Review

Equinox Complete Review - Audio Video Interiors - USA

01 Oct 1997

I keep looking over my shoulder at the little speakers perched atop the 42-inch towers that usually provide the musical accompaniment to life in my office. My head-turning is a repeated double-take, or maybe triple-take-though after a dozen such sideways, confirming glances I no longer know what name to give them; perhaps "testimony". Working away distractedly, I became conscious again of the remarkably full-bodied, musical sound coming from...what?...the towers or those diminutive speakers?

Yup, it's the phenomenal mahogany midgets. These overachieving speakers, called the Equinox, are among the first U.S. offerings from an Australian company called Krix. What the Krix design team might do with a full-size enclosure is an intriguing thought. They have worked wonders within the limits of a box measuring just 12 inches high x 7 wide x 10 deep.

It's a pretty box, but in all honesty there's nothing extraordinary about the appearance of the Equinox -- or the visible features of the drivers within -- that might explain why the Krix mites might sound better than just about any other speaker I've heard in their size class. Krix's 2-way system utilizes a 5-inch mid/bass driver topped by a 1-inch tweeter; with a rear-firing port, it's a fairly un-prepossessing combo. If anything besides the performance stands out, it's the price-a rather imposing $599.

But the quality of music that watts from that modest source is blue-chip. The first sound that tuned my head was Dave Brubeck's piano on Sony's superb 20-bit CD remastering of the album Take Five. Beyond the lower register which resonated with a depth and tightness hardly associated with 5-inch drivers, the middle voice opened up with a vital bloom and presence. Over the next few weeks, it often seemed to me the Krix juniors were flattering my CD's.

Certainly the Equinoxes provided a clear window for the system's High-Definition Digital Compatible digital-to-analogue converter, which I've come to regard as a musical instrument in itself. Indeed the real potential of the little Krixes was tapped only when I played Reference Recordings' recent HDCD production of sundry Vivaldi concertos (RR-77CD) performed by the Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan. The Brassy weight of French horns and shining string surfaces registered with the truthfulness that should be beyond the telling of such small speakers.

While Krix no doubt has its recipe secrets, the Equinox does plainly display the principal of quality at work. Fit and finish are excellent, and the 5-way binding posts gold plated. It's also evident that top grade drivers have been tuned by first class ears. The speakers' musical temperament is complimented by a surprisingly grand stereo sound stage and an almost holographic aura of multidimensionality.

The Equinoxes are easily driven by a moderate power receiver but they also respond impressively to a muscle amp. As the demand for more sound rose, the musical bloom only grew richer; up to volume levels as high as one might care to listen in a medium-size room.

Krix is just now getting established in the United States, so you may have trouble finding the speakers. But they're worth some searching. One thing's sure: Their chief competition comes in a bigger box.

- Audio Video Interiors - USA , Lawrence B. Johnson

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