John Darko
Good sound without the physical intrusion of floorstanding loudspeakers? It’s why standmounts remain perennially popular with the hi-fi buying public; add a subwoofer and you have a system with full-range (20Hz – 20kHz) performance. Curiously, the market for smaller floorstanders remains exactly that: smaller. However, the UK’s Q Acoustics is looking to make inroads into this narrower space with the introduction of its ‘M40 Powered Micro Towers’.
The M40 is a floorstanding loudspeaker whose 71cm tall cabinet houses a 2-way ported design. The mid/bass driver is Q Acoustics’ in-house developed C3 Continuous Curved Cone™ (that debuted in the 5000 series) for “the outstanding bass performance of a traditional straight cone with the high/midrange control and fidelity of a flared cone”. That’s according to the press release within which bass is rated down to 38Hz.
Recalling iFi Audio’s product announcements, the Q Acoustics news release talks of sub-branded features like the Helmholtz Pressure Equaliser™ which aims to dissipate standing waves that would otherwise build up inside the cabinet and the Point to Point™ bracing that reduces cabinet resonances. We are told that the M40’s tweeter measures 0.9″ in diameter and is decoupled for “crisp, pure high-frequency performance” but there is no mention of its type: metal or fabric.
Pay attention here: despite the primary loudspeaker sucking on mains power, the M40 is not active. It’s simply powered. That means a stereo amplifier is located inside the primary speaker to drive a passive crossover that divvies up the signal at 2.5kHz between the tweeter and mid/bass driver. A quick look at the back panel of each speaker tells us that the amplifier talks to the secondary loudspeaker over speaker wire.
Eagle-eyed press-release readers will also note how the main text makes multiple mentions of the internal Class D amplifier’s 100wpc power rating. Alas, the small print pulls the handbrake on any marketing spin to remind us that it’s 100wpc peak power. That same small print says RMS output power here is 50wpc into 4 Ohms with the industry standard 8 Ohm rating MIA.
Things get even more slippery with talk of these speakers’ Bluetooth input where the press release’s promises of hi-res support are once again undone by the spec sheet. The M40’s advanced codec support runs to aptX™, aptX™ HD, aptX™ Low Latency and AAC, which means ALL hi-res and CD-quality signals will be lossy compressed to fit down the Bluetooth pipe. Music will sound very good but it won’t be lossless.
Hi-res and CD-quality purists are saved by the inclusion of bonafide 24bit/192kHz-capable USB and TOSLINK inputs that accommodate TVs, network streamers, CD players, games consoles and PCs/Macs. A 3.5mm socket and a pair of RCAs show up for line-level analogue sources. Nice.
Even nicer is the price. The M40 will sell for £749/pair, €899/pair or US$999/pair. Shipping begins today. Your choice of white, black or walnut.
Further information: Q Acoustics
