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Why Change Speakers? For the past decade I’ve been using a very capable M&K 7.1 sound system consisting of M&K S150THX fronts (L,C,R), and four M&K S150THX surround speakers in my home theater. This was complemented with, among other things, an M&K MX-350THX subwoofer and the overall sound field was excellent. So why mess with a good thing? A couple of years ago the M&K speaker company went out of business. There has been some effort to revive the company and its support but nothing is clear at this point. I had a nice opportunity to sell my M&K system (sans the subwoofer) and switch over to another system – an Atlantic Technology THX Ultra 2 certified system consisting of the following components:
So, why the change and why a variety of A&T transducers? I gave the entire matter a great deal of thought and discussed everything with the president of Atlantic Technology, Peter Tribeman. He gave me some very solid advice which convinced me to change speakers. For one thing, while speakers can last a very, very long time (and my M&Ks were still performing admirably) the time eventually comes when a repair or a replacement might be required. A company that is no longer in business can’t readily provide such support even if others promise on-going support. Secondly, my first thought was to purchase a complete 7 speaker 8200e System but Peter advised against this for my particular situation. For one thing, my center speaker must be located close to the floor due to screen and component placement. For another the 8200e surround speakers are a little too big to fit nicely in the usual surround positionsin my home theater. Peter’s recommendation was to use 8200e units for Left and Right and use a 6200e center speaker pointed slightly upward on a small pedestal. He said that if I was able to install three 8200e speakers across the front soundstage in vertical alignment (which is not possible in my HT) then three 8200e’s would be ideal. But if low center placement is required (it is) then the 8200e center speaker is overkill. In fact, he told me that in such a position (low) the 8200e creates some unwanted effects and actually sounds a bit muddled. He said that the 6200e center speaker was a much better fit and, in fact, that’s the configuration that he uses in his own home. One nice thing about the Atlantic Technology line (8200e/6200e/4200e) is that although the components are not identical between each model number they are carefully matched in timbre so that mixing and matching is not an aural crap shoot but can easily be handled with a good equalization program (I use Audyssey MultiEQ Pro with my Denon AVP-A1HDCI). So based on these recommendations I ended up with the configuration that I’ve already listed and it has worked out perfectly. My system sounds great, and for 2 channel music I have a pair of top-rated Atlantic Technology 8200e THX Ultra 2 speakers with plenty of headroom all around in all cases. Matched with the electronics of my Denon AVP and my monoblock amps, the overall effect is ear-inspiring. Especially the new HD audio codecs!
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