Q Acoustics Concept 300 stereo speakers are over 30 kilos of purest designer hi-fi

Unique stands and advanced acoustic design make for a package that genuinely sounds as good as it looks (or vice versa)

Q Acoustics Concept 300
Duncan Bell
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We don't usually cover old-school, passive stereo speakers here at T3, but Britain's Q Acoustics Concept 300 is something very special, as you can see. They come as a complete package, with those remarkable stands, in three very attractive, ultra-modern wood/paint colour combos. The good news is, from what we've heard, they also sound fantastic.

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All 3 of the Q Acoustics Concept 300's different, rather fly, finishes

The Concept 300 speakers have a 3-layer, 'Dual Gelcore' construction, which basically means there's gel sandwiched between the wooden layers, rather like jam in a Swiss roll. Mmmm, Swiss roll. This, we are informed reliably, 'dissipates high-frequency vibrations, generated by the moving drivers, into heat to maintain a focused audio performance.'

Further sound-enhancing internal stability is proved by P2P (Point to Point) bracing, which is placed only after painstaking analysis of the cabinets in use, in 'areas of the cabinet susceptible to low-end frequency reverberations.'

The Tensegrity stands are obviously the real draw here, though.

The Tensegrity stand: terrible name, excellent product

As well as looking rather magnificent, the Tensegrity tripod stand 'eliminates radiating sound and reflections for a purer sonic performance'. It's constructed from slender, aluminium rods, held in place by a combination of steel cables and the sheer heft of the speakers themselves – each weighs 14.5kg. This means the stands are never subjected to bending force. 

Base, how low can you go? Q Acoustics' speaker base plate (or tripod top plate, depending on how you look at it) is spring loaded

The other part of the Concept 300's sonics-boosting stability equation is the cabinet's isolation base plate system. This bolts to the stand, and is loaded with four industrial-grade springs, damped with a polyurethane elastomer called 'Sylodamp' – Q Acoustics does like its oddly-named, trademarked, engineering tricks. 

Tailored to the mass of the speaker, this converts any vibrational energy in the springs into heat, for 'a more controlled but extended bass response and improved stereo imaging.'

As well as this futuristic silver/ebony combo, there's a choice of high-gloss black/rosewood or white/oak

As we fell in love with this speaker at first look, we were a bit trepidatious about hearing what it actually sounds like. However, during a demo at London's legendary Cornflake Shop, the Concept 300 sounded great, with a wide variety of music from unadorned female voice to banging European power trance.

A concern with this kind of hi-fi speaker is it will wimp out when you want it to rock out, but that does not seem to be an issue here. We'll be first in line (for a review sample) when they hit the shops.

• Out in March, the Q Acoustics Concept 300 will cost a more than reasonable £2,999 / €3,749 / $4,499

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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