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Why a hybrid design? Traditional dipolar designs radiate from both the front and rear of the speaker with the rear wave being out of phase with the front wave. In the low frequencies this has many advantages. Most notably, the reduction of room modes that cause severe peaks and dips throughout the bass response. This dominance of the room can distort the response of even the most well designed box speakers leading to muddy or boomy bass performance and obscured detail in the bass and midbass region. What about the higher frequencies? Don't they also benefit from dipolar operation? Well... not exactly. The wavelengths throughout the midrange and treble are short enough that they are no longer dominated by the room and the result is that the front and rear wave begin to act like independent sources creating additional room reflections. This distorts the soundstage presentation and can even obscure details within the soundstage if the rear wave isn't properly dealt with in regards to room treatment. In essence, the design goal of the Q series is to engineer what we believe to be the best compromise between a dipolar and box speaker in order to provide an expansive soundstage along with uncompromised detail and instrument separation. That's not to say that there isn't a place for full dipoles. The additional reflections caused by a dipole create the illusion of a more airy and spacious soundstage in exchange for presentation accuracy as well as a greater sense of ease and effortlessness.

“I've been listening to the [Q3] speakers over the weekend and the sound quality is simply amazing. I don't have the audiophile vocabulary to describe the sound in detail but I've been waiting to experience a system that sounds lifelike. Thank you very much!” - Mark W