What Hi-Fi? Verdict
May work well in the context of a Q Acoustics system, but not a great standalone buy
Pros
- +
It’s cheap
- +
choice of three finishes
Cons
- -
It doesn’t sound good with music or film sound
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On paper things look good: the Q Acoustics sub combines a forward-facing 20cm long-throw driver with a 100w amplifier in a ported enclosure that comes in a choice of three finishes. It's small enough to hide away, and at £200, it's not burning a hole through your bank account.
Neither movies nor music make madly merry
However, while we'd love to like this a lot, it's a disappointment. Music sounds slow and leaden, lacking the true low-end conviction of the best. Crank it up enough to get some serious power in drums and bass, and it becomes unruly; but dial things back and it no longer pulls its weight in the system.
Similarly, it'll do movie thumps reasonably well, but lacks the speed and definition to create any sense of scale and weight in big action movie soundtracks. Overall, you can do better for not much more money.
