Review

Neuphonix Complete Review - Australian Hi-Fi - Australia

01 Jun 2005

Krix is not only one of Australia’s largest and most successful loudspeaker manufacturers, it’s by far and away Australia’s most successful loudspeaker exporter, with both its domestic and professional speakers widely distributed overseas, particularly in the USA. The latest speaker to be developed by company founder and chief designer Scott Krix is the Neuphonix, so named because it replaces the earlier Euphonix (‘New euphonix’….get it?). However, despite the pun on the name and the fact they’re both floor-standers, the two models couldn’t be more different. The Euphonix was a 2½-way five-driver speaker. The Neuphonix is a true three-way, with no fewer than six drivers on the front panel!

Of the six drivers arrayed on the front baffle (which is an incredible 25mm thick, by the way!) fours are used exclusively to reproduce bass. These four drivers, made in Denmark especially for Krix are all identical. Each is 130mm in diameter. This means that their combined surface area of 530cm2 is equivalent to that you’d expect of Krix had used a single bass driver with a diameter of 260mm. But if Krix had done this, the front baffle would be a lot wider (which would interfere with dispersion), and the mass of the cone much greater (which would have interfered with the pace and speed of the bass). Then there’s the fact that four voice coils are obviously able to dissipate heat much faster and more effectively than just a single voice-coil, dramatically increasing power handling capacity (by a factor of 4!) and completely banishing the spectre of thermally-induced dynamic compression.

And this is not even counting the fact that the drivers have been specifically designed to remove heat quickly, with elongated holes formed in the pressed steel frame of the chassis, so hot air can be ‘pumped’ away by the movement of the driver suspension (spider). Krix also vents the area underneath the dustcap so there’s no ‘air-cushion’ effect when the dustcap approaches the pole-piece. Finally, as if all this weren’t sufficient, the fact that four drivers do the work usually done by just one (or two) means the cones don’t have to work as hard, which means they work in the most linear part of their operating range which means…less distortion. (And did I mention that as a bonus, you also get a 6dB increase in sensitivity?)

At 200Hz, (the G below middle C) the four bass drivers hand over to the single midrange driver positioned above the tweeter. Although this driver looks identical to the bass drivers, it actually has a much shorter voice coil and a copper shorting ring the bass drivers don’t have. Using a single midrange driver means greatly improved imaging and, because it’s mounted so close to the tweeter, you get excellent ‘point source’ sound.

The tweeter hails from Denmark. It’s a new design that’s been specially designed with an extended frequency response (to 40kHz) for use with superaudio formats (DVD-A and SACD) but will also provide better performance when driven by the PCM output from an ordinary DVD. The curious protuberance on the front of the tweeter is a waveguide to improve dispersion at frequencies above 20kHz. The tweeter’s diaphragm is comprised of an unusual dual-concentric 26mm diameter dome. This tweeter handles all high-frequency energy from 2.5kHz upwards.

Each Neuphonix cabinet stands 1065mm tall, is 230mm wide and 430mm deep and weighs 31kg. The weight is a combination of the drivers, the cabinet itself (being made from a combination of 25mm and 19mm thicknesses of MDF, heavily braced internally) and, believe it or not, the crossover, which uses four hand-wound copper coils, one of which is absolutely massive. The cabinets are available in black ash for $3,000 per pair, or in Jarrah or Beech for $3,200 per pair. All veneers are real timber, and lacquered.

The bass is tight, forceful and very, very fast. It sounds so life-like you’ll pinch yourself, and the extension is surprising, even though the speakers are quite physically imposing. Playing Walter Thompson’s improvised symphony, PEXO, which for all its musical shortcomings, is absolutely wonderfully recorded. I was just blown away by the way the Neuphonix delivered Jim Whitney’s double-bass into the room, and just wait until you hear how Michael Attias’s baritone sax bursts in, not to mention the spare sound of the percussion from Andrea Pryor and Greg Stare. The midrange sound is also uncannily accurate, once again the Walter Thompson disc has Gil Selinger’s cello sound captured to perfection. I suspect the reason behind this disc’s clarity is that it was composed, performed and recorded live, in a single session. Its sound quality puts many so-called ‘audiophile’ discs to shame. (Warning, the ‘music’ is very unusual – don’t even think of buying the disc unless you’ve first checked out the website at www.wtosp.org!)

Tearing myself away from the beautiful sounds, but staying with music that’s also largely improvised I fired up Joseph Tawadros’s ‘Storyteller’ (ABC Classics 476 228-0). Tawadros is a virtuoso on the oud (as well as Egyptian violin) and you’ll find that on this disc, both the music and the sound of the oud itself are absolutely and completely entrancing. What the Krix did outstandingly well was maintain the oud’s unique and delicious tone right across the instruments’ range, and also retain its stereo image in the space in front of me perfectly solid.
The acoustics in which the oud is recorded is perfectly sympathetic, if somewhat artificial, but it gave me a chance to admire the performance of the tweeter in being able to allow me to hear the difference so quickly and clearly. The outstanding presence of the tweeter is also instantly audible when Tawadros’ frightening speed, and the precision with which he hits his notes while doing so (the oud is a fretless instrument!) you’ll appreciate why his list of fans is a ‘Who’s Who’ of Australia’s most famous ‘western tradition’ musicians. This is a truly outstanding disc: a real find.

Another find that had the Neuphonix’ humming merrily was the Ted Vining Trio’s tribute to drummer Elvin Jones, who died last year. Titled ‘For Elvin’ and recorded at Bennett’s Lane by Mal Stanley (for Jazztrack but released on Move MD3287) I found that Vining’s attacking drum sound didn’t even begin to test the incredible dynamics of the Neuphonix, despite the up-front mic capture, and Barry Buckley’s double-bass didn’t plumb their depths either. Bob Sedergreen’s piano is recorded a bit too far in the background to make it a good test for any high-quality loudspeaker, much less a pair as good as the Neuphonix, but there are pianistic moments on the disc, and when those moments come along, they’re rendered almost surreal by the Neuphonix. This is a case where the live performance becomes captivating, particularly when aided by an appreciative audience – though theirs is at times perhaps a little overly enthusiastic (read noisy)! Jazz aficionados will love special guest Stephen Magnusson’s take on Monk’s Epistrophy, while everyone else will be blown away by the gritty, raw, live sound of his electric guitar.

Just as the very best musicians make their performances seem effortless, so too do the finest loudspeakers, and on that basis, Krix’s new Neuphonix speakers are amongst the best, because they produce sound so effortlessly across the complete musical spectrum, irrespective of volume level or pitch. But it’s not just the effortlessness: it’s the way the various instruments being reproduced seem to operate from their own acoustic space, interacting completely naturally, as they would if they were playing ‘live’ that lifts the Neuphonix to an even-higher level again.

- Australian HiFi - Australia , Greg Borrowman

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