Q ACOUSTICS Q Active 200 Bookshelf Speakers

Wireless Connectivity

Each Q Active system includes Bluetooth 4.1, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and UPnP connectivity. Q Active is also Roon Ready.

In addition, Q Acoustics Q Active 200 is designed to support your favorite streaming service’s native app – which means simple, straightforward access to the entire planet’s music. Q Active works with Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify, and Tidal.

Q Active Control

Available as a ‘Chromecast Built-In’.

Q Acoustics Q Active 200 hub is the heart of the system and also supports physical formats and converts them into a high-resolution 24bit/96kHz digital file.

The hub then streams this high-resolution audio file to the speakers – so any format you want to listen to can be dealt with wirelessly by your Q Acoustics Q Active 200. Which means high-quality wireless audio performance no matter the source of your music.

Ethernet: Ethernet connectivity provides the option for a robust wired internet connection to Q Acoustics Q Active 200.

TV Sound: HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) input on the hub – so any TV with a corresponding output can send audio information to the hub without affecting its picture performance. Want your TV sound to be part of your wireless audio system? With Q Active, it can be.

Digital Optical: Disc players – no matter, if it’s a CD player, a DVD player, or a Blu-ray player, will have a digital optical output. Almost every game console has one too. So there’s nothing to stop you from getting any of these sources involved in your wireless high-resolution audio system as well.

Line Level: Use the stereo RCA analog inputs at line level and plug in a cassette deck, a mixer, or anything else with an analog line-level output into the hub.

From there it is transferred wirelessly to the speakers, where it is delivered as great-sounding high-resolution audio by the Q Active speakers.

Turn Table: The stereo RCA analog inputs on the hub can be selected for use with a moving-magnet phono stage. So plugging in your record player means all of that lush vinyl sound can be transformed into a digital signal and streamed wirelessly to the Q Active speakers.

Sub Out: The Q Acoustics Q Active 200 delivers plenty of deep, detailed bass. However, the hub does offer a subwoofer pre-out for hooking up an additional stand-alone subwoofer.

Multiroom Audio Integration

Whether you choose Google “Chromecast built-in”, Apple AirPlay 2, or Roon to organize your multiroom music system, Q Acoustics Q Active 200 can be seamlessly integrated into it.

So no matter if you want the same song playing all over your home, or different music in different zones, or if you simply want your music to follow you as you move around your home, Q Active can be part of your experience.

Voice Control

If you have Google Home or Apple Siri smart speakers on your home network, it’s easy to control the volume and playback selection of the Q Active system.

Simply choose which of the formats you prefer – the control hub is available in a choice of either ‘Chromecast Built-In’ – both can be used with Apple Siri and then use these mic-equipped smart devices on your network to control your Q Active system. You can also use Google Home on your mobile to control the Q Acoustics Q Active 200.

Your Choice Of Control

In addition to your choice of voice assistant, Q Active can also be controlled using your favorite streaming apps. Or if the TV plugged into the HDMI ARC socket on the control hub is CEC-equipped, use the TV’s remote to control functions like ‘volume’ and ‘standby’.

Alternatively, use the cabinet-mounted volume control on each Q Acoustics Q Active 200 or the free Q Active Android and iOS app that allows control and customization of this wireless audio system.

Stunning High-Resolution Sound

Audio can be described as “high resolution” if it consists of a digital audio format of greater than the CD-standard 16bit/44.1kHz. Q Active can support wireless streaming, whether from its control hub or via a smartphone, tablet, or the like, at a huge native 24bit/96kHz.

Q Acoustics Q Active 200 can also play 32bit/192kHz audio files from an appropriate source, downsampling them to their native 24bit/96kHz resolution before wirelessly delivering them to the speakers.

The result of all this painstaking and uncompromised engineering is extraordinary musical accuracy and amazing audio quality. Q Acoustics Q Active 200 delivers a sonic performance way beyond its price.

Active Amplification

In a traditional, passive audio system there is one amplifier. It drives two speakers, which will have a total of at least four drivers.

In the Q Acoustics Q Active 200, each driver (there are three in each Q Active 200 speaker and four in each Q Active 400 speaker) is controlled by its individual, specifically selected amplifier.

Using a total of six (or eight) discrete amplifiers, with a total of 280 (or 440) watts of power to drive the Q Active system means each driver receives its own carefully regulated amplification.

As a result, Q Active can control each driver with accuracy and finesse which in short, means Q Active sounds bigger and more precise than you might think possible.

Dynamic Widescreen Sound

Q Acoustics Q Active 200 doesn’t look unique simply for the sake of it. Q Acoustics wanted Q Active to deliver a widescreen sound with no compromise in stereo focus or soundstage and specified Balanced Mode Radiators (BMRs).

BMRs allow Q Acoustics Q Active 200 to deliver outstanding sound quality across your entire listening area, rather than restricting it to the ‘sweet spot’ of more traditional driver arrangements.

And, in addition to this widescreen presentation, BMRs deliver seamless midrange performance. Because they operate down to 150Hz, where they hand over to Q Acoustics Q Active 200 subwoofer driver, there is no midrange crossover distortion and, consequently, completely clean and uncolored midrange performance.

Offsetting the BMRs in the Q Acoustics Q Active 200 cabinet serves a function, too. It allows for a degree of fine-tuning in your listening room, as it’s possible to position the BMRs to the inside or the outside of the cabinets.

Powerful, Controlled Bass

The back of an ordinary loudspeaker isn’t usually worthy of discussion. But, as is surely obvious by now, Q Active is far from an ordinary loudspeaker – which goes for the rear of its cabinet too.

Q Active 200 features a rear-firing 114mm / (4.5in) subwoofer delivering fast, deep, and beautifully organized bass. Q Active 400 features a pair of subwoofers to double down on the low-frequency action.

The reason these drivers are concealed, and the reason they are arranged in the way they are, is all to do with Q Acoustics’ determination to make Q Acoustics Q Active 200 easy to position and simple to live with, as well as helping the system sound brilliantly punchy and controlled.

There is a carefully designed fixed ‘Wave guide’ boundary for the subwoofer to fire onto, too, which means the dispersal characteristics of the bass frequencies are always exactly as Q Acoustics prefers.

Because the subwoofers fire onto a fixed boundary (the inside of the rear panel), the bass response of Q Active is always ideal, always perfect – no matter where in your room you decide to position the speaker.