Krix Home Cinema Review | OWX-50 & Hyperphonix 45

After first experiencing Krix at CEDIA Expo, reviewer Carlo Lo Raso wanted to hear how Krix Dedicated Home Cinema would perform in a real-world home theatre. The result? High praise for the OWX-50 and Hyperphonix 45, from their dynamics and clarity to their compact size and seamless sound.

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Krix Home Theater Loudspeaker System Review

By: Carlo Lo Raso August 31, 2026
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A visually low-key but stonkingly good custom install home theater system all the way from the land down under.

Custom install home theater speaker systems are designed more to be heard than to be seen, so the appearances tend to be on the utilitarian side. However, utilitarian should not be mistaken for low quality or corners being cut. The Krix OWX-50 and Hyperphonix 45 on-wall speakers are designed for high output and a wide-dispersion sound from relatively small enclosures. Using high-quality dynamic and compression drivers, specially designed waveguides and crossovers, and stoutly made cabinets, these Krix speakers promise seamless sonic immersion whether from music or movies without drawing attention to themselves.

Highlights

Krix Home Theater Loudspeaker System

• Both speakers feature high sensitivity and high output capability in a more compact size.
• Pro-audio details like compression drivers and constant directivity waveguides.
• Produces a dynamic, powerful sound.
• Included brackets allow for flexible on-wall positioning.
• Simple high-quality fit and finish.
• Surprisingly solid construction. Think “lead bricks.”

Introduction

Krix has been making loudspeakers in Adelaide, Australia, for just over 50 years, which is impressive in and of itself. While I’ve been aware of the company’s home Hi-Fi speaker line for some time, I only recently became aware of Krix making dedicated home theater and commercial theater speakers. Last year at CEDIA, I experienced a demonstration home theater installation consisting of 11.6.6 channels of Krix dedicated theater speakers and subwoofers, and it sounded especially good. In fact, I thought it was one of the better-sounding demo theaters on the show floor last year.

The speakers and subwoofers were what I would call “custom install” type speakers. They are the kind of speakers that are meant more to be heard than to be seen. Happy to be hidden behind acoustically transparent screens or disappearing into the darkness of the theater. They are designed to be mounted on a wall with custom brackets that allow a range of positioning, so the flexibility is excellent. With the high-efficiency design, the use of professional-type drivers, and custom waveguides, these Krix speakers are meant for high output and low distortion, which was easily demonstrated back at that CEDIA theater.

Whenever I’ve encountered these kinds of speakers, whether it’s Krix, PMC, Alcons, or Ascendo, it’s always been in high-channel count (slightly over the top) theater installations. The big question in my mind has always been how would these types of speakers work (and sound) in a more typical five-or seven-channel home theater install? Out of curiosity, I posed this question to Krix’s US distributor, Playback Custom. Both they and Krik came back and seemed eager to have me find out. Krik graciously sent along a five-channel speaker system consisting of three OWX-50 speakers for the front Left, Center, and Right channels, and two Hyperphonix 45 speakers for the Left and Right surround channels. I would get to use these speakers with my existing four subwoofers in my basement home theater. It would make for a very interesting experiment.

Design

In terms of product offerings, Krix has three distinct loudspeaker segments with multiple SKUs in each. The first is “Home Entertainment,” which features the kind of loudspeakers that one would associate with domestic home applications, whether they be Hi-Fi, home theater, or outdoor use. The second is “Commercial Cinema,” which is comprised of several freestanding and on-wall loudspeaker and subwoofer options for your local neighborhood movie house or multiplex. These are naturally more of an industrial, “form-follows-function” appearance and are designed for the high SPL environment of a commercial theater. The third segment is “Dedicated Home Cinema,” which is where our review speakers come from. The idea behind this segment is to take some of the concepts and engineering from the Commercial Cinema product and adapt it for custom home theater use.

Both the OWX-50 and Hyperphonix 45 are low-profile designs that are especially suited for typical home spaces, and yet they can produce high SPLs easily with a minimal amount of distortion and project a wide, even sound field.

On the driver front, the OWX-50 uses a single 1-inch compression driver with a 1 3/4-inch voice coil mated to a Krix-designed and patented “constant directivity” horn waveguide. This crosses over at 1.9 kHz to a pair of 6 1/2-inch treated paper cone drivers, each with 2-inch voice coils and oversize magnets. These drivers are custom designed by an OEM manufacturer to Krix’s specifications to operate specifically in the shallow cabinet.

Speaking of the cabinet, at almost 32 pounds each, the OWX-50 are heavy suckers and, combined with the shallow depth (6 1/4-inches), internal bracing and damping, they are also quite inert. The speakers have two front ports that are tuned to help deliver down to a 60 Hz in-room response. The nickel-plated spring terminals in the back of the speaker allow for hookup of up to 10-gauge speaker wire, which I confirmed in use.

While there were no images of the crossovers provided, a KRIX representative (via email) described the crossover design thusly:

“The OWX-50 network is more complex because it integrates two bass/mid drivers with a compression driver and constant-directivity horn. It is split across two PCBs due to the number and physical size of the components, combined with the cabinet’s shallow internal depth. This allows us to retain full-size inductors and capacitors, maintain suitable coil spacing and orientation, and distribute heat-producing resistors effectively.”

The speakers come with a substantial wall mounting bracket that allows the OWX-50 to be angled up to 30 degrees. This means the speakers can conceivably be used as mains, surrounds, and even overhead usage.

Krix publishes free-air measurements on some of their “Dedicated Cinema” speakers, and the OWX-50 is one of them.

The Hyperphonix 45 are equally flexible, with placement having a similar bracket that allows an even wider range of positioning. Being only two drivers and a single front port in a slimmer cabinet also allows these speakers to be placed right in a corner if required.

This speaker uses the same 6 1/2-inch treated paper cone mid-bass driver as the OWX-50 but transitions to a 1-inch treated fabric tweeter with a comparatively large roll surround. The tweeter is ferrofluid-cooled and set inside a 90 x 90 short-throw waveguide.

At just over 13 pounds each, these speakers are also very stout for their size, and the binding posts accept up to 10-gauge wire just like their bigger brothers.

With the OWX-50 having a claimed 97 dB sensitivity rating and a 4-Ohm load, and the Hyperphonix 45 being 92 dB sensitive and an 8-Ohm load, this 5-speaker system should be easy to drive and be able to play loud and clean without much effort.

One other aesthetic point to note. While the appearance of these speakers could be described as “industrial,” the quality of the finish work and materials used feels a step above. There were no visible seams or gaps anywhere in the construction. All corners and angles were perfectly joined and sealed tight. Even though in real use we aren’t meant to see these speakers, it felt like someone made the extra effort and care to make sure they were put together really well. These things feel like they will last.

The included cloth grilles attach to the speaker baffles via traditional plastic pins in each corner. I am not a fan of these sorts of grilles as the pins can often bend or break if one doesn’t attach them just right. For the price of these speakers, I would have preferred to see magnetic grilles.

Setup

The three Krix OWX-50 speakers were set across the front of my theater. As I could not (read: was not allowed to) wall mount them, I set the left and right speakers on a pair of 30-inch stands with the center speaker positioned on my equipment rack. The two Hyperphonix 45 were each set on their brackets and wall mounted as Left and Right-side surround channels.

The rest of my home theatre speaker system consists of two SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofers, one Chase CS18.1 subwoofer, an AV123 UFW12 HR subwoofer (so four in total), and four GoldenEar SuperSat 3 as overhead speakers.

Electronics used in the review included the Denon AVR-A1H home theater receiver, the Magnetar UDP900 Universal Disk Player, an Apple TV 4K, a Pioneer 50-inch KURO Plasma display (yup, it still works), a Hisense L9Q UST 4K Laser projector, and a Screen Innovations 120-inch ALR screen. Interconnects and speaker cable are from Blue Jeans Cables.

My home theater’s dimensions are 13 feet wide by 18 feet deep by 7.5 feet high with various acoustic treatments courtesy of GIK Acoustics.

In Use

It quickly became apparent that this Krix speaker system was one of the most dynamically capable systems that I have encountered. It could play explosively loud without any perceivable stress while rendering the softest passages with the utmost clarity and lack of noise. Whenever I encounter speakers with compression drivers and deep horn waveguides, I reflexively (and perhaps unfairly) expect that there is going to be some measure of elevated treble, or harshness to the sound.

Happily, that wasn’t the case here. The OWX-50 and Hyperphonix 45 sounded nicely balanced and unfatiguing even with room correction limited to 300 Hz and below. I spent a little time listening to the OWX-50 in stereo, alone on their stands, and the imaging from them was tremendously good with what I considered an appealing tonal balance. The OWX-50 were operating at a bit of a disadvantage being on stands and not having the benefit of the boundary reinforcement from wall mounting. That meant having to cross them over to my subwoofers at 100 Hz versus something like 80 or 70 Hz. In real use, though, that didn’t seem to matter one bit as the handoff to the subwoofers sounded seamless with everything I listened to.

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Steely Dan, Gaucho, MCA/Universal, 2003, Multi-channel SACD

Ah yes, it is an oldie but a goodie. While there may be almost as many “Dan” haters out there as there are Diana Krall haters when it comes to Hi-Fi demo material, the fact remains that Elliot Scheiner’s surround mix of this classic album is impeccably tasteful and sublime. It is tragic that none of the earlier albums received the same multi-channel treatment.

Be that as it may, this is perfect material to see what the Krix speakers could do with well-produced multi-channel music. With “Babylon Sisters,” “Hey Nineteen,” and “Glamour Profession,” the OWX -50 front trio and Hyperphonix 45 surrounds created a seamless sonic bubble, undergirded by my subs, of course. Donald Fagan’s vocals were clear, detailed, and perfectly centered in the mix.

Bass, keyboards, guitar, and drums were nicely positioned across the front stage, as clean as can be, while the supporting horns, percussion, and background vocals wrapped around the sides and rear, the entire picture matching tonally throughout. The slow pan of the chimes from right to left behind me was completely seamless. It felt about as perfectly immersive as this 46-year-old album could possibly sound.

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Various Artists, Sound & Vision SACD Sampler, Telarc, 2006, Multi-channel SACD

I am glad to hear that Sound & Vision is returning to online publication soon. Back in the day when they were a venerable print publication (formerly Stereo Review), one of the best things they ever did was partner with pioneering digital record label Telarc and assemble this multi-channel SACD music sampler curated with selections from Telarc’s expertly recorded multi-channel album releases. It was the best $13 bucks I ever spent via mail order!

Listening to “Don’t Ever let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down” by blues greats Eric Bibb, Rory Block, and Maria Muldaur through the Krix speaker system effectively put me smack in the middle of an acoustic blues session. Eric Bibb’s vocals have such great character and grit that come across so clearly over the OWX-50, same with Rory Block’s vocals shortly thereafter. The acoustic guitars have excellent weight and body to their sound, with the piano, drums, backing vocals, and studio reverb anchoring the surround channels. It was all rendered very naturally.

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“Wenyukela” by Ladysmith Black Mambazo starts with a call from a lone vocal in the center channel that is responded to by a mass chorus of vocals in the left and right and the surrounds. This continues as the structure of the song, almost like a lone conductor leading an orchestra of vocals. And when that orchestra responds, the sheer size and depth of it completely encompasses you. It would be a jarring sensation between call and response if the tonality of the speakers and the dispersion characteristics of the surround and the front speakers weren’t closely matched. They are with the Krix speakers, and the immersive vocal bubble created was complete.

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Another vocal track I like to use is “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face” by Tierney Sutton. The opening of the song has Ms. Sutton performing a long, melodic “ooooh” vocalization that starts in the surround channels and smoothly transitions to the front channels, all the while increasing in intensity. That 40-second opening introduction alone (with its intensity and pitch) has revealed more than a few odd resonances and buzzes in lesser speaker drivers over the years. Both the OWX-50 and Hyperphonix 45 passed this little test with flying colors, with a seamless, undistorted transition from rear to front, after which Ms. Sutton began singing in the center channel anchored by the bass, piano, and drum set in front with the piano’s reverb extending through to the surrounds. It all sounds very intimate, warm, and appealing.

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War Machine Netflix

Watching this recent Alan Ritchson movie instalment on Netflix (can’t wait for the latest season of Reacher to start on Amazon Prime), the Krix speaker system acquitted itself splendidly when all the high-octane action scenes shifted into high gear. For their size, the sheer clean output that these speakers deliver was put to good use here amongst all the concussive gunfire, explosions, helicopter flyovers, and alien attack robot shenanigans.

The alien war machine’s laser blasts clearly tracked across various parts of the room, and character dialog remained clear and understandable regardless of what mayhem might be happening on screen. In sum, all music, effects, and dialog sounded suitably gripping and intense, successfully propelling the movie’s storyline. (Editor’s Note: Soon after writing this review, I discovered that all the audio post-production work for War Machine was done at RMS Studios in Sydney, Australia, whose production room is outfitted with 48 channels worth of Krix commercial cinema speakers. Go figure!)

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Speed Racer, Ultra UHD Blu-ray, Dolby ATMOS

The new 4K UHD Blu-Ray release of this hyper-stylized cult classic is visually stunning and has a fantastic Dolby ATMOS soundtrack.

The multiple set-piece race sequences throughout the film have so many discreet moving audio elements to them that show off how well the OWX-50 and the Hyperphonix 45 speakers work together.

The tracking of the various race cars as they weave through the almost comically ridiculous and complex course is incredible to listen to. Elements moving up-down-across and side-to-side envelop you completely in the action on the screen. The images and voices of the race reporters panning across the screen are utterly seamless.

The Krix speakers present such a powerful, unified, and cohesive soundfield that they succeed in completely drawing you into the movie without unnecessarily drawing attention to themselves.

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Conclusion

This Krix five-channel on-wall speaker system is a superb-sounding solution that, although targeted at the custom install market, makes a strong case for consideration over more traditional Hi-Fi speakers in a mainstream home theater installation.

Likes

• Compact size with oversized sound.
• Clean yet non-fatiguing sound quality.
• High efficiency with high power handling.
• Excellent build quality.
• Flexible placement options.

Would Like To See

• Magnetic grilles instead of plastic pins.
• Other finish options besides commercial black.

They are purposely designed for efficiency, output, low distortion, and wide uniform dispersion. The perfect attributes for both movies and music in one environment. Their output capabilities are out of proportion to their size, so while these five speakers perfectly complemented the size of my theater space, this Krix system is easily scalable for a larger area. Exhibiting excellent dynamic performance, they integrated seamlessly with my existing subwoofers, and my big Denon AVR had no issues driving them to high volumes when called for.

While the OWX-50 and Hyperphonix 45 are part of Krix’s “Dedicated Cinema” series, they are also superb reproducers of music, completely excelling with multi-channel music listening, creating an engaging and immersive experience. I genuinely would not be surprised to see some OWX-50 speakers be used in a studio monitoring situation, paired with some subwoofers, so capable and well-engineered are they. They are also built like little tanks and finished to a notably high standard.

While this Aussie company may not be an obvious choice when looking for speakers such as these, it is a unique and compelling option. From a personal perspective, all things being equal, I usually gravitate to the less obvious option. It makes life interesting when you discover something really good that you might not have otherwise considered. On a practical note, there is something to be said for a company that has been making speakers for 50 years. You don’t tend to survive that long without knowing what you are doing and building a solid reputation and following in the process. While not inexpensive, there are certainly pricier options for these types of speakers out there. In my mind, that makes them seriously worth considering for a proper home theater installation. Highly recommended.

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