Review

Lyrix Gold Complete Review - Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia

01 Jan 2002

Eleven years is a long time for a product to be manufactured, especially in the home entertainment industry. What is even more impressive is if the product in question remained largely unchanged during that timeframe. All of the above applied to the Krix Lyrix speakers.

That model has now finished production, only to be replaced by the Krix Lyrix Gold. Improvements have been made, although the new speaker looks very similar to the original. Krix has kept the name for it is essentially a better Lyrix rather than a completely different design and the manufacturer did not want to loose the good reputation that the model had established. So what has it done and how do they sound?

Build and finish for the old and new Lyrix are largely the same with very good cabinet quality and a high standard of finish. The speaker is just under a metre high and quite slim, which is beneficial to sound quality as wide cabinets can result in high levels of diffraction. The cabinet face adversely affects the speakers coupling with the room and has adverse consequences upon imaging. It is one of the reasons why speakers are mostly tall and slim these days.

The speakers are available in Black Ash, Jarrah and Beech real wood veneers. The biggest changes have been made to the crossover and the drivers – the old Lyrix’ used Japanese drivers whereas the new Golds use two Vifa 165mm woofers and a single 26mm fabric dome tweeter from Scandinavian Peerless. This is the same 2-way point source configuration used in the dearer Symphonix speakers reviewed in AVL 112. Differences with that speaker include better crossover again, better tweeter and more solid construction that the Lyrix Gold. The Symphonix also have a base chamber that can be filled with dry sand or leadshot.

The Gold’s have good quality speaker posts that can accept biwiring or biamping and the same 150 watts RMS power handling as their more expensive brother. They also share the same on-paper frequency response and a bass reflex vented enclosure. The speakers come with a set of floor spikes and some removable reflex port plugs that allow you to tailor their bass response. If you want the most bass possible – take them out.

The Golds are rated as a nominal 4 ohm speaker and any competent amplifier should have no trouble driving a pair. Finally, it should be noted that Krix include quite a detailed ‘Guide to Safe Operation’ leaflet in the box that is far more thorough and informative than most. Novices in particular will appreciate the explanations provided on topics such as placement, connection and power handling.

Positioned about one metre out from the back wall, I let the speakers run in for almost a week before doing some serious listening. I will start by saying that the speakers definitely had the ‘Krix sound’. By this, I mean that they did not tend to overly favour any particular frequency bandwidth. They reminded me of the Symphonix in that regard and I was rewarded again by a well-balanced and integrated sound. I did notice the slight drop in sensitivity compared with the Symphonix but did recognise many of the dearer speaker’s characteristics in the Lyrix Golds.

Firstly was their imaging ability – the Gold’s impressed me just as much as the Symphonix in this regard. Playing the opening track to Chesky records lovely sampler Women of Song brought about a very solid stereo image with Ana Caram’s gentle voice. Playing orchestral material gave me a good soundstage spread. For example, Philip Glass’s massive work Itaipu painted the big images that I had expected from the huge Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. And with something completely different, the massive electronic soundstage created by former Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke in the CD of music from the epic Sci-Fi TV series Babylon 5 was presented intact.

Although the tweeter is a different unit to the one found in the Symphonix, the treble sounded very similar. I ran through the same discs I had used for the previous review but could not detect any memorable differences in the high frequency responses. In short, the high frequency performance of these speakers gives no cause for complaint. Treble performance was very listenable and precise but never harsh – something Krix was no doubt aiming for.

According to Krix, a smoother top-end was one of the things they wanted achieve with the newer Lyrix. Those of you who do like more bite in the treble might find the new Lyrix a little lacking in this respect compared to some of the competition.

With the same bass/midrange drivers as in the Symphonix and same configuration, the midrange too has the trademark Krix sound. Neither male nor female vocals had any nasal colourations or chestiness. Neutrality was once more the order of the day. Cellos and wind instruments were faithfully reproduced sounding warm and very easy to enjoy. Guitars such as those in Tommy Emmanuel’s Dare to be Different album had adequate snap for most tastes. If anything, my memories of the Symphonix were that it was a little less coloured again in its rendition of various cuts of my favourite CD’s. Possibly the thicker MDF and heavier bracing in the Symphonix was responsible. Overall, the midrange performance was more than adequate for a speaker of this price.

The generous bottom-end was one of the factors that contributed to the original Lyrix’ long running popularity, but according to Krix, there had been some criticisms that their bass was a little loose. Therefore, one of the goals with the new Golds was not to reduce the potency of the bass but to tighten it. And even with the plugs removed from the ports, the bass could not be described as flabby and with them in things became tighter still. I played trance, classical, blues with a fat electric bass and found little to criticise and much to enjoy. Of course it would have been nice to have the bass extend a bit deeper but realistically that could not be achieved with this level of quality without making a much more expensive speaker. Interestingly, in-room response was slightly less pronounced (1-2dB) at around 40Hz than it was with the Symphonix. This is possibly efficiency related, but I’m being very picky though: in the real world ‘thwacks’ on the timpani or bass drum sounded taut, impressive and just as good as the Gold’s dearer stablemates. What this means is that the bass is very, very good for the money.

Dynamically these speakers performed to almost the same level as the Symphonix. I sat down to enjoy one of the hot DVD’s of the moment – The Fast and the Furious. I listened at THX reference level and enjoyed a couple of hours of ‘high octane’ entertainment. The Fast and the Furious features numerous souped-up cars roaring down streets, amidst showers of bullets and multiple explosions. The Golds had no argument with my taste in film or the volume level; instead, they lapped the noisy soundtrack up. Other troublesome tracks such as End of Days also came through unscathed. Like the Symphonix, only the most diabolical of the soundtrack played very loudly gave the speakers any trouble. Few in normal sized rooms and at normal listening levels will find fault with these speakers in the area of dynamics.

What Krix no doubt hoes to achieve with this updated Lyrix is keep giving people what has satisfied them in the past but add enough improvements to keep the speaker competitive well into the future. The strengths of the older Lyrix were its evenhanded musicality and substantial bottom-end with it all wrapped up in an attractive package. The Lyrix Golds are also well built and finished and are very enjoyable to listen to. For example, while playing the well-known track Pressure Cooker from the new reissue of I’ve Got the Music in Me by Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker, I forgot about the seriousness of reviewing speakers and starred on air trumpet, air sax, guitar and drums.

It’s always a good sign when this happens and the speakers are simply fulfilling their prime objective – that of getting you involved in the music.

These speakers are also excellent value for money and if the Lyrix Golds stay in the market for half as long as their predecessors, they will have succeeded.

- Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia , Gavin Womersley

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