Onix x-ls Build Quality

Not long ago, Gene offered me the opportunity to review a first production of a new loudspeaker system by AV123. I jumped at the opportunity as I'd seen their name pop up in a number of online forums and read the reviews of some of their other products. I was curious to see what the chatter was all about. Soon thereafter, The Onix x-ls, a 2-way, vented cabinet system, arrived.

AV123 has been in the internet-direct entertainment market since its founding in January 2000. Today they market, along with speakers, a selection of cables, electronics and a variety of useful extras. The company's founder, Mark Schifter, a consumer electronics industry veteran, has been responsible over the years for bringing to the market products that don't bust the budget and get the critics raving (eg: Audio Alchemy DDE v1.2 ) I figured with the company's founder carrying a pedigree like that there 舗 d likely be something to commend these speakers. And I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure!

When the X-LS arrived I was a bit surprised at the size of the shipping container: It seemed large for something housing a pair of 2-way bookshelf speakers. Popping the thing open I found packed within the outer container a second container and inside that were located the speakers. Size mystery solved. This packing approach is a great way to ensure your system arrives intact and in working order.

Each speaker, wrapped in a plastic cover and well protected by the container-within-a-container, arrived unscathed and ready to rock. Accessory-wise, the package included spikes that can be bolted into the base of each cabinet, should you feel the need to use them. Along with the spikes are supplied discs for use with the spikes, should you need to avoid poking holes in whatever you have the speakers perched on. The speakers did not come equipped with grill clothes and provided for no means to attach one. Cable attachment is accomplished with the usual 5-way binding posts.

A bit about the cabinet. The shipping documents indicated the finish was white maple and indeed it was. The white maple veneer is banded across the cabinet in a clever and aesthetically pleasing way that I've not seen done before. It all adds up to an intriguingly attractive product that would look good in a variety of decorating schemes.

A quick look at the inside of x-ls shows a well constructed MDF cabinet, cross-braced and further packed with damping material. The duct, oriented so that its interior end terminates near the back of the shielded tweeter, is flared at its exterior end only.

The crossover network is positioned at the front end of the cabinet's bottom panel. All components are tie-wrapped and/or glued to the circuit board. All connections are soldered and 12 AWG wire is used throughout. This is rare in speakers at any price since most use 14-16AWG. Impressive for a 199/pr of speakers!

The tweeter used is a convex soft-dome unit, featuring a 25.4 mm voice coil, fully shielded and sporting a damped rear chamber.

Free air resonance is 1kHz and sensitivity clocks in at about 96 dB. Nonlinear distortion tests showed this to be exceptionally clean for a driver in this price range.

The woofer, approximately 6.5" in diameter, presents a curvilinear treated-paper composite cone. The unit comes with a vented pole-piece, a bumped backplate, phase plug, vented Kapton voice coil and a polymer chassis.

Like the tweeter with which it's partnered in this system, the woofer measured, in terms of nonlinear distortion, exceptionally clean for a driver this size in its price class.

The DIY versions of these drivers total out at just under $110.00, more than half the retail of this product!