Onix x-ls Bookshelf Loudspeaker Review

[PatrickBateman]

Wishing for all great things for you Chris... you know me... and I CERTAINLY know you...

Mark

I must be bored.
I have nothing to do with this but dear lord what does that mean???

 

[mlschifter]

I must be bored.
I have nothing to do with this but dear lord what does that mean???

He understands Patrick... Trust me here... and maybe you are bored...

All the best...

mls

 

[Harmon]

I'm 10,000% up for that... name the day and I'm THERE...




All the best...

mls

Sounds like a GTG in the making . . . spring is a good time to be in Austin before it gets too hot . . . say April, May, or June? Anyone interested? Are Curtis and/or Victor still around? Would be cool if David F and Danny Ritchie could make it too.

 

[T2T]

Great review - it's nice to see these speakers are now hitting the market.

Oh, I liked the earlier comments regarding driver prices. If one were to find out how much - or, rather, how little Paradigm (for example) pays for their drivers, one would probably lose their lunch. If Paradigm (only used as an example) only pays $75 at the wholesale level for the drivers and crossover components, but charges $800 a pair for the speakers ... well, you get the picture.

 

[T2T]

Oh, one more thought. A person just needs to purchase a pair of these and a simple integrated amplifier for $100 or so and they'd stomp all over that silly "iPod box" that was announced by Steve Jobs for the iPod.

 

[jmanlp]

Oh, one more thought. A person just needs to purchase a pair of these and a simple integrated amplifier for $100 or so and they'd stomp all over that silly "iPod box" that was announced by Steve Jobs for the iPod.

So sad, but so true, that thing is a joke.

 

[anamorphic96]

I agree. But the costs also factor research and development. Which is hard to rationalize but has to be considered.

I would like to see someone come close in comparison. Paradigm if anything has the budget market mastered if not perfected. The Titan and Atom are pretty amazing considering there price. This is where the R&D comes into place. All the budget designs benefit from the techonology of the flagship products.

Paradigm is one of the best examples of this trickle down theory.

 

[corey]

Real bookshelf speakers

Most speakers need to be more than 4" away from the wall, regardless of porting and with a rear ported speaker, I'd be looking for at least 8" or better. Another $100? A pair of mounting adapters for them is $20 I don't see if that goes on the bottom or back though. To be honest, wall mounting should be avoided if you can.

That's the problem with most "bookshelf" speakers - you can't put them in a bookshelf, or on a wall. The x-ls is _almost_ exactly what I'm looking for, but I'll most likely get Klipsch RB-25's or RB-61's because they are front ported.

 

[T2T]

That's the problem with most "bookshelf" speakers - you can't put them in a bookshelf, or on a wall. The x-ls is _almost_ exactly what I'm looking for, but I'll most likely get Klipsch RB-25's or RB-61's because they are front ported.

You could always plug the ports - giving you more flexibility where you place them. Most companies even provide the foam port plugs for you.

 

[craigsub]

Whether it is for a speaker, or a subwoofer, the port facing a boundary requires no more than the diameter of the port (actually, 1/2 will work) in distance from the boundary.

In the case of most rear firing, bookshelf speakers, let's assume the port operates from 55 to 70 Hz - You have a wavelength of appx. 8-10 feet, making the port location irrelevant. If the port is 2 inches in diameter, allow 1-2 inches of clearance, and you will be fine.

 

[mlschifter]

Sounds like a GTG in the making . . . spring is a good time to be in Austin before it gets too hot . . . say April, May, or June? Anyone interested? Are Curtis and/or Victor still around? Would be cool if David F and Danny Ritchie could make it too.

April is fine for me as long as it's the second half... May is also good (early)...

Love to do this again...

Say the word Bud and I'm there..., and while I can't speak for the others --- I think I could get Danny to come for sure...

All the best...

mls

 

[mlschifter]

I agree. But the costs also factor research and development. Which is hard to rationalize but has to be considered.

I would like to see someone come close in comparison. Paradigm if anything has the budget market mastered if not perfected. The Titan and Atom are pretty amazing considering there price. This is where the R&D comes into place. All the budget designs benefit from the techonology of the flagship products.

Paradigm is one of the best examples of this trickle down theory.

... well spoken --- and very true.

Lets not forget that at face value we have an advantage as we do not interpose the Dealer Margins... and on speakers that's a significant number...

All the best...

mls

 

[j_garcia]

Whether it is for a speaker, or a subwoofer, the port facing a boundary requires no more than the diameter of the port (actually, 1/2 will work) in distance from the boundary.

In the case of most rear firing, bookshelf speakers, let's assume the port operates from 55 to 70 Hz - You have a wavelength of appx. 8-10 feet, making the port location irrelevant. If the port is 2 inches in diameter, allow 1-2 inches of clearance, and you will be fine.

Paradigm recommends at least 12" behind their rear ported speakers, which may be one of the reasons why the current Studio 20s and 40s are front ported, and why they also offer port plugs for all of their rear ported speakers. Wavelength is not the issue, "bounce" is, as the speaker will bounce sound off the wall, more or less at the tuning frequency, overemphasizing a particular band giving you a boomy sound. If wavelength were the issue, then a sub would have lots of issues, because the wavelengths of the lower frequencies are longer than most rooms.

Even a SEALED speaker will get some boundary effects from being 1-2" from the wall.

 

[Tex-amp]

Hi Guys,

IOh, and I get as good of a price on them as anyone can. I have been purchasing drivers from Peerless for a long time.

Nice but these drivers aren't from the highly respected Peerless in Denmark. http://www.tymphany.com/

There are from Peerless India. http://www.peerlessaudio.com/

 

[Tex-amp]

Buy want you want... but Tom Norton and I talked this over, as did John Atkinson and myself... I can send you the e-mails... but you'd have another take on them later... Funny how Bascom Kings measurements (see SoundStage... that's the job he does for them on amps, etc.) were completely different and CORRECT... Memory is a funny thing... we chose to be selective when it suits us... and in your case... it clearly suits you to forget that little addendum...

Mark

Please do. You could even post them here so everyone can make their own decision about them.

I'm very confused as to how Bascon King measuring amps applies to what Stereophile measured in a speaker.

 

[silversurfer]

Whether it is for a speaker, or a subwoofer, the port facing a boundary requires no more than the diameter of the port (actually, 1/2 will work) in distance from the boundary.

In the case of most rear firing, bookshelf speakers, let's assume the port operates from 55 to 70 Hz - You have a wavelength of appx. 8-10 feet, making the port location irrelevant. If the port is 2 inches in diameter, allow 1-2 inches of clearance, and you will be fine.

I thought I read somewhere that the port clearance should be 1.5 times the diameter of the port. This was for speakers though, not subs. Not something I have experimented with either.

 

[Danny Richie]

Nice but these drivers aren't from the highly respected Peerless in Denmark. http://www.tymphany.com/

There are from Peerless India. http://www.peerlessaudio.com/

I never said they were the Peerless of Denmark. I'd take the drivers from Peerless of India over them any day. QC is very high in India. The Peerless of Denmark drivers are not even made in Denmark. They are made in China.

 

[MikeAndAnnie]

Gene -
I noticed in the x-ls FR measurements this statement:
"Figure 3 shows the x-ls full-range frequency response, obtained by combining a
1m, on-axis gated response with a nearfield woofer & port response, appropriately summed and scaled."

I am not sure why separate responses are being combined vs. doing a single 1-m on-axis measurement. The latter *seems* to be how the NRC does it, though at 2-m.
Also, what does 'appropriately summed and scaled' mean?

Sorry for my ignorance here!

 

[gene]

I noticed in the x-ls FR measurements this statement:
"Figure 3 shows the x-ls full-range frequency response, obtained by combining a
1m, on-axis gated response with a nearfield woofer & port response, appropriately summed and scaled."

I am not sure why separate responses are being combined vs. doing a single 1-m on-axis measurement. The latter *seems* to be how the NRC does it, though at 2-m.
Also, what does 'appropriately summed and scaled' mean?

If I am not mistaken, the NRC does their measurements in an anechoic chamber. Mark esentially mimicked an anechoic response in his room by doing a combination of nearfield measurements and scaling them appropriately to get the right output. This will be part of our new loudspeaker measurement standard going forward.

 

[DOJ]

These speakers look to be an incredible value and I love the look of the cabinet .

This is exactly what I need .............. A nicely built great sounding budget speaker .

One question though (I hope I'm not repeating it ) Is there plans for a matching center ?