Review

Apex Complete Review - Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia

01 Sep 1994

You’ve got to hand it to Krix. The company knows how to make good speakers. We have seen a variety of models form the range in situ here at AVL magazine and uniformly they have never failed to impress everyone who has taken the time to sit back, relax and listen.

Mind you, it would be strange if the company didn’t or couldn’t come up with the goods since it has a lengthy and successful history in the speaker business which encompasses products for both professional and domestic applications.

Time means experience, and in the speaker business, experience makes for good product, and it’s a formula which has led to the latest release to come from the laboratories and listening rooms of this South Australian based company, the Apex model.

The design of the Apex has a history which can be traced to the Krix Lyrix, an AVL Best Buy Award winning speaker noted for its solid bass performance and overall well-balanced sound. The Apex has been designed around this commercially and critically successful speaker.

Considering the acumen of the Krix people and their ability to maintain an intrinsic and appealing sonic signature throughout its range of models, you could well find the Apex happily at home in a variety of applications other than straight music reproduction (in home theatre surround sound systems where the company is currently enjoying great success).

In overall appearance, the Apex is a slim-line floor standing speaker with what is ostensibly a small ‘footprint’ (the area of the floor the unit occupies). Its narrow front profile (185mm wide) and hip-level height (895mm) mean that even as a pair, the system takes up minimal space in a listening room and does not look overtly obtrusive.

Krix has made the carcass of the Apex from 17mm thick fibreboard which has been overlayed (on the outside, that is) wit real timber veneer. In times where cost-cutting measures have forced many manufacturers to abandon timber as a finish due to its cost and substitute vinyl, this is a refreshing change, particularly in a product which sells for under $1000. The timber has been lacquered as (though not necessarily) a method of protecting the speaker when set-up and also (and more probably) to bring out the grain in the wood to enhance visual appeal. Both objectives, if you want to call them that, have been achieved, and it doesn’t make too big a dent in the bank balance. The timber extends to the front baffle to ensure that when the half-grille is removed, the visual appeal of the speaker is retained (and often improved for many listeners). A timber base plate completes what for most people will be a very pretty picture.

Internally, Krix has selectively damped critical (read important) areas of the cabinet with highly absorbent foam to absorb unwanted sound waves which are generated and reflect off the panels. Add this to enclosures which are very sturdy and quite rigid and you have the makings of an inert environment in which the drivers can operate successfully and without overt colouration.

The cabinet is a bass reflex design. In this instance the internal sound waves created by the rear-movement of the woofers is channeled through a portal opening in the rear of the cabinet to the listening environment. These sound waves are used to support those being produced by the conventional front movement of the woofer and add realism, strength and dynamics to bass sounds. Like other rear facing port speaker designs, the positioning of the Apex system is quite important to the quality of bass sound which can be produced. When placed too close to the rear wall the quality of bass sound becomes over prominent and detail is heavily shrouded. Too far away and bass loses both impact and extension.

I found that leaving at least 500mm between the rear of the speakers and the back wall provided the best balance between clarity, impact and extension in my room, although very good results were obtained as far as a metre away (which gives some idea of the versatility of the Apex in terms of placement). Of course, spikes and good quality cables are mandatory.

Krix uses a twin woofer/midrange system in the Apex. Two small drivers can move the same amount of air required for good bass as a large single woofer and still fit into what is a relatively small front baffle. The advantage of this design is that smaller drivers move faster than their larger counterparts and are therefore more easily able to relay detail along with dynamics. The Apex configuration is capable of sometimes prodigious bass performance (far more than its diminutive drivers appear to be capable of) and with good extension. Yet it still retains the sensitivity to separate bass instruments clearly and does a mighty fine job with dynamic content. The result for me was good interaction with the fundamental cadence of the music being played and hence better appreciation of what the performers were achieving.

Both 125mm woofers are identical and feature paper cones which have been appropriately doped to provide the optimal acoustic and mechanical properties. They are connected to reasonably high-power moving system via a close tolerance voice coil system. This translates as controlled bass, as well as the area of the midrange they reproduce, and high power capability (they showed clear signs of over-driving on several occasions and bass retained strong elements of composure throughout).

The tweeter is mounted between the woofers in what is often referred to as a point source configuration. It has a 25mm textile come diaphragm; a material which, to these ears, and in this instance, is capable of highly detailed treble reproduction and can relay delicacy in top-end sounds which other materials often simply can’t emulate.

The electronic transition from woofers to tweeter is handled well. There are no glaring vagaries around the (well chosen) crossover point, just a smooth and balanced transition with minimal interference with the integrity of the music. It’s my guess Krix uses a minimalist crossover network design in the Apex.

Discussing the various components in the Apex design is all very well, but as we know it’s the sum of, and synergy between, those parts which forms a speaker that not only reproduces music, but reproduces it well. Achieving this synergy is no hit-and-miss affair at Krix, it’s a carefully planned process which begins wit a concept for the design, then moves to selecting the right components to do the job successfully, and ends with a product which is fine-tuned through an extensive series of listening tests. It’s where experience makes the difference.

Krix makes the design task easier by ensuring the components used require minimal, if any, modification when they are combined. With drivers matched to the enclosure and each other, and with little or no electronic tailoring, a high degree of purity can be achieved, and so it is with the Apex.

Thanks to its relatively high efficiency, it’s a speaker which can be run with reasonable success with low powered amplifiers, yet really shines when a good amplifier with solid, clean output is used (I recommend 50 watts RMS as optimum in small and medium sized rooms). It’s innate resistance also means that it is also versatile in its compatibility with a wide variety of amplifiers. In terms of overall sound quality, the Apex system has been nicely balanced with no part of the sonic spectrum being overly emphasised. On vocal tracks the midrange comes across as quite natural without being overtly mellow (brass instruments still retain their attack), while bass integrates nicely, sans too much domination. Treble is, simply, utterly believable.

Once again we are talking about elements which comprise a subjective whole, and that ‘whole’ is the defined character of the speaker. The Apex is a friendly and inviting speaker with an accomplished level of accuracy. It is happy playing low volume background music, impressive playing popular music, smooth playing classical pieces and brilliant with small jazz and ensemble works. The linking thread behind this versatility is that the system also places listener’s in a clear sound field which expands past room boundaries ad involves them totally.

In the Apex, Krix has developed an unobtrusive timber-finish speaker system which can be used with a variety of amplifiers and any music you care to throw at it. It’s also locally made, which is good for the economy, and it’s affordable. In fact, when you consider a bookshelf system with stands costs about the same as the Apex but won’t provide the same level of performance, it becomes something of a bargain.

- Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia , Richard Morgan

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