Just bought four Vifa 6.5" woofers from a catalog on sale for approx. $40 a piece. I went to Rat Shack and picked up a pair of the Linaeum outboard tweeter mods for $19.99 a piece, on sale also. Including the shipping and handling for the woofers and the materials used to build the cabinets, I've got around $200 invested in my own home brew speakers. The design is similar to the LX 10's. The LX-10's are a great bargain for the non-DIY'er, but I knew I could do better, for less than even the LX-10's close-out price (that's right, close-out). The fact that you can buy the Linaeum tweeter as a component is outstanding. But at $20 bucks a piece, they're a steal. They come with a capacitor that rolls the freq at around 2.5Khz (6db). I'm using the same roll-off, but at 12db, which I think is better. Oh yeah...each box contains two Vifa woofers, one X-over at 2k (12db) and the other X-over at 400hz (6db). The box is a ported design.
So I guess I need to rate the RadioShack LX-10's. They are the best speaker that RS has ever sold. Keep your eyes peeled and wait. These speakers are bound to drop in price one more time before they're all gone. Or don't wait and buy now. You'll be impressed. Or buy the Linaeum tweeter module and save it for a rainy day. I promise you'd have to spend 5 times as much in a catalog for a tweeter that sounded better. My speaker-5 stars; RS's-4.

Ah, Optimus. A name that inspires a gag reflex, due to the consistently poor quality of components, right? Not anymore. With the release of these beautiful babies (which I got for $99 apiece, on clearance from $249 each. Not too shabby, but it means nothing without a review of the sound quality. These are an unbelievable value. Granted, I don't use them for music, but that's merely because I have a pair of Polk Monitor Jr. 5's bookshelfs, which are perfect for music, especially mated with the NAD 3155 Integrated amp I have driving them. But the optimus' are incredible, especially for the price. I would not have bought them, since I didn't need new speakers, but after hearing them, and the incredible tweeter (A dipole ribbon design from linaeum, an unheard of commodity in the 200/pair price I paid). Their extension is rather poor, hitting only down to maybe 50 reliably, and the mid-bass is muddy, probably due to the dual 7's instead of maybe a 7,4,2X4 design (the tweeter is 2X4). I'm going to add a little acoustic fiberglass speaker insulator and see how that works, but for the 99 dollar clearance price, these blow away nearly anything you'll find below 600/pair. a great home theater speaker, and depending upon the effect of the insulation, perhaps a great music speaker. The tweeter alone makes it perfect for a rear channel, as it's perfect 360 degree radiation is what bipole and dipole designs wish they could do! If you see these, don't pass them by. At least listen to them, and if you want an amazing speaker for a ridiculous price, pick these up.

I just bought the LX-10s yesterday for $149 each. For the money, they are definitely a bargain. The highs are clean and not too crisp. The bass is a little "boomy", but I haven't experimented too much yet with placement, so hopefully that can be resolved. Some other reviewers said they filled the speaker cabinet to tighten up the base, but I can't see how to get into the cabinet! Any suggestions would be appreciated.
So far, most of the music I listen to sounds very good (80's new wave, classic rock, dance music). I've noticed that these speakers don't excell with what I call "busy" music...easy listening sounds the best to my ears. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep these...I wanted to buy them while they were on sale. Now that I got 'em, I can ck out some other higher-end speakers like the Paradigm 80s Studio Reference. I know, apples and oranges. However, the reason I didn't want to spend a small fortune on speakers is simple-I live in an apt building, and the neighbors are already complaining about the sound from my LX-5s! Since I can't really take full advantage of a serious audiophile speaker, I felt the LX-10s were a good compromise. BTW, I replaced my aging JBL L50s with these. They were awesome, but the LX-10s come pretty damn close!

At $300/pair, I'd have to give these speakers a 5. At full price of $500/pair, I'd have to give them a 3.5.

Well, I bought myself a pair of the LX10s for the fronts in my budget HT setup. I have moved the Pro LX5s to rear duty and added the CS-5 (Linaeum monopole housed inside the cabinet) for center. The whole rig cost under $700.
A problem I am having is I can't correct the tonal inbalance between the center and the two LX10s. The CS-5 is plays lower (on the bassy side). I may need to invest in an more expensive receiver (currently a Yamaha V390)that has tonal controls for the center and more rear amplification.

But to my review of the LX10 towers.

Each speaker comprises two 7" woofers in a ported cabinet with the Linaeum dipole tweeter mounted on top. Each tower is about 33" tall.

Their imaging and depth of these speakers is quite good for music. Actually, they almost never bring attention specifically to themselves, rather, sounds seem to come from almost anywhere around or between the two speakers. The walls of the cabinet are quite thin compared to more expensive speakers, and the bass is muddy (more so in rock than other music types that I have listened to with these speakers). I plan to mount them on low stands hopefully to tighten up the bass.

They do better in HT. The bass in these speakers seems better suited to producing an explosion than a Primus bass riff. Although they do handle low frequencies, a augment of a subwoofer is recommended.

Although I still can bring them back for a refund, I think their keepers. Until I get them dialed in correctly with the proper tonal controls and amplification, I'll have to give them a 3 star. If others own or have listened to these speakers, please post a review. (Also list what you have driving them).

I hope my stands work.

Beautiful sound stage for instrumental music

The low end and midbass aren't that great.

I have had these speakers for a little over 2 years with few complaints. I use them half the time for music and half for HT. I purchased them for $100 each and believe they are the best speakers for the price. They are being used with an Optimus 120 watt sub, a Pro CS-5 center channel speaker, and a pair of Pro LX-5's in the rear. I am very happy with this setup for HT. The LX-10's have more bass response than I expected them to have, but a powered sub is a must. I have the LX-10's connected to a Sony DA50ES receiver and at 120 watts per channel, it drives the LX-10's nicely. I do have the front speakers set to small on the receiver's setup menu. I listened to it both ways, and found the sound to be better with the small setting.

I listen to a lot of instrumental music, and the LX-10's are fabulous. The highs are a little softer than on some speakers I've listened to, but the sound stage is wonderful. The dipole tweeters do a great job. I've listened to my friend's NHT VT-2's, and they sound great, but I miss the sound of my LX-10's. If you have a chance to get a hold of a set of these, pick them up. Radio Shack discontinued these, but you might be able to find some at a good price. I highly recommend these.

Similar Products Used:

Optimus Pro LX8
NHT VT-2

Good bass, 180 degree omnidirectional ribbon tweeter

Mid Range is a little muddy but better than all other speakers at the price they can be had for.

These are extremely high quality speakers for the price. The tweeter is an added plus as it is a omnidirectional sound field. The woofer pumps out good clean bass when on lower volumes. With the right amp (I recomend the Sanyo silver series 300wattx2channel as your main driver, you won't need all the power but it is convenient to have when you expand your system) you can make those babies bump loud enough to wake the neighbors. It's hard to blow these speakers but if you turn it up to loud you will get muddy sound. I highly recommend purchasing these speakers while they are cheap ($75). Get these speakers, if you don't you'll regret it. Listen to them once you'll know what I mean.

Similar Products Used:

LX10's LX7's

Exceptional mid and high range response.

Poor bass and mediocre mid bass response.

I came across this product not long after it was first released, thus explaining my "high" purchase price. I was amazed that such a low priced speaker could produce such extraordinary sound, relatively speaking of course. I bought a pair on the spot and have used them with a bi-amp setup using a couple of Pioneer VSX-453 recievers and custom made sub enclosures using Pioneer TS-W251C 10" subs. A Pioneer electronic crossover is used to split the signal at 75 Hz to allow each set to do their job correctly. I use a Pioneer GR-777 EQ to shape my sound output. This is just my bedroom system, it sounds quite good. Phase response and dispersion seem near excellent and I don't know of another loudspeaker set that wouldn't cost at least $1200 that could sound this good...and that is only from a select few, most loudspeakers in the $1200 range sound like toys next to the LX-10, at least as far as mid and high range are concerned. The addition of the bi-amped sub setup fixed most problems but I would like better mid range. I have considered replacing the woofers or at least measuring the existing woofers for their Theile-Small parameters so that I can add volume and change the port tuning to give them a flatter response. I really can't believe that the engineers made such a fabulous system and then punked out with the rediculous f3 and fsb numbers present in the stock form. Also, some people suggested using fiberglass dampen the enclosures. I recommend that you use wool insulation fiber or at very least poly fill. Fiberglass, while probably superior to both, will not do your lungs a whole lot of good with the ported enclosure. Anyways....my final summary is that these speakers rock.

Christopher Wolff

Exceptional mid and high range response.

Poor bass and mediocre mid bass response.

I came across this product not long after it was first released, thus explaining my "high" purchase price. I was amazed that such a low priced speaker could produce such extraordinary sound, relatively speaking of course. I bought a pair on the spot and have used them with a bi-amp setup using a couple of Pioneer VSX-453 recievers and custom made sub enclosures using Pioneer TS-W251C 10" subs. A Pioneer electronic crossover is used to split the signal at 75 Hz to allow each set to do their job correctly. I use a Pioneer GR-777 EQ to shape my sound output. This is just my bedroom system, it sounds quite good. Phase response and dispersion seem near excellent and I don't know of another loudspeaker set that wouldn't cost at least $1200 that could sound this good...and that is only from a select few, most loudspeakers in the $1200 range sound like toys next to the LX-10, at least as far as mid and high range are concerned. The addition of the bi-amped sub setup fixed most problems but I would like better mid range. I have considered replacing the woofers or at least measuring the existing woofers for their Theile-Small parameters so that I can add volume and change the port tuning to give them a flatter response. I really can't believe that the engineers made such a fabulous system and then punked out with the rediculous f3 and fsb numbers present in the stock form. Also, some people suggested using fiberglass dampen the enclosures. I recommend that you use wool insulation fiber or at very least poly fill. Fiberglass, while probably superior to both, will not do your lungs a whole lot of good with the ported enclosure. Anyways....my final summary is that these speakers rock.

Christopher Wolff