Miller & Kreisel S150 speaker review (by Erin)

[sweetchaos]

Thanks to @hardisj for another review!

Miller & Kreisel S150 Speaker Review

Miller & Kreisel S150 Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

Preference score (as per Erin): 3.4 (/w sub 6.4)

Conclusion:

Listening was mostly within a couple meters, though I did back out to 4 meters at one point. Why close? Because, the majority of the reviews and talk I saw about these were with respect to their “monitor speaker” use. Some certainly use them in home theater applications. So, I varied my listening distance and even the angle of the speakers. Below is a very brief summary of what I heard and how it relates to the data.

• Very bright speaker. Estimated in-room response backs this up with nearly a flat response other than in the crossover region.
• Shelved midrange/midbass.
• Gets plenty loud with low distortion and compression through the midrange and treble.
• Pay attention to placement because the horizontal radiation pattern changes due to the tweeters having been placed to the side of the mids. Namely, note the suckout in response that is speaker side (left, right) dependent.
• Poor directivity through the crossover region. I’d recommend some serious room treatment: side, front and ceiling absorption with this speaker.

Discuss!

 

[LTig]

Doesn't look like a speaker which gets a recommendation here.

 

[Sancus]

Yikes that looks real bad, what's the point of driver arrangements like this supposed to be?? You ruin your horizontal dispersion for... what exactly?

 

[sweetchaos]

Yikes that looks real bad, what's the point of driver arrangements like this supposed to be?? You ruin your horizontal dispersion for... what exactly?

Mostly aesthetics I think. I don't see many speakers that have multiple tweeters like this.
People buy whatever looks unique, without any understanding of it's design.

 

[thewas]

Yikes that looks real bad, what's the point of driver arrangements like this supposed to be?? You ruin your horizontal dispersion for... what exactly?

Guess higher vertical directivity, THX also recommends such vertical tweeter arrays, but it shows that doesn't work well with such few drivers and not using shading.

 

[dfuller]

What a bizarre speaker. Why...

 

[abdo123]

Yikes that looks real bad, what's the point of driver arrangements like this supposed to be?? You ruin your horizontal dispersion for... what exactly?

Output obviously. The tuning is also for flat sound power which would work better with the speakers shoved into a wall in a home cinema setup.

 

[DSJR]

In my situation, I reckon I'd LOVE them! Overdamped smallish room which over-absorbs right where the tweeters are 'strong' off axis, close to wall behind will flatten the mid-bass to upper mid balance and the roll-off below 100Hz in this room would not be a major issue, especially with our neighbour's keen hearing and the house structure wanting to act as a bass resonator!

I first came across M&K as a home theatre primarily product. I did sell a handful of their smaller subs, which really were good for music (bass instrument 'tunes and timbres' not just rumble and thump! - apologies for subjective description but best I can do).

...*And then I saw the price each,* although they were on sale for half that approximately - A bit high really...

M&K S150 MKII Left Speaker (Single), Satin Black at AV.com

M&K S150 MKII Left Speaker (Single), Satin Black at AV.com

www.av.com

 

[sarumbear]

Tweeters on the side of the woofers tells anyone who understands crossovers that this speaker will have bad and uneven polar diagram without even measuring it.

 

[MZKM]

The speaker is supposed(?) to have foam(?) pieces around the tweeter, Isee that for RAAL tweeters and some Wilson Audio tweeters, I wonder how much of an effect it has.

 

[MZKM]

max spl and different looking (?)

If going by the compression testing Erin does, it’s usually the woofers that run out of steam before the tweeters do. Sometimes the top octave of the tweeters do run out of steam, but if you take into account the spectrum of real music, you never need 100dB at 1kHz.

 

[sarumbear]

If going by the compression testing Erin does, it’s usually the woofers that run out of steam before the tweeters do. Sometimes the top octave of the tweeters do run out of steam, but if you take into account the spectrum of real music, you never need 100dB at 1kHz.

You are not listening EDM then

Around 15% of Silver 5L customers had ordered replacement tweeters. The crossover is 1500Hz 4th order LR.

 

[3ll3d00d]

The speaker is supposed(?) to have foam(?) pieces around the tweeter, Isee that for RAAL tweeters and some Wilson Audio tweeters, I wonder how much of an effect it has.

The old versions of this did use foam pads, the more recent ones don't

 

[kiwifi]

I have six M&K S100B's in my (7.4) system and a couple of M&K subs. The S100B was the precursor to the original (THX certified) S150 which was used in many top recording studios in the 90's, so it's good enough for me! I have no idea if the new S150 is as good as the original.

 

[SynthesisCinema]

These are legendary speakers used by multiple studios and hollywood film makers. THX Ultra 2 rated. For hometheater use example with Dirac Live is there any real issues as these typically go in fully treated theater room optimally placed?

@hardisj "Some certainly use them in home theater applications." Some? Most people buy these for home theater with LCR 3-4meters from listeners. There is active version MPS2510P for nearfield use and also low depth version MP150 and finally IW150 for in-wall!

This is the loudspeaker...​

• This is the loudspeaker chosen for the first public demonstrations of the Blu-ray disc format
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to create the very first Dolby EX 6.1 channel soundtrack
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to create Blu-ray and DVD masters for Sony, MGM, TriStar, Columbia and many others
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to record the complete Carl Nielsen symphonies with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra
• This is the loudspeaker chosen for sound design for Star Wars Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to restore and remaster such film classics as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz
• This is the loudspeaker chosen chosen for sound production on Wall-E, Iron Man, King Kong, The Incredibles, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Finding Nemo, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Chicago, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Rings, Cast Away and many other major releases

 

[Larry B. Larabee]

This is the loudspeaker chosen

We have the authority, where is the appeal?
If turned sideways is all forgiven?

 

[sharock]

These are legendary speakers used by multiple studios and hollywood film makers. THX Ultra 2 rated. For hometheater use example with Dirac Live is there any real issues as these typically go in fully treated theater room optimally placed?

@hardisj "Some certainly use them in home theater applications." Some? Most people buy these for home theater with LCR 3-4meters from listeners. There is active version MPS2510P for nearfield use and also low depth version MP150 and finally IW150 for in-wall!

This is the loudspeaker...​

• This is the loudspeaker chosen for the first public demonstrations of the Blu-ray disc format
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to create the very first Dolby EX 6.1 channel soundtrack
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to create Blu-ray and DVD masters for Sony, MGM, TriStar, Columbia and many others
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to record the complete Carl Nielsen symphonies with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra
• This is the loudspeaker chosen for sound design for Star Wars Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith
• This is the loudspeaker chosen to restore and remaster such film classics as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz
• This is the loudspeaker chosen chosen for sound production on Wall-E, Iron Man, King Kong, The Incredibles, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Finding Nemo, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Chicago, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Rings, Cast Away and many other major releases

And Abbey Road uses B&W. None of this changes the measurements.

 

[SynthesisCinema]

And Abbey Road uses B&W. None of this changes the measurements.

I asked is there something worrying which can be fixed with little eq and speakers placed optimally in treated room? I see lot of negative remarks for products if they don´t measure as good as Revels and then other people come calm down saying it really isn´t as bad as some make it look. I can´t understand all these measurements as good as you folks so i´m wondering are people over reacting here or not.

 

[abdo123]

I asked is there something worrying which can be fixed with little eq and speakers placed optimally in treated room? I see lot of negative remarks for products if they don´t measure as good as Revels and then other people come calm down saying it really isn´t as bad as some make it look. I can´t understand all these measurements as good as you folks so i´m wondering are people over reacting here or not.

The speaker is flat on-axis, which means for people sitting right in front of it in a treated room it should be okay.

 

[Frgirard]

I asked is there something worrying which can be fixed with little eq and speakers placed optimally in treated room? I see lot of negative remarks for products if they don´t measure as good as Revels and then other people come calm down saying it really isn´t as bad as some make it look. I can´t understand all these measurements as good as you folks so i´m wondering are people over reacting here or not.

Not Revel! As good as Genelecs and Neumanns.
Why make weird when it's easy to do simple with good measurements and super good sound.