How to connect the Bluesound NODE to Q Acoustics M20 active speakers and a QB12 subwoofer

What you need

Already have

Stereo RCA leadin the Bluesound box

4m speaker cablein the Q Acoustics box, for the two speakers

Ethernet cablein the Bluesound box, if you would rather not use Wi-Fi

Need to buy

Single subwoofer leadone RCA, speaker to subwoofer

Bluesound list a stereo RCA to RCA connector among the accessories in the NODE's box, so the streamer to speaker hop is already paid for, and there is an Ethernet cable in there too if you would rather wire the NODE to the router than put it on Wi-Fi. Q Acoustics supply the 4m cable that joins the amplified M20 to its passive partner. Neither company supplies a subwoofer lead, so that is the one to order.

Q Acoustics ask for the speakers either side of where you sit, roughly 2 to 4 metres apart, on a flat surface. They are rear-ported and want around 200mm of air behind them, and if the only place for them is against a wall or in a corner then the foam bungs in the box go into the ports. There is a three-position EQ switch on the back of the amplified speaker for the same problem, one setting for open space, one for close to a wall or on a shelf, and one for corners.

Only one of the two cabinets is amplified, and it needs a mains socket. Q Acoustics let you decide which side that is: a switch on its back tells it whether it is the left speaker or the right one, so stand it on whichever side is nearest a plug and set the switch to match. Every socket in the system apart from the subwoofer's own is on that speaker.

Decide where the QB12 is going before you measure the subwoofer lead. Q Acoustics want it in line with the front speakers and as central to your seat as the room allows, and they warn that pushing it against a wall reinforces the bass to the point where it turns boomy and indistinct. Measure the run from the amplified speaker to that spot around the edge of the room rather than across it, and keep the lead away from mains cables rather than running it parallel to them, which is Q Acoustics' own advice for a long line-level run.

Connecting it

1. Stand the speakers either side of your listening position, 2 to 4 metres apart, with the amplified one on the side that has a mains socket. Set the LEFT/RIGHT switch on its back to match the side it is actually standing on.
2. Join the two speakers with the supplied 4m cable. Q Acoustics colour the two conductors rather than printing a stripe on one: gold is positive and silver is negative, at both ends.
3. Run the NODE's supplied stereo RCA lead from AUDIO OUT on the streamer to the AUX phono sockets on the amplified M20, keeping right to right and left to left.
4. Take the single RCA lead from the SUB socket on the amplified M20 to the LEFT/MONO line input on the QB12. Q Acoustics say to use both L and R only where the source is split into two channels, and the M20's subwoofer output is one socket, so LEFT/MONO is the one it goes to.
5. Set the QB12's controls before it plays a note: level at zero, crossover halfway at 100Hz, which is where Q Acoustics put it for bookshelf speakers, phase at 0 degrees and the auto switch on AUTO.
6. Plug the amplified speaker into the mains and switch it on from the remote or the buttons on the speaker. Plug the QB12 in and switch its POWER switch to ON. Then add the NODE to your network, either with the supplied Ethernet cable into its LAN port or through the BluOS app on a phone.
7. Press ANA on the M20 remote, or the source button on the speaker until its light shows green, and play something. Bring the QB12's level up slowly until you can just hear it, then stop.

Which box does the conversion

Both ends of the first cable can turn a digital signal into an analogue one, and the socket you pick decides which of them does. Out of the NODE's AUDIO OUT, the analogue pair described above, the NODE has already converted. Out of its OPTICAL OUT the NODE's own converter is bypassed and the digital signal reaches the M20's optical input for the speakers to convert instead.

The second route needs a Toslink optical lead, which neither box supplies. The Mini Jack to Toslink adapter in the NODE's box is for its optical input rather than its output, so it is no help here. We do not rate either converter above the other, so the honest answer is to try both and keep whichever you prefer. Pressing OPT rather than ANA on the M20 remote is the other half of the change, and forgetting it is the usual reason a correctly wired optical run plays nothing at all.

Taking the subwoofer feed from the NODE instead

The QB12 does not have to hang off the speakers. The NODE has a subwoofer output of its own, which Bluesound describe as a direct connection to a powered subwoofer, and feeding the single RCA lead from there puts a crossover slider in the BluOS app between the player and the sub. Both routes are the manufacturer's own and the cable is the same lead either way. What changes is where the run starts, which is worth a thought before you measure, and where you go to adjust the crossover. The QB12's own dial stays in the path whichever end feeds it, so set that first and use the app afterwards.