Loudspeakers

British company Q Acoustics has introduced the 5050 flagship floorstander to its 5000 stereo and home cinema loudspeaker series. The largest speaker in the range, it boasts the biggest mid/bass drivers – featuring a C 3 Continuous Curved Cone – and inherits the cabinet and driver technology from QA’s Concept range.

The company goes on to explain: “With a design taken from the Concept series but in a new housing, the high-frequency driver is fully hermetically sealed and mechanically isolated from the front baffle to protect from internal cabinet pressure and resonances from the mid/bass driver while Point-2-Point (P2P) internal bracing stiffens the cabinet to minimise lower frequency vibrations”.

Four Helmholtz Pressure Equaliser (HPE) tubes are fitted inside the 5050 to reduce internal pressure and standing waves, and the baffle fronts are laminated with a coating of butyl rubber and black acrylic trim to provide a layer to suppress vibration occurring in the baffle and to offer a design counterpoint to the clean front presentation uninterrupted by any fixings.

As with the entire 5000 series, the 5050 comes in a choice of four finishes – Satin Black, Satin White, Santos Rosewood and Holme Oak – all with aluminium stabilisers that feature top adjustable spikes for levelling adjustment, while low-profile terminals enable the speakers to be placed closer to the back wall if required.

Illustrating the use of the C 3 Continuous Curved Cone, the company says: “The cone’s geometry requires good motor strength for optimal performance. Substantial magnets are coupled to large voice coils to increase motor strength – the result is a 50 percent increase in power handling and control over a comparable driver with 25.4mm voice coil. The outcome is an improvement in the dynamic range of the speaker, especially in the bass region.”

The 5050 has a single 25mm tweeter combined with a pair of 150mm mid/bass drivers for a claimed 91.8dB sensitivity into 6ohm loads. It measures 386 x 1,017 x 336mm (WxHxD including spikes and stabiliser) and each cabinet weighs 21.6kg.

Available to buy now for £1,300, you can find out more about the Q Acoustics 5050 here.