Review

Neuphonix Complete Review - Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia

01 Mar 2006

It isn’t very often that the venerable Australian loudspeaker company Krix comes out with a new model. But then why should it? With a well-known and much loved line-up of stereo and home theatre speakers, there is really no need to confuse consumers with a needlessly ever-morphing range of updates and releases. Better they be able to walk straight into a hi-fi store and ask by name for the same model speaker they heard and fell in love with over at their neighbour’s house. But change is of course inevitable and a good opportunity to update designs and incorporate new features besides. And with the advent of no less than its Krix’s 30th Anniversary in the loudspeaker industry last year, it is that rare time once again when a new member of the Krix family is released.

The Neuphonix name continues the use of the X monicker that all Krix loudspeakers use. Based on the previous Euphonix model that it replaces, the new speaker has been in the planning and design stages for no less than two years. Krix principal designer Jon Scott and company founder, the legendary Scott Krix, have directed the entire Neuphonix project from start to finish. The resulting loudspeaker is a floorstanding model of impressive presence and quality.

Constructed at the Krix facility at Hackham in South Australia, the Neuphonix is a large loudspeaker standing approximately 1.05 metres tall. However, use of multiple drivers means that the speaker is relatively slim at only 250mm wide. The front baffle itself is constructed of MDF board some 25mm thick, ensuring the drivers are securely housed. The Neuphonix 19mm thick panels form the rest of the cabinet. Internally, the loudspeakers are heavily braced to improve torsional rigidity. Bracing has the further advantages of reducing panel resonance and internal standing waves, both of which have the potential of adversely colouring the audio.

All the sides of my review pair were finished in Atlantic Jarrah timber including the rear panel, which is always a mark of quality. The speakers are additionally available in finishes of Black or Beech at the customer’s discretion. The front baffle is black and covered by a removable grille of acoustically transparent fabric. In the rear of the speaker are four gold plated binding posts allowing biwiring. Above the binding posts is a reflex port so large, I could fit my entire fist inside it. The speaker sits atop a black plinth, which helpfully comes already attached.

Carpet spikes are included which screw neatly into pre-drilled barrels. If you are using the speakers on a carpeted surface, it’s best you make use of the spikes as they secure the speakers to the hard flooring by piercing the carpet. Sitting on carpet alone, sound energy is lost through the base of the speakers that also rock slightly with the movement of the drivers. All of this degrades the sound quality. If you are on polished floorboards, best place 10 cent pieces under the spikes to protect your floor, or special discs for this purpose are available at retail stores.

The overall fit and finish of the speaker is excellent. It is testament really to skills of the Krix workforce that they can continue to produce such a quality product right here in Australia at such competitive prices.

As mentioned earlier, the Neuphonix somewhat unusually uses six drivers in total. All are located in the front baffle and arrayed one above the other. The midrange driver sits at the top of the speaker, and below it, the tweeter. Beneath the tweeter are four bass drivers. The drivers themselves are designed by Krix and are custom made. Each cone is constructed of doped paper that has been carefully weighted to maximize the bass of the bass drivers and the midrange clarity of the midrange drivers. Large magnets minutely control the movement of each.

While both drivers appear identical externally, the midrange driver differs from the bass in that it has a shorter voice coil giving it better control, where as the longer coil of the bass drivers are designed to maximize lower frequencies. The difference between the two can be seen by gently pushing on the cone of a bass driver, which has a longer throw than the midrange. By positioning a single midrange driver at the top of the baffle, stereo imaging is improved, while ensuring a wide dispersion of sound at the same time. Listeners who are off axis therefore can continue to enjoy the action. The use of four smaller bass drivers is a good idea. Collectively it means that they can move just as much air as a single large driver, with the advantage that the speaker itself need not be so wide. It’s a concept I’ve seen employed before by some subwoofers.

The tweeter is one of the well-regarded ring radiator designs, which have been around for a little while now, and are increasingly becoming more common. It has the advantage of a smooth axis right up to 40kHz, which means it’s capable of reproducing Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio recordings which make use of such super frequency effects. Characteristically thrusting from the centre of the tweeter is a wave-guide plug, which controls the dispersion of the higher frequencies over a wider area. The front baffle itself has been smoothed and contoured around the tweeter to reduce refraction. The tweeter is also sunk mounted so that it sits flush with the cabinet.

After unboxing the latest from Krix, I set them up in my listening room using the McIntosh MC275 valve amplifier. As with all rear-ported speakers, it is best to position them so that there is some space between that back of the speaker and the wall. If you want an even tone between the lows, mids and highs, it’s best that you move them as much as a metre from the wall. The effect of the port can be cancelled out entirely by sealing them off with plugs. This is the way to go if you have no other option but to position the speakers right against the wall. All set up, I used the speakers regularly for a week to give them some run-in time before getting down to the critical task of reviewing.

The first CD I used to put the Neuphonix through their paces was with the lush soundtrack of the HDCD recorded, Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World. With the wonderful string arrangements of this soulful epic, the Neuphonix impressed me as loudspeakers capable of impressive bass but also, a little surprisingly, tight dynamics. With larger speakers such as these from Krix, you expect good bass with the payoff being slower reaction speeds. It’s simply a fact of physics that large bass drivers cannot move as fast as those of smaller monitors. Not so in this case. The use of four smaller bass drivers in place of one large one means that just as much bass energy is being sent out into the room while the speakers, dynamically at least, can still stop on a 20 cent piece. The Neuphonix have one of the most credible small loudspeaker performances with large speaker bass I’ve yet heard. Very impressive.

Otherwise, the Neuphonix sit very easily with the Krix family sound. I would describe it as a slightly laid back, bass-rich sound that is easy to listen to and enjoy. You can hear why Krix loudspeakers are so well regarded all over the world; you simply don’t have to try too hard to get into their sound. It kind of envelops you without you even noticing it. An important part of this natural ease is their clarity, which is of course relevant to stereo as it is to home theatre. They have a wonderful natural tone when it comes to the reproduction of instruments and the human voice. When listening to music or watching movies, a listener isn’t forced to unduly concentrate on the progression of the orchestra or what characters are saying in dialogue scenes. They can instead relax and let the equipment do the job for which it was designed.

Claims about a wide dispersion of sound are also well founded. With Sunrise Over Sea by the John Butler Trio, I found that the image held up well, even when I was seated on either side of my ‘listening’ couch. This is a good thing if several people are listening/watching at once. The person who paid for the system of course gets to sit in the money seat in the middle, but all of those in the room want good audio. The Neuphonix manages to go someway to make every seat a good seat.

Krix Loudspeakers have been a popular choice for Australian enthusiasts for more than 30 years now. The Neuphonix slots easily into the family line-up and will no doubt ensure that enthusiasm for Krix speakers continues into the future for some time to come.

Rating:

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

- Audio & Video Lifestyle - Australia , Michael O’Connor

Back to previous page