First up, lets cover off the most basic element of the Active 200. The word active is correctly applied here as each speaker is a genuine active design where the crossover is placed in front of the amplification. As should be fairly obvious from the pictures, the drivers in question are not the same as you might find in the 3000i Series or the Concept range. Instead, the drivers that each speaker presents to the world are a pair of 2.25-inch BMR drivers. There was a point a few years ago where it looked very much like BMRs were going to wind up in everything. The notional benefits of their design; wide dispersion, impressive frequency response from a relatively small area and a generally robust construction seemed too good to ignore.
The reality of BMRs is that they are subject to the same balance of benefits and trade offs as more conventional drivers. In using them in an active configuration though, Q Acoustics is able to eliminate or bypass most of them. The Active 200 is both designed to run them and equipped to implement them as effectively as possible. The duo of BMRs handles everything from 150Hz upwards (in this case, to a claimed upper roll off of 20kHz). They do so while offering an even dispersion of something approaching 180 degrees and the notional time alignment benefits of something like a dual concentric driver.
The actual amount of cabinet given over to the BMRs is fairly limited. The lion’s share is taken up by the mechanics of delivering frequencies under 150Hz. Around the back, you’ll find a 4.5-inch driver that has been set up to deliver low frequencies. Again, the active nature of the speakers takes some of the unsettling novelty out of this configuration. Sending a single amplified signal to a passive crossover and expecting it to do much good with this driver arrangement would be… interesting. Thanks to being DSP controlled, the Active 200 is able to ensure that the signal from the different drivers pointing in various directions makes it to your ear in an orderly way. The amplification that drives the Active 200 is class D and, across the three drivers, delivers 100 watts continuous and 280 watts peak.
This has very little in common with most other Q Acoustics devices but there are some brand similarities in there too. The cabinet makes extensive use of the P2P bracing principles that the company has been working on for some years and, while it has nothing in common materially with the Concept series, there’s enough of the aesthetic in there for you to know that it’s a Q Acoustics product (more on the aesthetics in a bit). The cabinet itself is rear ported and bungs are provided in the great Q Acoustics fashion. This being an active design with a DSP though, you can also tell each speaker if it is in free space or near a wall or corner.
What you can’t do is take an XLR or RCA feed from your existing preamp and communicate with the Active 200 directly. Each speaker is a sealed unit with a 5.8GHz receiver in it. The only way to send audio to them is via the Q Active Hub. This is both the transmitter and connectivity point for your other equipment and, the good news is that it is comprehensively equipped to do this. First up, the Hub is a UPnP renderer. Q Acoustics has not developed their own control app but if you buy the premium version of MConnect, you’ll have a control point that is generally less irritating than most manufacturer specific options. It’s also Roon Compatible, with Roon certification going through while the system was under test.
As well as UPnP, you can use AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Bluetooth and Spotify Connect. Intriguingly, there are two Hubs. One is set up to be compatible with Google Home while another is able to work with Alexa. I don’t know enough about the hardware implementations of either digital wiretap to surmise why this is but it does mean you probably ought to know which flavour of disembodied robot voice you want in your life before you buy it as changing will require you to buy another hub.
As well as the network hardware, the Hub also has an HDMI ARC input, an optical input and an RCA line input that can be switched to a moving magnet phono stage should you fancy. Socketry is finished off by a single sub out. It means that the Q Active 200 is a well equipped to handle the bulk of things you’re likely to want to connect to it. Control is simple enough with third party app options, HDMI slaving or an RF remote (meaning no line of sight is required) being supplied. The hub will receive digital up to 32/192kHz but everything that it sends to the speakers, regardless of sample rate or if it's analogue or digital will be resampled to 24/96. Ideally, I’d have liked to have separate recoding for 44.1 and 48kHz multiples but I’m realistic enough to work out that Q Acoustics has probably run the tests, decided that the people likely to care can be counted on the fingers of one knee and gone with the system they have.
Now, honesty dictates that I make it clear that the first attempt to get the review hub talking to the review speakers did not go well. The hub synced with the remote and Google Home got it on the network. One of the two speakers resolutely refused to pair with the hub however and I had to admit defeat and get in touch with Q Acoustics. After a reset, everything worked perfectly (and has continued to do so). I suspect that before being sent to me, one of the speakers has been paired to another hub and not reset. In the interest of fairness I have performed a full factory reset on the review samples on ten occasions; five in a row and then five more at random. On every occasion, it has put itself back together with the dogged insistence of a T1000 and I am confident that anyone receiving a boxfresh example will not have this issue.
They might have some other installation issues though. Some design aspects of the Active 200 feel like that they didn’t receive much exposure to the outside world before production kicked off. The mains leads supplied to power the speakers are too short for much in the way of routing around things or having an offset mains supply (although they use a standard fig8 socket so buying aftermarket ones would be easy). Attaching a black speaker to a black top plate on the speaker stand is also fiddly and thankless. The stands themselves are lovely things, reminiscent of the beautiful tripods supplied with the Concept 200 but they are no less than £350 for a pair which, however pretty they are, is a lot of money.
I also can’t decide if I like the looks. For every time I’ve looked at them and admired the boldness, clean lines and purposeful design statement they make; half exotic art project, half superweapon, there have been others where they look like the result of a romantic liaison between a theodolite and a speed camera. Two things I can say in defence of Q Acoustics are that you could never accuse it of being derivative and that it’s put together with the customary quality and attention to detail that we’ve come to expect from the brand.
Thanks to being DSP controlled, the Active 200 is able to ensure that the signal from the different drivers pointing in various directions makes it to your ear in an orderly way..
