Review

Seismix 5 mk2 Complete Review - Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia

01 Jul 2007

Yet another subwoofer has landed at my feet for reviewing. But I don’t mind at all – I still enjoy playing with them and fervently believe they are one of the most important parts of a home theatre system.

This arrival is the latest mid-priced entry from Australian manufacturer Krix. Krix has been in the loudspeaker game since 1974 and two things make it different from most other Australian manufacturers in this industry. Firstly, Krix has succeeded in the world of commercial cinema sound as well as domestic, and secondly, Krix has a very strong export business – for both these areas. As far as I am aware, it is the only Aussie company that is a player on the world stage in both commercial and domestic speaker markets.

The subwoofer for review here is the updated Mk2 version of the Seismix 5. The Seismix 5 is Krix’s penultimate of a four subwoofer line-up with its bigger brother, the Seismix 7 heading the series. The Seismix 7 packs 400 watts into a commercial grade 15 inch (380mm) driver mounted in a massive box. It was one of the first serious subwoofers I had ever heard and I fell for it hard but unfortunately at the time of its release I had just left Uni and could not cough up the required bucks.

There are also two 10 inch (250mm) subs beneath the Seismix 5 – namely the Seismix 1 and Seismix 3.

At $1,700 for the basic model, the Seismix 5 appears pretty good value considering it is packing the same power amp (400 watt) as its more expensive brother. Although not as ultra compact perhaps as some of today’s subwoofers the Seismix 5 is of a much more manageable size than the Seismix 7 and weighs in at a solid 30kg.

Rapping my knuckles on the cabinet told me plenty about the bracing and solidity of construction. I can guarantee that you will not have problems with construction quality and design of the new Seismix 5. This thing is built extremely well.

From the outside Krix appears to have used a high quality long-throw driver and like all the Krix subs – included a sizeable port. The vent used has the same mouth design internally, which Krix says reduces port noise. The Seismix 5 has several different types of protection to prevent damage from a variety of causes, including over enthusiastic use of the volume control.

Connection-wise the subwoofer has a choice of both line-level and speaker-level connections and contains the normal assortment of subwoofer controls, but with two additions.

Firstly, a filter designed to reduce the level of bass frequencies below 25Hz. This is unusual in subwoofers but the goal of the filter would be to reduce the impact of rarely used ultra-low frequencies. These frequencies may cause the subwoofer to reach its limits sooner than it otherwise would. The second addition is a button that lifts the ground on the sub – to eliminate ground loop hum. Having experienced this problem before I can say this is a good feature to have. Also at the rear of the Seismix 5 are a bunch of cool looking blue and red LED indicators on the back panel of the subwoofer which makes it easier to see what position the controls are in.

As far as finish is concerned lets just say there are a lot of options. There are three vinyl options – white, black and silver – and these give the $1,700 price, while the real wood finishes of Atlantic Jarrah and Black Ash add $200. Beech costs $100 more again. On top of this a very large range of custom finishes are available with prices typically around 25 per cent more than the standard retail.

I setup the Seismix 5 a few feet from the left front corner of my room and adjusted the phase and other controls and set the level so it was even with the rest of the speakers in the already calibrated system. The subwoofer was brand new ‘out of the box’ and had not of course been run-in. An easy way to let the process get started was to tap the ground lift button and get a hum through the sub and leave it there for a good while.

Running-in really is an issue with products like this as the stiff new suspensions take a while to loosen up. After a bit of music over a couple of days and some enforced hum I began critical listening and tests.

I tested the Seismix 5 with tones at 5Hz intervals from 45Hz down to 15Hz. I do this with all subs I have reviewed in Audio & Video Lifestyle magazine since 2001.

The room always plays a huge role in the results that appear so the actual numbers are not as important as the overall performance of the subwoofer. My own Velodyne’s performance has varied so dramatically with changes of room (such as size and construction) that I am always the first to say that the figures merely represent what was achieved in my room and may only bare a modest resemblance to how it performs in yours.

In this regard the Krix Seismix 5 is a powerhouse. At 45Hz the subwoofer was putting out 104dB at my listening position, only 2dB down on my own much bigger and costlier Velodyne, and compared to the $4,000 Velodyne SPL-1500 reviewed back in Audio & Video Lifestyle magazine, issue AVL-169, the difference was 3dB.

At 40Hz not much had changed, but the difference grew as the frequencies continued to fall. The Krix’s output dropped away below 25Hz. This is expected with the enclosure size and vented design Krix has chosen and also due to the very deep bass being rolled off. Still running pretty much neck and neck over much of the critical frequencies with a subwoofer that costs $4,000 is pretty impressive.

Also impressive was that very little port noise was evident – even at extreme volume levels.

The Krix Seismix 5 sounds very clean and tight for a subwoofer of its design and only the very fussiest of listeners would find fault with its musical performance. The freedom from port noise, well-braced cabinet and that powerful amplifier telling the driver who is in charge made an enjoyable session with acoustic bass from a bunch of Diana Krall’s albums. Kick drums had tremendous weight and slam to them and stopped pretty quickly too. The Great Organ of St. Eustace CD (played by Jean Guillou on the Dorian label) has pipes that reach way down into the lowest frequencies but with most of the pedal action hitting around the 30Hz area (well within Krix’s operating range), I was treated to the full weight and power of the massive organ.

The Krix made the room throb. Bass drums also had their full potency unleashed by this very dynamic subwoofer. The powerful bass drum found in the track Penance from The Mission lacked nothing in its power and richness – even at very high listening levels.

The Krix was also a powerful performer in the world of film. Some subwoofers will sound ‘good’ or ‘clean’ but the overwhelming sense I got from the Seismix 5 was that of power. It simply sounded strong. The Chronicles of Riddick has a number of scenes rich in low frequencies and even at close to reference levels the Seismix 5 did a great job on the violent action near the film’s end. Some movies could be played at very close to reference level (which is very loud) while the biggest of them such as War Of The Worlds still had to be backed off a bit in order to ease the strain on the subwoofer.

In rooms that give more of a helping hand in the low frequencies the Krix may be able to play these movies at higher levels still but for the vast majority of users, the power of this subwoofer will be more than enough to ‘frighten’. The opening minutes of Toy Story 2, always a great demo, shook the whole house. Friends arriving at the front door of our home whilst this was playing, actually thought that there was a train nearby!

The new and improved Krix Seismix 5 is a very powerful subwoofer for your $1,700. It sounds very good with music, has virtually no port noise and really comes into its own when you start playing movies.

Definitely put the Krix Seismix 5 mk2 on your audition shopping list if you are after a serious subwoofer to complement a serious AV system.

Rating:

Performance - * * * * ½
Build Quality - * * * * *
Compatibility - * * * *
Value for Money - * * * * *

- Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia , Gavin Womersley

Back to previous page