Home Theatre system - Krix?

[CKtheatre]

Hi,

I'm in the process of replacing my Bose Lifestyle 650 home theatre system and looking for reviews on options. Current front runner is a Krix IC-52 in ceiling 5.1 system. I don't have a lot of experience in specifying components so looking for advice. Also want to have a big focus on soundproofing for the bedroom above. Thanks Chris

[AudioGeek]

Krix is brilliant.

You have specified the atmos speaker, but what will you chose for the 5.1 part? What receiver/amp do you have?

 

Are you planning on installing and soundproofing yourself?

[CKtheatre]

@AudioGeek I'm quite limited on what I can install was we have a free standing pop-up TV cabinet that sits in the middle of the room. I was looking at using the Krix Sonix speaker for the front centre, IC-52 for the FL & FR and the the ic-30 for the rears. Then probably the Krix Volcanix sub and primarily due to space constraints (although it sounds very capable) the Anthem MRX SLM Slim Line 5.1Ch AV Receiver. I need to mount the receiver vertically. Please let me know if there are any other receiver options I could look at?

 

For the sound proofing we are renovating so I will specify as much as possibly for the builders to do but might do some of the extra details myself. Was going with a double layer of dry wall on the ceiling with green glue between the two sheets + in-ceiling insulation. A question I had was what else I can do to ensure the sound does not get into the bedroom above? Bitumen matting + mass loaded vinyl in the cavities where the speakers are?

 

 

[CKtheatre]

I would also be interested in the improvement of this system over the Bose Lifestyle 650 system we used to have? The drivers are certainly a lot larger.

[Kaynin]

  On 14/04/2025 at 9:06 AM, CKtheatre said:

Bose Lifestyle 650 system we used to have?

Expand  

It’ll kill it.  Chalk and cheese.  The Bose system is closer to soundbar level, your Anthem/Krix is closer to a home cinema.  It’s a good way to go about it, start low and work your way up so you notice the upgrades.

[Kaynin]

Have you bought the Anthem?  It looks pretty gutless to me, not surprising as it’s slimline.  Specs say max continuous output at 2 channels driven is 50w at 8 Ohm.  

 

Can you use a normal sizes AVR?  Your speakers will thank you for it…

[CKtheatre]

@Kaynin I could fit a receiver with a 100mm height but I would still have to mount it vertically. The cabinet is rattan, so well ventilated and I could add a cooling fan. Most receivers seem to be designed to mount horizontally and I assume are designed to cool in this orientation. I did speak to Selby and they thought it would still be decent. I would love other slim receiver options to look at. The Marantz Cinema 70S could maybe fit but not sure about mounting orientation. The Anthem can be mounted basically anywhere.

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

Are in krix wall speakers an option for the front LCR? Will make a massive difference to the front sound stage if you can have your front speakers around the same height.
 

Given you are renovating surely a few more holes won’t be a deal breaker!

[CKtheatre]

@Hi-Fi Whipped there is actually no front wall in that room with the TV cabinet a couple of metres in front of glass doors. So the ceiling is really only the viable mounting option. I'm very keen to at least have the centre speaker at TV level for the speech. Hopefully the FL & FR up high will be OK, but agree would be much better on a wall if that was an option.

 

Regarding soundproofing,  I found another post that shows the Krix IC-52 Atmospherics have truly sealed back boxes with no noise bleed, which is great news. The IC-30's I was going to run at the rear have back boxes but not fully sealed in the same way. If I ran these I would probably put the inside dynaboxes. The dynaboxes are $200 each which takes it up to the same cost as just going the IC-50's. Is there a downside to running the Atmospherics front and rear? Or is it preferable to have a smaller speaker overhead at the rear than the front?

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

Yeh ok that’s a pretty reason not to have in walls! 
 

Same speakers for front and rear will be absolutely fine.

 

in an ideal world you want the tweeters angled at the main listening position, will the atmospherix do that? Not sure you’d have to do some numbers

 

there are companies that make front LCR in ceilings and they tend to be more expensive than the Krix but they achieve the tweeter angles and may be worth it. I haven’t heard them but might be worth a look.

 

Have you considered running a decent soundbar up front? Monitor audio make a passive soundbar, krix make a killer one but possibly over budget.

 

at the end of the day most rooms are compromised, I run ceiling rears and they actually give me sound between ear and ceiling level so you could experience similar things up front too.

 

having the centre at ear level will certainly be a good starting point and make it more realistic than at ceiling height id think.

 

you could do a lot worse than the atmospherix front and rear and the sonix centre plus sub all calibrated with the anthem, it should sound pretty damn good really. It’s all quality gear and if it hits the budget go for it.

[AudioGeek]

@Krix Loudspeakers

What would you suggest in this scenario?

[CKtheatre]

@Hi-Fi Whipped Great thanks, I will check out the adjustment range for the tweeters, but I know there is some adjustment. My gut feeling is that it should be fine. Going the Atmospherics might be the go then as having all the same grill sizes will look a bit more consistent.