Concept 500

The top-of-the-range Concept speaker, this high-end floorstander is designed to appeal to discerning audiophiles. The Concept 500 achieves a perfect balance between art and science. It is a loudspeaker that is at once, stylish, contemporary, exquisite-sounding and astonishingly accurate

Key Features

• The High-end Concept 500 Floorstanding Speakers adopt advanced, innovative technologies to deliver pure audio excellence and a sensational sound stage.
• The Concept 500 pairs Point-to-Point (P2P™) bracing to deal with low-frequency panel vibrations with Helmholtz Pressure Equalizers (HPE™) to balance out pressure irregularities.
• Three separate layers filled with a non-setting gel, which dampens the cabinet walls and converts higher frequency vibrations into heat for better performance.

The Concept 500 adopts advanced, innovative technologies to deliver pure audio excellence and a sensational sound stage. Our floorstanding speakers couple low directivity with wide bandwidth, good sensitivity and sensible impedance, which makes them room-friendly and allows amplifiers to deliver their best performance. The Concept 500 pairs point-to-point (P2P™) bracing to deal with low-frequency panel vibrations with Helmholtz Pressure Equalizers (HPE™) to balance out pressure irregularities. Another component that allows for less vibration and coloration is the cabinet construction. Three separate layers are filled with a non-setting gel, which damps the the cabinet walls and converts higher frequency vibrations into heat.

Designed to appeal to discerning audiophiles, the Concept 500 achieves a perfect balance between art and science. It is a loudspeaker that is at once, stylish, contemporary, fine-sounding and astonishingly accurate. It couples low directivity with wide bandwidth, good sensitivity and sensible impedance. This makes the new Concept 500 both room-friendly and an easy load to drive, allowing amplifiers to deliver their best performance.

To create a stereo soundstage which gives as good an impression of width, depth and height as that found in a live performance requires high quality drive units, a well designed crossover and an accurately constructed cabinet. To achieve this, Q Acoustics formed a truly talented team with many years of experience in the design, engineering and manufacture of world-class loudspeakers. A combination that resulted in a state-of-the-art loudspeaker worthy of any high-end system.

Crossover

Great care has been taken in both the design of the crossover and the selection of high grade components, to introduce virtually zero noise and distortion. The 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley topology
which gives an excellent response both on and off-axis.

High Frequency Driver

Mechanically decoupled mounting which effectively isolates the HF driver and speaker cabinet from reciprocal vibrations that would otherwise be transmitted between them.

Cabinet Bracing

A method, known as P2P™ (Point to Point) bracing, supports the parts of the cabinet that need to be stiffened to deal with low frequency panel vibrations.

Mid/Bass Drivers

The Mid/Bass voice coil has an uncommonly large diameter of 35mm which allows increased ‘shove’ and higher power handling - as well as reducing compression.

Cabinet Walls

Constructed in three separate layers and filled under pressure with a non-setting gel, this damps
the cabinet walls and converts higher frequency vibrations into heat.

Pressure Equalisers

Tall loudspeakers tend to suffer from resonances caused by unwanted pressure gradients. Specially
designed Helmholtz Pressure Equalisers (HPE™) balance out these pressure irregularities.

Terminals and Rear:

Access Panel - The rear access panel has been constructed to maintain the integrity of the Dual Gelcore™ cabinet. The Concept 500 is equipped for bi-wiring or bi-amping with terminals which can accept bare wires, spades or 4 mm banana plugs.

Cabinet Plinth:

The cast aluminium base of the Concept 500 is designed without large flat areas or additional adornments to discourage unwanted acoustic reflections. The resulting elegant design is underpinned with a choice of carefully engineered feet to immovably couple the loudspeaker to any surface.

Concept 500 is the embodiment of elegant design, compatible with a contemporary living space and not specific to any particular style of interior. The appearance has been pared-back to be as clean looking as possible, with rear-mounted mid / bass drivers keeping the baffle uncluttered and embedded magnets securing the grille so no fixings are visible.

Gloss black or gloss white finishes have each been combined with Italian realwood veneer, chosen for its consistency in colour and pattern. The veneer is used sparingly in a subtle strip to create
a cabinet that is visually light and clean. The white gloss finish has been attractively paired with pale oak and the black gloss with deep rosewood. Multiple coats of lacquer have then been added to give a deep piano gloss finish.

Specification
Frequency Response
41 Hz - 30 kHz
Average Impedance
6 Ω
Minimum Impedance
3.7 Ω
Recommended Power
25 - 200 W
Distortion (120 Hz - 20 kHz)
0.2 %
Crossover Frequency
2.5 kHz
Mid Bass / Driver
2 x 165 mm
High Frequency Unit
28 mm
Size (H x W x D)
1150 x 400 x 350 mm (45.3 x 15.7 x 14.8 in) cabinet
1175 x 400 x 375 mm (46.2 x 15.7 x 14.8 in) overall
Weight
42kg (92.6 lbs)
Links are provided to adjust the high frequency
+ or - 0.5 dB.

July 2021

"The sum-up is pretty simple: the Concept 500s are nothing short of sensational value for money, and capable not only of revealing exactly what your system is doing, but also embarrassing some pricier rivals.”"

Hi-Fi News, Outstanding Product Award

July 2021

"This is an outstanding speaker that shows an all-round depth of talent that would be impressive even if the price were considerably higher. Its ability to remain transparent so that you can simply get on with enjoying the music is something that Q Acoustics can be very proud of, as it redefines expectations at the price."

Hi-Fi Choice, 5 Stars, Recommended Award

July 2021

"…the Q Acoustics Concept 500 is special….I doubt that, once they've entered your listening room, they'll ever leave.”"

Stereophile

July 2021

"For the money, there are no better floorstanding speakers you can buy. In fact, you’d have to spend thousands more for any improvement – and even then you might only see improvement in certain areas."

Trusted Reviews, 5 Stars, Highly Recommended Award

July 2021

"The Concept 500s prove Q Acoustics can compete at all levels. They’re superb speakers for the money."

What Hi-Fi?, 5 Stars

July 2021

"The Concept 500 sets an incredible benchmark at £4,000. This is also one of the most impressive demonstrations of applied technology I’ve seen in a while…Q Acoustics has built another speaker that is the new standard to beat."

AVForums, 10/10, Reference Status Award

July 2021

"“These glossy new speakers, selling at just under £4,000 a pair, sound like a £20,000 product...they sound five-star near perfect. The bass was juicy and rich, but not silly and overdone. Fleetwood Mac, in particular, sounded amazingly alive – close your eyes and you could almost believe they were playing in front of you. These are truly top-class speakers for a mid-market price”"

Financial Times, How To Spend It

July 2021

"Mainstream speaker makers often struggle when they move upmarket, but not Q Acoustics. The Concept 500 is an audacious new floorstander employing highly optimised drivers and cabinet...This loudspeaker sounds refined way beyond its price, with a neutral yet musical performance."

EISA, Best Product

January 2021

"…it’s frankly a life-changing experience hearing the soundstage on the 500s because it doesn’t come with the consequence of added piles of resonance on the music…It keeps pace with some of the best speakers I have heard well above the price point of the Concepts…It’s been a good while since I’ve been able to fall in love with a boxed speaker...when you take resonances very seriously and wrestle them into submission and what you get is the performance in the room…I love these speakers – phenomenal."

New Record Day