For those who know a little about my background, I spent well over 10 years in electronics sales at a variety of places. Of those, my job at a high end audio/video retailer and installer was where I got to eat, breathe, and practically swim in home theater equipment... definitely my favorite segment of the consumer electronics industry. I'll save that piece on why I love home theater so much for another day, but I will share with you the best news I've heard in months... M&K Sound is supposedly coming back.

For those unfamiliar with M&K, I'll say this. They make some of the best speakers I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Actually, I should say "used to make some of the best speakers." February 22nd of this year was a sad day... M&K's founder Ken Kreisel closed the doors of the renowned speaker company.

Exactly why M&K shut down isn't totally clear. The best insight to the situation came in a story from Stereophile Magazine, who's talks with Kreisel touched on the surge in counterfeit M&K products that were being manufactured overseas and sold in the US and UK at full price. I don't see how that alone could have floored the company, so I'm sure there were other reasons it went down.

There are many speakers from other companies that I really like, but M&K speakers were the ones that really sang to me. In fact, four or five years ago I totally redid my home theater in M&K, going with S-150s in the front, 4 SS-150s for the surrounds, and the MX-350 sub. Expensive as heck no doubt, but I plan on using my 150 system until I'm old and grey.

I will admit, I was concerned when M&K folded. From what I can tell, my warranty and any hope for support went away when the doors closed. Fortunately they've been rock solid and I haven't needed replacement drivers or support.

So on to the good news, I stumbled on an article from Mixonline that says the brand, property, and rights to M&K was acquired by a new team headed up by longtime M&K distributors Per Becher and Asger Bak. According to the report, M&K is coming back, this time with industry veteran and M&K long-timer Chirs Minto as Vice President and Managing Director.

"Our focus," says Minto,“ will be to maintain and even improve M&K’s product and service quality. Those classic M&K products that our customers know and love will be kept on, and those products that are not up to our highest standards will be dropped in favor of newer, better products. We intend to provide the best possible listening experience to the audio professional and to the home theater enthusiast alike.”

Hearing that the great products we know and love will be coming back is great news. If I had to guess, the S-150 and 750 Series will return, along with some of thier more popular subs like the V-76 and MX-70B. Really, everything should come back in my opinion, but I'd bet the K series is probably doomed, as well as the full frequency bookshelf models they showed off in 2003. It would be nice to see the super small M series stage a comeback, but those may not make it either.

In any case, I welcome M&K back to the scene. It'll be interesting to see how the company goes without Ken Kreisel at the helm, but as long as his ideals of speaker design and sound quality stay, it will be a great win for consumers with an appetite for quality audio.

Post a comment | Subscribe to this blog:

Read More In: News, Rumors, and Trends Speakers and Subwoofers