Thanks for picking up right where I left off man! Great job as per usual!

I really love how you go in-depth and nerd out with your sound descriptions. Great review!!!!!!!!!

Thomas, always fun and informative reviews. Love the fact that you always introduce a story behind a review. It's a journey. 🤜💥🤛

Great review, Thomas. You always give us the information needed about a product. I, for one, appreciate that.

Finally, waited for ages for u to release this review, I think u nailed it . Ron’s review was also sublime!

Great review! I believe these speakers have the qualities I always look for.For that much money I was not surprised when you pulled out the big boys to drive these.Ron did a review of a few speakers and these were one of them and to me they sounded the best.Refined, detailed, smooth with a huge sound stage the bass is a bonus fantastic speakers!

Q Acoustics make lovely speakers. from their low-end gear to their higher-end gear.

This guy is very refreshing .No flowery wine tasting talk , just down to earth clear and concise description of his subjective experience . most reviewers i shut off after a minute or two , but this man kept me interested throughout .

The QA 3050 started my HIFI journey. They were really good when I bought them but when I pulled them away from the wall, I discovered soundstage! - a thing I didn't knew speakers could do. I've been a poor man ever since!

Finally the review that I'm eagerly waiting for. I'm glad you like and your should keep it. Everything you said is spot on. Happy Chinese New Year Thomas.

Good review. Keep up the good work.

What struck me , is that the Audioholics have been saying for years never use the 6 or 4 ohm setting on your amp, use the 8 ohm no matter what the speakers are rated at.

You are the best at telling how and why a speaker sound good or bad, and how to avoid the pitfall of impulsive buying! Thanks so much!

When he said “see you in the next time”after the summery, I thought to myself... nobody left Thomas, your videos are the best!

Nice.. I enjoy your B-Roll as you talk

Great review Thomas

great review i like your approach.

Thanks Thomas, was undecided on this speaker for last few weeks, now i have firm decision. Just waiting for the shop to resume business after CNY holiday.

thanks Thomas great review, and yes nothing like papers woofers

Matching the electronics with this speaker is important , it is a very high quality speaker that scales like high end should . I discovered a great match with the Mitchi x5 integrated 350 watts per channel into 4 ohms and the Meridian 808 v6 cd/pre , not inexpensive companions but not silly money .The speaker /amp combination betters the Meridian dsp 8000se I have since sold and now combined with a Rel T7i sub woofer filling in the bottom octave and Chord signature cables I am very happy indeed.

Nice review Thomas, would like to see you review the Concept 300 with the Tensegrity Stand

"Does good but nothing stands out" first impression is often an indication for "surprisingly good" long-term. It was the case with my speakers too.

Going to listen to the Concept 500 in two weeks, connected to my Hegel H300. Already excited how they will sound!

I love my 3020is. One day when I get a pair of concept 500s, then it’s time to think about trying out different amplifiers.

Thomas Great Analogy, I learn a lot form your vid.s I use to think it was the tweeter that gave that live being there sound. Now I'm starting to think it's the mid-range.

I own a concept 500. I really agree your words. it needs lots of care to match with amps!

Happy CNY

Very nice story Thomas as always! Stay Classy my friend!

Sir Your review is always entertaining and detail. Someday do a review of marantz pm8006 and Yamaha as801 .

That Lumin amp must really be something. It seems whenever a speaker isn't giving you the performance you want just throw in the lumin. Great review.

I hate V curve, maybe i will like these :). I think the feet look amazing!!! I love seeing unique designs like that. I do wish they spiced up the look of the speaker itself though. Excellent review Thomas!

Thomas, an informative and entertaining video as always. Unfortunately the high end cost to drive that loudspeaker come at too great of a cost so must continue to look elsewhere. Thanks again for your storied reviews.

Hello Thomas, glad you are still making the videos and with even more enthusiasm than usual! O-M-G: my kids say it all the time, and they laugh at me for being a wanna-be teen when I say OMG. But on topic, I'm happy to learn the end game system costs "only" costs 30K CAD :-) best, Marc

The MTM configuration does have a tighter and more focussed soundstage. There was a paper by Joe D’appolito that was published in the mid 80s (85 maybe) on the cylindrical sound wave that MTMs present. This can be both good and bad. The sweet spot is narrower than WMT but is very tight in this narrow area. I built 3 MTMs in the 80s. One using Peerless TP165R woofers and a KO10DT tweeter and a second one using a pair of Focal 8N515 and a Morel MDT33 tweeter and a third using ScanSpeak 18W8546 woofers and a 9900 Revelator tweeter. All had this tighter but more focussed soundstage I refer to above. Karl Heinz Fink who has designed the Concept series for Q Acoustics is an awesome designer aside from being a very generous person. Please try to find his Faktor 2 and Faktor 7 from his ALR Jordan days (early-mid 90s).

Hi Thomas, thank you very good video. I do have a question. Which amp do you like with the focal? Also on previous video you talk about cables. I had my first experience that cables do matter. I got new speaker cables just to try. I immediately noticed that they added more meat in the bone. When you described bright or warmer sounding cable you were right. These cable took some of the edge off and added more meat to the bone. I had straight wire symphony and tried SKW from amazon. I know what was I thinking but so far I really like them and for the price..WOW

I like your affordable scale on how many months of ramen noodle you need to eat. You should rate each speakers this way 😆

Entertaining to watch that’s about it Sooo many variables to consider IMO Room, acoustic treatment, equipment, source, cables. What your describing about the speaker Will have a different out come in another room with different room modes can’t change physics different equipment ect🧐

Love your videos, insight and story about the journey... awesome as always!

It is a good looking speaker

Thomas, Great review, do any of the Chinese integrated amplifiers you tested recently sound close to what you heard to the Mcintosh MC 6700? I need you to provide me a less expensive synergy matchup than the Hegel/Lumin setup! Thanks!

I think I understand why you prefered the Lumin + Hegel combo Thomas. Your room is well treated... when I carefully listened to the intro vocals on the recordings I noticed that the Mac sounded more dry, but more focused and clear. But the Hegel + Lumin had more reverb... it gave it maybe a bit more emotion. It's not that it's better per say, but different, and perhaps matched your tastes and the room better.

Hey Thomas, I’m considering the AE509, and also these Concept 500 or 300. Could you describe what you feel the differences or improvements would be in one or the other? Not really a big bass person I’m more concerned with open and transparent midrange and treble and soundstage, but not into V curve (don’t mind a very slight tilt up in the highs though). Thank you.

Great vid. I really want to try these. Maybe you need to get a Benchmark AHB2 for testing speakers just for the impedance matching aspect as a first run?

Hi Thomas a quick question. You have both Modwright ls 100 pre and schitt freya. How do they compare and which one would be a better match for a system comprising buchardt s300, bluesound node 2 and wyred4sound s500? My preference is for full bodied sound and holographic soundstage. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks

When I first encounter MTM speaker TAD TSM300, yes it really solidify the voice like you said. But do you feel that the low bass seem lacking? Maybe because of the design ( normally the midrange driver is medium size), that did not help the extension of the lower frequency. Maybe that is just my feel.

Hello Thomas I have them and they are incredible speakers for the money! And yes, they will scale with the quality of your electronics, as the people of What Hi-Fi said on their review, wich was one of the first ones made and I recomend reading. I also had a similar experience with my Line Magnetic LM-508 amp, eventhough the C500 are 6 ohm average and 4 ohm minimum, they sound considerably better on the 8 ohm biding post of my amp, much more alive. The C500 are incredibly transparent and they will show how good your electronics are.

Loved the review,Thomas. It's just a shame my Primare pre30 and A33.2 stero power is not good enough to extract the best out of these underrated speakers!😐

Hey Thomas If a speaker is biwire do u necessarily biwire or left and right speaker cable is ok ? Thanks

Did you listen to these speakers with a Denon amp? I'm realy curios to know if its any good. You have a pma SX-11 if I recall correctly ... please test it? please?!?!

It seems that this man have a lot of money for audio. He is true audiophile. Anyhow love from india Thomas.

Hi Thomas, love your videos. Please review the Dynaudio Special 40.

Very interesting findings! In my experience with my own tube amps (ARC & vintage Marantz) the 8-ohm taps always better sounding than the 4s, but when I try to tell others most people don't notice any difference. 😂😂😂

I’ve seen a couple of your videos since with the Concept 500 speakers in the background. I have these, do you have any tips for people wanting to get the best out of these. I find these to be highly revealing without being highly resolving. I can hear definite changes in sound every time I change something in the chain. At the moment I am finding them a little bit too rolled off for my liking, have you made any tweaks that can get them closer to the analytical side? I have gotten better results with my Marantz Model 30 than my Yamaha A S-2200. Which amp and DAC would you recommend to move these closer to the analytical side?

Hi Thomas, Which in your opinion is the better of the two between Q Acoustics Concept 500 or Aperion Verus III Concert V8T Dual 8" Tower Speaker for all genres of music? Thanks in advance.

Thomas, another great review! Thank you for the effort. You've become soo natural doing them. 👌 Now, I believe that is only half of it you covered there, and a full other half is hidden somewhere else 😀!! If you think you may live with them and decide to keep them; I urge you to connect them using two pairs of QED Supremus speaker cables. Man, they add at least another hopping 20% over its performance!! It's all about synergy. You know they are sister companies. I think it is the prescription 💊 to make the speakers your next purchase. Think about it as you are using a pre/power combo of the same brand… Thanks again for your reviews!

Hey Thomas, thanks again for your thoughts! I'm actually very interested in the KEF R11. Can you please share a quick sentence about it? I'm looking for a look like the R11 that performs well. I know is is personal taste, but which way would you lean between the Concept 500 or R11s? Thanks again Thomas!

How is the width of the soundstage? Can you hear beyond the speakers to the left and right of them? Thanks

What about the tweeter? the top notes? How does it sound? I've listened to the 3050s and the soundstage there is also good. Midrange there is also good. But their tweeter leaves something to be desired... What about the tweeter on these boys?

What makes affordable speakers apart from high-end speakers is the difference in cabinet resonance. Cabinet resonance causes coloration, smearing imaging, and soundstage.

Thomas try to bring something from Eggleston works range .. they make some very good quality speakers !

11:27 😂 Haha so true! It's getting harder and harder to make a dollar these days. Thank you Thomas! 👍👍👍

Just out of curiosity. How could you compare tekton design double impact and concept 500?

Great review. Thanks Thomas. I am thinking whether to replace the Q floor standing speakers for my old Dynaudio contour 1.3 MK II and the Rel subwoofer. Can you tell me the name of the song at the end of the video?

Please if you can review some more British boxes ie Tannoy Prestige models like the Kensington GR which are very popular in asia! Hope you can 🤞

Hi. In terms of sound, this speaker is at the level of which focal or b&w speaker model ??

Have you had 3 way speakers that soundstage like these or image like them? Most 3 ways I’ve heard don’t do that like simpler designs do. Just curious on your impressions with 3 way speakers soundstage.

Hey Thomas, nice review!., I have a Mark levinson 532h power amplifier and a Classe cp50 pre, what speaker whould you choose? Mine livingroom is 24m2.

This sucks with upper range speakers - you're thinking its gonna automatically sound much better if you just throw the money at expensive speakers, but the reality is that expensive speakers are so sensitive, so transparent, so dependent on the rest of the electronics, synergy, the room, moon phases, snake oil temperature and whatnot. Btw, I like how told the story of your journey to make this speaker sing, makes this the best review of this speaker!

Very interesting, you are not the first one that says that mcintosh sounds better connected to the 8ohm out. I loved the concept 500, really loved the midrange. This is the kind of sound I like. No sound special effects, only music. Did you used cheaper hi fi amp with those speakers? If yes did you noticed some bass looseness?

Hi Thomas, what is your opinion on the RF-7 iii? I never heard it in person because there's none in Canada to be demoed. But according to almost all the KZfaq reviews I saw, everybody who tried them loved them. But what is your view on them? I spent about $7000 CAD for them (much more expensive after conversion to USD) and they are unrefundable. I hope they are not bad lol

thomas those you got are the bass trap and the difusser in the room

THANK YOU! Can you review IOTA XV s Class AB home theater processor?

What turntable is that in your system?

Side question, what are those stands in the background when ykubwere unboxing the 500s. Just got a pair of Soendor s100s and looking for stands

I was so close to getting these.... ended up with Spendor D7.2’s as they ‘blew me away’... Do you like Spendors 😁?

Hi, when you mention Ron are you referring to new record day? TIA

Thanks for your review Tom. I’ve heard the speakers but they didn’t really do it for me. Perhaps I’m just too addicted to Open baffles.

Where do you find you DSD music from?

Thank you Thomas , And for me Sometimes i like a V curve sometimes I don't just depends but in all of my automobiles factory systems have always been a V curve you ever notice this ?

Again great job. And love that you are noy trying to copy or say same things as everyone else.. can you tell your oppinion elysian 4 vs concept 500?😉😊😊

Hi, do you think these would pair with the luxman 507uxll, thank you

I understand you sent them back. With budget gear sounding so good theses days, which speaker is the best bang for 6,000 bucks?

Unlike most technology, the target and way to hit it were arrived at a long time ago when it comes to transducers. The motion picture industry and the advent of talking pictures was the major diver. Bell Labs and Western Electric were at the forefront of research and had very large groups of scientists and engineers working on refining the accuracy of audio. Audiology was making discoveries, too, and these were applied to transducer and enclosure design. The motion picture industry, worldwide, was many times the market for that of home music systems, so a large amount of money was spent on it. Consequently, the improvements in audio have not been dramatic over the years, despite marketeers' best efforts. The requirements of human hearing have been around and well known for decades. To cut to the chase - recent efforts to make the "ideal" system have been reinventing the wheel, so to speak. The quality of low-cost speakers has been dramatically improved but at the top-end, where cost is no object, manufacturers have not made quantum leaps. In fact, the very best systems today emulate the giant horn-loaded theater speakers of yesterday. Efficiency inherent in these configurations keeps distortion low, whereas smaller, less efficient designs require large and costly power sources to achieve similar goals. My theater type speakers are a compromise for the home system, whereby you can have the sound pressure levels and dynamic range of a live performance without the expense of high-wattage amps and the thermal gain they produce in the listening area. I've arrived at this point, after first enjoying the RCA Victor talking machine from my grandparents' store starting in 1940. That was a lot of tonearm drops ago!

From your description of moving your chair around, I gather the sweet spot is small?

Thomas - I love your videos - but I have to ask, how do you hear so much more bass, when there is such a huge roll off starting at 200hz!? There's a 5 db drop between 200 to 100hz - and then another 6 db drop from 100 to 50. - That's 11db difference from 200 to 50hz based on the measurements you showed. And then, they sound best with 20k components? When, the speakers only cost 6k? I get your notion of these being high end - but given how poor they sounded with costs that people would usually put with a 6k speaker, are these really a solid recommendation? (or, are these speakers MASSIVELY underpriced?)

As a comparative nube to high-end audio, the thing that really freaks me out is a lot of the brands that get high ratings are ones I've never even heard of before. I mean if I wanted to buy a premium car, I know Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo etc are good cars and there is a lot of history and data to support my buying decision. I really would be lost if/when I choose to buy say a $10-20,000 sound system. It's all very interesting though.

Hi Thomas. I am looking for a recommendation on a tube amp for the Concept 500’s. I have never owed a tube amp so I have no idea where to start. I currently am using a Modwright 36.5 preamp and a Parasound JC5 amp. I am happy but wanting to experiment a bit. It there a reasonably priced Chinese Amp that you have any experience with the 500’s or should I just stick to what I have? Thanks again for being able to tap into your knowledge.

Hey Thomas... That good looking model from the video 2 weeks ago stands out more than these 2 speakers! Have you considered maybe unboxing a couple of the models instead of the speakers. You'll probably get more viewers and ... have more fun!

Could you by any chance compare these speakers against Spender A7 and Proac D20R please Thanks in advance

Well done. The Concept 300 is even a bit better. I like the end of the video too. Thanks

Classical music is the best-recorded music and the best way to test your system. Unfortunately, most of us aren't super acquainted with it and aren't exactly sure what we're judging!

Thanks for the balanced review. Maybe a silly question but I wanted to confirm whether you were joking when you said that Q Acoustics decided to put $5000 into your bank account. These speakers have been pretty much getting glowing reviews from every reviewer.

Hi Thomas we all r waiting for review of ls50 meta.dont be late this time.

No one talks about sound quality as good as you do. I almost can spend 5k worth of speaker just from your Description of sound. 🤓

What did you use for feet on hardwood?

I just bought Concept 500 and waiting for delivery. I only have a MF m5si but I am considering the Hegel P20 or 30 with its power Amp. I could not try the combo of P30 + the Lumin Power Amp as they are carried by different shop in Singapore - although they are all at adelphi (yap the place you went a few years back LOL). As we are getting into about S$25-30K, can I just get some your opinion what other Pre/Power amps will you suggest that I can try out? They guy who sold me the concept suggest MF M8 pre and power. Hope to hear from you, Thomas :)

what do you do for living?

Great review as always. I sold my KEF LS50W to get the new LS50W2 but then my wife agreed on tower speakers :) so while searching I came across the500s. I found a good deal for 3.4K USD new for the black version. Looks like a great deal. Now budget is gone :) but still need an amp/streamer. Considering either the Hegel H95 or the Naim UnitsiAtom or NAD M10Turntable and Tidal streaming... would these amps be good? Thanks a lot and be safe

I just think that the outer edges of the woofers should have been better integrated into the front panel.

Thomas do you know anything about audio solution speakers)