Plain and simple the THX S-150THX are a well round set of Speakers it does not take rocket science to acknowledge quality sound; either way its a win win...if you come across M&K you must already know you are already in a high quality arena... acoustic is my career with NASA and finding speaker that perform so well balanced and dynamically in both music and Home Theater for the price these are the best value... sure there may be other more well rounded speakers but cost a quarter of a middle class home.. I would not look twice to invest in a these if you are looking to spend $5k+ just go a head and buy a sound pressure level (SPL) at radio shack or at your local MOM and POP shop it will be worth the money overall and you'll never regret it... M&K are also American made... careful with counter-fits in the M&K-750 series don't buy anything stating "tested by M&k in the USA" authentic M&K State "Made in USA"

After 10 years on every day and connnected to my restaurant system, it finally broke down... now what do i do? the on light gave up the ghost and so did the sound. But I got my money's worth.... Maybe I'll try to get it fixed. I loved the sound.

Best available pure home theater speaker at this price point and bests many pricier speakers for home theater. Pedigree, value, performance & warranty.

They are not necessarily pretty.

I don't want to jinx myself by writing this review but I am fairly certain after several years of trying to find a speaker arrangement to meet my goals, the 150's have been the answer. I have gone many routes trying to find a speakers which offered the best of both worlds for music and video. What I have discovered is that you really can't find an arrangement that does both well on a critically high level. If you are more than 50% in one direction, then lean towards the speakers that meet your preference. Most recently, I bought a pricey Dynaudio Contour center and SE bookshelfs thinking that a quality speaker this musical would certainly be a top notch speaker for home theater as well. I was wrong, the sound was soft and un-involving. Previously before owning the Dynaudios, I had a M&K 750 THX set-up and was really impressed with their home theater ability but thought that I could get a more musical speaker and still have a dynamic home theater sound. As I said, the thinking was wrong. First of all both the 750's and the 150's are both decent with music. Although, if you are into sitting around with a glass of brandy and picking apart the nuances of instruments on 2 channel cd listening, you can certainly do better. But that is not what we are talking about here, if you are looking at M&K, you are at least 70-30 home theater. For the 30% or less that you want to enjoy music, you get a detailed presentation and sound that is at least competitive with your better mid range spekaers that are touted for their musicality. But if home theater is your passion, these speakers make child's play of any similarly priced speakers, especailly those wich are emphasized for music. You'll notice a huge difference in the dynamic peaks, the way sound moves from speaker to speaker and clarity. I have the matching $875 AC center which is only 21 pounds and my $1,400 Dynaudio Contour with the beautiful wood cabinet wasn't in the same league. The M&K's are the closest thing a consumer can get to a professional studio monitor for the home, in fact, these are hybrids of the big time speakers used in professional mixing studios and soundstages for some of the leading studios in the world. There isn't a speaker available to the consumer with the same pedigree as M&K for home theater performance. The tell tale sign for me was the day I brought these home and played the new Resident Evil sequel, I actually jumped from a sound effect coming from the left front speaker. Moreover, these are the first speakers I have owned where I have had to turn the dynamic range control to "reduced" on my processor because even at modest volumes, I was keeping the family up at night. The audio/video industry is full of a lot of hype, if you believe in bi-wiring and are seduced by pretty wood enclosures, the M&K approach will not be as appealing. But look at pictures in recording studios of speakers and you will see industrial looking speakers like M&K. The wood finishes and gimicky bi-wirible fancy binding posts are designed from a marketing perspective. I am not a believer of throwing 5 stars around because I don't think it benefits those of you looking for buying advice, however, if you understand what these are inteded for, you are looking at truly a 5 star product. In terms of quality, the M&K offers a ten year warranty, each speaker is indivually tested and the technician's name is actually on the speaker. I recommend the 150's wholeheartedly to anyone who aspire to have cinema quality sound in there home and in some cases exceed it.

Similar Products Used:

Polk, Energy, Dynaudio, M&K, Boston, Sonus Faber, Revel, JBL, Definitive.

Sound, Stage, detail, Warmth.

None

Let me start by saying that I don't mix theater with music. So I don't have to debate if it sounds reference like for 2 ch. playback. All I know is that I have compared it with the high end Energy, Boston Acoustic, B&W and others. What I found was that the MK speakers are capable of sounding natural and revealing with great stage for movies. What I mean is that if you have reference DVDs like the Matrix, Gladiator, and others, you can audition real life-like sound effects with direction, natural dialogue and a movie that will blow you away. Again you can judge for yourself. I use the MK S-150THX Ultra with the following: Denon 5800, Toshiba SD 9200, Monster Power HTS 5000, Monster M1000 Digital Cable, MK S-150 center, 200 MK 2 Tripolet-4, MX-350 MK II THX Ultra-2. Sometimes they can be, and at other times they are not a bit bright, but that depends on the system you are using and the cables you are using as well. I will explain. With the Denon, I use the Kimber 4TC, which sound a bit bright but that's because the cables don't have 10 hours yet. I hope it will go away after 100 hrs of burning. I was using Monster XP and it wasn't bright at all, but I lost detail. I also tested my Mcintosh Amp MC 150 with the speakers and the difference in sound was amazing, very close to what reference theater is all about. I know the sound will get there once I change my digital cable and see what Kimber 4TC is all about, or replace it. As a matter a fact in the future I will also change the AV with separates. If you want a good music do what I did, and get a nice stereo. Believe me, you don't need super expensive equipment (30,000 plus) to get reference sound. To conclude, the MK S150 THX are amazing for Movies and they will sound only right if you match them with the correct equipment and the right acoustics. Again you can always buy better but the MK won’t put a hole your pocket. PS. If you have these speakers and know the right combination of speaker cables, please share this information, thanks.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Boston Accoustic, Klipch, Energy.

dimensionality detail soundstage how volume play without distortion

price

This is a review of the s-150p. Yes, that''s right, I put the "p" on the end for a reason. The p stands for self-powered. M&K sells a self-amplified speaker that audioreview does not have a specifc entry for. These are THE speakers used in Skywalker sound and other sound mixing studios. They have 180 watt amplifiers built into them, and weigh about 45 lbs each. They retail over $2k, but I got mine off ebay for half that price (and have never seen them there since). They are tremendous speakers. The sound stage is very wide. I hear many details with these speakers I do not hear from others, including the s-150 (unpowered). I don''t happen to like the sound of the unpowered version that most people here are writing about. I think they stink for music listening. The self-powered versions are great with movies and music. One thing I like in particular is their ability to handle high volumes without distortion. I''ve never been able to drive them beyond their limits. They have detachable power cords, and I would like to one day purchase nicer cords to see if that improves sound even more. Since they are self-powered, you use the pre-outs on your receiver, or hook them directly into a preamp through an interconnect. This is also a nice feature. For some reason, self-powered speakers have not picked up in the marketplace (except in the subwoofer category, of course). The key advantage is that the amplifier is designed specifically for the speaker enclosure. It also has a reduced set of wiring between the amp and the speaker cones. I will never go back to the normal speaker configuration with an external amp, after owning these babies a while. Now I can concentrate on purchasing a good preamp to mate with the speakers directly. For those who like performance reviews like Home Theater, I believe these were given a 95 for performance. Write me for more info if you like. I think Downtown audio sells them for $1750 each - which is the lowest price I''ve been able to find outside of ebay

Similar Products Used:

M&K 750 thx-select M&K s-150 (unpowered)

Nuances not found previously, precise localization

transparency

After selling my entire Martin Logan home theater package, I was a little worried that buying the THX150 system would make me miss the transparency of the Logans.

Well, not to compare oranges to apples, the Martin Logan system is undoubtedly one of the best systems ever. Transparency, envelopment, everything you'd want, other than a $10K price tag for the sytem and 6 foot beasts.

Anyway, given the small footprint of the M&K, and the fact that Lucas uses them, I couldn't pass up on the opp to purchase these puppies. Fortunately, for movies, they are excellent. Again, not as good as the 6 foot Martin Logans, but for the size and price difference, you can't go wrong.

Great on voice recognition, nuances in movies not heard before, great imaging, can play VERY Loud, and the tripole surrounds are a great choice for those undetermined about dipole vs. direct radiators.

I highly recommend for movies. Other equipment includes: Theta Digital Casablanca, 2-ATI 1506 amps (I bi-amp all the speakers) DV-09 DVD Player, Pioneer 406 LD player, 2 Energy ESL-12XL powered subs.

Great system!

Similar Products Used:

Definitive Technology, PSB, Energy, Kef

Very accurate speakers and they sound equally well with music or movies.

Must be placed very carefully

These speakers are extremely accurate. In fact, I have heard several things that have gone unheard before. When I was shopping for speakers, I kind of stumbbled upon the M&Ks. I had the salesman put in some jazz and I was stunned by the way they imaged and how accurate they sounded. I had Boston speakers before these and I felt they were pretty good speakers and after listening to the M&K's the Boson's are just pretty good. The only drawback to them is that you must place them very carefully so that you are not more than a degree or two off axis. This means if you like to move around when listening to music, they don't sound as good as when you are sitting down to listen, but very few speakers do. For movies, they are the ultimate and movies are more of a priority to me than is music. If you want a very accurate hometheater speaker, look no further. If you you want a good music speaker as well, these are good to. However, if you want a music only speaker there are better out there.

Similar Products Used:

None

Seperation, theater playback, soundstage

none

I justed finshed building my theater with a some carpet on the walls with diffusers. Connected by Lexicon MC-1, Rotel amps(RB 990s), and Pioneer Elite disc player to my Klipsch speakers which are KG 5.2 (similar to 5.5) and my theater room rocked. Why am I talking about Klipsch? To compare them with my new M&K S-150 speakers. I loved my horns, Klipsch. So did my wife. But I've been looking for a quality theater speaker and if George Lucas liked them, why not listen to them. What we heard was better seperation in the audio track of movies and music. The voices were clearly defined and well understood. The M&K 150 sub did an excellent job producing the bass needed. I've listend to many speakers, B&W, Martin Logans, Vienna Accoustics, Monitors, and many others but I like M&K. My ears never got fatiqued. These quys didn't play high, meaning that if you listen to bullets hitting a car and it hurts your ears to the point of fatique. But these guys never tired my ears. They are nice warm speakers. I listend to my DTS music collection, WOW!!! I've got chills. I feel the breath of the singers (Boyz to Men). I love these speakers. Klipsch are nice but M&K was much better with movies and music. Detail, Detail, Detail. These are quality speakers, the slight puff of the cigar in Crimson Tide to the rolling thunders of that movie. I'm listening to the Eagles and I heard things with better detail and seperation then my Klipsch. Panning from left to right was smoooooth. No dips in the audio as I listen to a dragon fly in my room as he's talking to Dennis Quaid from DRAGON HEART. No "ssss" at the end of sentece as people talk. Your hearing the audio as it was ment to be heard. A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch

Clarity at all volume levels, voices extremely realistic,
3 front speakers balanced perfectly, great imaging

none

I recommend these speakers wholeheartedly. There must be a reason that so many studios use these as their reference speakers. It was very obvious the first time I hooked them up. The sound is breath-taking.

accurate

none IF you want accuracy... but I also like the comfortable sound of my car and Bose speakers, which these are not

First, these speakers are 95% for movies and, when combined with a sub (I use the M&K 5000 MKII) are very good. Last month when an old submariner was watching U-571 (or whatever it is called) he barfed as it brought back too many old memories in a visceral level (now, that is real movie making and real sound delivered properly and at reference levels). That is the high point, so far, of our home theater experience (the submariner also enjoyed the movie and wants to come back for more!!!).

On Sunday I left a multi million dollar sound studio with the rough mixes on CDR to 3 new songs done for a major artist. I couldn't wait to get them home and see how my little bitty system compaired to one of the best (and most expensive) in L.A.. Well, it was as accurate as the main speaker system in the studio and just as full and comfortable to listen to (I am not compairing to the reference level Yamaha speakers all studios seem to use to mix ... but which don't have the low frequencies and don't sound too good... just accurate!.... ). I was blown away.

This speaker system is really good. You cannot do better if you want real sound the way it was mixed. If you want something else then I know that there are more comfortable speakers. For music I even like more comfortable speakers... but they aren't as true to the artist and producer as the M&K's. And, for MOVIES, which is what I bought these for (I can hardly listen to music at home!) they can't be beat.

Similar Products Used:

I make music for a living