Parasound and M&K

[Chris D]

I'm curious--is anyone here in the club using M&K speakers with Parasound equipment? I'm wondering how this would sound. Several of us use Klipsch, which works pretty well, and then there are those who pair Parasound with Magnepan, which in my mind would be just about ideal.

I'm wondering if M&K would give you performance somewhere inbetween those two, specifically their really nice S-150 speakers for center and mains, and the SS-150s for surrounds.

On a side note, M&K suddenly just announced that they're shutting down their factory, stopping production. Very unexpected, and not much details are known yet, including whether it's even possible that they restart production later, or just flat out go out of business.

[Peter Nielsen]

I believe Chetk has a M&K setup complete with multiple S150s and M&K sub. Check this thread

Peter

[Jariten]

Running C-1 with HCA-2205A and M&K 150 THX surround system

How does it sound?

Dunno....I've had it for 6 or more years

planning on changing? nope..

=))))))

[eraserhead]

Chris…

I just ditched my m&k system mostly because, as a 4 year M&K owner, i saw the writing on the wall about 8 months ago and their forthcoming closure was inevitable. After 20 some odd years of being in business – they’ve finally called it quits (check their www site – and if you’re a current owner – good luck getting spare parts… I’m trying like hell). The m&k system will go in boxes until I move into another place – at which point It’ll make a super b-level system

The sound from m&k was pretty darn good – but my situation demanded something a little different as i was working with a rather large room (in which interactions were totally a fact of life – and something you just couldn’t avoid). You’d be hardpressed to find a better set of speakers for the dollar for home theater. Where they tend to fall out of bed is in larger listening environments for 2 channel reproduction. The cubic volume of my room was simply a deal breaker when I really wanted to listen to some “whiz-bang” two channel stuff. Don’t get me wrong, they toss out a HUGE soundstage for their size – but they just weren’t doing it for me in terms of making a 2 channel recording into an “event”. To give an idea of what I mean by event – my latest purchase for 2 channel augmentation were legacy’s whisper HD (which are simply stunning.. sorry for the shameless plug).

Their subs are still being utilized in my rig until I can decide what I really need with the whispers – stack two of those badboys vertically and rock out the reported +10db gain – and you’ll be re-taping all the drywall joints in your room.

the ss150-thx rear tripoles became somewhat of a standard in rear surrounds for 5.1 and 7.1 over the years - and leave nothing to be desired.

For 5.1 stuff M&K is pretty darn good… they should be (I think I remember somewhere that the dd 5.1 spec was developed with their monitors as a good “median” piece of benchmark hardware).


i'd assume in most cases, the thx-150 line was meant for nearfield monitoring. i was more in the farfield. hence my the ultimate factor that led me to look for something else. do a little research and you'll find most people have complained up front about the harshness/brightness of the M&K's - which, for buildings blowing up, and guns being shot - they excelled.

hope this helps.

and to answer your question - about being between the magenpans and klipsch, i'd say they are much closer to the klipsch, in terms of performance, than they are to the magnepans....

[Chris D]

Huh... yeah, the things you mention about the M&K speakers, people also say about Klipsch, like being bright. Not as efficient of speakers, though, as the horns with Klipsch.

[blownrx7]

Legacy's are a great choice

I had a pair of Legacy Classic years ago and was looking to upgrade to the Focus when I came across a "cannot refuse" deal on my Von Schweikert VR4.5's.
I still drool over the Whispers and dream of getting them one day...

I wonder how their new surrounds (the Phantom) will compare to the SS150?
I looked into the MIST's as well but ended up goiing with a VS setup.
Caveat: Legacy has gone WAY UP the price ladder and I think they are inviting some competition with their pricing nowadays :cry:
When I was looking at HT speakers, I decided against the M&K because of the "brightness". I loved their application for surround in the SS-150 but if was not going to integrate with the room...

Parasound content: Legacy speakers are easy to drive so a setup with an A51 and A21 would suffice. If you want, get two A21's to drive the Whisper's. Or go all out and get Seven (or NINE) JC-1's and really move the walls back!!! arty:

[Peter Nielsen]

Or go all out and get Seven (or NINE) JC-1's and really move the walls back!!! arty:

Yep, you'll definitely need to take out the walls because of the heat generated by the JC1s. Between the choice of taking out the walls or the JC1, I figured out that taking out the JC1 was a better investment. A home without walls is kind of hard to sell... :B

Peter

P.S. The JC1s will make you a great customer with your energy provider. Since I sold my JC1s, the eletricity bill dropped form $220/month to $80/month... Progress Energy oviously noticed this drop in usage, because now I get constantly spammed with ads about fixed monthly billing :B

[Chetk]

Yes. I have the C1 with the S-150P's. Each speaker is powered and I don't require a separate amp.

Sounds great, but I am worried that something will go wrong and that my warranty was shut down from 10 years to 3 years.

I'd love to be able to hear the uncompressed tracks from Blu-Ray, but PARASOUND WON'T RELEASE A RECEIVER THAT SUPPORTS HDMI 1.3, DD TRUE-HD, DTS-HD MA and PCM!!! :M :M :M

[Chris D]

Heheeeee... I feel your pain. I don't know what the S-150p's have... are you able to run balanced cables to all those form the C1? That would be killer.

[dts_boy]

i used to have an m&k system. tbh, if they have gone bust then im sorely tempted to pick up an s150 system at a bargain price - awesome speakers that have stood the test of time and the warranty wouldn't woory me too much as im sure there are stocks of spares to last a while. that and m&k speakers are bullet proof - u have to do something silly to blow a drive unit

[huricaneherb]

I am using Legacy focus 20/20s as my mains and these speakers rock!!! If you can find a decent pair used Buy them you wont be dissapointed. I run them with a C2 and A51 Biamped using XLRs and my Center is a Def Tech CLR 300, bass is not a problem with this speaker combo.

[Chris D]

Hey, Herb, welcome to the Guide and Club Parasound! :banana:

[Chetk]

Heheeeee... I feel your pain. I don't know what the S-150p's have... are you able to run balanced cables to all those form the C1? That would be killer.

Yes, I made my own balanced XLR cables using Neutrik's NC3FX-B's and Neutrik's NC3MX-B's and everything works and sounds great!

Objects are smaller than they appear ::

[Peter Nielsen]

FWIW, those pictures are of the silver plated -BAG type. The -B type has gold plated contacts...

What cable did you use? (My preference is the Canare Star Quad L-4E6S)

Peter

[blownrx7]

I run all balanced and also used the Neutrik XLR connectors too (NC3FX-B's and MX-B's - gold plated version).
I used DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1 cable that I obtained from ACI (10% discount for ACI speaker owners).http://www.audioc.com/accessories1/dhlabs/bl1.htm
If I were to do it again I probably would have tried the Canare L4E6S myself, but the info about the Canare was not available then (circa '99) and now I like to keep all the cables the same. The BL-1 is great bang for the buck but I believe the Canare is even cheaper.
I could not tell you which one performs better but I do know the BL-1 is an EXCELLENT performer and I am very happy with it.

[Peter Nielsen]

The BL-1 is great bang for the buck but I believe the Canare is even cheaper.

Canare L-4E6S can be had for as little as $0.32/ft (when buying 100ft or more), so it appears it is more than 10 times cheaper :T

Peter