Q Acoustics 2010i Bookshelf speakers

Since then the ability at that end of the marketplace has waned and we've been more bore - as a magazine - to investigate. Well, this small Q Acoustics box has rather rekindled our excitement - budget boxes.

It does not have the material value of bygone classics - inflation hasn't been eclipsed - but it really is still musical and broad band for its cost and size. This is probably as the design expressed by Q and was made for Q-Acoustics by speaker wunderkind Karl Heinz Fink himself, Steve Reichert - the quite same guys who honed preceding award grabbing layouts for the brand. They'd do well to keep up their good work...

The omnipresent suffix in this loudspeaker's name indicates that it is the next generation of the model; it stays a simple 234.5mm high (just over nine inches) and comprises a 100mm main driver and a 25mm soft-dome tweeter, but the precise nature of these components has transformed. The heart on the mid/bass unit was once produced of a mix of paper and mica, yet this version swaps mica. The tweeter is completely new in stuff, now silk in place of polyester, and in a mounting which was created to decouple the driver from the cabinet.

Given the amount of energy the primary driver pumps into the baffle this has got to be a good thing and it's something we've seen in a few high end speakers, but it's unheard of in the entry level stadium.

Another distinguishing attribute of the Q2010i is the cable terminals are found underneath the cabinet; there's a cut out so that cables can be fed from behind to the one pair of inputs, and this also makes for a really clean speaker, whichever way you view it.

It is a nicely put together small lump, although given cost and the diminutive stature of this speaker, it is inevitably no colossus. The grilles are clearly lightweight, but ribbed front baffle and the radiused comers give it an aesthetic charm which makes it even more acceptable. The matt black finish that is standard is not too inspiring, but for an extra GBP40 you'll possess a polish black or white, which appears fairly fine.

Sound quality

Little speakers possess an all-natural edge as it pertains to small inexpensive ones an even greater edge and anticipations, therefore i tried to compensate before changing to the Q Acoustics 2010i by using three reference loudspeakers that are grand. As I was blown away by the musical integrity and sheer amusement, it didn't work small speakers give. Irrespective of price, they're rollickingly good fun to listen to, as well as their sins are those of omission; they don't destroy the crucial musical advice inside every song along the way.

Scarcely has the notion of declining returns been more graphically revealed than by this speaker, it is far better than it's any right to be. It times so well and so are so coherent you can forgive the lack of deep bass; low frequencies are heavier in the event that you set the speakers close to your wall and prevent the port together with the furnished bung, but it's far more fun if you pull them half-a-metre into the area and allow soundstage expand.

In the circumstance of its peers it's superb, although imaging might be more accurate and enormous speaker standards inevitably limit dynamics. Light, bright, open and relatively easy to listen to, you have to keep reminding yourself of the cost Interim.

Decision

I had been taken aback at how gratifying this little loudspeaker is. Astonishingly revealing with remarkable ability and tuneful bass handling for the size, in case you're putting your first system collectively it is a no brainer.

It also resembles a really good thought to get another system. That anyone can build this kind of coherent, comprehensive and exciting speaker of the size is amazing, but it is the reality that they'll get it done for the price of two tanks of petrol.