Should i replace my Polk S20 with Qaccoustics 3030i

[sand87ch]

My Ht set up currently is:-

1.Yamaha RX-V685
2.Two polk S20 purchased in May 2020(fairly new)

I mainly am a 50% music and 50% streaming(netflix,hotstar etc) person.

I feel i may have been wrong in choosing Polk S20 over the q acoustics seeing the rave reviews the q acoustics get.
While purchasing i had 3 speakers in mind-->Elac Debut B6.2,Q Acoustics 3020i and Polk s20.

I selected polk s20 thinking that the impedance of 8 ohm would be better suited for a mid ranger like RX-v685 but now i think if the Q3030i may give much better sound stage than the Q Acoustics and if i need to sell these off for the Q Acoustics?

What do the people here think?

 

[DB1989]

My Ht set up currently is:-

1.Yamaha RX-V685
2.Two polk S20 purchased in May 2020(fairly new)

I mainly am a 50% music and 50% streaming(netflix,hotstar etc) person.

I feel i may have been wrong in choosing Polk S20 over the q acoustics seeing the rave reviews the q acoustics get.
While purchasing i had 3 speakers in mind-->Elac Debut B6.2,Q Acoustics 3020i and Polk s20.

I selected polk s20 thinking that the impedance of 8 ohm would be better suited for a mid ranger like RX-v685 but now i think if the Q3030i may give much better sound stage than the Q Acoustics and if i need to sell these off for the Q Acoustics?

What do the people here think?

@rksingh1 suggested that the Polk S series is the best in the price band. Perhaps he can indicate whether Q acoustics 3020i/3030i is better or you already have the best.

 

[rksingh1]

Thanks @DB1989 - Audio experience is so personal that it is difficult to compare ones to another. In my demo, I had liked both S20s and QA3020i. To me Polk were detailed but QA were louder.

Haven't auditioned 3030i so don't know.

@sand87ch - I got two suggestions for you. First, for HT. You said you got 2 pairs of S20? Are they from front and surround? What center you have? For a goot HT experience, share your whole setup details and we can suggest ideas.

For music experience - pls see the source you are using for music playback? Also, if your usage is 50-50 for music and movies, I'll recommend getting either better bookshelves or floor standing speakers. Those additional drivers in FS speakers make huge difference for music listening.

While looking at impedance of speaker is very good idea, don't make it an imp criteria for final selection.

 

[sand87ch]

Thanks @DB1989 - Audio experience is so personal that it is difficult to compare ones to another. In my demo, I had liked both S20s and QA3020i. To me Polk were detailed but QA were louder.

Haven't auditioned 3030i so don't know.

@sand87ch - I got two suggestions for you. First, for HT. You said you got 2 pairs of S20? Are they from front and surround? What center you have? For a goot HT experience, share your whole setup details and we can suggest ideas.

For music experience - pls see the source you are using for music playback? Also, if your usage is 50-50 for music and movies, I'll recommend getting either better bookshelves or floor standing speakers. Those additional drivers in FS speakers make huge difference for music listening.

While looking at impedance of speaker is very good idea, don't make it an imp criteria for final selection.

@rksingh1 sorry if my question was misleading.
i am only slowly adding one by one.i dont yet have a centre or sub ir surround.my initial purchase was a receiver and two fronts.the polk s20s are just the fronts.before going ahead for a centre i want to confirm if QA are better than polks because if later i need to change i have to sell out the centre and the fronts.
so when you say better bookshelves for my fronts what would you suggest?i may not be inclined to spend a lot per speaker pair but yes i am fine with a decent spend.
As i said my choices were qa,polk and elacs and i hope that gives you a picture about the range am talking about.
regarding impedance i was concerned only because i feel the receiver i have is a total avg mid ranger and hence i thought giving it lower impedance loads could cause it to shut down etc etc.i could be wrong in thinking that i agree

 

[dinesh1201]

One of my friend has a Polk S20 pair and they were perfect and detailed. You audition 10's and you still get confused
Defining sound to ears is very subjective, you may stick with the Polk you have. However, I really like how 3030i looks
I got the opportunity to have other speakers but I'm still liking my Polk RTI A3, using them for 8 years.

 

[sand87ch]

@rksingh1 @dinesh1201 actually my plan is to go for a centre and sub.but before buying centre i want to understand if qa would be better than the polks i own.if thats the case them i will probably have to get rid of these and go for QA speakers,because as i said once i add a centre then its kore expensive to replace the 3 with new ones from QA

 

[avtar2008]

I have auditioned qa 3050i and s50, while I was in market for purchasing a pair for myself. I feel 3050i are better for movies. I didnt compared them much in music, so, cant comment on that. BTW, audition of both were without a sub.

 

[rksingh1]

@sand87ch - both are good, which one you'd like will depend on the audition. I'll suggest you go and audition one QA. When I started my research, I was in very much the same thought process as of yours.

I understand that budget is a concern, however you need good FL FR for the music experience. Dali has good bookshelves, mission, fyne audio, have some options and then KEF Q150. But then, I'd say, you bite the bullet and get the front floor standing speakers for good music listening experience.

This video might help :

I have another video in my channel on budget recommendations for a 7.1 setup which you might find useful.

 

[Prodigy]

@rksingh1 @dinesh1201 actually my plan is to go for a centre and sub.but before buying centre i want to understand if qa would be better than the polks i own.if thats the case them i will probably have to get rid of these and go for QA speakers,because as i said once i add a centre then its kore expensive to replace the 3 with new ones from QA

I’d say Not Really but if I have to cast my opinion I think QA is any day better than Polks. I have polk S15 and Elac B6.2. If you ask me what i like between the 2, I’d blindly say Elac and there is no way you can compare these two. Both are different from one another.
For me Polk sounds way to hollow and bright for me but that said I would not say anything negative about it nor you have to feel bad that you have polks and others don’t.
End of the day, you should be happy with what you have and don’t get too worked up.
If you like the polks for movies do retain it. Polks are indeed good for movies. Some might like the sound what produces for music as well. It all depends on what our ears listen, mind processes and heart enjoys.
It’s always a fight between mind and heart when it comes to sound. I’d say take it slow. Complete your HT set up for now and get a dedicated stereo at a later stage when you are ready.
Please don’t think you made a bad decision at any given point. I am sure when you are watching a movie you are liking what Polk does.

Regards,
Som

 

[sand87ch]

I’d say Not Really but if I have to cast my opinion I think QA is any day better than Polks. I have polk S15 and Elac B6.2. If you ask me what i like between the 2, I’d blindly say Elac and there is no way you can compare these two. Both are different from one another.
For me Polk sounds way to hollow and bright for me but that said I would not say anything negative about it nor you have to feel bad that you have polks and others don’t.
End of the day, you should be happy with what you have and don’t get too worked up.
If you like the polks for movies do retain it. Polks are indeed good for movies. Some might like the sound what produces for music as well. It all depends on what our ears listen, mind processes and heart enjoys.
It’s always a fight between mind and heart when it comes to sound. I’d say take it slow. Complete your HT set up for now and get a dedicated stereo at a later stage when you are ready.
Please don’t think you made a bad decision at any given point. I am sure when you are watching a movie you are liking what Polk does.

Regards,
Som

For me Polk sounds way to hollow and bright for me

exactly this...this is wat i have been feeling, hearing to the polks and thats why i asked this ques before going for the centres.it got a bit better as it ean for some time but that part is still there.i would say bright and kind of lifeless and it seems to you that its holding smthng back especially on music.
this is why i feel that i may have made the wrong decision and i am stuck from buying the centres as the 3,front and centres needs to match and before i take the plunge i want to be sure

 

[sand87ch]

Heard about the indiqaudio speakers.Are they really good.The specs sure seem good to me but has someone heard them?To which speakers in the market can you compare their floorstanders?

 

[Prodigy]

Heard about the indiqaudio speakers.Are they really good.The specs sure seem good to me but has someone heard them?To which speakers in the market can you compare their floorstanders?

@fLUX has owned/owns speakers from different manufacturers and he also has IndiqAudio Speakers. He can give you a clear difference he may have observed.
I have personally heard and spent a long time with Elac, Pol and QA3050i and had a few good number of hours spent listening to Concept 40 and Paradigm M6000 and I feel the Platinum Achal’s stand way above these in my opinion when it comes to sound quality, signature, depth and Presentation. You need to audition the Achal’s to see what they have to offer and anything that can perform at par with this you need to look at something really expensive.

 

[fLUX]

@fLUX has owned/owns speakers from different manufacturers and he also has IndiqAudio Speakers. He can give you a clear difference he may have observed.
I have personally heard and spent a long time with Elac, Pol and QA3050i and had a few good number of hours spent listening to Concept 40 and Paradigm M6000 and I feel the Platinum Achal’s stand way above these in my opinion when it comes to sound quality, signature, depth and Presentation. You need to audition the Achal’s to see what they have to offer and anything that can perform at par with this you need to look at something really expensive.

Heard about the indiqaudio speakers.Are they really good.The specs sure seem good to me but has someone heard them?To which speakers in the market can you compare their floorstanders?

Going about comparing floorstanders directly by specs might not exactly be a right approach. As most of FM's suggest the best way to know is to audition them , as most of our opinions would be subjective in nature and to add your preferences/requirements might not exactly match someone elses

I am going to write a big story to give you an idea on how I perceived the different setups below, so feel free to skip to last paragraph on the Achals if it gets boring anytime

I have previously owned QAcoustics (Concept 20 & 3020i), Dynaudio Emit M20 , ELAC FS 57.2 & XTZ Spirit 11. All of them were great bookshelfs to start with
- Concept 20 sounded very refined and had very good amount of details with clear mids , decent soundstage for the price being paid , lacked bass quantity but whatever present was tight and precise.
- 3020i sounded ok as I was used to the Concept 20, was less refined than the Concept 20 and had a similar soundstage with slihgtly laidback mids. I was using it as surrounds mainly and worked great for that purpose. Lacked bass quantity
- Dynaudio Emit M20 - Super sweet mids, amazing hard hitting and deep lows. Treble for me lacked the sparkle which I had chanced upon in the floorstanders i had auditioned. Was the hardest to let go from my setup
- ELAC FS 57.2 - Was delivering good value for the price I paid, had nice hard hitting bass, decent mids and treble details. Soundstage was ok for a floorstander. Was every bit worth the purchase as this got me invested into Floorstanders.

I decided to go audition further for Floorstanders and will describe brandwise
QAcoustics (3050i) - Was pleasantly surprised with this , certainly packs a punch and is decent sounding. Presented a nice large stage during auditions. The bass quantity was a lot even in the treated room , but was not very interfering into the mids. Have seen some FMs mentioning its little difficult to tame in smaller room sizes

XTZ (Spirit 11 & 95.44) - Spirit 11 is very neutral , is true to the source and presents music almost as is. I liked it during the auditioning sessions
- 95.44 was much more energetic and might I say a little bright in its presentation. Sounded good during the audition but did not go for it as i had a thought it might end up being fatiguing for longer sessions.

KEF (Q950/Q750/R3) - R3 was my favorite amongst the lot despite being a bookshelf. Had everything I was looking for but did not want a bookshelf , Q950 also had amazing imaging (probably the best amongst ones i have listened to till now),very deep bass, vocals were forward and treble was on the aggresive side, out of the lineup enjoyed the auditions of the KEF lineup the most.

Klipsch (The entire FS lineup) - Had great amount of enegry and deep bass. Those were the only 2 positives for me, otherwise was ear piercing in terms of the treble, mids were not enjoyable and did not like them. This was the last place i went to , so could have been fatigue creeping in too. But considering thats how most of my working days are with some form of fatigue creepign in , made no sense to try it again.

Focal (Chorus 726 and Aria 926) - The Chorus 726 sounded very bad when i tried it in a showroom. Had good bass , but treble and mids were totally out of place. Sultans of Swing was made to sound harsh, probably because of the configuration and an old AVR being used ot run them. But that totally put me off and i thought no more Focal as 926 is not available for demo in any showroom. Luckily a FM invited me to audition the Aria 926 and i was blown away by the top end of the focals, the highs were mind blowingly amazing with good soundstage, mids were little laidback but still sweet enough and lows were not present, understably so as the OP had a very huge living room.

I got the Focal Aria 926 as my main front setup and Spirit 11 as the alternate complementing setup at the rear side. Eventually i felt the Spirit 11 to be too neutral and treble was little thin sounding to my liking , but dont in count these out from your auditioning list as they are one of the best sub 1L speakers you can get. Once I decided to move away from the Spirit 11 , I auditioned the Achal (something which I missed during my first auditions) and they sounded balanced in a good way in below aspects
i) They had the 2nd best lows from the speaker lot i auditioned (best being the KEF Q950 which would come to about 1.35L-1.4L post discount)
ii) They had very good mids , on par with every other speaker I listened to. Focals were more intimate but sound like a row behind in presentation and with the Achal intimacy is a little low but they make up by being at the exact spot i would like the vocals to be present at.
iii) Treble - Had a good amount of details with really good instrument seperation, had a decent depth to the soundstage too. The Focals here for me were clearly much better, but Achal was 2nd best amongst the entire above lot (barring the KEF R3 obviously).

The best part is all of the aspects combine really well to form a overall musical yet detailed signature. I just got my Platinum Achal over the last weekend, have been burning them in and had a good session of 3-4 hours of listening today. Can say that I am happy to have gone for these after giving away the XTZ Spirit 11.

 

[Prodigy]

Nice write up @fLUX. As always, very detailed and informative. Love reading your posts.

Regards,
Som

 

[fLUX]

Thanks for your kind words Som

 

[sand87ch]

Going about comparing floorstanders directly by specs might not exactly be a right approach. As most of FM's suggest the best way to know is to audition them , as most of our opinions would be subjective in nature and to add your preferences/requirements might not exactly match someone elses

I am going to write a big story to give you an idea on how I perceived the different setups below, so feel free to skip to last paragraph on the Achals if it gets boring anytime

I have previously owned QAcoustics (Concept 20 & 3020i), Dynaudio Emit M20 , ELAC FS 57.2 & XTZ Spirit 11. All of them were great bookshelfs to start with
- Concept 20 sounded very refined and had very good amount of details with clear mids , decent soundstage for the price being paid , lacked bass quantity but whatever present was tight and precise.
- 3020i sounded ok as I was used to the Concept 20, was less refined than the Concept 20 and had a similar soundstage with slihgtly laidback mids. I was using it as surrounds mainly and worked great for that purpose. Lacked bass quantity
- Dynaudio Emit M20 - Super sweet mids, amazing hard hitting and deep lows. Treble for me lacked the sparkle which I had chanced upon in the floorstanders i had auditioned. Was the hardest to let go from my setup
- ELAC FS 57.2 - Was delivering good value for the price I paid, had nice hard hitting bass, decent mids and treble details. Soundstage was ok for a floorstander. Was every bit worth the purchase as this got me invested into Floorstanders.

I decided to go audition further for Floorstanders and will describe brandwise
QAcoustics (3050i) - Was pleasantly surprised with this , certainly packs a punch and is decent sounding. Presented a nice large stage during auditions. The bass quantity was a lot even in the treated room , but was not very interfering into the mids. Have seen some FMs mentioning its little difficult to tame in smaller room sizes

XTZ (Spirit 11 & 95.44) - Spirit 11 is very neutral , is true to the source and presents music almost as is. I liked it during the auditioning sessions
- 95.44 was much more energetic and might I say a little bright in its presentation. Sounded good during the audition but did not go for it as i had a thought it might end up being fatiguing for longer sessions.

KEF (Q950/Q750/R3) - R3 was my favorite amongst the lot despite being a bookshelf. Had everything I was looking for but did not want a bookshelf , Q950 also had amazing imaging (probably the best amongst ones i have listened to till now),very deep bass, vocals were forward and treble was on the aggresive side, out of the lineup enjoyed the auditions of the KEF lineup the most.

Klipsch (The entire FS lineup) - Had great amount of enegry and deep bass. Those were the only 2 positives for me, otherwise was ear piercing in terms of the treble, mids were not enjoyable and did not like them. This was the last place i went to , so could have been fatigue creeping in too. But considering thats how most of my working days are with some form of fatigue creepign in , made no sense to try it again.

Focal (Chorus 726 and Aria 926) - The Chorus 726 sounded very bad when i tried it in a showroom. Had good bass , but treble and mids were totally out of place. Sultans of Swing was made to sound harsh, probably because of the configuration and an old AVR being used ot run them. But that totally put me off and i thought no more Focal as 926 is not available for demo in any showroom. Luckily a FM invited me to audition the Aria 926 and i was blown away by the top end of the focals, the highs were mind blowingly amazing with good soundstage, mids were little laidback but still sweet enough and lows were not present, understably so as the OP had a very huge living room.

I got the Focal Aria 926 as my main front setup and Spirit 11 as the alternate complementing setup at the rear side. Eventually i felt the Spirit 11 to be too neutral and treble was little thin sounding to my liking , but dont in count these out from your auditioning list as they are one of the best sub 1L speakers you can get. Once I decided to move away from the Spirit 11 , I auditioned the Achal (something which I missed during my first auditions) and they sounded balanced in a good way in below aspects
i) They had the 2nd best lows from the speaker lot i auditioned (best being the KEF Q950 which would come to about 1.35L-1.4L post discount)
ii) They had very good mids , on par with every other speaker I listened to. Focals were more intimate but sound like a row behind in presentation and with the Achal intimacy is a little low but they make up by being at the exact spot i would like the vocals to be present at.
iii) Treble - Had a good amount of details with really good instrument seperation, had a decent depth to the soundstage too. The Focals here for me were clearly much better, but Achal was 2nd best amongst the entire above lot (barring the KEF R3 obviously).

The best part is all of the aspects combine really well to form a overall musical yet detailed signature. I just got my Platinum Achal over the last weekend, have been burning them in and had a good session of 3-4 hours of listening today. Can say that I am happy to have gone for these after giving away the XTZ Spirit 11.

didnt skip anything.the best part is this will help many down the line.totally impressive.

 

[Pratyush J]

Going about comparing floorstanders directly by specs might not exactly be a right approach. As most of FM's suggest the best way to know is to audition them , as most of our opinions would be subjective in nature and to add your preferences/requirements might not exactly match someone elses

I am going to write a big story to give you an idea on how I perceived the different setups below, so feel free to skip to last paragraph on the Achals if it gets boring anytime

I have previously owned QAcoustics (Concept 20 & 3020i), Dynaudio Emit M20 , ELAC FS 57.2 & XTZ Spirit 11. All of them were great bookshelfs to start with
- Concept 20 sounded very refined and had very good amount of details with clear mids , decent soundstage for the price being paid , lacked bass quantity but whatever present was tight and precise.
- 3020i sounded ok as I was used to the Concept 20, was less refined than the Concept 20 and had a similar soundstage with slihgtly laidback mids. I was using it as surrounds mainly and worked great for that purpose. Lacked bass quantity
- Dynaudio Emit M20 - Super sweet mids, amazing hard hitting and deep lows. Treble for me lacked the sparkle which I had chanced upon in the floorstanders i had auditioned. Was the hardest to let go from my setup
- ELAC FS 57.2 - Was delivering good value for the price I paid, had nice hard hitting bass, decent mids and treble details. Soundstage was ok for a floorstander. Was every bit worth the purchase as this got me invested into Floorstanders.

I decided to go audition further for Floorstanders and will describe brandwise
QAcoustics (3050i) - Was pleasantly surprised with this , certainly packs a punch and is decent sounding. Presented a nice large stage during auditions. The bass quantity was a lot even in the treated room , but was not very interfering into the mids. Have seen some FMs mentioning its little difficult to tame in smaller room sizes

XTZ (Spirit 11 & 95.44) - Spirit 11 is very neutral , is true to the source and presents music almost as is. I liked it during the auditioning sessions
- 95.44 was much more energetic and might I say a little bright in its presentation. Sounded good during the audition but did not go for it as i had a thought it might end up being fatiguing for longer sessions.

KEF (Q950/Q750/R3) - R3 was my favorite amongst the lot despite being a bookshelf. Had everything I was looking for but did not want a bookshelf , Q950 also had amazing imaging (probably the best amongst ones i have listened to till now),very deep bass, vocals were forward and treble was on the aggresive side, out of the lineup enjoyed the auditions of the KEF lineup the most.

Klipsch (The entire FS lineup) - Had great amount of enegry and deep bass. Those were the only 2 positives for me, otherwise was ear piercing in terms of the treble, mids were not enjoyable and did not like them. This was the last place i went to , so could have been fatigue creeping in too. But considering thats how most of my working days are with some form of fatigue creepign in , made no sense to try it again.

Focal (Chorus 726 and Aria 926) - The Chorus 726 sounded very bad when i tried it in a showroom. Had good bass , but treble and mids were totally out of place. Sultans of Swing was made to sound harsh, probably because of the configuration and an old AVR being used ot run them. But that totally put me off and i thought no more Focal as 926 is not available for demo in any showroom. Luckily a FM invited me to audition the Aria 926 and i was blown away by the top end of the focals, the highs were mind blowingly amazing with good soundstage, mids were little laidback but still sweet enough and lows were not present, understably so as the OP had a very huge living room.

I got the Focal Aria 926 as my main front setup and Spirit 11 as the alternate complementing setup at the rear side. Eventually i felt the Spirit 11 to be too neutral and treble was little thin sounding to my liking , but dont in count these out from your auditioning list as they are one of the best sub 1L speakers you can get. Once I decided to move away from the Spirit 11 , I auditioned the Achal (something which I missed during my first auditions) and they sounded balanced in a good way in below aspects
i) They had the 2nd best lows from the speaker lot i auditioned (best being the KEF Q950 which would come to about 1.35L-1.4L post discount)
ii) They had very good mids , on par with every other speaker I listened to. Focals were more intimate but sound like a row behind in presentation and with the Achal intimacy is a little low but they make up by being at the exact spot i would like the vocals to be present at.
iii) Treble - Had a good amount of details with really good instrument seperation, had a decent depth to the soundstage too. The Focals here for me were clearly much better, but Achal was 2nd best amongst the entire above lot (barring the KEF R3 obviously).

The best part is all of the aspects combine really well to form a overall musical yet detailed signature. I just got my Platinum Achal over the last weekend, have been burning them in and had a good session of 3-4 hours of listening today. Can say that I am happy to have gone for these after giving away the XTZ Spirit 11.

What a write up @fLUX, even more detailed and comprehensive than you earlier post in response to my thread on looking for tower speaker. Considering the budget, for me Achal's make a very good buy more so along with custom laminate and 15 day trial period. Will make a point of visiting IndiqAudio on my trip to blore next week.

 

[sand87ch]

When you ask the FMs opinion about speakers, there are two important points to be noted which disqualify us to give you a good suggestion.
1. You are using Yamaha RX V685. We must have used both the mentioned speakers, but chances of using these speakers combined with similar amplifier is very thin. In fact nobody here must have. So we are not in a great position to tell the performance of those speakers when connected to the Yamaha. We can never give a good suggestion as to which speaker will sound good.
2. It all depends on personal taste, the genre you listen to etc.
So, best way, if you have the chance, Audition both speakers.
One suggestion I have for you is, for music, get a dedicated stereo amplifier.

well i have since then sold the yamahaRX-V685 and have ordered a Marantz PM 6007 and waiting for it to arrive

Am not a hard core audiophile listening to vinyl but i prefer my music with better soundstage,a very controlled bass that is tight and not at all boomy,with good mids and not so sharp highs.
listen mainly to songs either using cds on my dads old philips dvd player or stream music from spotify.