From earthquakes to earthworms …
MILLER & KREISEL THX 150
PEAKS
VERDICT
Articulate, top-end home theatre speakers that can also cut it with the best of
them in critical music applications. Bullet-proof construction means they’re
not scared of being punished, yet deliver the sonic goods with finesse and
conviction.
PRICE R65 000,00 (System)
SUPPLIED BY Extraordinary AV (021) 552-0014
Miller & Kreisel -- M&K for short -- has the kind of pedigree that many home theatre speaker manufacturers would give their hind teeth for.
Credited with pioneering the satellite/subwoofer configuration now universally employed in home theatre applications, the marque also has close ties with the professional music and movie industries, counting the likes of LucasFilm, Dolby Laboratories, DTS, Sony Pictures and THX among its customers.
M&K was founded in 1974 by Ken Kreisel, Lester Field and Jonas Miller, with innovative speaker design at its core. Kreisel’s live sound recording experience and acute hearing was the perfect foil for the scientific methodology and experience Field, a full professor at both Caltech and Stanford, brought to the alliance.
Not surprisingly, innovation and sonic excellence very soon became the cornerstones of the company that has played a pioneering role ever since. And even though it may now be considered primarily a supplier of top-rated home theatre speaker systems, Kreisel’s commitment to musical accuracy and realism has remained a key design parameter, too.
THX certification -- considered by most to be the most rigorous of sonic standards, designed specifically to set minimum performance parameters for the true reproduction of taxing surround sound movie soundtracks -- has been a key element of the M&K product range ever since LucasFilm published the initial specification.
The latest S150 THX surround sound speaker system from M&K is no exception. And while it may be considered the smallest of the marque’s THX-certified systems, it should by no means be considered small or lightweight in both physical and performance terms.
The system consists of the S-150 front satellite speakers, the S-150AC centre channel speaker (effectively a modified S-150 with an angled front baffle), S-150 Tripole surround speakers, and an MX-150 active subwoofer.
In physical terms, none of the speakers (with the exception of the MX-150 subwoofer, perhaps) is particularly imposing. The S-150 front satellites are 317 mm tall and as deep, while a width of 267 mm means that they are almost cube-like in appearance.
On closer inspection, however, you’ll find that the face of the speaker is angled by 45 degrees, with three tweeters mounted vertically on the outside edge, and two midrange units set further back. It’s an arrangement which M&K says promotes vertical directionality, preventing interaction with floors and ceilings.
Vertical directionality and horizontal symmetry are key elements of the THX specification, which these speakers easily adhere to. But it’s also meant the use of a special crossover, which has a so-called phase-focused design, and is said to allow an optimised phase and amplitude for the driver regardless of the horizontal axis to smooth overall response.
The S-150AC is a variation on the front satellite theme, but angles the fascia from top to bottom, whilst retaining the vertical alignment of tweeters and midrange drivers. This allows for simple aiming of the centre channel speaker, regardless of whether it is located below or above the screen.
Construction is reassuringly solid with thick MDF cabinetry, treated with M&K’s special enclosure paint treatment, which is said to allow greater levels of inertness and resistance to resonance. There is only a single pair of sturdy binding posts, since M&K believe that bi-wiring is not necessary if the crossover has an efficient design.
Even more interesting are the surround speakers. The SS-150 have been dubbed tripoles by M&K -- referring to what is effectively a dipole design with a third, direct-radiating driver. The dipole arrangement in this instance consists of a 25 mm soft-dome tweeter and compact 89 mm mid/bass unit, while the front baffle is fitted with a third, 130 mm mid/bass unit.
This arrangement has the benefit of flexibility: the user can choose to run the SS-150s as pure bipole speakers with no output from the third, direct-radiating driver. Or, one can opt for the direct-radiator only, and not feed any signal to the dipole array. In between, stepless adjustment allows a blending of these two extremes.
The reasoning behind the design has, not surprisingly, its roots in the THX specification again: it allows a simulation of the multiple speaker arrays found in cinemas in an attempt to provide a consistent ‘wall’ of effects sound, regardless of the seat occupied. Since multiple arrays are difficult to incorporate in the home environment, the surrounds emulate the effect -- and very successfully, too.
Finally, there’s the subwoofer -- an active design powered by a 150 watt RMS power amplifier. Like the rest of the System 150 components, it is THX certified, and employs M&K’s headroom maximising technology to allow maximum output and full dynamic range without amplifier clipping or distortion.
At the heart of the MX-150 are two 300 mm long-excursion subwoofers, mounted in a sealed enclosure, and not the more popular bass-reflex ported box. M&K claims it allows the sub to reach down to well below 20 Hz, while the push-pull driver configuration achieves pace and quick responses.
Facilities include a three-position bass level control, varying between reference, - 3dB and -6dB, a choice of fixed-level THX or variable level low-level inputs, a phase reverse switch and a THX-compliant 80 Hz 24dB/octave Linkwitz Riley low-pass filter. High-pass filtering was controlled by the TAG McLaren processor accompanying the M&Ks for this review.
To show off their best, the M&K speakers need to be very rigidly mounted on heavy stands -- but we had to make do with more conventional, if fairly sturdy, devices. With the TAG McLaren components (last month’s cover feature system) supplying the oomph, the first hour or so was spent experimenting with speaker positioning, eventually ending up with a fairly conventional layout in the 6m x 6m listening room.
During this process, I already started forming the first impressions of a system that seemed to show exceptional promise as far as tonal range, sheer impetus and dynamics were concerned. Even then, when I finally sat down to listen, armed with various DVDs, the almost visceral quality of the sound took me completely by surprise.
It would be wrong to accuse the M&K 150 system of being forceful -- at least in the negative sense. But that often-used cliché of a sound that knocks your socks off, or blows you away, is very apt in this instance. The M&Ks simply have the ability to reproduce sound so cleanly, so effortlessly, and at such high sound pressure levels that experiencing them is as much a case of hearing as of feeling.
The active subwoofer reached down low enough to induce all sorts of resonances and rattles, which only served to emphasis that the sub-20 Hz claim is not an idle one. But perhaps more impressive was that for all its attack, thrust and impact, the system sounded smooth, tonally integrated and exceptionally spacious in terms of three-dimensional staging.
There was no problem creating a sense of realism -- in this context, the illusion of ‘being there’ was all too easily recreated, often with heart-stopping results.
Having said that, given that the source components are capable of feeding them with the necessary detail (which the TAG McLaren kit certainly was), the M&Ks were not shy of showing a propensity for subtlety, never allowing small slivers of detail, or suggestions of texture and hue, to escape.
However, there is no doubt that the real talent of these simply marvellous loudspeakers lies in their exhilarating treatment of special effects, or their ability to make the most of atmosphere-laden recordings. While neither difficult to drive nor particularly inefficient, they do enjoy the shove of a fair bit of power, and reward the listener with a performance that is never dull and always enthralling.
I said from the outset that the M&K 150 THX home cinema speaker system should not be considered small, despite the compact dimensions of the enclosures. Having experienced them in their fullest glory, I have to say that I see no need for going even bigger -- unless it’s a stadium you’re trying to fill with sound.
These are true upper-end AV speakers that deserve the best in terms of partnering equipment, but deliver to the highest expectations, too. I’ll leave you with the thought that, on a professional level, these very speakers are used as reference monitors in a large number of mix-down studios.
I can’t think of a better testimonial for excellence…
Deon Schoeman