Q Acoustics 3070 Active Subwoofer - your opinion?

[John.D]

Anyone using Q Acoustics 3070 Active Subwoofer? Your opinion on this please? useful or complete waste?

Key Specifications

• • Amplified Power: 140W RMS
  • Bass Units: Twin 170 mm (6.5-inch) long-throw drivers
  • Enclosure Type: Ported
  • Crossover Frequency: Variable from 50Hz to 150Hz
  • Dimensions: 200 mm wide x 400 mm high x 525 mm deep (7.9 x 15.7 x 20.7 inches)
  • Weight: 13.6 kg

 

[fritobugger]

Objectively it is a terrible subwoofer. It only goes down to a stated 37Hz at -6dB. Which probably means 45Hz or 50Hz at -3dB. So it is hardly better than a decent bookshelf speaker.

If you are looking at it second hand for a really low price (like less than $100) and you have very specific and extremely limited space requirements, it might be worth the risk to get some mid-bass boost but it isn't a subwoofer by any stretch of the imagination.

Absolutely not worth the $420 price that they want for it new.

For $319 you can get the RSL 10e and for $499 you can get the RSL 10s MkII which both far exceed the performance of the 3070.

 

[John.D]

Objectively it is a terrible subwoofer. It only goes down to a stated 37Hz at -6dB. Which probably means 45Hz or 50Hz at -3dB. So it is hardly better than a decent bookshelf speaker.

If you are looking at it second hand for a really low price (like less than $100) and you have very specific and extremely limited space requirements, it might be worth the risk to get some mid-bass boost but it isn't a subwoofer by any stretch of the imagination.

Absolutely not worth the $420 price that they want for it new.

For $319 you can get the RSL 10e and for $499 you can get the RSL 10s MkII which both far exceed the performance of the 3070.

I was hoping to get one for 100-120$ for small den, though it might work OKAY with budget bookshelf speakers or satellite like M8 or similar.

 

[Penelinfi]

I think the 2070 had problems with the amp or PSU. Not sure about 3070.

 

[Redacted]

If you are using small bookshelf speakers as mains, you may find the bass extension is not much below 60Hz - you'd have to check theirs specs.
For $100-120, the 3070 will be OK for the money and will at least give you low E on a bass guitar....

 

[DanielT]

Check out the used market if you're on a tight budget.

In the picture below, you can see one of my Yamaha YST-SW300 12-inch subwoofers. I measured it; it goes down to 21 Hz (f3).
I bought two of them for $140. I can promise you they absolutely blow that Q Acoustics 3070 sub off the (hifi) road. Plus, they have an adjustable high-pass filter for the speakers—a great feature.
The downside, as with anything old, is that there’s no warranty; they could break or need repairs at any time. And they’re ugly as sin, but otherwise, they’re great.

You can see one of them in the middle of the photo. It’s a temporary setup—I’m tinkering with my DIY speakers, which is why it looks a bit messy.

 

[John.D]

Eventually dropped the idea.
I heard a slim canton subwoofer at friends, it was hidden under couch but was doing good job. He said it’s 8 inch slim profile subwoofer, not too powerful but something to add a bit lower end punch, don’t remember the model.
I might look for something similar.

 

[whazzup]

Eventually dropped the idea.
I heard a slim canton subwoofer at friends, it was hidden under couch but was doing good job. He said it’s 8 inch slim profile subwoofer, not too powerful but something to add a bit lower end punch, don’t remember the model.
I might look for something similar.

Can consider Edifier T5s, very space saving and measured:

Subwoofer Comparison

The thing that can make subs difficult to integrate is group delay curve differences between the mains and the subs. Even if the crossover is aligned properly it is possible you can have cancelation effects below the crossover exactly where you would expect the sub to be taking over. The...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Note that one of my earlier mistakes when first getting it was not realising my sub out input voltage was lacking, so I was maxing out the gain on the T5s and still didn't find it sufficient.

 

[thunderchicken]

Objectively it is a terrible subwoofer. It only goes down to a stated 37Hz at -6dB. Which probably means 45Hz or 50Hz at -3dB. So it is hardly better than a decent bookshelf speaker.

If you are looking at it second hand for a really low price (like less than $100) and you have very specific and extremely limited space requirements, it might be worth the risk to get some mid-bass boost but it isn't a subwoofer by any stretch of the imagination.

Absolutely not worth the $420 price that they want for it new.

For $319 you can get the RSL 10e and for $499 you can get the RSL 10s MkII which both far exceed the performance of the 3070.

I’m an absolute RSL fanboy. Have two 12S subs and one 10S mkII. Actually looking at getting more of each for other rooms!

 

[Flaesh]

It only goes down to a stated 37Hz at -6dB

I reread this and suddenly thought about it. I agree that this is a terrible subwoofer. But what an amazing coincidence!

This is my sub 2 pi anechoic. No one has ever said that my subs are terrible (of course, if we are talking about the sound, and not the appearance).

 

[Chrispy]

Eventually dropped the idea.
I heard a slim canton subwoofer at friends, it was hidden under couch but was doing good job. He said it’s 8 inch slim profile subwoofer, not too powerful but something to add a bit lower end punch, don’t remember the model.
I might look for something similar.

Some of the low profile subs are okay but still generally lack the very low end like most small/compromised sub designs (mainly to make them small). Depends how much low end addition you'd be happy with, that's hard to know. You might like that dual 6.5" driver thing, me I'd never even consider it, 10" drivers minimum, larger preferred.