Q Acoustics M20 Powered Speaker System Review (2024)

Q Acoustics M20 Powered Speaker System Review

The M20 is a sensational performer for the money. It combines a decent feature set with solid build and the sort of performance that is pure, unadulterated Q Acoustics. It's an absolute star.

The Q Acoustics M20 is a pair of powered speakers. It is pitched as a ‘wireless music system’ (a slightly bold claim given that, whether you like it or not, a few wires are going to be needed to make it do anything) and it is something of a winning category for Q Acoustics. The BT3 that preceded the M20 sat unchanged in the range for many years for one simple reason and that reason was that it was (still is really) unreasonably good for the money.

The M20 has come along to replace the BT3 and, as we’ll cover, it does a bit more, borrows some engineering from more recent designs and clothes everything in the company’s current aesthetic. The premise is simple enough but the space it drops into is not as £400 is a price point where all sorts of different configurations are available - everything from (just about) a full separates system to sleek all in one speakers is ready to duke it out for your hard earned. Is the M20 the best option or has Q Acoustics played this latest offering a little on the safe side?

As a standard point of order, in contrast to the Active 200, the M2 is a powered speaker system rather than an active one. This means, it consists of two conventionally crossover equipped speakers to which one has a stereo amplifier, preamp and input board. Source information sent to this speaker is then passed to the passive one via a length of speaker cable. It’s something we’ve tested in a few different iterations over the years and has some pros and cons we’ll cover in due course.

The M20 is comprised of design thinking that is recognisably Q Acoustics in philosophy and execution. The speakers themselves are two way standmounts with a rear mounted bass port. The tweeter is a 22mm soft dome unit that follows a similar design pattern to the one in more conventional devices like the 3020i. It is decoupled from the cabinet with a view to being less affected by the activity of the rest of its contents. It hands over to a 125mm mid bass driver at 2.4kHz. There is a rear bass port in both cabinets and this can be fitted with a foam bung if you’ve placed it close a wall.

This sits in a cabinet that makes use of the same point to point bracing seen with varying degrees of sophistication between the tremendously ornate versions in the Concept models through to the more belt and braces approach in the 3000i Series. Given the price of the M20, it is more likely that the bracing has more in common with the latter than the former but it does mean that each cabinet feels reassuringly solid and inert.

The amplification that drives the M20 is of unspecified topology and suffers from ‘having a meaningless headline grabbing number that obscures a perfectly reasonable real world number syndrome.’ You will see mention of 65 watts and - in the interests of being completely fair - it’s probably possible to get that out of an M20. However, as this number then breaks down to 2 x 32 watts into four ohms at 1%THD (that is to say a level of distortion that is realistically well into audibility), it’s probably as well you don’t try. A rather more practical figure of 20 watts per channel (again into four ohms) is also given in the press release and that’s the figure that realistically matters. Sure, 20 watts is less notionally exciting than 32 but it’s enough for the task at hand. The combination of amp and speaker gives a quoted frequency response of 55Hz-22kHz in free space at +/- 6dB. Again, this is not headline grabbing but it compares favourably with most things at the price.

The inputs of the M20 build on the preceding BT3. There is an RCA stereo input, an optical connection on Toslink and a USB-B input that supports PCM to 24/192kHz. This is augmented by Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, SBC and AAC; that is to say, everything bar the ‘specials’ that are generally regarded as somewhat brand specific. You can also add a powered sub via dedicated connection. The selection of inputs is good enough to see the M20 being successfully used in a few different configurations.

There’s a few useful details to make this process simpler too. Two switches on the back of the M20 allow for both the master speaker to be selected as the left or right channel depending on requirement and there is also a three way setting for near wall, near corner or in free space. You get a remote handset as standard that covers off all the major controls and there is a set of hard buttons on the top of the powered speaker to give you the ability to turn it off without wondering where you put the remote. My only real gripe is that the functionality around the USB input seems a little inconsistent. I can put the M20 in standby having been using the USB input, turn it on again and, although the M20 is seen as the output, it takes a moment of cajoling to make sound come out.

Aesthetically, the M20 is a small pair of standmount speakers and there’s not an enormous amount of things you can do with them. Q Acoustics seems to introduced some styling cues from the Active 200 into the cabinet shape but the rounded sides and relatively deep cabinet are also visually similar to the 3000i models. Something that is mildly interesting is that the grilles of the M20 cannot be removed. Why this decision has been taken (allows the front baffle to be unfinished?, makes some other saving of some description? Helps to bolster the family resemblance to the Active 200? All possible, none confirmed) is unclear but, while I am sure it’ll annoy somebody, I don’t have any issue with it.

Like pretty much everything I’ve tested from Q Acoustics, the M20 is very well made and finished, particularly when the price is taken into account. I am a little sad that the red finish of the BT3 has fallen by the wayside but I’m sure that Q Acoustics has done the numbers on different finishes and settled on black as the best single option.

The Q Acoustics has been placed on a pair of Soundstyle stands and powered from an IsoTek Evo3 Corvus mains block. It has been tested via an Oppo Find X2 Neo phone over Bluetooth, a Roon Nucleus via USB and an LG55 B7OLEDTVover optical. Material used has been FLAC, AIFF, DSD, Qobuz, Tidal, some Spotify and on demand TV services.

More:Audio Formats



Connecting the M20 up and listening via the USB connection brings an immediate feeling of familiarity and this is no bad thing. Imagine if you will, that you are known as being particularly adept at one foodstuff - for the sake of argument, fried chicken. You win people over with a hearty and cost effective selection of fried chicken dishes. Then, you take the same principles and refine them into high end dining. Because you’re exceptionally good at fried chicken, while you face stiff competition from other people doing different foods, what you are doing is still excellent.

Then, you get a bit restless. You release something that is still chicken based but the processes involved in making it are a bit novel; clever but novel. What comes out the other end is still within your skillset and, honestly, it’s pretty good but it isn’t really the same as a really excellent piece of fried chicken. Listening to the M20 coming after the Active 200 is like being presented with the classic recipe again and, while it’s familiar, it’s so damn good that honestly you don’t care; particularly as it's back at the cost effective price level that had people beating a path to your door in the first place.

The word littered across my listening notes is ‘balance.’ Remember me saying that the 20 watt figure might not be exciting but it’s enough? It really, really is. Placed on a pair of stands or even on a solid flat surface, the Q Acoustics sounds big and confident. Furthermore, it’s a proportional scale too. This is more than there being a big lump of DSP enhanced low end, there’s a commendable and thoroughly well judged ability for the M20 to sound big and room filling from the lowest registers (and that 55Hz figure at +/- 6dB is effortlessly bettered in this room) up to the high frequencies. If you are reading this and you have a warehouse to fill, you might need to set your sights higher but everybody else should be just fine.

There’s more than simple heft at work here though. Revisiting Dodie’s Build a Problem prior to going to see her live, the M20 is tonally excellent. Both Bluetooth and USB, running side by side to test, are largely indistinguishable from one another (with the Oppo showing an aptX HD transmission being achieved) and the result is something I’ve genuinely enjoyed listening to. The togetherness of the M20 extends to a very compelling energy to the way it handles livelier time signatures. It isn’t out and out ballistic when it doesn’t need to be but there’s a satisfying feeling of get up and go when you need it.

TV viewing is no less successful too. I entrusted the second episode of Foundation to the M20 and it did a fine job. Dialogue is clear and easy to follow and the advantage of width that the Q Acoustics brings to what it does is something that effortlessly helps the scale of the events on screen to work. Again, there is a subjectivity of what you will prefer and need from your TV sound but the immersion that two well sited speakers can achieve, while different to the ‘potted Atmos’ effect of smaller soundbars, is compelling nonetheless. As ever, the standard comment with systems of this nature that you’ll need to plan to have an optical cable running to the master speaker apply, but the results are largely worth the effort.

My criticisms of the M20 have to take into account the price. If you really lean on it, it begins to lose some of the admirable composure it otherwise demonstrates but you’ll be pushing fairly hard by that point. I’d also suggest that, while the USB input is 24/192 capable, this is a device designed with a view to doing its best work with less esoteric sample rates. This critique has to be seen against the proviso that there isn’t another brand new with warranty £400 setup I can think of that really will go wild with Hi-Res audio.

Q Acoustics M20 Powered Speaker System Review