Krix Brix bookshelf front ported variety. Series 1. Circa 1990s. Ugh... Bought off Ebay (always hit and miss). Speaker rubbers intact. Cabinets in good condition. Attached them to my Denon vintage amp. Almost no volume at peak. Both speakers were identical in tone and sound stage (ie none). They sounded like they were 6 feet underwater. Replaced the capacitors. Improvement, but only to the point that they sounded a foot underwater. Replaced the tweeters. Big improvement, only six inches underwater. Woofers next, let's see if that gets them to the surface. But compared to my Epicure Series 5s and my NotePerfect Revolutions it is like listening to a cello in the bathtub (when it is full of water).

This is a review for a set of Krix Super Brix. I bought these new with my own hard earned cash when I was 16 not knowing what they were, and blindly took the advice of my sisters boyfriend. I didn't even take the grills off in the shop. Not that I really trusted the boyfriend, but the Super Brix just looked a class above the others at this price point, and from what I could tell sounded just as good, but back then I didn't know what I was listening to or what to listen for.

So I get them home and play some Faith No More with the loudness controll on full, as usual, and it was a bit much, so I pull the grill off, and because of all the bass spilling out of the port from such a small cabinet and tiny drivers I thought there must be an internal bandpass woofer like in the Jamos of the time. No such thing, just those tiny dual 4" cones are all that is required to blow wind everywhere. So I turned the loudnes off!

Over the next year I slowly began to realise what I actually owned, and who Krix were and it all made sense, because no matter where I went, be it live music, to the cinema, nightclubs, mates places, no ones speakers sounded nicer. They even sounded nicer that my dads new at the time and marginally more expensive 3 way JBL's, but the JBL's went lower, then I finally came across some floorstanders worth 3 times as much at a friends place. At this point I added a passive sub to my small system.

Ok so in the big picture, without loudness on, these do not make bass, roll them off at about 70hz and get a decent sub. When asked to do what they are good at (over about 80 or 100hz) these speakers are absolutely gorgeous with a detailed but not tiring high end, smooth clear mids reaching down to a tight and very well controlled upper bass, where they begin to roll off. In a proper listening position they sound like headphones.

Years later I ran into an audio engineer friend of mine who I used to go to uni with. I took the Super Brixes everywhere I went and dragged them through many dorms. He brought up how he really admired the Super Brixs sound, and how he had bought the newer KDX's recently, this was after being an audio engineer for a few years

And, I've used them ever since, teamed up with 2x 18" subwoofers tuned to 24hz I've got he full spectrum of audio.

I have only this to say -- the Superbrix is meant for top flight systems, and in such an environment, it'll probably send even the most conservative audiophile into raptures. Even in a modest set-up, with the right sort of tweaking (your room included), these speakers are going to be hard to beat.

Unforgiving of bad recordings.

Tonal balance was as close as it could get to neutral, and although the cabinet size makes true bass grunt impossible, the Superbrix exhibited the tightest and soundest control in the lower frequencies that I've heard from any other speaker with similar dimensions. Midrange and treble were sheer delights -- crisp at the extreme, smooth and fluid in the midband, with hardly a trace of colouration or brashness in optimal conditions. However, the sonic nature of ancillary equipment tended to be highlighted, so if your amp and source aren't up to scratch, I foresee bleak times. Pace, timing and rhythm -- the Superbrix never faltered with any sort of material in these areas. I was especially impressed by the quicksilver response of the speakers -- it's almost impossible for anything to drag when heard on the Superbrix. That, and the sense of scale and openness, made listening to classical, rock, jazz or acoustic recordings a sheer joy; and while imaging was crafty enough, it is the precision with which these speakers place the vocals and individual lead instruments that is uncanny. Those Krix designers have certainly been doing their homework.

Similar Products Used:

Rogers LS4A/2

Fantastic Jarrah cabintery. Huge sound for the tiny size. Excellent accuracy and imaging.

I challenge you to find any !!

These little speakers are truly amazing for their size. As rear speakers mounted high on walls they perform brilliantly. I suggest mounting these on walls to extend the bass response just that little bit further. Running them alone in a stereo set-up shows just how good these speakers are providing superb imaging and excellent accuracy throughout their response range. These things are tiny however through superb cabinetry and component selection, they provide suprisingly deep and well controlled bass.

Excellent Imaging, mid and highs. As for bass, well... they're simply too small, and too bad they've discontinued the SuperBrix, which is essentially a Brix with an extra mid/bass driver in a Doppler array and a bigger cabinet. If you can, go up the extra $200 or so and get the Equinox. It's got the same gorgeous finish and some extra bass. Better yet, find a pair of SuperBrixes (if you can at all).
5 speakers, considering the Equinox is in another price range. Also check out NHT SuperOnes.

I found these beautiful little speakers purely through accident. I wanted some rear speakers to go with my Yamaha Surround sound system, and a pair of KEF C25's, so I picked these up for $350, and took them home.... plugged them in... mmmm 4" woofer+ 1" tweeter.... mmmmm Sounded very good, so I hooked them up to the B channel, and they sounded better.... :-) Surprisingly very good for such a little box... Power is rated at 100watts RMS (amp power), so I took them into the bedroom and hooked them up to the Pioneer amp in there and chucked the Bose.... Excellent! I went and bought another pair for the original purpose! Rear speakers.... Not perfect, but the best "bang for your bucks" I have found for a long time.
Cheers, Peter Gordon