Loudspeakers

In an ideal world you'd want to experience movies with the same speakers used to craft their soundtracks. M&K Sound has been making professional studio monitors for decades, and its S150 is about as iconic as you can get. But what if you fancy a similar level of performance from a speaker that's a bit cheaper and a bit more… normal looking?

This particular question is no longer hypothetical thanks to M&K Sound's recently upgraded 750 Series. The range represents an entry-level option within the company's home cinema audio lineup, integrating innovations and high-performance technologies first introduced in the S150, and presenting them in a speaker with a more conventional driver layout, traditional cabinet design and acceptable ticket price.

Sensibly, the 750 Series employs a similar logic to studio monitors, keeping the left, centre and right speakers identical. Well, almost. The LCR750 (£1,000 per pair) is used for left and right channels, while the LCR750C (£500) is a dedicated centre speaker. The only difference is the latter is designed to be used horizontally rather than vertically, with an appropriately reorientated grille logo and binding posts.

The speakers each have 1in soft fabric dome tweeters and 5.25in stiffened fibreglass cone woofers, as do the S150s. However, instead of the latter's funky three-tweeter-plus-two-woofer configuration, you get a more familiar tweeter-at-the-top-and-two-woofers-underneath layout. The HF drivers are given an 'integrated' wave guide and shallow horn load to boost dispersion characteristics. Aluminium rings, meanwhile, aim to kill distortion at high SPL levels.

Imaging both on- and off-axis is, says M&K, improved by the speakers' having a gentle angle to the tweeter installation, which means the left and right units are identified as such on their rear panels. As part of this 'high frequency prism' approach, M&K employs tensioned curved metal grilles that fit into slots at the LCR750s' sides – essentially making them spring loaded (so watch out when removing them).

We're Surrounded!
To complement the front three channels in this £3,700 5.1 system is M&K Sound's more compact SUR55T tripole speaker (£1,095 per pair), which is designed to match the timbre of its siblings while providing a more diffuse surround presence. It uses the same front-mounted tweeter and woofer, but adds two 3in mid-tweeters – one on either side in a dipole orientation – to combine pin-point accuracy with an enveloping soundfield.

The SUR55T also has the same integrated wave guide, aluminium rings and high-frequency prism system, along with a curved metal grille. As with the LCR750 speakers, the left and right units are identified as such.

The original 750 Series was the first speaker to be certified THX Select more than 20 years ago, and these acoustically upgraded versions continue that tradition.

The specs of the speakers are largely uniform in terms of performance, with the LCR750/C delivering a claimed frequency response of 80Hz to 20kHz and a claimed sensitivity of 90dB. The SUR55T has the same frequency response but is slightly less sensitive at 85dB. These numbers aren't quite as good as the S150 monitors, which drop a little deep and are easier to driver, but they're very close.

All three models are available in an attractive black vinyl finish, which is fine by me because I'm from the Henry Ford school of colour choices when it comes to home cinema speakers. The build quality is excellent, with pleasingly inert sealed cabinets, and at the rear are high-quality gold-plated binding posts, along with holes in different configurations for various wall-mounting options. In terms of overall style, there's not much here to get excited about, but you wouldn't buy these speakers to please your fashionista friends.

The lower frequencies in this setup are provided by the V12 (£1,250 each), which is the largest of M&K's compact subwoofers. I actually use a pair of V12s in my own reference system, so it's a model with which I'm very familiar, and while not quite as burly as the big and beefy X12 [reviewed as part of the IW150 in-wall package, HCC #289], it remains a powerful and responsive boom box.

The V12 carries THX Select 2 certification and uses a 12in forward-firing driver that's housed in a sealed enclosure. The sub's grunt is generated by an amplifier capable of delivering 300W RMS, with peaks up to 500W, and the claimed frequency response is a respectable 20Hz to 200Hz. M&K might consider the V12 'compact', but it still weighs in at a hefty 22kg.

Around the back it's all fairly straightforward in terms of connections, with just a stereo/LFE phono input and stereo phono output. The controls are equally as basic, with knobs for adjusting the volume, crossover and phase settings, along with a switch for selecting off, auto or on.