I’ve been cleaning up my office, and I decided to upgrade its sound system. It had a 2003 era Logitech Z680 5.1 system:
My brilliant idea was to replace all the satellites but, as I am a profoundly lazy person, keep the sub and decoder / amplifier (and cables, fortunately these satellites use traditional speaker wire) since that part is working just fine:
The sub has a direct-firing 8-inch driver. Logitech’s subwoofer-based amplifier has plenty of juice, delivering 188 watts to the sub, 62 watts to each sat, and 69 watts to the center.
I checked wirecutter and they had a very strong recommendation for these UK based Q Acoustics 3020 speakers which are now becoming widely available in the US.
After listening to more than two dozen pairs of speakers in a double-blind setup, we’ve determined that the Q Acoustics 3020 speakers are the best bookshelf speakers for most people, because they sound better and are built more sturdily than anything else in their price range. Furthermore, this set’s compact footprint and four different finish options help it fit into almost any living room setup.
There’s also a matching center speaker, the 3090c.
These are much bigger speakers than I thought they would be, at about 10lbs each. I got the official 3000 series wall mount which works on both types and set them up.
The old Z680 sub/driver/decoder seems to work fine with the new satellites. I had kinda forgotten how awesome good, quality speakers can sound. And in speakers (to a point at least) size matters…
Anyway, if you’re looking for a bookshelf sized speaker recommendation at a great 💥 for the 💵 price point, I can heartily concur with Wirecutter and recommend the Q Acoustics 3020 series. They’re really well made and sound excellent. I paid $290 for a pair, so $145 each? (Note that the gloss white and black versions are about $80 more / pair for some reason, I went with plain jane graphite.)
Time to get my jamz on