MK Sound S-85 User Manual

operation manual

S-125 S-85
S-125C S-85C

Miller & Kreisel Sound Corporation

satellite speakers

10391 Jefferson Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232 USA
[phone] FAX [phone]

© 1996 MILLER & KREISEL SOUND CORP.

S-125/S-125C/S-85/S-85C page 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................3

2. BASIC PLACEMENT OF YOUR SATELLITE SPEAKERS.............................................3

3. SPEAKER HOOK-UP & USAGE.............................................................................3

HOOK-UP...........................................................................................................................4

VARIATIONS OF SOUND........................................................................................................4

4. S-125C & S-85C CENTER CHANNEL USAGE...............................................................6

5. OPTIMIZING SPEAKER PLACEMENT.............................................................................6

6. HOME THEATRE USAGE..........................................................................................7

CENTER CHANNEL USAGE...........................................................................................8

7. SATELLITE/SUBWOOFER PHASING TEST....................................................................10

8. SPEAKER DAMAGE & HOW TO AVOID IT.......................................................................10

9. BI - AMPLIFYING YOUR SATELLITES WITH M&K HIGH-PASS FILTERS....................11

10. IF YOU NEED SERVICE.....................................................................................................11

11. CABINET MAINTENANCE................................................................................................11

12. USE WITH M&K STANDS & OMNIMOUNT

13. SPECIFICATIONS.......................................................................................................12

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BRACKETS....................................12

DIAGRAMS

FIGURE 1 SPEAKER WIRING..........................................................................5

FIGURE 2 SEPARATION BETWEEN LEFT & RIGHT SPEAKERS............................7

FIGURE 3 USE WITH AN OMNIMOUNT® BRACKET & M&K STANDS..................12

DO NOT REMOVE THE SPECIAL ACOUSTIC FOAM ATTACHED TO THE

FRONT BAFFLE AND/OR GRILLE OF YOUR SPEAKERS.

This foam is a critical part of your loudspeaker system and plays an important role in its high
level of performance. It focuses the radiation of the tweeters, minimizes cabinet diffraction,
and provides the flattest possible frequency response.

S-125/S-125C/S-85/S-85C

page 3

1. INTR ODUCTION

Congratulations! Your new M&K Satellite speaker system will give you years of unmatched enjoyment and

excitement while listening to your favorite musical and audio/video sources.

We encourage you to read this owner’s manual, as there is a great deal of information provided here to help you

achieve the best possible performance.

If you have any questions about your speaker system, please contact your M&K dealer or call the M&K factory
directly at [phone], from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. We will be happy to help
you with any question, no matter how simple or complex it may be.

This manual gives you basic hook-up instructions first, followed by more detailed technical, installation, and
service information.

2. PLACEMENT OF YOUR SATELLITE SPEAKERS

Your M&K Satellites can be installed in a wide variety of locations. Their compact size gives you great flexibility
in installation. They can be placed on stands, shelves, or bookcases, or more permanently mounted using brackets,
through direct attachment to a wall, or with a ceiling suspension system.

If you want to mount your Satellites permanently using wood screws, their cabinet thickness is 3/4". Use hardware
shorter than 3/4" in length to avoid making a hole in the sealed cabinet that would adversely affect its sound quality.

You can place the left and right Satellites virtually anywhere in the room, but certain locations are better than
others. In general, locate them away from obstructions that would interfere with the direct path from the speakers to
your ears (such as walls, furniture, lighting, plants, etc.). Center channel speakers should be located close to the
television screen (see Home Theater Usage on page 7). Your speakers will sound better when they are around ear
height, or when angled towards your listening location. They sound better when they are not sitting on the floor.

M&K speaker stands are designed to set M&K Satellite speakers at the right height and to easily adjust their angle
of sound radiation. Your M&K dealer has more information on these stands.

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Your Satellite speakers can be used with OmniMount
because their cabinets have integral threaded hardware in patterns for OmniMount brackets. These brackets offer

tremendous flexibility for installation in a wide variety of environments. For more information, see Section 12 (page 11),
or contact OmniMount at [phone].

For more detailed information on placement of your speakers, see Section 4 (page 6).

SPECIAL NOTE - TV SHIELDED SATELLITE SPEAKERS

If you place your Satellite speakers close to a television set (about 2 feet), the speaker magnets may cause
distortion of the television's picture. For these applications, M&K makes special TV Shielded versions. Shielded
Satellites are identified by markings on the shipping carton and by a label on the back panel of the speaker. Unless
your Satellites are Shielded, allow 2 - 3 feet of clearance around any television.

In some rare instances, Shielded Satellites may have a small amount of residual magnetism at a specific angle
that may cause a slight geometric or color distortion of the picture on your television set. M&K center channel speakers
have M&K's Ferromagnetic Shielding System to prevent this. If you do get this distortion, try moving the Satellite
speaker slightly until the problem disappears. If you cannot solve any magnetic problems, contact the M&K factory.

Systems brackets, without the use of wood screws,

3. SPEAKER HOOK-UP & USAGE

The back panel of your Satellite speakers contains two pairs of speaker terminals (instead of the usual single pair).
Therefore it is extremely important that you follow these instructions carefully, to avoid any possible damage to the
speakers or your amplifier, and to get the best possible sound.

The sound quality of your Satellites can be affected by the type of speaker wire that you use to connect them. While
it is possible to use speaker wire as thin as 22 gauge to hook your Satellites up, we recommend using the largest
diameter wire that you can. This means a minimum of 18 gauge wire. Over 10 feet, you should use 16 gauge, and
for more than 30 feet, we recommend using 14 gauge or heavier. The smaller the number, the thicker the wire.

There are a very wide variety of premium speaker cables available from a number of specialist manufacturers.
We do not endorse any specific brand of premium cable, but we do recommend using as high quality a cable as fits
your budget. Using better quality cables will improve the sound of your Satellites.

S-125/S-125C/S-85/S-85C page 4

Your M&K Satellites are not designed for bi-wiring. Do not use the four input terminals to bi-wire your Satellites,
as this may damage your amplifier and speakers. If you wish to bi-amplify your Satellites in combination with an M&K
Powered Subwoofer, see Section 9 (page 11) for more details.

HOOKUP (BOTH REGULAR & CENTER CHANNEL SPEAKERS)

There are four terminals on the backplate. Depending on which combination of the four terminals you use to
connect your amplifier, you can alter the tonal quality of your speakers to better match your room, electronics, or
personal preference.

These "Variations of Sound" let you achieve much smoother and flatter frequency response in your room, at your
listening position. See below for a discussion of the MAXIMUM OUTPUT/NORMAL OUTPUT terminals and the LOW
CUT (HIGH PASS FILTER)/WIDE RANGE terminals.

The Positive (+) lead from your amplifier or receiver should be connected to one of the RED (+) INPUT terminals
(either MAXIMUM OUTPUT or NORMAL OUTPUT), and the Negative (-) lead from your amplifier or receiver should
be connected to one BLACK (-) INPUT terminal (LOW CUT [HIGH PASS FILTER] or WIDE RANGE). See Figure 3.

VERY IMPORTANT: NEVER CONNECT THE AMPLIFIER LEADS TO BOTH RED TERMINALS OR TO BOTH
BLACK TERMINALS AT THE SAME TIME. YOU MAY DAMAGE YOUR AMPLIFIER AND SPEAKERS. ANY
RESULTING DAMAGE IS NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY.

VARIATIONS OF SOUND

Your M&K Satellites reproduce sound with exceptional transient accuracy and a very wide dynamic range. They
will give you give outstanding results with any high quality amplifier or receiver in virtually any listening environment.

However, getting the best tonal balance in any given room involves many variables. Therefore, your M&K
Satellites allow you to alter their tonal balance in order to get the ideal sound quality at your favorite listening location
(where it counts!), by using one of two combinations of input terminals to connect the speakers to your amplifier.

The terminals are labelled MAXIMUM OUTPUT and NORMAL OUTPUT. Both positions have the same power
handling capacity, but the MAXIMUM OUTPUT position plays the loudest, and works best with low powered amplifiers.

Bear in mind that the MAXIMUM OUTPUT terminal requires a higher setting of the subwoofer level. Conversely,
if you switch to the NORMAL OUTPUT terminal, the subwoofer level should be set lower.

We recommend that you experiment with the terminals, starting out by using the NORMAL OUTPUT and the
WIDE RANGE terminals. If the sound is too dull or boomy-sounding, try switching to the MAXIMUM OUTPUT terminal.
If you have a very large power amp and are hearing distortion or speaker "bottoming" at high volumes, try the LOW CUT
(HIGH PASS FILTER) terminals.

We provide the multiple terminals because we cannot predict in advance exactly what response the speaker will
produce in your room. The choices available through the terminals, however, can allow you to create a virtually ideal
response for your room. Hence, you should use the terminals that best balance the sound for your ears and your room,
so that you get maximum enjoyment from your speakers.

MAXIMUM OUTPUT / NORMAL OUTPUT TERMINALS

The NORMAL OUTPUT terminal gives a warm "musical" sound very similar in character to the finest British­manufactured monitor speakers, but with a significantly wider dynamic range. Sometimes referred to as the "English
Sound." This should be used in most installations, including mounting on stands, shelves, mounting brackets, etc.

The MAXIMUM OUTPUT terminal gives a bright, forward sound with great efficiency and a wider dynamic range,
with a slightly rising high frequency characteristic. Particularly useful for producing maximum sound power levels,
especially with low-powered amplifiers. Sometimes referred to as the "German Sound." It is particularly useful when
the Satellites are used as surround speakers, as its high frequency contour makes for better highs at the listeners' ears
when the speakers are not directly aimed at the listeners. It also works very well when the speaker is mounted flush
against a large surfaces such as a wall, and sometimes when a Center channel speaker is on top of a large rear­projection television. As always, we recommend experimentation.

LOW CUT (HIGH PASS FILTER) / WIDE RANGE TERMINALS

The 5 1/4" woofer(s) and 1" tweeter of your Satellites have very high power handling. But it is possible to overdrive
the woofer with deep bass signals, especially when you use a high powered amplifier. This is the reason for the LOW
CUT (HIGH PASS FILTER) terminal. This terminal has a built-in filter that reduces (rolls off) the speaker's bass output
below 80 Hz (at 6 dB per octave), but it does reduce the mid-bass output of the speaker slightly.

Therefore, for most systems, we recommend using the WIDE RANGE terminal. This gives you the natural rolloff
of the speaker and will give you the best sound quality in almost all cases.