Beyond the numbers: Shane Lee fine-tunes his home cinema with OWX-55s

Home cinema reviewer Shane Lee has been living with OWX-55 loudspeakers for the past few months. In his latest video, he explores why getting great cinema sound can sometimes mean looking beyond the measurements and simply listening.

Getting your home cinema calibrated is an important part of creating a great movie experience.

Modern room optimisation systems can measure speaker distances, levels and the acoustic characteristics of a room with remarkable accuracy. But once the measurements are complete, is there still a place for your ears?

That's the question home cinema reviewer Shane Lee explores in his latest video, Setting Speaker Levels In My Home Theater.

And at the heart of the system he's experimenting with are Krix OWX-55 loudspeakers.

Listening beyond the calibration

Shane's experiment began after a visitor to his home cinema commented that the system sounded a little front-heavy, with the rear channels harder to hear.

It prompted him to reconsider the way his individual speaker levels were set.

Rather than assuming that every speaker measuring at the same sound pressure level would necessarily sound equally loud from the listening position, Shane began experimenting with small adjustments to different channels.

His goal wasn't simply to make individual speakers louder or quieter. It was to make movement around the room feel more consistent.

Using familiar scenes from movies including Gravity and Edge of Tomorrow, Shane listened closely to effects travelling from the front of the cinema, through the surrounds and into the rear of the room.

By making small changes to his surround and rear speaker levels, he found that transitions between speakers became more natural and convincing.

His advice for home cinema enthusiasts is simple: use calibration as a starting point, then listen to content you know well and determine what works best in your room.

OWX-55 in Shane's cinema

During the video, Shane also gives viewers a closer look at the OWX-55 loudspeakers he's been using in his cinema.

He highlights the OWX-55s dual 165mm (6.5-inch) drivers, compression driver and large horn/waveguide, as well as its ability to cover a wide listening area.

Designed specifically for dedicated home cinema applications, the OWX-55 combines a slim on-wall format with technologies derived from Krix's experience designing loudspeakers for commercial cinemas.

For Shane, they're not simply speakers he's heard during a short demonstration.

He's been living with the OWX-55s for several months, using them in his own cinema while watching movies, reviewing content and experimenting with system setup.

And we'll be hearing more.

During the video, Shane confirms that he's planning a long-term review of the Krix OWX-55.

We'll be keeping an eye out for that one.

Your room. Your system. Your experience.

One of the most interesting takeaways from Shane's video is also one of the fundamentals of good home cinema design: every room is different.

Speaker position, listening distance, room dimensions, acoustic treatment, seating and calibration can all influence what you ultimately hear.

That's why designing a great home cinema isn't simply about choosing great equipment. It's about bringing all of those elements together to create an experience that works in your space.

And once everything has been measured and calibrated?

Put on a movie you know and love, sit back, and listen.

Watch Shane Lee's full video, Setting Speaker Levels In My Home Theater, on YouTube.

Discover the Krix OWX-55

Purpose-built for dedicated home cinema, the OWX-55 delivers high output, controlled directivity and Krix cinema sound from a slim on-wall design.