Q acoustics Concept 500

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Apparently there is no thread for this speaker
The cabinet is the star of the show, the cabinet is shockinly nice, you can hear how clean and clear the speaker is, every note is so clean!! Also the cabinet is extremely heavy of it's size, be aware of that! is skinny yet very heavy

The FR is soo good too, sounds very natural yet ultra detailed!, i was worried because this speaker don't have a mid range and i always buy speaker with 3-way configuration, but these drivers, crossover and cabinet scream Quality, even the distortion in the entire FR is so clean
This is a speaker that deserve a place in the high-end market. I'm so happy with this speaker.

 

[nerdstrike]

I would have auditioned these if the shop person hadn't decided for me that they were in a different class to the KEF and Focal options I was interested in and therefore not worth the backache. Silly salesman.

I would be interested to see independent measurements for sure, and not just their own spiel.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I would have auditioned these if the shop person hadn't decided for me that they were in a different class to the KEF and Focal options I was interested in and therefore not worth the backache. Silly salesman.

I would be interested to see independent measurements for sure, and not just their own spiel.

Measurements from steroplay confirm this is a very good speaker
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Stereophile

Q Acoustics Concept 500 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

I was impressed by the Concept 500's measured performance. It exemplifies textbook loudspeaker design.—John Atkinson
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Mid range sound very natural without any coloration, I'm very impressed by this speaker

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

To be honest i don't get why this extremely well design and extremely great measurements line don't make a lot of noise. In room measurements from concept 500 tend to be flat up to 30hz which is very nice with the 112dB max output, and 42kg cabinet.

End to end is a well design speaker, i'd say better than Revels, and if u want to destroy the salon 2 just add dual subwoofers, the revel beam early than the Q acoustics in it's wide dispersion, the WTW from the 5040 start to beam at 12khz unlike the revel who beam at the typical 7khz:

And the cabinet it's on another whole level, the concept cabinet is much better than any jbl or revel cabinet:

Salon n2, flagship vs flagship

Concept 500:

Concept just won in it's dispersion and cabinet, wanna more bass and imd(Funny enough, the distortion and IMD from Q acoustics is so great that works like a 3way, when crossed at 80hz is just a very good low imd, plus the advengate of being 2.5 way, the step response is better like a 2 way bookshelf)? add dual subwoofers with the difference in price and get a killer system better than any Revel (?), Q acoustics deserve more. Clearly.




Seeying the whitepaper, i see the Q acoustics concept series with the better curve cabinet, unlike the 5040, the concept beam at 15khz, which is extremely nice, so it's very wide in the entire Highs range. I see why audiophiles report the concepts as '' 3d sound '' or '' very holographic sound '' or the typical, very wide soundstage

 

[VintageFlanker]

I really like these speakers. Quite linear, very good spacial presentation...

I would say that the main downside is indeed the lack of low-end extension for floostanders of their class. Another is heavy fluctuations in price. From 4499€ when launched in 2017 (+500€ depending on wood finishes), their MSRP is now 5999€.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I really like these speakers. Quite linear, very good spacial presentation...

I would say that the main downside is indeed the lack of low-end extension for floostanders of their class. Another is heavy fluctuations in price. From 4499€ when launched in 2017 (+500€ depending on wood finishes), their MSRP is now 5999€.

Yeah, i have these speaker and the spacial presentation is something really fun.

To be honest the lack of LFE is not that bad, i got flat 30hz with very good quality with the O foam rings, too much bass. Songs like oxytocin billie just throw all the LFE you can want, at least in my room. I got a lot of physical bass, and it's very clean to distingush each thing.


The price to be honest if were 7999€ to me would be still a extremely good perform speaker, you are not going to get drivers and cabinet mounting this good at below 10.000E, not even the Revel flagship. But talking about the price, a lot of speakers has already increase a lot their price
These are Stereophile in room measurements, he got like flat 28hz with room gain, and his room is bigger than mine. This speaker usually tend to gain a lot of LFE because the port is in the floor...
(this were a graph with before and after room correction, stereophile)

Q Acoustics Concept 500 loudspeaker TJN'S In-Room Measurements

Sidebar 3: TJN'S In-Room Measurements To provide a picture of what the Concept 500s sounded like in my room. I ran a number of in-room measurements on the Q Acoustics Concept 500s using the OmniMic test system from Parts Express. I took all of these at my main listening seat, with the speakers...

www.stereophile.com

I don't have measurements, but listening the speaker i don't hear any LFE roll off in any song.. im pretty sure i got flat something between 25 to 30hz in my room, but hey if you listen very far away and wanna LFE, you will want to add dual subwoofers anyway.

 

[dogmamann]

Apparently there is no thread for this speaker
The cabinet is the star of the show, the cabinet is shockinly nice, you can hear how clean and clear the speaker is, every note is so clean!! Also the cabinet is extremely heavy of it's size, be aware of that! is skinny yet very heavy
View attachment 368696

The FR is soo good too, sounds very natural yet ultra detailed!, i was worried because this speaker don't have a mid range and i always buy speaker with 3-way configuration, but these drivers, crossover and cabinet scream Quality, even the distortion in the entire FR is so clean
This is a speaker that deserve a place in the high-end market. I'm so happy with this speaker.

View attachment 368695

You are just getting excited about your toy. It’s a good speaker, but you are over excited by its marketing material!! . Also quite expected when the previous speakers were mid range KEF products. Most people don’t realize how mediocre KEF are. They normally live in that bubble created by the measurement hype. In reality lot of speakers without uniq are having decent dispersion, but KEF markets in a way that people think non coaxial drivers are horrible! And their fan base keep iterating this. I have seen people who think thought their R series(especially R11!!) is the greatest speaker ever made and do it accept anything else as good.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

*Well, before this remember... In-room measurements shouldn't looks like a flat line, '' flat '' in in-room measurements are a decay of like 3dB 1khz to 20khz~.*
Erin short for this:

I also don't get why the distortion FR looks like different than the SPL & PHASE FR. Should be a software issue? because for seeying the FR you look at the SPL&PHASE, not at the distortion... i also noticed the FR in the distortion measurements vs the FR measurements alone, looks a little different if you are familiar with Stereoplay measurements
Correction was made focusing in the 20hz to 500hz in room range~, 0 correction after 1khz.


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A good guy give me for a little time his UMIK1 for calibrate my in-room response, many thanks.
GEAR:
UMIK1 - Concept 500

Frequency Response 86/in-room: This is the measurements for look at FR. Not the Brown.

Looks like a very uncolored speaker, the line is very cute. Before the calibration i thinked the highs sounded smooth but after the calibration with the mic, what i hear are cristal clear with nice extension. Very clean and clear, not smooth. By measurements it looks like a raise at 15khz~

But in another measurements, that part looks like that by just move a very very very very little the mic. So I don't know, my ears tell me the highs are crystal clear, very detailed and not boosted neither smooth.

Distortions:
Very clean response, mids-highs are extremely clear, i get up 35hz in my small room, not brutal deep bass gorilla here but very good quality and clean. Measurements 86dB/In-room

I'd say the spacial effects are one of the best, the soundstage is wide and very fun. Very natural sound.
The only thing that i miss is LFE, that very physical low-end. But 35hz is not that bad either to be honest. There is anothers speakers in this price range that may have much more Low frequency extension. But, is not like 35hz is bad
Very good speakers, just not perfect. For example a Focal sopra N2 or a PL300 3G just destroy this speaker in LFE, the PL300 3G destroy the C500 2 times..., that speaker is bass monster.


Id say this speaker can sound smooth with room coloration and in some rooms maybe dark. Anechoic measurements says there is 1.2dB less energy in the lower highs, so i don't think is that neutral either, but 1.2dB is very little and the speaker can be corrected by 0.5dB + - jumper.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I changed a bit the mic position and now the highs looks like this, i also noticed the slope change by where is the mic pointing, pointing straight to the tweeter make the line flat and point the mic more towards make the graph looks like a slope:

The treble change a lot by a very minor movement, i can't say which one are the correct position, like a 1° can change 3dB in the measurement lol.

I really like these speakers. Quite linear, very good spacial presentation...

I would say that the main downside is indeed the lack of low-end extension for floostanders of their class. Another is heavy fluctuations in price. From 4499€ when launched in 2017 (+500€ depending on wood finishes), their MSRP is now 5999€.

Well, i think the LOW-END EXTENSION is certanly the downside, the only one... but is not THAT bad either to be very honest. Is good just not great, and OK for large places

 

[DearSX]

I have the Concept 50, and I'm not 100% used to how it sounds but these measurements you show are very interesting. They have been in the closet for a few months now. I wish mine had better extension. I'm going to play around with EQ now that I have a mic, and then maybe a sub and see if I can make them into an "end game" speakers like some reviewers say they can be.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I have the Concept 50, and I'm not 100% used to how it sounds but these measurements you show are very interesting. I wish mine had better extension. I'm going to play around with EQ now that I have a mic, and then maybe a sub.

I'd say Q acoustics make very very very good speaker, just don't much LFE. The good thing is you can add a subwoofer, because overall the other stuff in QA are great value for the money.
I guess this is the downside of paper cones, they sound very great just need to go very big for LFE, just look at ATC you need a monster for LFE.

 

[DearSX]

Yeah I have the SVS 3000 Micro, but I probably need to go bigger and maybe 2 subs. I need good instructions on setting up the sub properly and measuring it.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Im not sure if going with the PL200 3G or add dual subwoofers, to be honest i really like the c500's. Just the extremely gorilla low end is not there like the PL 300 3G LOL.

I have the Concept 50, and I'm not 100% used to how it sounds but these measurements you show are very interesting. They have been in the closet for a few months now. I wish mine had better extension. I'm going to play around with EQ now that I have a mic, and then maybe a sub and see if I can make them into an "end game" speakers like some reviewers say they can be.

The c500 has better extension and bigger drivers, the C50 it's the small brother. also at 40% of the price~ of the big bro.

 

[DearSX]

Im not sure if going with the PL200 3G or add dual subwoofers, to be honest i really like the c500's. Just the extremely gorilla low end is not there like the PL 300 3G LOL.

The c500 has better extension and bigger drivers, the C50 it's the small brother. also at 40% of the price~ of the big bro.

Yeah the Concept 500's price was steep for me at the time and I thought with subs the difference could be made up. I will give sub(s), EQ and DSP a try.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Yeah the Concept 500's price was steep for me at the time and I thought with subs the difference could be made up. I will give sub(s), EQ and DSP a try.

Woofers, cabinet and tweeter aren't the same, but the concept 50s is a good value for the money, there is no much speakers at this price range with cabinets at this level, the 50's use a less complex cabinet with less wood, for example there is 3 layers of MDF + 2 layers of GelCore, the 50s have 2 layers of MDF and 1 of GelCore.


The GelCore apparently works impressive well, imho. Spacial/holographic effects are impressive in the 500's.

 

[Penelinfi]

I'd say Q acoustics make very very very good speaker, just don't much LFE. The good thing is you can add a subwoofer, because overall the other stuff in QA are great value for the money.
I guess this is the downside of paper cones, they sound very great just need to go very big for LFE, just look at ATC you need a monster for LFE.

Zaph zd5 or Speaker Project Trophet have excellent bass for a small 5" paper cone driver.
Or zrt tower for larger driver.

Anything with those revelator drivers would have decent extension (except Wilson tune tot)

 

[DearSX]

I always wanted to build or own a revelator speaker. I purchased the Zaph ZA5 for my car system years ago and its pretty decent, thought the crossovers are huge

Ended up getting an SB Satori DIY speaker after seeing Zaph's blog about those speakers.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Is a trade off in the end
The c500s have a very natural clean sound, very detailed and among the best in micro detail, the micro spacial quality is very good and highs too, very good cabinet, extremely good. Maybe the cabinet help to the spacial quality effects

 

[dogmamann]

Is a trade off in the end
The c500s have a very natural clean sound, very detailed and among the best in micro detail, the micro spacial quality is very good and highs too, very good cabinet, extremely good. Maybe the cabinet help to the spacial quality effects

I felt like the c500 is way faster in bass than its competitors. Like instantaneous transients. I am sure you are enjoying its timing to the core.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I felt like the c500 is way faster in bass than its competitors. Like instantaneous transients. I am sure you are enjoying its timing to the core.

I guess being 2.5 way instead of a 3way help to that (?)

Certainly when i hear the woofers they appears to be unstressful in all ways, very clean transients. What i like about this speaker its the micro detail and special effects plus the wide stage.


I like this speaker, just not perfect. If you want to hear a woofer with a lot of meat and a very heavy bass notes, this is not the speaker... is not ''alive'' either, i ended listened the 7K, the Focal sopra n2 and PL 300 3G. The 7K sounds like a W, upper bass boosted, top mid range boosted and the highs has lots of sparkle at 10khz or somethin' like that, the coloration was very obvious vs the Focal sopra, which sourprising... has a very very very natural sounding with no focusing in anything, very good speaker. I liked a lot the Focal sopra n2 floorstanding, just brutally expensive. What was nice about the 7k was it's overall subbass, its sounds good and has nice LFE. Clearly more LFE than my C500's.
If i would point the pros of the 7K it's the LFE, but the C500s has better holographic(micro details are more easy to distinguish)/wider stage/cleaner and more natural sound.

Now, no one knows if you like more a smooth natural sound or a colored more alive sound like the 7K, you have to decide what suit better to you. Personally i would pick the C500 / Sopra sounding, i like a natural FR instead of a '' alive '' or '' bright '' one. I know a lot of people who enjoy more a alive signature than a natural one,

I didn't hear the new KEF METAS REFERENCES, but the sopra sounds more natural vs the Reference 3. The reference 3 has a kind of bright HF and the extension is kind of smooth, the sopra is the opposite, has more a very balanced mids to highs, very balanced imho, and the extension is very clean and clear.


I'd say the C500 can sound a little dark or highs too smooth because of room coloration, i'd say the wide dispersion help to the in-room coloration.

I just think the only ''bad'' about the C500 is the Xmax is not that much neither the LFE, i mean if you look only at LFE you can found a lot of speakers that do better in LFE at 7000 USD.