Q Acoustics 3050 or Wharfedale Diamond 230

Both decent speakers.

Each will have its own sound signature though, which will be down to personal preference.

Best to audition both to see which you like.

I'd probably lean towards the q acoustics personally.
 
Indeed, both capable speakers.

However, do they have to be floor standing? I would always suggest standmount/bookshelf at that price. Monitor Audio Bronze 2 for example.
 
Indeed, both capable speakers.

However, do they have to be floor standing? I would always suggest standmount/bookshelf at that price. Monitor Audio Bronze 2 for example.

^ This

Making cabinets for floorstanders looks simple. It's just a bigger box, right? But beneath the surface it needs some really good bracing to stop the cabinet resonances that smear the sound once things get busy or loud. The cabinet work is the most expensive part of the average speaker; and like most things, you get what you pay for. If there's a rule of thumb for this, it's that the tipping point is £400-£500 retail to get decent cabinets for floorstanders. Below that point, a standmount speaker will generally sound cleaner, more articulate, and keep the music better organised at volume because it's easier to make a small rigid box than a large one.

If you still have your heart set on floorstanders, but the budget is fixed, then have a look at second-hand. You'll get way more performance for your money.
 
Hi Cabunga60>I am a former owner of the Q Acoustics 3050. I bought this speaker to use as a temporary speaker as I was waiting for my main hi fi speaker to arrive.

Originally when I went to listen to a few speakers to see which one I like I was recommended the Dali zensor. So originally I went to listen to this and they had the cambridge audio ax60. Straight off the bat I didn't like from the very first note. I have owned Q acoustics stuff before. My previous experience of then was of the concept 20. So I asked if I could try the 3050 instead as I wanted a floorstander as my main speaker I was waiting for was a floorstander.

I would mostly describe the Q acoustics 3050 as easy on the ear with it tonality leaning towards the warmer side of things. Having an audition at Richer Sounds is fine but it is only a glimpse. Real auditioning is done at home in an enviroment that is your own warts and all. This will tell you if the speaker is a keeper or not.

So seeming as this was a temporary speaker it didn't bother me using this speaker with the partnering electronics i have. So after letting the speaker run in a bit I found the speaker has the kind of tonality I like i.e on the warmer/darker side of things. Very easy on the ear so I could listen for hours on end without fatigue. The highs don't go that high compared to other speakers. And it has the kind of bass which will either make you throw up or you love it as it has quite a bit of it tbh.

It lacks detail and transparency but at it price point I guess you can overlook this. I thought the Dali was more detailed and offered more transparency although I found the Dali to lack soundstage and had a nice tight bass but you hear it rather than feel it. The 3050 you are sure going to feel it. When I said there was a bit of bass I meant quite a lot. But it nowhere near as tight as the Dali.

It is the total opposite of the Dali Zensor I experienced. The Dali was clean, lean, taut sounding. That could be down to the amplifier synergy. I don't know about the wharfedale diamonds as I never heard them.

So if you were to get the 3050's I would avoid partnering it with similar sounding electronics stuff like the Marantz etc. Partner it with clean sounding amps and ones with lean bass and I think the system synergy would work nicely. Good luck on your speaker search.
 
I think that's hornetstinger's way of saying the weight of the 3050's aren't any heavier than the average pair of floorstanding speakers.

Any decent floorstanding speaker has to be pretty heavy, otherwise it would be crap, like those cheap nasty ones you see on eBay with 5 woofers in each speaker. They weigh less than decent branded ones with only 1 woofer!
 
I have a set of the 200 series, 2 x 230, 2 x 220 , 2 x 210 and a 220c powered with a Denon X2400H , love them , great speakers for the price , very dynamic
 
Back
Top Bottom