ESTABLISHED 1974. AUSTRALIA
Scott Krix was a bright-eyed music lover who had spent much of his youth tinkering with electronics and audio parts that he had scavenged from everywhere from where he lived in Loxton, a small town three hours east of Adelaide. After completing an electronic engineering degree in Adelaide, he then founded ‘Krix Speaker Systems’.
Scott, realising his hobby had developed somewhat of a ‘cult-like’ status, opened a traditional HiFi shop in a suburb of Adelaide, where like-minded individuals could browse, listen to music, purchase, and create their own HiFi systems – just like Scott and all his friends were doing.
He named it the Acoustic Foundry.
The Acoustic Foundry clientele were initially often university students and others who liked something a little bit different, and the brand grew from there.
The Acoustic Foundry found its niche and began selling Design Your Own Systems (DYOS). This unique approach laid the speaker elements out in separate enclosures, switchable via a console with different filters for auditioning. Customers would bring in their own favourite music (vinyl at the time) and try different components until they had the sound to their liking.
Scott would subsequently construct the selected, potentially one-of-a-kind system to the preferred level of finalisation. This could involve using only supplied components and plans or delivering a fully assembled and finished product.
The Home Grown series was born from the three most popular DYOS systems mentioned above.
The Acoustic Foundry offered a range of three Home Grown models in different sizes, price points and components.
The Home Grown series was extremely popular; some are still loved and used by Krix customers today.
Krix Speaker Systems purchased one acre of land at Hackham, Adelaide, and built (by hand) a modest 120 square-meter factory, which today still houses the company’s administration department.
Scott was approached by the owner of a local cinema (The Capri), who passed by the Acoustic Foundry on his way to work daily. He was intrigued by the speakers, which Scott had built at university and displayed in the store’s front window.
Scott then designed and built PA-style loudspeakers for the cinema, they were rear horn loaded and featured dual 15-inch low frequency (LF) drivers. There were no subwoofers in the installation, so Scott thought it was necessary to provide as much LF ‘grunt’ as possible.
Upon installation of the new speakers, Scott began the process of equalising the cinema. A significant acoustic problem was discovered, due to sound reflecting off the front wall behind the speakers, which then interfered with the direct sound. To solve this problem, Scott built the world’s first ‘Infinite Baffle Wall’.
The baffle wall consisted of a rigid structure around the screen speakers and was mounted flush with the speaker baffles. The audience side of the baffle wall was coated in acoustic absorbent material.
Krix cinema installations grow to cover 90% of national cinema expansions.
During the ’80s the Australian cinema industry was booming, and multiplex cinemas were opening everywhere.
Strong demand for cinema speakers meant that more space was required, leading to the build of a larger factory spanning 500 square meters. This was aptly named Shed 1.
Krix held a prominent position as a key supplier to the local cinema industry, having successfully completed over 200 cinema installations nationwide. With a dedicated team of 10 full-time staff, attention shifted towards expanding the company’s consumer product segment, necessitating further space.
To accommodate this growth, another factory was constructed, spanning another 500 square meters, and was aptly named Shed 2.
The company, which had changed its name in 1988 to Krix Loudspeaker Engineers Pty Ltd, shortened the name to Krix Loudspeakers (as we are known today).
Krix made its entrance to the global market, shipping commercial cinema speakers to New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.
Krix attained THX accreditation from LucasFilms for their cinema surround model, the KSX-1.
The early ’90s saw the revolution that was surround sound. Krix was well established to firmly push into this new residential market. Krix’s national retail presence expanded significantly, growing from five dealers to forty within two years.
Krix began exhibiting at tradeshows around the world, the first being the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas. The first consumer distributor was signed (located in Hong Kong). Malaysia followed quickly, and then in 1996, the United States.
In 1996, Krix exports were approaching 40% of production capabilities – time to add another shed! This time, a 1000 square metre, two-level building was built to house final assembly, warehouse and research and development offices and listening facilities.
Krix continued to engineer and manufacture new products while exhibiting at various tradeshows around the globe and winning prestigious awards for both commercial cinema and consumer products.
Krix attains THX accreditation for commercial cinema surrounds KX-1840, KX-1850, KX-1550 and low-frequency cinema screen speaker KX-2610, cinema subwoofer KX-4610, and cinema screen system KX-5812.
Krix also purchase the one-acre block adjacent to their current facilities in anticipation of future expansion opportunities.
In 2003, David Murphy, Krix’s Senior Cinema Loudspeaker Design Engineer, achieved a significant milestone in innovation as he was awarded an Australian patent for his constant directivity acoustic horn design.
David jokingly stated that Scott could purchase the patent from him for $1USD. Scott pulled out his wallet, riffled through quite a few compartments and proudly produced a $1USD note! The note is STILL proudly stuck to the wall in David’s office (just above a copy of the patent itself).
The US patent for the same was awarded in 2006.
In 2004, Krix celebrated 30 years as Australia’s oldest and largest loudspeaker manufacturer!
Distribution was confirmed in the United Kingdom and Krix speakers were also supplied to Austria, Germany, Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Jordan and Afghanistan.
Continuing the focus on innovation, Krix achieves a significant milestone after three years of dedicated development. In a groundbreaking move, Krix became the global pioneer in introducing a comprehensive lineup of 4-way cinema speakers, solidifying its position at the forefront of audio technology.
Krix are awarded an Australian patent under the title “Method of Designing a Sound Waveguide Surface”. The inventors are David Murphy along with Anthony Zander, Richard Morgans and Colin Henry.
A US patent for the same was awarded in 2013.
For the remainder of the ’00s, Krix continued to grow globally. Over 100 commercial cinema systems have been installed in Korea, Ireland, Malaysia, and Japan.
Krix introduces the Neuphonix floorstanding loudspeaker, earning numerous accolades. This success is further reinforced by the Seismix 3 Mk3 subwoofer, Apex 4 floorstander, and the Epicentrix center speaker (designed to complement the Neuphonix), all of which garner multiple awards.
Scott Krix receives ‘Cinema Pioneer’ status for over 25 years of service to the cinema industry.
In 2010, Jon Scott, who has been leading the Research and Development department at Krix since 2003, received a patent for his innovative design of a reversible mounting bracket.
Krix consumer branches to China, which quickly becomes a fast-selling market.
Embracing the expanding multichannel trend, Krix’s Research and Development team seamlessly merged their passion for home entertainment speakers with their extensive expertise in commercial cinema. This synergy led to the inaugural collection of specialised home cinema speakers known as Series X (abbreviated for Xtreme).
The Series X screen speakers are tailored for rooms spanning from five to twenty three meters in depth.
Marking four decades as Australia’s foremost and largest loudspeaker manufacturer, Krix commemorated this milestone by releasing a special anniversary edition of their renowned flagship Neuphonix design.
Limited to just 40 pairs, each speaker set was individually numbered and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Adding a personal touch, Scott Krix autographed each of these exclusive speakers, creating a unique and collectible celebration of the company’s 40-year legacy.
Conceived as a more space-efficient alternative to Series X speakers, Series SX (abbreviated for Scaled Xtreme) retain the distinctive Krix cinema sound.
With screen speakers tailored for rooms spanning three to eight meters in length, the Series SX range also serves as an ideal complement as surround speakers and subwoofers when paired with Series X.
Krix introduce Series MX (abbreviated for Modular Xtreme) into their dedicated home cinema lineup.
This addition implemented the baffle wall design conceptualised by Scott Krix in the 1980s.
Following overseas success at various tradeshows, Krix exhibit at various residential and trade shows around Australia.
The Heretix, along with an MX-30, were on demonstration at the 2017 StereoNET show. A long-time passion of Scott Krix, the prototype Heretix were highly efficient and utilised the Krix patented horn technology.
At the 2018 StereoNET International HiFi Show, Krix demonstrated a world-first maximum channel-count Dolby Atmos cinema featuring 34 decoded channels in a 24.10.10 configuration.
After meeting some of the team from Trinnov at a trade show in 2017, a relationship quickly developed between the two brands.
Krix became the Trinnov Audio Commercial Cinema distributor for Australia.
2019 saw Krix exhibit for the first time at the world’s most prominent residential audio-visual trade show, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam.
This tradeshow cemented the Krix brand throughout Europe and established relationships with many new distributors and dealers.
The primary demonstration room at the Krix factory underwent a complete transformation to become a 15.4.8 setup, featuring an MX-30 and twenty Phonix surround speakers.
‘Quake’ was installed in Wallis Cinema Mitcham, closely followed by Noarlunga and Mt Barker. This new, unique concept was designed by Krix and featured Trinnov processing.
Although travel to tradeshows and commercial cinemas was on hiatus due to restrictions, Krix persevered in its commitment to engineering and innovation, navigating with resilience and creativity and releasing multiple new products for the dedicated home cinema market during the early 2020s, while expanding the distributor and dealer network across the globe.
After two years as a consumer sub-distributor, Krix became the exclusive Australian distributor for the Trinnov High-End range.
Krix collaborated with Trinnov Audio, Sony, and Officina Acustica at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE). Together, they showcased a cutting-edge 13.16.6 home cinema with an exclusive preview of Trinnov’s innovative Waveforming technology.
Krix was the first in the world (outside Trinnov HQ and ISE) to implement Trinnov’s new Waveforming. This demonstration room houses 16 subwoofers in a 25 square metre room!
Currently, Krix speakers are in over 4,000 cinemas across 40 countries worldwide, and our presence continues to expand. We couldn’t be prouder of this remarkable growth and global reach.
Today, Krix is still family-owned. Scott Krix along with two of his brothers, Gary and Ashley, all actively work within the business and the Krix focus remains the same – continue to innovate and manufacture speakers that allow listeners to experience the magic of movies and music.
