Review
KDX-C, KDX-M & Seismix 3 Complete Review - The Perfect Vision - USA
01 May 2001
When first I heard a Krix Loudspeaker, it was immediately apparent that the company, from Adelaide, South Australia, had extensive experience with movie-theater sound reproduction. This is evident even in the compact KDX five-channel system, mated with the Krix Seismix 3 subwoofer, which possesses strengths invaluable in reproducing soundtracks.
Krix, a family-run operation led by Scott Krix, has been producing systems for the professional and home markets for over 25 years. Its consumer line includes speakers for both home theater and high-end audio. I reviewed Krix’s smallest speaker, the Equinox, in TVP’s sister publication, The Absolute Sound (Issue 126) and found its combination of musicality, dynamics, solid mid-bass, and value addictive at $599.00 per pair.
The KDX system consists of four identical bass-reflex two-way KDX-M (main) speakers and the horizontally oriented KDX-C (center) speaker. Each incorporates a pair of 5” doped-paper cone drivers with cast-magnesium baskets and double-magnet shielding. The tweeter is a ferro-fluid-cooled 25mm soft dome. The sound of the center channel has been tailored via the crossover to compensate for the bass reinforcement (read: boominess) that often occurs when the speakers are placed atop a television monitor or inside an entertainment cabinet. The KDX series is assembled with cabinets of 17mm MDF and finished in an auburn Jarrah (wood) veneer. Sensitivity is rated at 86dB (90dB for the KDX-C) and nominal impedance is 8 ohms. I placed the speakers on heavy 24” Target stands.
The Seismix 3, the smallest of Krix’s Seismix subwoofer series (which includes the 12” Seismix 5 and the 15” Seismix 7), uses a 10” paper cone. This bass-reflex design with a side-firing vent offers both speaker-level and line-level inputs, auto power-on with a delay, and a selectable phase control. The internal amplifier is rated at 100 watts and has clipping protection. The crossover is an adjustable (40 to 100Hz) second-order low-pass filter. Cabinet fit and finish matched the KDX satellites precisely.
Two-Channel Performance
The sonic character of this system had an across-the-band dynamic muscularity for its modest size and a dynamic drive and intensity. The overall sound was up-front, even slightly brassy. Its highly detailed upper-mids and treble hinted at a bit of brightness, but part of that impression came from the quick transient response in that region and the clean intelligibility it brought to vocalists and dialog. The KDX focused energy broadly across the width of the soundstage but gave an impression of limiting height. The sense of limitless upward space that many traditional stereo speakers convey was replaced with a finer impression of midrange clarity and specificity of images. This “vertical ceiling” suggests carefully executed dispersion – a goal of home theater speaker designers who seek to minimize ceiling and floor reflections.
A couple of things attracted me to this system right from the get-go. The satellites can stand alone in the bass, without subwoofer. This is not to say that using the Seismix sub isn’t preferable. But the KDX speakers have substantial low-frequency output, are dynamically lively and uncompressed even at loud volumes, and have terrific mid-bass pitch definition. For music, where true sub-bass is a rarity, the KDX-Ms proved to be quite satisfying. If your listening consists largely of dramatic effects, though, don’t forget the Seismix 3.
Driving the KDX system was not a problem with any amplifiers I had, but the speakers latched on smartly to the Plinius 8200 integrated, where they found their greatest drive, dynamics, and low-frequency pitch definition. A close second was the Thule IA100 integrated, which offered many of the sonic refinements of the Plinius (though not the same stump-pulling power) at a significant savings. For multichannel, I used the 6.1-channel Outlaw AVR. (This AVR should be on any enthusiast’s short list).
I began listening with an Australian singer, Kasey Chambers, an artist, with a terrific natural melodic sense. Her debut album, The Captain (Asylum 9-47823-2), is a mix of traditional country/folk with strong pop/rock underpinnings. The midrange was rich, though not overly warm, and low-level details were bountiful. It was easy to hear the nearly silent “guide” guitar that establishes a pitch for Chambers when she sings a cappella. The bass line in the title track was immediate and easy to follow – it had the sustain and texture of a real electric bass guitar. The character was slightly forward, depending on the register of the voice – at times, vocal details were pushed toward the listening position. On the other side of the coin, male singers like Mark Knopfler or Tom Waits, where a large proportion of the voice is centered in the chest, sounded more reserved than Chambers.
Clark Terry’s trumpet on “Misty” (One On One; Chesky JD 198), however, lacked some of the golden warmth I’ve heard with my reference compact speaker, the ATC SCM 20SL monitor, an expensive professional speaker with predominately flat response. The KDX’s lower treble seemed lightly emphasized. While the transients from Terry’s trumpet (and brass in general) were as dynamic as an Ali jab, the KDX’s cool-ish tweeter would at times sound exposed, somewhat detached from the mid-bass drivers. This trait is not uncommon for speakers with this driver configuration; the trait exemplifies the contrast between the two-channel and the multichannel contingents. While the KDX’s detail and transient resolution add dramatic texture to film, the overall effect on music alone was a loss of warmth and a sense that ambient fullness had been traded for pinpoint precision.
The Seismix 3 sub created a broader, deeper impression of space and an extra layer of texture to the bass in Gladiator. But it was a warmer sound and not as tight in pitch definition as a comparably priced Velodyne. Nor would it go as deep. It wouldn’t go much below 30Hz, but was solid to that frequency. I managed to rattle it – literally – on a couple occasions with the “Battle” sequence and with the deepest organ notes from Vaughan Williams’ Symphonia antartica (Naxos 8550737). On a more subtle recording, like the piano/trumpet duets of One On One, it added complexity to soundstage depth. And if you’re running the signal into the Seismix’s speaker-level inputs (thus bypassing an AVR’s bass management), good cabling will make a marked difference in soundstage, imaging, and high-frequency clarity.
The incendiary Gladiator (Decca 289-467-094-2) might be a little over the top at times, but for soundstaging, dynamic range and low-frequency extension, this disc was born to destroy loudspeakers (and break leases). In the closing track, “We Are Free”, the Krix provided a well-focused central image of vocals and strings. The orchestration plunges deep in the midbass but lacks the sustain and decay of true subwoofer bass. “The Battle” had impressive bass thrust and pretty good control, but the string basses grew a little thick. Overall, weight and warmth are awfully nice to have. The lower level cues and the leading-edge transients of strings and brass were brought forward a bit, creating a more aggressive sound. Brass sounded a bit bleached out at mezzo forte levels. There’s a slight loss of that layered soundstage at these higher volumes.
In film, a cinematic window is outlined before us by virtue of screen size. Even when the sound is especially loud, it seems contained within the boundaries of the screen. In music, that window exists only in the imagination. With classical and acoustic music, the re-creation of an entire hall, going beyond the space between the speakers, is a significant part of the listening experience. Whatever its limitations with two-channel music, the KDX came together beautifully in multichannel. Part of this perception results from my own bias. I prefer monopole systems that are built around a common loudspeaker for all five channels. Not only are there fewer spectral differences, but there’s an evenness of energy delivered into the listening room that adds to the sense of immersion and thus enhances the viewing experience. While dipoles have unique charms, their spatial artifacts and timbral differences are challenging for general music listening. Monopoles require care in set-up, but I’ve nearly always been able to create and immersive and non-localized soundfield with them. Typically, all I’ve needed to do was position the monopole with the drivers firing backward, down the side wall toward (and about three feet away from) the corners of the room. The resulting combination of strong direct or hard sound effects, as opposed to diffuse, ambient, or soft effects, has usually been persuasive.
Listening to the KDX as a 5.1-channel system gave me more and less of the stereo experience. The multichannel Dolby Digital-encoded recordings on Delos (eg; DVD Space Spectacular, DV7003) demonstrate the potential of multichannel orchestral recordings made with artistry and a light touch by an engineer like John Eargle. Here the KDX system was at its strongest, combining image specificity and detail with good dimensional space. String sections sat where they were supposed to and hardly shifted on the soundstage, even as I changed listening positions. But far more importantly, the spectral balance of the orchestra and hall remained intact, thanks to five matched speakers. A sonic foundation was created corner to corner in the listening room. Because of the KDX’s firm grasp of midbass and its upper-bass information, where frequencies become directional, I could hear the walls of the listening room falling away, replaced by the soundfield created by the sound designers. On “Jupiter” from Holst’s The Planets, the full orchestral and ambient weight was discernable from almost any listening position. In this respect, the Krix system reminded me of the much-lauded Meridian DSP33 Digital Loudspeaker (review, Issue 34). Both systems gave the impression that they were bolted to the foundation of the house.
Key to this impression was the performance of the KDX-C. The center channel shoulders the greatest responsibility in a multichannel system, in its blend of timbre, dynamics, and extension. The KDX-C’s timbral connection with the KDX-Ms was nearly seamless, and it had enough headroom to handle every torture test I threw at it, given my small listening room and the fondness I have for my ears. From the “Rooftop Rescue” from The Matrix to the “Battle” from Gladiator, the KDX-C remained unruffled. Dialog, centered or panned among the front satellites, remained clean and intelligible. The timbral character of voices remained consistent, although I still wished for less-etched treble. (Receivers and controllers with theater EQ settings largely ameliorated this problem). This consistency held sway through the sequence in Dragonheart where Draco slides through the surround channels. The helicopter sequence from The Matrix was shot from various perspectives – beneath the copter, to the side, etc. – and the audio changes accordingly, sometimes with a greater emphasis on the copter’s engine, sometimes emphasizing the whoosh of the rotors. The Krix reproduced these changes with subtlety, and effortlessly followed the changing perspectives as the copter navigated through the channels. In comparison to the best (eg; the Meridian), the dimensional soundfield is not as weighty or as fluid. But at a fraction of the Meridian’s cost, this system delivers the dragon’s share of the experience.
I’ve yet to meet a speaker system that is all things to all people. And the Krix possesses the character and “breeding” of a multichannel system geared for reproducing film soundtracks. Articulate and musical in stereo mode, it excelled in multichannel. “Are you not Entertained?” Russell Crowe yells at a blood-thirsty crowd in Gladiator. You bet I am.
- The Perfect Vision - USA , Neil Gader
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