MK K5's or B&W M1's

[simonlockyer]

hello all,
im in the process of getting new speakers and i was wondering if anyone had any opinions on the MK K5s or the B&W M1s.
also what speaker would you match the MK K5s with?
cheers

 

[Member 116841]

It depends whether your priorities are with music or movies.

If you favour music and have another half to visually please, the B&W's will most likely be your preference. But if you're looking to put together a home cinema system, then the M&K's are unbeatable for the prices they're going for at the moment. M&K's are purely designed to faithfully reproduce movie soundtracks whereas other lifestyle packages are designed for music reproduction and aesthetic reasons.

For movie use, the M&K's are so much more open and accurate, and the level of detail compared to the average package is astounding.

As they're an easy 8ohm load, they can pretty much be driven by any AV amp, but we'd recommend at least the Onkyo 605 or something around the £500 mark. What you get from the M&K's will depend what you put in as they are more revealing than the average speaker.

 

[simonlockyer]

thanks very much! i watch more movies than anything listen to a bit of music... what center would you put with the k5's?
cheers
simon

 

[Member 116841]

You can either use the K5 or K7.

One thing M&K have always done is to use exactly the same speaker across the front 3 so that panning front effects are seamless. Films are mastered on the same speakers, not ones with smaller or larger centres. This is just one area where M&K leave most manufacturers standing, as centres rarely match the speakers they're supposedly designed to work with.

Also, you have the option of the K15, which is the same as a K5 but with a higher quality HF unit, making it a better performer with music as well as movies. These are available for only a little more than the K5.