Q Acoustics Q7000 - A Closer Look

Now that Q Acoustic's new classy looking 5.1 speaker package is available to purchase we thought we would have a look in a bit more detail to give you an idea of how they weigh in. First off lets take a look at what's in the box. Four identical satellite speakers and a centre are to be found in their individual cloth bags nestled in eco friendly cardboard packaging along with the impressive subwoofer.

Unveiling a speaker reveals a pleasantly curved aluminium cabinet with high gloss finish along with a clever ball joint stand which doubles as a wall bracket and allows the speakers to easily be pivoted and tilted. In terms of the business side of things under the chrome trimmed grille lurk two 75mm mid/bass drivers and the unique looking 25mm ring radiator tweeter. These custom designed drivers combined with the sealed infinite baffle cabinet design produce a speaker with impressive sonic performance within their size and price bracket.


Also included with the package are some white gloves to prevent the dreaded finger print marks which are the downfall of any glossy finished product. The user manual includes a useful template for wall mounting and there are some rubber spike shoes for the subwoofer for use on uncarpeted floors. There's a UK and euro power lead for the subwoofer and a very basic phono interconnect which we would recommend upgrading but it will do as a fill-in if you've nothing else to hand.


The subwoofer is a unique looking beast, again Q Acoustics have gone with a wide cabinet as opposed to the more traditional cubes and this is no standard front or downward firing unit either. The internal 250mm woofer fires against a sounding board which better disperses the sound. The other plus side of this design is that all the cables are neatly tucked away behind this, it is also especially kid friendly as no prying hands are able to get at the driver. The standard controls you would expect to see are right on top of the sub which means no need to reach around the back and fiddle with dials you can only just see as can happen with other designs.


Wall mounting the satellite speakers is a simple case of hooking the keyhole type fixings onto a pair of screws - clean and straight-forward and saves the extra expense of 3rd party brackets. As the spring terminals are integral to the stand design itself if you've got cable in-wall you won't see any wire at all once you've wall mounted these! We would suggest either using bare wire or speaker pins as there is no room for banana plugs with these speakers. For a maximum cable size we would also suggest something like QED Silver Anniversary XT which will offer top notch performance without being too large for these spring terminals. Snipping out the centre core of this cable once stripped makes it much easier to work with on speakers like these.


If wall mounting isn't an option for you and you don't have a suitable surface to place the Q7000 satellites on then the Q Acoustics Q7000ST stands match perfectly and really add to the Q7000's clean and modern styling. Set-up is a breeze with just a single screw the satellites can be removed from their bases and attached to the stands. The speaker terminals are inside the top of the tube, allowing the cable to be run up inside from the hole in the circular glass base. Smart looking spiked feet provide stability on carpeted floors but they can be replaced by rubber pads so as not to scratch wood or laminate flooring.


All-in-all the Q7000 is a fantastic sub/sat system with some unique attributes and styling which certainly doesn't fail to perform sonically either, you would certainly be hard pressed to find a good looking system which sounds as good for £800. Having given it a few test listens in our demo suite now we would be happy to recommend the Q7000 partnered with an Onkyo TX-NR609 for any one looking for a great value mid-range home cinema. But don't just take our word for it, drop in to our showroom and take a listen for yourselves.