Q ACOUSTICS 3020i Bookshelf Speakers Pair English Walnut - Featuring 2-way Reflex Enclosure Type, 125mm (5") Bass Driver, and 22mm (0.9") Tweeter - Stereo Speakers Hifi/Passive Speakers

I was on the lookout for a pair of speakers to go with my home office hi-fi. Hours of online videos and reviews convinced me that you seem to get a lot for your money with this brand. I paid £179 (delivered) so it seemed like a price worth gambling on.My pair arrived two days ago. I got them out of the box and was immediately impressed with the build and finish of the speakers. I’ll be keeping them out of reach of my 4-year-old as the tweeters look delicate, but the cabinets have decent weight and feel solid.First sound impression – I tried these on my main hi-fi, in our dining room. It’s the largest room in the house and it’s an old house with high ceilings. (I have a subwoofer on that system but turned it off for the initial listen to the Q Acoustics.) My initial response was mixed. There was a lot of good – all very clear, vocals and acoustic instruments sounded excellent but apart from some punchy kick drums, I really couldn’t hear any of the great bass I’d heard so much about in all the reviews. I turned on the subwoofer and balanced it with the speakers and things really improved. (I know "bookshelf" speakers of this size aren’t bass monsters, but I’ve had a pair of similar spec/size Mission speakers in the same spot, and they delivered more bass than these Q Acoustics.)I was a little deflated at this point – My experience wasn’t quite as exciting as all the reviews had led me to believe it might be.Yesterday I decided that there’s hardly likely to be a great big conspiracy, dozens of reviews all celebrating these speakers and mine just being ok.I assumed/hoped that these speakers were just not designed to fill larger rooms as the main speakers. So, I set them up on a NAD amp in a much smaller bedroom which is roughly the size of the office (currently being decorated so can’t set up in there) (Roughly 3m x 2.5m.)The difference was incredible – For £179 these speakers are excellent. It’s early days and I’m not by any means an expert but my first impressions are – There’s a lot of defined space and as weird as it sounds, the silences are noticeable, they seem to be very clear in the gaps where there is no music. I would say the speakers do electronic music well, but they do really well on organic instruments like strings/piano/guitars/vocals and the bass was there, punchy on beats and warm on bass lines, and not that false boomy bass you sometimes get with smaller speakers. I do think a sub would still help with the lower registers but overall, they’re ace. Highs are clear and really pleasant, no sign of painful trebly sounds on cymbals etc.In summary: Excellent speakers, well worth the money I paid – Work best in a small to medium room. Low end seems to disappear in larger spaces. Would also work really well in a home cinema.

I've had these for about 6 months now. They are wonderful-sounding, well-built/finished speakers for the price, and have responded to improvements like better speaker cables, Atacama nexus 6i speaker stands, and very recently, a REL T0 mark 2 subwoofer. I bought them at £199 and to get better, I think I'd have to spend at least twice or even three times as much - only the Acoustic Energy AE300, which costs £600 a pair, has sounded like a worthwhile upgrade to me, but I'm not prepared at present to spend that much. I'd rather spend it on additional kit like the stands and subwoofer, which I can continue to use if and when I upgrade the speakers.They are very easy to listen to: not at all fatiguing, and I can enjoy them for hours at a time. They image well, the sound stage being wide and high and deep with good separation between voices and/or instruments. For their size, the bass, even without a subwoofer, is pretty good, with its extension down to 64 hz. However, the treble and midrange is, I find, the star of the show. Adding a good subwoofer just completes the total range of frequencies covered and generally improves the sound stage and clarity somewhat.The key word is musical. With or without a subwoofer, these speakers play tunes and let you forget about analysing too much, because among other things, their level of detail is very good and you rarely have to strain to discern what's going on. You can just sit back and enjoy favourite tracks of whatever genre turns you on, be it classical, popular, jazz, country, folk, blues... I've listened to them all, and nothing has sounded lacking. Just don't buy them if you like forward and brighter-sounding speakers -- they're quite warm and I find the sound stage foms a semi-circle largely behind the plane of the speakers. Suits me and many others well, but it might not you, perhaps especially if you have an equally warm-sounding amplifier: it might prove too much of a good thing for you.They're forgiving of placement, but might just need a bit of experimenting with how much they are toed in and how wide apart you space them. I have the left speaker flat on, and the right, about five feet away, near a window, is slightly toed in as that seems to compensate for the sound reflections. But they sound pretty good most places I tried them; they even sound good way off axis at the other side of my listening room, which is about 19' by 11.5' (I listen at one end, across the short axis of the room).They sound best on stands some way from the wall. Q acoustics provide foam bungs for the rear ports (be careful not to insert them too far lest you lose them inside the cabinet!) to reduce bass boom from a nearby wall. I'd say they are too deep for an average bookshelf, but if one's shelves _are_ deep enough and all one can use, I'd try isolating them as best I could with spikes, pucks or short stands, and use the bungs.I recommend these speakers unreservedly; it's certainly the best £199 I ever spent on hi-fi gear, and even at their present price on Amazon of £219, imho, they're still an absolute bargain. Not so long ago, you could easily have paid much more for their like.Edit: Well, I've now had them for about 15 months and still use them as fronts in my surround system, but have upgraded my stereo system to include a pair of Quad S2s which are three times the price and sound significantly better -- but they should! My recommendation still stands; at the price, it's very difficult to better them.

On sale I picked up a pair of these 3020i speakers for just £167 with free postage, a steal.Ignoring stereo imagining and sound stage, these speakers easily project enough sound to fill my room which is 6 x 6 Meters, and if within 12 inches of the rear wall enough bass for sensible listening.I have now paired mine with a dedicated Sub and used the supplied port plugs, I like bass but just on my terms and mid-range bass tends to annoy the rest of the household. I know buying a sub for less bass may at first sound strange, but a dedicated sub-woofer with an adjustable cross-over allows for less bass when required.However if stereo imaging and sound stage is what you are after, then these are really suited to a small room as the Bookshelf name would suggest. I found when spaced 1.8 Meters apart and about 1.5 Meters from my seating position the performance is excellent. As you move further away a little toeing is needed but past 3 Meters and you really need a bigger speaker (3030i if you want to stick with Q-Acoustics).A fun example to try is the Pentatonix Daft Punk Video found on You Tube, like the music or not the imaging offered is an excellent demo, bass and beat box all around you with the singers very front and center almost behind the wall.For my use (Desk Speakers) these are perfect and I wont be upgrading for a while.

The sound is great with enough audio depth. Bass is punch with power, the high pitch is a bit fla. I choose QED XT 25 speaker cables are excellent compatible devices and plugged in easily. Value for money