PLS Help MY S-150s sound awful!!

bass007

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Hi, after using the M&K K series for a couple of years now i decided to get 3 S-150's, which I have heard many time in the past.

To my horror when I put them on on the weekend, they sound awful compared to my dinky K5 & K7!! They sound Ok at higher volumes but when listening at a neigbour friendly level which 90% of the time I can just about make out the dialouge, so I crank the volume a couple of notches and its fine but when something loud happens its too loud, I never had this problem with my K Series. There is more detail but it sounds far away dosen't sound as explosisve as the K5 & K7's, WHY !!

Do I need to add a power amp to my system?

At the moment I have a Onkyo 898 THX reciever, K4 Tripoles, REL Storm5 Sub and the S-150.
 
Hi

I assume you've balanced all the Channel Levels, checked that they're wired correctly etc? How have you got them positioned? The S150's need to be placed so that the middle tweeter is at ear level & aimed exactly at your listening position.
 
Hi,

Well all spl levels are set, distance mesured, checked all wiring, thet are a bit high at the moment I have put them on top of my B&W CD1nts untill I get the Wall brackets which cost 155 each.
 
How much grunt has your Onkyo got? S-150's are quite a difficult load. Although if it's THX certified you should'nt have to many problems :confused: It dosn't have a ohm load selector switch does it? As above really make sure everythings connected properly, in phase etc etc...........
 
Hi, I thought it had loads of grunt with the K Series, 110 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.08% , And i have checked everything, beleive it or not it lacks clarity, I thought it would have been the oppsite.

Do you think I should add a power amp? I'm kinda broke after this purchase, would a Rotel 1075 make an improvement at low volume listening, or maybe it would not be worth it?

It does have an ohms selector its already set to 4ohms
 
bass007 - I posted earlier but deleted it as i did not read the youre post properly but i still think that they are very particular ref to setting up ie height and positioning and it is not the best mounting that you have for now.
Ref to you're amp it could be struggling with them as these speakers need alot to sound there best and even though the Onkyo managed the K series the S-150's are in a different league i would maybe try and give Gecko a call tommorow or even you're dealer for some advice and see what they say.

Regards
John
 
Lack of clarity is one thing the S150's don't suffer from usually. Positioning is critical for them to perform at their best though. Are you sure the speakers are all ok, nothing blown??
 
I have checked nothing is blown, I will have to get the wall brackets. Is my suggestion of the rotel 1075 power not worth it?
 
They do like plenty of power but I'd wait until you can them into the optimum position before purchasing a power amp.
 
the main problem which i see for the future is that i normally listen at low volumes, say -30 which was more than enough in my and will not offend the neigbours, but with these I have to crank them up to about -20 to hear the dialogue, but if for example in 2 Fast 2 Furious the street race scene its way too loud, so I find myself throughout a film going back to the remote about 20 times turning it up turning it down...
 
If you're up and down on the Remote all the time then give the Dynamic Range Control (aka Midnight Mode) a whirl. Bear in mind it has no effect if you use THX Processing or DTS tracks (apart from the R1 Rambo Trilogy). It decreases the Dynamic Range so you can have the overall volume higher to hear dialogue easier but you won't get blasted out of your seat when there's a loud explosion.
 
will try that, can anyone advice me on whether the rotel 1075 power would help, pls?

I have been advised from a friend to crank up the centre by 2db on spl
 
bass007 said:
will try that, can anyone advice me on whether the rotel 1075 power would help, pls?

I don't think the 1075 would be much of an improvement over you're existing amp, i would look at something like the 1098.
 
are you suggesting I should upgrade to 1098 processor and use Onkyo for the power section?
 
Rotel 1075 definetly got more mucsele then onkyo but not sure if that would be enough, try getting rotel 1075 on loan from sevenoaks for example. try it you will know if it is any good, before commiting for 1095 etc etc. there is one thing with rotels and that is you will need to crank it up a bit if you listen at -30 from your onkyo, you will need to crank it atleast in between -20 to -25 with Rotel. Infact in these forums there is fellow who is using these speakers with rotel 1075 don't remember where exactly I read it. Good luck.
 
Please check out the last post left by Hayes in "best thx speaker of all." thread.
 
ok i will, tonight I will crank up the centre by 2db and try lowering the speaker to what difference it makes, and report back
 
I have increased the Centre, which has made quite a big difference. But still I don't have the clarity of the K Series at low volumes I need to put the master volume up to -15 instead of -30,-35 to get the kind of attack and clarity which is too loud, is this a power amp problem?
 
bass007 said:
I have increased the Centre, which has made quite a big difference. But still I don't have the clarity of the K Series at low volumes I need to put the master volume up to -15 instead of -30,-35 to get the kind of attack and clarity which is too loud, is this a power amp problem?

In my opinion yes it is you're amp not provideing enough power to drive them here is a quote from M&K but it is ref to the PRO version the MPS 2510 passive speaker which is the same as the S-150's

While the speaker may be driven from many different power amplifiers, we suggest the highest quality amp of your choosing, able to supply at least a clean 250 watts into 4 ohms, preferably more to insure absolute transient fidelity.
 
hmm, any suggestions? I guess the Rotel 1075 is not good enough... any other recomendations which don't cost the earth, how about the parasound old series, but I think its only about 120watts..
 

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