The four large boxes arrived and I proceeded to expose the contents – two Krix Tryptix speakers with stands, courtesy of www.krix.com. I always take it as a positive sign when I find something that arrives at my front door and it’s packed well. It’s always an indication that the people care about their product.
So read on to see if the packaging was a good premonition about the quality of the product!
Upon opening the first box, the first thing that struck me about the Krix Tryptix speakers was the absolutely faultless lacquered high gloss paint finish on the speakers and all their accompanying parts. How many companies care enough to enclose a secondary front screen for the speakers just in case you have changed your mind about the colour? Both black and white screens were supplied. I thought it was an order error or that it was just done for me as a special case for reviewing, but as it turns out, Krix do it for all their customers who order this package as a standard practice.
I established that the stands were made out of internally braced 5mm material and that they were completely adjustable for height. You’re probably not supposed to do this but by cutting off a portion of the stand, I was able to get the exact height I desired. In other stand configurations, this can rarely be done without causing other peripheral problems. I simply cut the length I needed out of the rectangular steel, then continued with the well documented assembly steps. The stands were very innovative and the designer has gone to a lot of effort to ensure that you are able to hide unsightly wires with pretty much any method of mounting i.e. on stands or lay down horizontally or without stands.
I discovered a couple of smaller spare brackets and I wasn’t quite sure under which circumstance I would use them. Oops, I just noticed they do tell you in the owner’s manual (we males usually only read that as a last resort) that they are used for wall mounting.
A good point I noticed was that the foot of the stand, as well as being extremely well finished and painted in the colour you order, (it’s only with the speaker screens that you order your colour then get another screen colour to play with) was weighty enough to adequately ensure that the speakers would not topple over.
About now I was wondering if I would find anything to whinge about and “yay!” I found something to show I don’t have the rose coloured glasses on. The allen key tool used to tighten the screws does not fit well into the allen heads and could easily round out the internal of the screw if used a bit forcibly. In fairness, however, you are likely to use the allen key only the once whilst assembling and then it would be binned.
Whilst routing and attaching the wires, I noted that the connectors on the rear of the speakers are very well made and are unlikely to ever cause a poor connection.
Hats off to the designers as they have thought of everything, including the supply of a variety of little feet that go on the bottom of the stands. These ensure the stands will be secure and well balanced on all manner of floor coverings.
I connected the Tryptix speakers to the big Yamaha amplifier. I won’t bore you with the spec’s, but will give you the model in case you want to see what we tested the Tryptix on. It is a RX-V2095 Cinema – DSP:Dolby Digital (AC-3) +DSP and DTS + DSP. Krix rates the Tryptix speakers’ power handling at 100 watt frequency response at 55 to 40,000Hz, and the impedance at four ohms. With sensitivity at 88dB for 2.83V at one metre, I was pretty well matched up and all set to go. With the 26mm dual concentric diaphragm and dual chambered tweeters handling the high stuff and the two 100mm cones and 25mm voice coil for the lower stuff, I played a few preliminary DVD’s and CD’s before setting a regimented test sequence.
We did a comparison against brands of Bose, Optimus Pro 4000 and Tannoy for music and whilst I find that speaker quality is all about personal choice, we felt that the speakers were a shade clearer than the Bose 301 on high end music, and a little less basey than the Optimus 4000 and maybe a “tad” less clear and basey as the Tannoys.
The narrow enclosures are bass-reflex loaded and we thought they would carry enough base, so for the sake of comparison whilst under review I kept our two subwoofers at the same level for each test. As a result, we did find that they were a bit light on but could have solved our slight lack of base by increasing it on the sub woofers if we had wished.
The Tannoys had a RRP cost eight years ago at approx $1800 AUD so it is a bit unfair to expect the Krix to equal these across all fields but they certainly had a good try! As a speaker set for movie application, we found that the Tryptix excelled which was probably due to them not being required to handle the base as much as the “music test” we undertook.
Specifications
Frequency Range: 55Hz – 40kHz in room response
Power Handling: Maximum 100 watts RMS amplifier power
Sensitivity: 88dB for 2.83 volts at 1 metre
Configuration: Point source dual 4 inch 2-way
Bass Driver(s): 2 x nominal 100mm (4″) doped paper cones. 25mm (1″) voice coil wound on high temperature Kapton former
Tweeter: 26mm (1″) dual concentric diaphragm with wave-guide centre plug for controlled directivity. Neodymium magnet Crossover Points: 1.75kHz
Impedance: Nominally 4 ohms
Enclosure Type: Bass reflex, front vented with internal / external flaring
Dimensions: 555mm high x 140mm wide x 125mm deep
Material: 5mm ribbed ABS
Finish: High gloss black, white or silver
Input Terminals: Push type connectors
Volume: 5 litres internal
Weight: 4kg each
Mounting: A bracket to suit either stand or wall mounting is included
Conclusion
With a RRP of about $600 each, plus freight, all in all, the Tryptix is a well rounded versatile product. The speakers are extremely well presented with ample thought gone into the design and customers’ possible requirements. Coupled with a better than average performance output across several entertainment fields regardless of the input medium, we think the Tryptix speakers would be a valuable asset to your home audio equipment.
