Krix Acoustix MK2 bookshelf loudspeakers

A real sleeper in the marketplace. One Saturday morning recently we happened to leave a pair of these running in stereo with Adele playing through them and three groups of people bought them one after the other in a kind of Hi Fi feeding frenzy. They hadn't intended to buy loudspeakers but they were caught up by the energy and presence that the Acoustix are able to portray.


Their secret is the D'Appolito configuration with large motor to cabinet ratio and an excellent tweeter with a cabinet that is immensely solid.


Once when I was visiting the Krix factory in South Australia they demonstrated the cabinet integrity of the Acoustix by taking one off the production line and asking the nastiest largest Bikiest individual there to destroy it. Well Roy jumped on it, sledgehammerd it, threw it to the ground, dropped it out of a third story window onto concrete and really went for it with quite disconcerting violence.


Unlike Mr Musk and the Tesla Cybertruck windows the Acoustix came out of this encounter unscathed except for surface and corner damage ....


Oh, and they sound damn good too. They have is rhythm, pace and slam that a speaker on a stand has no right to be able to produce. The Acoustix Mk2 is simply toe tapping fun. $1675 in a real wood veneer, or save a few dollars with black vinyl wrap at $1395.


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$1,395.00
Krix

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Product Description

Details

Versatility. That's the by word here. Krix's award winning bookshelf speaker has all the weight and presence of some competitor's floor standers, but still come in this lovely compact(ish) oblong case. The forward porting makes installation into cabinets easy without falling into the trap of port chuffing or booming that can be common in rear ported speakers.

Oh, and they sound damn good too. While there's lots of detail to be had, they may not have the delicacy and ultra resolution of some competitors. What they do have is rhythm, pace and slam that a speaker on a stand has no right to be able to produce. The Acoustix Mk2 is simply toe tapping fun.

$1675 in a real wood veneer, or save a few dollars with black vinyl wrap at $1395.

And here are a couple of industry reviews on the Acoustix:

Winner - Sound+Image Awards 2015 - Loudspeaker of the Year $1000 - $4000


"Krix's Acoustix Mk2 speakers are stand-outs for any number of reasons. One is that despite their modest size, they deliver bass that has people looking around for floorstanding speakers. Another is that they will deliver true hi-fi sound, even if they're mounted inside a cabinet. Yet another is that although they're great stereo speakers, their driver layout means that all you have to do for home cinema use is add another pair plus a Krix Graphix centre channel, to guarantee truly seamless audio 'pans' when watching 5.1-channel movies."


"The Krix Acoustix Mk2 is essentially a perfectly symmetrical three-driver, two-way bass reflex design with twin front-firing ports. The driver arrangement is an 'MTM' layout. The bass/midrange drivers use fibre¬ reinforced moulded-polymer baskets to support doped paper cones via a rubber suspension. Each one is fitted with a 25mm diameter voice coil wound around an aluminium former that's driven by a large, vented magnet assembly. The tweeter is a 25mm dual-concentric diaphragm tweeter with wave-guide central plug and ring-formed absorption chamber - often referred to as a 'ring radiator' design - and a high-strength neodymium drive magnet. The crossover is made in-house by Krix itself. (Krix also makes the Acoustix Mk2's cabinets in-house.)"


"One of the several advantages of the MTM design in its two-way implementation is that because the tweeter is so close to the bass/ midrange drivers, you find that even when listening very close to the speakers you are effectively hearing that acoustic ideal of a 'point source', so sounds do not appear to 'move' vertically depending on their frequency, as they can with larger, multi-driver systems, which makes them ideal for near-field listening and/ or small room use. For our listening sessions, we used the speakers just as we would conven¬tional two-way speakers, and the depthiness and bass power afforded by the dual bass/mid drivers were exceptional: they really punched above their weight. We were hearing far better, far deeper bass than we've heard from any small two-driver two-way system."


"Higher up in the audio band, the Acoustix Mk2s became even more impressive: we were spell-bound by the clarity of the sound and the speakers' ability to separate not just live harmonies but also multi-tracked vocals. We loved the high frequency sound too: the glockenspiel on Archer & Light's 'Our Love is Confetti' was beautifully rendered with crisp strikes and smoothly decaying notes. Very clean, very pure and nicely integrated with the top end of the bass/mids... a difficult trick to pull off. The soundstaging is outstanding. You get not only an accurate picture of where all the performers are standing, but also of the stage depth, resulting in a totally immersive listening experience. If you're looking for big sound from a pair of bookshelf speakers, it doesn't come any bigger than from the KrixAcoustixMk2."

Australian Best Buys Audio & AV Issue 2 - 2014:


"The proverb may tell us that we can't have our cake and eat it too, but it seems Krix has turned that proverb on its (proverbial) head with the Acoustix Mk2. Because with these speakers, you can have your cake and eat it too. And just in case you're wondering what the hell that proverb means, we'd interpret as implying that you can't have two things that are mutually exclusive.
How the proverb applies in this case is that when it comes to buying speakers, it's a given that you have to make trade-offs . For example, you really can't expect to have deep, solid bass if you are not prepared to put a pair of large floor-¬standing speakers in your room. Another example is that if you don't want your speakers to be visible at all (by building them into a cabinet of some type), you can't also expect them to deliver 'hi-fl' sound quality."


"Krix's Acoustix Mk2 speakers are proverb¬-beaters because despite their modest size, they will deliver bass that will have people looking around for the floorstanding speakers, and will also deliver true hi-fi sound even if you mount them inside a cabinet. And although they're great stereo speakers, their driver layout means you could use one as a centre-channel speaker, guaranteeing truly seamless audio 'pans' from the left speaker across to the right when watching 5.1-channel movies. So it's a great 'home theatre' speaker as well."

Equipment:
"The Krix Acoustix Mk2 is essentially a perfectly symmetrical three-driver, two-way bass reflex design with twin front-firing ports. You don't need us to tell you why it's a perfectly symmetrical' design: one glance at the photograph accompanying this review should be all that's required for that!
The two bass/midrange drivers use fibre reinforced moulded-polymer baskets to support doped paper cones, via a rubber suspension. Krix rates the 'nominal' diameter of the drivers as 130mm, and the overall diameter is 150mm, with a mounting hole diameter of 136mm, but the Thiele/Small diameter is 102mm, which gives an effective cone area of 145cm2 (Sd). Because there are two bass/midrange drivers, the area available for bass is double this, at 290cm2, so if Krix had used a single bass driver, its overall diameter would have been around 243mm, which is one reason the bass is so solid. Each bass/midrange is equipped with a 25mm-diameter voice coil wound around an aluminium former that's driven by a large, vented magnet assembly, with the whole being supported by an extremely solid cast-metal basket whose design incorporates under-spider venting."
"These drivers are crossed (at 2.1kHz) to a 25mm dual-concentric diaphragm tweeter with wave-guide central plug and ring-formed absorption chamber. The particular design is often referred to as a 'ring radiator' design, for which Danish company Vifa has two patents, so it was hardly surprising that the tweeter Krix uses on the Acoustix Mk2 is, in fact, made by Vifa itself, the particular version being an XT25SC, which has a neodymium magnet.
The crossover (made in-house by Krix itself as, indeed, are the Acoustix Mk2's cabinets) comprises two cross-mounted inductors (one air-cored, one ferrite-cored), three Krix-branded metalised polypropylene film capacitors and a single cermet resistor, all of which are mounted on a robust PCB. As with many designs, the crossover is easily accessible, being mounted to the rear of the speaker terminal plate.
Although theory has it that two small bass reflex ports will work as well as one larger bass reflex with twice the area, this doesn't actually work our this way in practise when you're using two bass drivers, so we were pleased that Krix uses two ports on its Acoustix Mk2. So, appearances to the contrary, the ports are not there just to make the speakers truly symmetrical... the speakers do really work better with this layout. That the ports are on the front baffle, rather than the rear, means that the speakers can be mounted inside furniture items (an AV cabinet, for example).
The Acoustix Mk2 cabinet is made from 17mm MDF, and is internally braced. It's lined with soft white non-carcinogenic foam damping material. The cabinet is available in a variety of standard finishes. In a black vinyl finish, the speakers retail for $1195 per pair. In a veneered finish the RRP increases to $1395 per pair for your choice of Black Ash, Atlantic Jarrah, or two new "environmentally¬ friendly" finishes called Cola and Ironwood, made using plantation-grown wood. (You can also choose any finish you like, but this option will set you back $1745 per pair.) We thought the black vinyl finish was plain, but if you're mounting them in a cabinet, this won't matter. If the speakers are going to be visible, we'd pay for a veneer."

Performance:
"One of the several advantages of the way the three drivers are laid out in the Acoustix Mk2 is that because the tweeter is adjacent to both bass/ midrange drivers, you find that even when the speakers are very close to the listening position, you still hear the acoustically ideal 'point source', so sounds do not appear to 'move' vertically depending on their frequency, as they do with larger, multi-driver systems. This makes the Acoustix Mk2s absolutely ideal for near-field listening and/or use in smaller rooms. For our listening sessions, we used the speakers just as we would conventional two-way speakers, and tried various positioning options. Our favourite was to place the Acoustix Mk2s on stands, where they delivered, to our ears, their best performance, but they performed almost as well on shelves and against a wall. Bass was at its 'biggest' and best in the shelf and wall-mount positions, but even stand-mounted we were surprised at the depth and power afforded by the dual bass/mid drivers in the Acoustix Mk2: they really punched above their weight. We were hearing far better, far deeper bass than we've heard from any small two-driver two-way system, to the point where it actually rivalled some of the smaller floorstanding models we've auditioned. When you're listening for yourself, we'd recommend you play a track with big fat bass and prepare to be surprised!"
"Higher up in the audio band, the Acoustix Mk2s became even more impressive, as we learned when auditioning a new EP, Heartstrings, from The Phoncurves. Listen to the second track, 'Lover', and right from the a cappella intro through the sparse piano backing you'll be spellbound by the clarity of the sound, the speakers' ability to separate not just the live harmonies but also the multi-tracked vocals and the amazing detailing that lets you hear even the sound of Naomi Hodges' lips parting before she starts to sing. Then, when she harmonises with Abbie Roberts, the resulting resonances are gloriously coloured. (Download the FLAC of the track and be enchanted!)
We loved the high-frequency sound too: the glockenspiel on Archer & Light's 'Our Love is Confetti' was beautifully rendered with crisp strikes and smoothly decaying notes. Very clean, very pure and very nicely integrated with the top end of the response of the bass/mid drivers... which is a difficult trick to pull off. There was, perhaps, a tad less 'shimmer' than some of the finest tweeters around, but lots more than tweeters in many other speakers at this price-point.
Krix makes all its speakers individually, and by hand, and this personal attention to detail was revealed by the soundstaging, which was outstanding. You get not only an accurate picture of where all the performers are standing, but also of the stage depth, resulting in a totally immersive listening experience."

Conclusion
"If you're looking for big sound from a pair of bookshelf speakers, it doesn't come any bigger than from the Krix Acoustix Mk2."

Additional Information

Additional Information

Finish No
Driver Configuration 2 Way
Sensitivity (Db) 89
Nominal Impedance (ohms) 6
Frequency Response 45Hz-40KHz
Width 180
Height 450
Length 300

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