Optimus Pro LX10 Floorstanding Speakers

Optimus Pro LX10 Floorstanding Speakers 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 38  
[Mar 29, 1999]
JL Dewey
an Audio Enthusiast

My system consists of a Dennon 5600 receiver, a Dennon DCM460 CD player, Pioneer DVL909 LD/DVD player. Before buying the LX10's I auditioned a lot of speakers. I can truly say the sound of these speakers impressed me so much, I purchased two more for the surround channels. Anyone would be hard pressed to find a better sounding Home Theater package. When paired with the CS-5 center channel, expect great sound. In stereo mode the speakers image great. There is some mild muddiness in the mid range. Radio Shack says the speakers should be placed straight ahead in the listening room. I found that I get a better sound by towing them in toward the listening position and raising them on 4 inch stands. I usually hate graphic equalizers, but I Plugged one in and made some adjustments and got rid of the mid range muddiness. When listening to Dolby Digital movies, take the EQ out of the loop. It is only needed for stereo. I recommend these speakers to anyone that wants good sound for a reasonable price.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
[Nov 19, 1997]
Denis Ford
an Audio Enthusiast

My roommate I bought a pair of LX-10's along with the "matching" Optimus cs-5 center speaker for both music and HT use and we have been quite happy thus far. I will not claim to have demoed many pairs of speakers in my selection process; my decision was based primarily on price, the reputation of the LX-5 and some favorable reviews. However, I was very impressed upon hooking the LX-10's to my Mitsubishi receiver. I positioned the speakers about 3 feet from the wall to take advantage of the dipole tweeter and was rewarded by sound that at times can be disorientingly spacious (try the remastered Dark Side of the Moon). Bass isn't that great, but we picked up a Velodyne 1012 sub last week and the sound is very satisfying, even superior to some of my friends' much more costly systems.
I still have to do some work with matching the CS-5 with the LX-10's because I'm having problems similar to those of another reviewer. Pitch definitely changes as sounds pan across the stage. My receiver accomodates this, though, so I just need to invest the time in tuning the system.

Overall, for the $400 we paid for the pair these speakers are a great deal. With another $400 in a quality small sub the sound is fantastic, at least to my newbie ears. So far, with cd player and receiver we are at about $1500 and quite happy. I think the next purchase will be some NHT Super Zero's or Optimus LX-5's for surrounds.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
[Aug 19, 2001]
Christopher Wolff
Audiophile

Strength:

Clear and dynamic highs

Weakness:

Resonant cabinet and poor bass extension

I wouldn't normally submit 2 reviews, but I only thought it was fair to give a summary of this product with minor modifications that yield large results.

As it is, mids are a bit muddy and midbass is boomy, I decided to see if this could be corrected without having to resort to new woofers.

I added cross bracing and i tried various dampning materials. I resorted to a drastic dampning material, dense cushion foam. I added 2 layers of 1" foam to the rear, and 1 layer to sides and top of enclosure. I found that this eliminates almost all internal standing waves and signicantly reduces coloration. The result? Tight and accurate mids and midbass, that's right....actually accurate mids. This was not without sacrifice though, as you should know...using a dense material for dampening results in restricted air flow within the enclsure's full volume, therfor resulting in less bass extension. Also, using high amount of dense dampning directly behind the mid drivers results in minor loss of some dynamics. But with the present build of the enclosure, I don't see any other options. That's ok though, I am using the units now at a 80 HZ high pass point. This reduces intermodular distortion and allows midbass to play at high SPL without distortion or much compression so sub bass is not an issue anyways. I never liked the sound of subbass on drivers smalelr than 10" anyways regardless of the brand or quality of the driver. I also bought a new reciever with an A/AB dual class amplifier stage(A class works at low to medium power levels, then stages start switching to work in AB mode at higher power levels), this also adds greatly to the clarity and dynamic range of the speakers in addition to the modifications. The VSX-453 I was using previously was striclty an A/B class amplifier. I considered crossover modifications, but after I priced the parts I decided that an excess of $100 was not a feasible investment for this unit. Besided, modifications would primarily be changing the mid section's low pass circuit's capacitors with prolypolyne type, though would be audible, would be a very negliglbe difference in the low pass circuit. The high pass for the tweeter has a decent quality mylar type capacitor. I may later on experiment with the crossover points/orders but it is reasonably competent at present. I did go ahead and solder all connection to speakers and terminals, but I did not do a direct before/after listening test of this before adding dampning and braces.

After the very minor modifications, this speaker sounds VERY much improved and is an even greater value. Though I still recommend using it actively crossed over and bi-amped with a seperate subwoofer.

-C. Wolff

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 12, 2001]
Matt Audio
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

exceptional highs- crystal clear

Weakness:

weak midrange and decent bass response

When i saw in the paper that these twoers were only $99 marked down from $200 i took a ride to the nearest Radio Shack. When i got there i was told that they had sold out so i was bummed. BUt there were the floor models still there and in perfect condition. After i listened to them i knew i had to have them. So i went to the manager and asked about the floor models and i ended up buying them for $75 each. That was a steal. although they lack great bass these speakers just need a little help from a subwoofer. Besides that they are great speakers and and great for the price!!!

Similar Products Used:

u name it..i've used it

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 02, 2000]
Mark
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Laenium Tweeter
5 Year Warranty

Weakness:

None

I originally went to the Shack for a few minor hook-ups when I saw The LX-10 on sale for $99 marked down from $250. I have 4 LX-10 towers 1 CS-5 center and the SW200p 200 watt Subwoofer, hooked up to a Pioneer 906s DD receiver and a Pioneer 909 DVD/LD combo player. These are the prices you should pay for each item.
LX-10 $99.00 (rumored to be at $79.00 now from $250.00)
CS-5 $69.00 (On clearance since CS-5II came out from $149.00)
SW200p 200 watt Subwoofer (Frequently on sale at $299.00 from $399.00)
SW100p 100 watt Subwoofer (Frequently on sale at $199.00 from $299.00)(For those who dont need as much bass{NO remote control or 5 way binding posts})
At these prices I think the Shack has the BEST sub $800 home theater system available!!

Similar Products Used:

You name it I have auditioned it.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 10, 2000]
Ramiro Orta
Audiophile

Strength:

Lineaum Tweeter; value for the money

Weakness:

A little boomy in bass initially

I was originally testing the PSB's, Definitive's and NHT's at home from a high end store. I was having a hard time as the speakers were very expensive and needed some serious consideration, when a friend told me about the LX-10's at a local Radio Shack. I have a Denon 5700 Receiver, Sony CX-335 CD Jukebox, Sony 7000 DVD Player and Pioneer CLD-D604 Laserdisc Player. I purchased four LX-10's, 1 CS-5 Center Channel, 2 LX-5's and one ProS100P Subwoofer to go along with my BIC C-10 subwoofer (yes I'm running 2 subwoofers). Let me tell you that I was totally blown away by this set-up! Yes the LX-10's tended to be a bit boomy in the bass and the midrange was a bit boxey, but the detail in the highs was incredible. I read somewhere where someone stuffed the enclosures with speaker fiberglass, so I tried it myself. Low and behold! The sound tightened up really sweetly! I mean I was listening to some speakers that cost 5 to 7 times as much as the Shack's LX-10's and they still gave them a ride for the money! I have kept the Radio Shack set-up and have been quite happy with them. I'm also happy that I only spent a total of about $600 for the entire setup! If you see these speakers buy them! Don't think twice, just buy the suckers! You will not be disappointed.

Similar Products Used:

PSB Speakers; Definitive BP 2006TL's; NHT's VT-3

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 09, 2001]
nigel betts
Audiophile

Strength:

tweeter for home theater,price.

Weakness:

bass,lower mid.

back in 98 i had been walking through a shack store & heard these,just enough in passing that they caught my ear, a year later was in a pawn shop-& picked up a pair cheap,(by now i was getting back into hi-fi)as i needed cheap speakers & these seemed to fit the bill,was impressed by the sound they put out-even then on the low-fi amp i had,later on i managed to get a carver av505 amp,+ a ct-3 av preamp(ebay),only used in stereo--but the sound was great(a good pre & power amp really makes a huge difference),decided to go the home theater route--& got another four lx 10's from ebay for $320.00,+ another 3 linaem tweeter from the shack as backups(on closeout for $5.50ea)part#40-1389,also picked up two carver 5.1 powered subs(yes ebay--$75.00 each).The Lx10's need assistance from subs crossed over around 80--90 hz, this produces the best blend,being a cabinet maker by trade, i am about to embark upon using the six Lx10's that i have to experiment with speaker design--using the base model as a starting point & going from there, the dog having some emotional problems with us moving house decided to pee up one of my original speakers--& so as bad turns to good--the drivers & internals of that one will become a center channel custom conversion as i had to trash that cabinet.this will be an ongoing thing & i shall check back in here every now & then with updates(wish me luck),www.nigelbetts@prodigy.net
my rating is based upon the price + sound + tweakability of these speakers, if you have the inclination to fart around & experiment---you just can't beat these for the price.

Similar Products Used:

had ram bookshelf moniters,& ram floorstanding moniter 2's--back in the 80's.uk audiophile speakers with danish dynaco drivers& audax tweeters,good quality all round-with bass extension.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jun 27, 2001]
Luigi
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Smooth, clear and sweet highs. Wide imaging.

Weakness:

Built quality is somewhat weak. Midrange is a little boomy and muddy.

I use them with a Yamaha rxv-990 surround receiver. Very good highs but muddy mids. Bass is decent but I use a sub for that.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 30, 1997]
Gene S
an Audio Enthusiast

Yeah I know Rat Shack... But I must tell you this these speakers are absolutely amazing! I replaced my aging advents that I've had for almost 20 years that were pretty much shot, with these based mostly on the review by HT magazine. When I got them home I was shocked at how truly good they sounded. I listened to everything from Nat King Cole to AC/DC through them and they reproduced it all with astounding clarity depth and imaging.The rest of my system is comprised of Marantz SR-880 DD receiver, Marantz CD, Toshiba 3107 DVD and Marantz tape deck. All hooked up with Rat Shack Gold interconnects and Speaker cable.
Granted these are not Vandersteens or some other such esoteric hi end speaker, but let me tell you it isn't a slouch either. My friend has NHT V2's and some JBL custom made pro studio monitors and we listened to them on my system blind folded and compared them to the LX-10's and to both our suprise the LX-10's won with every source (DVD,DSS,CD) run through them.
No matter how loud we cranked them they refused to break apart or lose their clarity. If I had one bad thing to say about them it is that they are not really attractive and that your friends will give you crap about the brand name, but hey for $399/pr there isn't anything here on earth that can touch them for sonic performance vs. price ratio. I challange anyone to find a better sounding speaker under $1000!!!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
[May 12, 1998]
Paul Brown
an Audio Enthusiast

Home TheaterBrought four of them for a super (inexpensive but great) surround sound system.
Center channel is an Optimus pro CS-5.
Home Theater gave this same setup an overall score of 92 out of 100.
They sould have given this setup 110 out of 100.
The sound in Dolby Pro logic is AWESOME. Watching the movie "MIMIC" you can hear the giant bugs in the back of the room crawling around. The special linaeum tweeters make for an incredible surround sound effect and create a huge soudstage.

I power them with a HK AVR30 pro-logic receiver, five stars.

Deep bass for special effects handled by two Atlantic technology 162 PBM sub woofers. Five Stars.

Stero Mode
For Audio Enthusiasts on a budget give these a listen, at home.

The combination makes for a very pleasing sound. It makes me happy and I can listen to then all night.

WF (Wife Factor). Very low. When the wife hears the price she'll be happy.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
Showing 1-10 of 38  

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