Q Acoustics 5040 floorstanding speaker review by Erin

[thewas]

Written review isn't online yet.

 

[thewas]

Obviously tuned for near wall placement, horizontal and vertical directiviities are better than I had expected, even more the harmonic and multitone distortions at 96 dB so it could be improved with some equalisation:

 

[dfuller]

Wow, this is... bad...

 

[thegeton]

Wow, bright. Like Klieg light bright.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I posted this in the comments section of the video:

This looks to be a well engineered speaker, albeit not one that’s measurements will appeal to the typically well informed subscribers to this channel.

My assumption is that this speaker is designed for small rooms hence the bass shelf to suit close wall positioning. The wide horizontal dispersion will help it sound “big” in small rooms.

The predicted in-room response shows a very typical treble boost which I think manufacturers deliberately include through fear of losing a short showroom demo to a competitor that delivers more superficial detail.

The poor vertical directivity could be avoided if this was a 2.5 way design but that would sacrifice midrange efficiency.

It looks great and the brand has a great reputation. I doubt this speaker will harm that.

 

[fpitas]

Wow, this is... bad...

Right? Like in "Baffle step? What's that?" bad.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Right? Like in "Baffle step? What's that?" bad.

Baffles step will be happening at around 500-700Hz I’d say and looks to corrected for. The low frequency shelf is for close placement.

 

[fpitas]

Baffles step will be happening at around 500-700Hz I’d say and looks to corrected for. The low frequency shelf is for close placement.

The only speakers I've seen that measure quite like that have been intended for soffit mounting.

 

[Mart68]

Stereophile also measured them

Q Acoustics 5040 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Q Acoustics 5040's quasi-anechoic behavior in the farfield. (The 5040's manual doesn't mention an optimal listening axis, so I examined the farfield...

www.stereophile.com

EPDR down to 1.4 ohms, get yer Krells out lads.

 

[fpitas]

Well maybe someone likes that kind of thing. I'd be EQing the bass.

 

[Matt_Holland]

The only speakers I've seen that measure quite like that have been intended for soffit mounting.

I agree it is a little strange. It’s like they detuned the port substantially. I think this kind of LF response shape is only easily achieved with a high Q driver that would normally be better suited to a closed box.

The KEF R3 Meta have a similar bass alignment to help with close wall positioning.

 

[fpitas]

I agree it is a little strange. It’s like they detuned the port substantially. I think this kind of LF response shape is only easily achieved with a high Q driver that would normally be better suited to a closed box.

The KEF R3 Meta have a similar bass alignment to help with close wall positioning.

I sort of assumed KEF had a sub in mind, too. Maybe these do too?

 

[dfuller]

I sort of assumed KEF had a sub in mind, too. Maybe these do too?

KEF does what's called an Extended Bass Shelf. It's distinctly different from what's going on here,

 

[nerdstrike]

Well I'm glad I didn't spend the time auditioning these.

 

[Matt_Holland]

KEF does what's called an Extended Bass Shelf. It's distinctly different from what's going on here,

How so? It looks almost exactly the same except for the the shelf starts a bit higher in frequency with the QAs

 

[dfuller]

How so? It looks almost exactly the same except for the the shelf starts a bit higher in frequency with the QAs

Oh it's totally different. EBS is basically just using a low port tuning in an attempt to use room gain to make the speaker's bass response more linear in-room, Q has what looks like a bog standard QB3 port behavior with the wrong driver.

Courtesy of Erin's Audio Corner... Notice how the KEF stays linear til it starts to roll off below Fs at 12dB/oct as you'd expect; then the port comes in to reinforce around 40hz, then it drops off more steeply below Fb.

And Q, courtesy of Stereophile... The speaker when sealed also rolls off around 12dB/oct below Fs, but that's not the behavior when the port is open - that's a typical port alignment. It's just shelved down around 200hz for some reason, even when measured as sealed.

 

[rynberg]

I posted this in the comments section of the video:

This looks to be a well engineered speaker, albeit not one that’s measurements will appeal to the typically well informed subscribers to this channel.

My assumption is that this speaker is designed for small rooms hence the bass shelf to suit close wall positioning. The wide horizontal dispersion will help it sound “big” in small rooms.

The predicted in-room response shows a very typical treble boost which I think manufacturers deliberately include through fear of losing a short showroom demo to a competitor that delivers more superficial detail.

The poor vertical directivity could be avoided if this was a 2.5 way design but that would sacrifice midrange efficiency.

It looks great and the brand has a great reputation. I doubt this speaker will harm that.

Do you own these or something? That's a lot of defense for a poorly engineered speaker. There are so much better performing choices at that price point from several manufacturers.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Do you own these or something? That's a lot of defense for a poorly engineered speaker. There are so much better performing choices at that price point from several manufacturers.

I agree.
What I’m saying is that these don’t appear to be badly designed, but very deliberately designed to achieve certain goals.
I wouldn’t buy them. But I’m sure they will sell well.

 

[Ron Texas]

I don't like that frequency response with the drop off at starting at 300 Hz. That it comes from a floor standing unit is even more disquieting.

 

[tw 2022]

I don't like that frequency response with the drop off at starting at 300 Hz. That it comes from a floor standing unit is even more disquieting.

It's a waste of internal volume at the very least....