you have previously reviewed to see what the different environment does for those. Glad to see a new video!!!
yes indeed the very top end in the 500s are better in directivity, the tweeter in the 500s focused a lot in the directivity in the very top end, also on-axis there is more energy in the very top end
on cables - cabling does matter...but the theory is very simple, use OFC (Oxygen free Cable). depending on the speaker anything from 2.5mm to 4mm should be fine. So if there are more drivers and wider freq Response the thicker cable helps with the resolution a lot. Also for low freq control, the less resistance the amp needs to overcome to control the woofers the easier it can control the woofer, the better the sound. so as far as cost is concerned just ensure you are using thin strand OFC cable and have yourself a good day!
Just getting into this hobby. These speakers or the Magnepan 1.7i? I was able to deep listen the Maggies at a friend if a friend and they sound glorious!
Ron are you using an amp per speaker in the background there? Smaller room in the UK and have the concept 20's. Agree with your comments, excellent soundstage and they do indeed vanish.
That's what my mini active network powered Yamaha NX-N500 sound like. Music without anything else added to it. You should try to get hold of a pair and hear them. Not bad for a 2015 speaker that go all the way to 40KHz and all the way down to 35 cycles....
Thanks! The R600 won’t stand a chance when it comes to box resonance. As good as the polks are, the cabinet construction isn’t anything special. As a consequence, bass and midbass will be more difficult to control as the 50s. As far as the midrange and top end, the 600s will sound pretty similar but offer a little more spark after 5k and above. I’ve always enjoyed the Polk stuff for their voicing in the upper frequencies and have no complaints there.
Watched and liked. Any recommendations on a stand mount speaker under $1000? This will be a 2.1 system running off a Bluesound Powernode. Mixed music and HT usage in a secondary living area. I have Polk R700’s in my primary room that I love.
Switched from concept 40 to concept 50 after few years. These speakers seem to hold the sound in their fist and do not allow it to smear around. My room seemed to be filled with sound.
just checked with older videos of yours and it sounds like the new room is much more reverberant (is that a word?). A bit like Andrew Robinson's indoor swimming pool... erm I mean listening room Will you leave it like that or are there future stages of further sound proofing coming up? If you need to fill book shelves: I can send books 😅
You obviously haven't seen every speaker under $5000. I hit my Triad MTM box with a hammer and broke the hammer ($1300 ten years ago). My JBL subwoofer had horrible resonance at 45 hz so I built my own box (4' x 16" x 14") with new dual opposed drivers. I was shocked at the awesome build quality from Parts Express drivers.
@@csj9619 in all honesty, no. I like how clean everything looks work the risers. Some folks make the claim that risers make a sonic difference and so far, I’m skeptical in my experience. But I do like how they look and the entire bucket of rebar supports only cost me like 16 bucks.
@@Newrecordday2013 The big one is, as always, the step response. Seems NO ONE can get the drivers to all start and stop at the same time. Generally, the high order crossover is the reason. The wild impedance fluctuations bother me as well. 2 to over 20 ohms is a big swing. Cabinet resonances are present, contrary to your comments. That's seen in the impedance curve.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Where the hell have you been Mr. Ron? Some secret government project you can’t talk about or a more plausible you’ve been up to your keister working on The Sound Shed? Enlighten us nosey followers please.
@@Newrecordday2013 q acoustic concept 20. The worst speakers I've owned. Bright midrange soft top end and probably the worst bass ever. God knows how you get bright mids but they did. No balance at all
@@openears8914 hmm....the concept 20 is a small and compact bookshelf speaker. for a few hundo (USD), connected to quality amp, etc., the concept 20 is fine loudspeaker solution for a small listening room, or a larger room. add a sub, or two, if you want more bass. (search "Trying New speakers Q_Acoustic Concept 20 with RS241 SET power" and give a listen, folks.)
So if many types of measurements indicate potential problems BUT THEY DON'T MANIFEST DURING EXTENDED LISTENING, what is the point of measurements other than sensitivity, impedence and phase angles? Time and time again reviews reveal that many types of measurements don't tell us anything sonically substantive. I have yet to see measurements that tell us something about, for example, timbre and soundstage precision. I respect Ron's commitment to "objectivity" and I'm not suggesting he should stop, but personally I value his listening impressions far more than his measurements.
Two things I wish you would address (and hope I didn't miss it if you already commented). 1.) Sensitivity to placement issues. I don't have, or really want, a dedicated listening room, and would rather have speakers that can live with my lifestyle as opposed to having to go to them. So how do they do closer to a wall or without extensive room treatments? 2.) As much as I like to turn it up, I can only really do it on occasion, and would really appreciate comments regarding the low level listining quality. I have speakers that open up and sound great, but not until you turn it up beyond my wife's typical tolerance.
2 things every review should include They're deal breakers imo Because if speakers only perform at their best at sound levels that annoy the house and neighbours you're better off using headphones
There are a bunch of reviews and forum discussions online, as well as additional youtube reviews that will answer your questions. Always good to get a second opinion anyway...
@@oddeohdood7511 That's not the point, the point is every reviewer should talk about these 2 things for every speaker they review. Most people live in normal houses without a dedicated sound proof room, they want to know these things and not have to search in 12 different places to find out.
Monitor Audio also make great sounding speakers for their price point. I'm looking to save up for a silver 300 with a NAD C399 + BluOS. I will get there eventually. Maybe even a Gold 200 that would be really nice.
Whoa! Listening impressions, measurements, AND sound clips? I haven't been this lucky in a while! Maybe I missed it but how about amp pairings on the 50? Some have said their big brother is a bit picky in that regard.
I appreciate your passion about residences and open baffles. And given that these are that good, I still think I prefer the soundfield of good dipoles. Thanks, Ron.
@@Newrecordday2013 Maybe it's me and what my brain is tuned to but I tried a pair of open baffle speakers which were a brand you are certainly very familiar with and the only way I can describe them is the best sounding most boring speaker I ever heard. They just seemed to lack character. Is that cabinet resonance? Maybe, but as detailed as they were they just did nothing for me.
I love the way you make everything so easy Ron. So, all I need to do is find a room that is 3X larger than the one I currently have. Have no furniture in it except for the one chair and sound absorbing panels, and a sub or a pair. And then I can pull my speakers the required 8 feet out into the room. So I can listen and get the best out of these little gems. Thanks Ron! Keep up the great work!
Hi, I watch a lot of your videos. Could you please make one about Q Acoustics Concept 30 bookshelf speakers? I have a "small" room and the 50's have no place here, will be too boomy. I already tried standfloor speakers and for the room size, they are too much. And I think there are many of us in this situation :).Thank you! Greetings from Romania.
Q Acoustics are amazing They have similar philosophy as Dynaudio. Giving you all the details without forcing the details out unnaturally. They don’t sound similar but the philosophy is same.
I dunno why but Dynaudio sounds a bit veiled and chesty to me (with boomy bass), like vintage speakers. But I’m in love with the Q Acoustics sound. KEF sounds a bit artificial to me with the tangerine coax driver. I want to try more brands. But I’ll hang on to my very special speakers for now.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q Dynaudio needs good amplification. I have contour 20i . One of the best speakers I heard in any price. Clear, precise, spacious, neutral, low accurate bass.
I added a Weiss DAC 202 to my system and the Q acoustics Concept 500s driven by a Michi x5 scaled up to the high end Weiss in an instant . From soft trio Jazz to Louis Cole Q acoustics concept 500 plus REL sub woofer are my find of the decade
It’s so weird that this video comes out just as I’m getting ready to purchase a new set of towers soon. I am torn between these and the sonus faber lumina v. they are both the exact same price. What would you recommend new record day?
Total opposites! The focals are gonna be bright and have a thinner or more analytical midband. The focal cabinet won’t even come close this in terms of resonance control. I’d go with with the concepts.
