Substitute for MK Sound? - Page 2

DenW,

Have you found your M&K equals yet? I too am in the same boat as you on speaker selection. Wife and I heard M&K (S150s) about a year ago and was blown away; however it wasn't the right time to purchase. Now that the time is right they dont seem to be available anymore.

Today we went and listened to the Klipsch Ultra 2s at a dealer's site. While it sounded good, it didn't have the precise sound that the M&K delievered. Maybe it was my memory remembering it better or room acoustic was better in the other demo room. In any case it was hard to forget the way those M&K were demoed.

I too loved the S-150's, and they're what I always planned to put in my theater. The timing (and finances) were never right though. Recently I decided it was time for an upgrade and I decided to try some Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1's. They're on order now.
David Fabrikant started the company and used to be one of the designers at M&K, so that, plus the numerous rave reviews for the company and their speakers convinced me to give them a shot. I'll try to post my impressions when they're all set up.
I don't expect them to be 150's, but we'll see.

No, they can definitely produce for HT (although I'm getting a sub from someone else). I haven't noticed anyone on their forums that are 'stereo' nuts. They're all using them in theaters (presumably of wildly varying sizes ;>). While my 3-row theater with 110" screen isn't crazy abnormal here at AVS, it's definitely not average (particularly with the ID speaker crows), so I guess we'll see how they do. David at Ascend said the Sierra's would have absolutely no problem driving my theater.

As for the surround issue, while my theater already has 2 M&K SS-500's for my side surrounds (which I'm not changing), the opinions vary greatly on rear surrounds - whether they should be dipoles or monopoles.
With my theater, side surrounds being dipoles is a must. People who say side-surrounds should be monopoles don't have a 25+ foot long room with 3 rows of seats. The people in the rows away from the surrounds would be WAY WAY off-axis.
As for the rear surrounds, well, like I said, everyone has an opinion. THX's latest recommendations are to have two monopoles placed close together - assuming you're using a Select-2 or Ultra-2 THX pre-amp/receiver using one of their ASA sound modes. My theater designer said the ASA Cinema mode just tries to make the speakers act like dipoles, but... rear channels particularly with 7.1 are increasingly becoming more discrete, so while a dipole might make sense for 6.1, I'm not convinced for 7.1. Of course, if the rear speakers are 3 feet behind the last row, is that all they're going to hear if its a monopole?
Yuck - I'm really torn, but I have to say, getting monopoles for the rears significantly opens up my purchasing options. Not that many companies produce dipoles these days.
If I was willing to spend more money at this point, my choices would (obviously) expand greatly. Perhaps Triad, Genelec, Atlantic Tech, etc. etc. I think most are just way overpriced (M&K included).

I looked at Aperion (and still may actually) because they offered a nice looking dipole, and was tempted to try their mains but ultimately was swayed by all the overwhelming positive press for all of the Ascends speakers (and a few comments about the Aperions being a tad shrill w/ their tweeters (bright/fatiguing high-end/etc - saw it mentioned in at least 3 or 4 reviews in different forms so it spooked me a tad). While some people might list a monitor type of speaker as 'bright' (perhaps because that's what the source actually sounds like!), the fact that it was repeated in several reviews worried me just a tad.
I have to say I *really* liked the vibe I got from the guy I spoke with at Aperion (and Ascend as well :>). They seem like a great company, so I'll probably go with them for the rear at least if I decide to go with dipoles in the rear.

As of now, I've got 3 Ascend Sierra-1's and an Outlaw sub on the way. I wanted an SVS sub, but none of their 12" box subwoofers would fit in the subwoofer opening I have in my proscenium. That left HSU but the model I wanted was 17" wide and my opening is just shy of 17" (and I didn't want to chance it). So I went with an Outlaw sub knowing it was designed by HSU anyway (and was just a very slight downgrade from one of their best) and would definitely fit...

Some of these companies may have former M&K employees on their payrolls but the one person they do not have is the audio genius Ken Kreisel

Someone had posted in a different forum(about powered monitors) that they own M&K S-150's and they had owned many studio monitors including genelec, blue sky, mackie, and others and he said he felt none of them had the dynamics and sounstage of the M&K's. I thought that was interesting.

At this point, it doesn't really matter how great M&Ks are. We know they *were* great, but the point of the thread is that they're gone and what can we substitute them with. Some 'might' be able to find some still new M&Ks or buy them used, but condition (or authenticity) will always be suspect and the warranty doesn't mean much anymore.

As for the pro site vs the regular site, my guess is no one is home and they just haven't bothered to update it. The regular site was always a really poor site and wasn't updated very often, so it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they just stopped bothering.

That is why I mentioned it, he may not like the ones I mentioned. He mentioned the blue sky and he may not like them, but then again he may. You have to give your impressions on the acsends once you get them. One day my M&K's will die, and then I will be looking myself.

DenW, if they're in your price range you should give Triad a listen as well.