Q acoustics harsh high end

Thanks Pogbomber

All very good suggestions! I have purchased a second hand marantz amplifier from the 90s, which has a warm sound. I have relocated the system into a different room with soft furnishings and a carpet. I also bought a second hand Archam Alpha CD player, which again has a warmer edge to compare. My next step is to give up on the speakers and audition some others. Thanks again for your help.
  John 

John, try raising (tilting) the front of the speakers up: Between the interactions of your room, furniture, ear level to tweeter level, your own standards, preferences, and hearing, I'm thinking that the you've got to raise the tweeter or slouch more in your listening chair. 2"-3" to start.

But it's ok to slouch, my girlfriend reminds me often that I'm a good slouch.

Take a look at Doug Schneider's comments re: tweeter height from a review of the 3020i & 3050i from last January on the Soundstage network: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/system-one/1247-hands-down-or-up-the-qacoustics-3020i-and-3...

Brother, I'm close to 60 & over the last 18 months have started updating my system with a vengence. If you can't get these to work for you, move on - but be careful, the 3050i's aren't a bright sounding speaker. There seems to be a movement towards 'extended' highs, often misinterpeted as 'openess' or 'speed', and a more forward image, with musicians damn near in your lap.

You may or may not enjoy these traits. I'm guessing the latter. Hope you find a solution that works for you.

P3ga, thanks for your suggestions and helpful responce. I have tried many different set ups and my conclusion is that these speakers are not as good as everone seems to think. (I do realise I'm in a minority of one). I tried to engage with the manufacturer but they were quite uninterested. When I can afford it, I'll audition some new speakers, in a higher price bracket.  The seekers I bought in the 70's, which is the comparison I'm making subconsciously, would cost nearly five times as much as the Qs, so perhaps that's the problem.

@jlj  
No, it's not you, it's them.  p3ga uis right.  The fundamental truth is that the majority of loudspeaker manufacturers today have shifted to a sonic signature with, basically, a brighter top end or some version of that.  These demo well for a short period in stores (like turning the TV sharpness control to max in Best Buy), but many find them fatiguing over the long term.  Evidently Q is one of these.  Fortunately, there are still a number of brands that don't pursue this goal.  It's not necessarily that you need more expensive, just different.  Vienna Acoustics and pretty much all of the *classic* BBC designs come to mind (this excludes the Spendor D series), and there are others.

I say return them if able to. Sounds like they are just not your cuppa tea.