Q Acoustics’ new Q Active 400 floorstanding speakers have the same 180-degree sound dispersion Balance Mode Radiator (BMR) drive unit arrangement as the Active 200, but feature eight discrete amplifiers with 440W of total power output. The other key difference with the Q Active 400, besides its taller cabinet size, is that it features two rear-firing 4.5in subwoofers: one subwoofer at the top of the cabinet, one at the bottom. This arrangement “neutralises the cabinet’s internal standing waves, which in turn reduces unwanted resonance and delivers a more powerful and cleaner, tighter bass sound”.
A compact central Control Hub configured either for Google ‘Chromecast built-in’ or Amazon ‘Works with Alexa’ is supplied with each pair of speakers, which allows users to connect to a variety of wired and wireless sources. The Hub can be connected to your home network using ethernet or wi-fi.
You can connect to wireless sources using Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2, Roon and Spotify Connect. The Q Actives support all popular music streaming services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify and Tidal – and users can play and control their music directly from each platform’s native app, keeping the Q Active experience reliable and fuss-free without the need to download any additional apps. The speakers can also operate as a UPnP media player capable of streaming your digital audio library from a computer or NAS drive.
For wired sources, the Control Hub offers an HDMI ARC input, an optical digital input, an analogue line level input and a subwoofer output. You can also plug your turntable into the Hub – it features a built-in moving magnet phono stage. The Control Hub links to the Q Active speakers via a wireless connection where all incoming audio (max source resolution 32bit/192kHZ) is converted to 24-bit/96kHz hi-res audio, making for a beautifully simple system free from the tangle of speaker cables.
Q Active supports voice control via Apple Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, and can form part of a multi-room speaker group using AirPlay 2, Roon, Google ‘Chromecast built-in’ or Amazon ‘Works with Alexa’. The Q Active 400 with Google Cast is available now priced at £2,299 / $2,999 / €2.999. The Q Active Amazon Works with Alexa models will be available later in the year.