Is M&K the High End's Best-Kept Secret?

I really don't know the answer; I just know that loudspeaker company M&K says that's the case. I also know that the original Miller & Kreisel was founded in 1973 by music lovers who wanted to manufacture speakers good enough to do justice to recordings by Steely Dan. 35 years later, the company went bankrupt, and was relaunched shortly thereafter by new Danish investors who have a strong home theater orientation. For the past 10 years, the company's owner has been Lars Johansen, who spoke with me in their room in the Venetian Hotel.

M&K was showing two 4 ohm models. Shown on the left in the photo is an update of the "classic" M&K S150 ($3598/pair). Based on the S300 ($7198/pair), which is shown on the right, the S150 is marketed as reference monitor for professional cinema sound design or stereo recording. Lars told me that 90% of S150s are sold for home theater applications. The S300, in turn, is touted as "destined to become the reference home entertainment speaker system." Both speakers are THX Ultra 2 certified.

I took a brief listen to Steely Dan's "Black Cow" on a 2.1 system that included S150s plus two active M&K X8 subwoofers ($2000/each), as well as Lyngdorf Audio electronics with room-correction software. The sound was strong and incisive.

COMMENTS
Geurity's picture

And that's a shame, because I'm sure more people would purchase these. I know I would.

doak's picture

"I took a brief listen to Steely Dan's "Black Cow" on a 2.1 system that included S150s plus two active M&K X8 subwoofers"

Would this not be properly termed a "2.2 system."

Jason Victor Serinus's picture

They called it 2.1. I confess that I don't hang in the home theater realm, and don't know which is appropriate.

doak's picture

2.1 = 2 speaker and 1 sub, hence 2.2 for the M & K setup you reference.

DaleC's picture

Unless the two subs are fed two different sub-bass audio programs, the 2.1 is correct. The numbers refer to the number of audio programs, not the number of speakers.

doak's picture

I used to know that. (HaHa)
So the numbering system is not able to notate 2 subs?
I gave up on the HT thing a long time ago, though I do have true 2.2 (I think) with my audio system. What it actually has is the mains, true left and right channel subs, plus an additional summed L/R channel sub. 2.2.1???

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