New Proposed Setup - advice please M&K?

[JohnHolmes]

Hi guys

About to put together a complete new setup to replace my ageing budget yamaha/tannoy MC setup.

I only have a small dedicated room 10'6 x 9'3 at the moment, but will be having a bigger room soon once move to a new house. As soon as I can sell the bloody thing!

I have a Pioneer 5090 and a Sony Bluray player that I will be keeping from my old system. Right I am ONLY interested in movie performance not music or games. I am a movie only nut. from what I have read over the years M&K are the best for movies?? Is this still correct. I am planing to buy a Denon AVC-A11XVA amp from a friend for £800 which can accept HDMI audio via LPCM, is this a good option or am I better off with a new HD amp? onkyo or somethink else. I have decided on a small SVS SB12+ sub for around £500, the speakers I have decided on are the M&K 750LCR THX @ £410 each, a friend of mine used to have some M&K 850s I remember being blown away with the sound. How do they compare to the 750s? Any M&K experts on here?

I am not sure what rears to go for at the moment, maybe M&K S55T tripoles @£850? any suggestions? Can I get the column surrrounds anywhere?

Am I right to go with M&K? remember I only want what Is best for movie playback.

Is my current room to small for the above setup? It hopefully not be to long anyway!

Thanks for the advice

 

[Frank Harvey]

The Denon at £800 is a bargain, go for it. The Onkyo's aren't going to match up, so leave them be. Your room will be fine, a smaller room means you don't have to push things as hard. They'll sound better once you do move to a bigger room as the M&K speakers do like to be pushed to give their best, but this doesn't mean they're not good enough for low level listening.

Miller & Kreisel are still up there. Let's face it, it's what they're designed to do. And with new products on the way this is only going to reinforce their position as the main choice for those who wish to get the most from their home cinema system.

The 850's were fantastic speakers, and the 750's are very close. The 750's I found to be easier to partner than the 850's as they need a hell of a lot of grunt to hear them at their best - the 750's are quite happy on the end of mid priced amps. The last time I demonstrated the 750's was on the end of a Yamaha DSPZ7 with the opening scene from the Dark Knight, and it sounded absolutely phenomenal. This was with the M&K SB1250 though, which will be a little different to the SB12+.

As for rear speakers, the columns were great speakers, some say the best rears they've ever heard, but they're no longer produced so you'll only find them on the second hand market. The matching rears would be the S55T's.

Regards

David

 

[JohnHolmes]

Thanks for the reply David, tell me how would a ATC SCM11 based setup compare to the 850s with SS150 tripole rears? I have seen a s/h set for sale. A friend of mine thinks I should forget M&K and go for ATCs.

Many thanks

 

[JohnHolmes]

Also could you advise if a Velodyne DD12 would be a good sub upgrade to match the M&K 850 SS150 or ATC 11s. A friend of mine is upgrading his to a DD18.

Thanks

 

[Frank Harvey]

JohnHolmes: Many tanks for the reply David, tell me how would a ATC SCM11 based setup compare to the 850s with SS150 tripole rears? I have seen a s/h set for sale. A friend of mine thinks I should forget M&K and go for ATCs. We have recently taken on ATC, but at the moment we're waiting for all our dem models to turn up. I've been wanting to hear ATC for a long time, as they're the only speakers I thought might compete with the M&K's as far as movies are concerned, based on what I've heard of music at hi-fi shows. So far we only have the SCM11 in, but they're fantastic speakers. I'd go as far to say that they're one of the few 'high end' sounding speakers on the pleasant side of £1k. They seem to be able to deal with all types of music, even stuff like Boards Of Canada, which doesn't come across well on some high end speakers. But so far, they're not quite what I expected based on what I heard of the active SCM100's I heard a few years ago (but then active's are quite different anyway). I don't think they'll worry the M&K's, but they'd be an excellent alternative if music reproduction is a factor.

The only drawback with the ATC's is that they're 85dB, which is quite low, so you're going to need a fairly hefty AV amp to get a full ATC system to sing. Given that a Nait XS can struggle a little on them, I think you're going to have to look at something like the Arcam AVR600 as a starting point for the ATC's. Although the M&K's do respond to better amplification, you'd be able to get away with something like a Yamaha DSPZ7 as they're much easier to drive than the ATC's.

We should have a couple more of their models in by the end of the week, and once they're run in I'll be able to give you more precise advice.

As for the Velodyne, I have to admit I've never heard one. I'm led to believe it's a good sub, so you should be ok. Like better amplification, M&K satellites perform better when partnered with a good sub. If you can get it at a price you can sell it on for and not lose anything, it's worth a punt.

Regards

David

 

[JohnHolmes]

Thanks again for the info David. As long as they can't beat the M&Ks for movies I think I shall stick with them.

S150s are my target setup one day, If only the there were not so ugly and I had a bigger room. I hear they are unbeatable for movies, do you have them setup in your demo room? Would love to hear them. Hopefully one day I will have a dedicated room large enough for the S150s.

Do you think M&K will ever make column surrounds again? What are your thought on them?

Cheers

 

[JohnHolmes]

David do you have the S150s in your demo room?

 

[Frank Harvey]

JohnHolmes:

Thanks again for the info David. As long as they can't beat the M&Ks for movies I think I shall stick with them.

S150s are my target setup one day, If only the there were not so ugly and I had a bigger room. I hear they are unbeatable for movies, do you have them setup in your demo room? Would love to hear them. Hopefully one day I will have a dedicated room large enough for the S150s.

Do you think M&K will ever make column surrounds again? What are your thought on them?Hi John

Yes, we are in the process of running our S150's in, after getting them back in a few weeks ago, along with an MX350THX.

I don't think the ATC's will 'beat' the M&K's for movies, but they'll certainly be a top alternative, especially for those who need good music too - although they do need a lot of driving due to their insensitive nature.

S150's ugly?!! Naah, they're gorgeous 🙂

We hope they will bring back the columns, which were fantastic, but they'd need to be at the right price. £995 would be great, but seeing as they were £1295 when they were discontinued a few years ago, I'd assume they'd be closer to £1700/1900 by todays prices. But then I suppose that's not too bad a priceif you're pairing them up with S150's as the SS150's are £1495/pair.

 

[JohnHolmes]

Hi David

Many thanks for the reply! much appreciated! Will call in if I am ever in your area for a demo of the S150! Ive had my 850s now and they sound superb! Just deciding on what rears to go for.

Regards

John

 

[Frank Harvey]

No problem, they're permanently set up with the DSPZ11 at the moment.

The obvious surrounds to go for would be the SS150's, but the columns will work just as well.

The 850's will sound excellent with a good AV amp, but the Denon A1 and Z11 really shouold be used with 150's......

 

[JohnHolmes]

hopefully one day I will have a 150 setup! btw how does my a11xva amp compare to the Pioneer SC-LX81 or onkyo 907 if I was to change to a HD amp one day?

 

[Frank Harvey]

The main differences you'll find will be due to HD audio processing, obviously giving more detail, bigger soundstage etc etc. If you need brute power, the 907 will be the main one to lok at, but if you want better processing, the DSPZ7 will win the day. The LX81, along with digital amplification, has the advantage of THX processing, if you want to hear the 150's as intended, but to be honest, we rarely use THX at work as it tends to 'dull' the sound a little. Having used the LX81 with 150's, we don't think it quite drives them as well as they need to be driven. (Insert subliminal DSPZ11 message here)

 

[JohnHolmes]

Hi David,

Do you think there is a difference between decoding the HD sound formant in the player and sending LPCM via HDMI to my A11XVA rather than bitstreaming the HD format to a newer HD Amp for decoding? Mm yes the DSPZ11 really is the dream amp.

Ta

John

 

[Frank Harvey]

I prefer to bitstream it out, although technically there should be no, or very little difference. When I changed from a PS3 to a dedicated BD player, it did seem to sound better. If you keep the AVCA11, obviously PCM will be as good as you'll get.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

JohnHolmes:

Hi David,

Do you think there is a difference between decoding the HD sound formant in the player and sending LPCM via HDMI to my A11XVA rather than bitstreaming the HD format to a newer HD Amp for decoding? Mm yes the DSPZ11 really is the dream amp.

Ta

John

Hi John

Yes, the Yamaha DSP-Z11 is stunning.

At the moment the DSP-Z11 is set up with ATC's SCM19 (front), C3MK2 (centre), SCM7 (rear) and also ATC's C2 (subwoofer).

The performance is awesome and not to mention almost painful (in a nice way) as the sheer power (not just volume) and pressure this combination is capable of producing is incredible.

Thanks

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[JohnHolmes]

Hi David

Have you compared the M&Ks to the ATCs yet? If so what were your thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Frank Harvey]

Sorry, I haven't. Although we don't have a centre here, it's not something I actively pursued as I'd be sticking with M&K myself. Unless I can get hold of a centre, I'd have to use an SCM11 as a centre or something.......

 

[JohnHolmes]

ok no worries. 🙂