Those of us who demand huge, lifelike and accurate sound in our rooms need look no further than MK Sound. No other speaker manufacturer receives so much enthusiastic praise for their designs from professional users, reviewers and end users in the home environment than MK Sound. Here is the latest email from our MK USA rep Aldo Filippelli, check out the “testimonials” link:

“As I was finishing a conversation with our MK Professional Director and a rep from Lucasfilm, I felt inclined to make some useful notes and share this info with you. In addition to the popular S150MKII, which is a bookshelf monitor, we also offer the IW150 (inwall) and MP150 (onwall) which are designed in the same format for similar performance, and to match the timbre of the S150MKII. These are available to view on our website: (I have more and better images of each available, if you are interested)

S150MKII – http://www.mksoundusa.com/home-products/150-series/s-150mkii/

IW150 – http://www.mksoundusa.com/home-products/in-wall/iw-150/

MP150 – http://www.mksoundusa.com/home-products/mp-150/

As I had mentioned, MK Sound is the speaker of choice of Lucasfilm for Star Wars and the coming Red Tails movie. Sony Blu-ray studios are also dedicated users and fans of MK Sound and along with Lucasfilm have remastered and recently released the Star Wars Trilogy, using MK Sound in the mixing, editing, and post production studios. I will be at Skywalker Ranch Oct 26 to meet with George Lucas and his staff to sign agreements for our use of their name, logos, and materials, as well as their latest testimonials and endorsements.

From our TESTIMONIALS page: http://www.mksoundusa.com/testimonials/

Visit AT THE MOVIES and see some blockbusters that have been mixed and edited in the studio using MK Sound speakers. The sound engineers and producers at these studios are truly experts in their craft and rely on the performance and reliability of MK Sound. Following are some testimonials from these accredited and award winning sound experts.

“We feel that high performance audio is essential in picture editing and the use of the MK 2510 system, with its excellent dialogue intelligibility, allowed us to catch production sound faults early in the process. In addition, high quality sound can affect an editor’s decisions by providing an enhanced emotional context to a scene. During the production process, our editors were so taken with the quality of sound that a full MK 2510 system was shipped to Leavensden Studios in England, to be used in the cutting of the production dailies.”

-        Paul Matwiy, sound engineer, Star Wars

“We’ve been using MK THX speaker systems on the Star Wars films in both the sound design and picture editing suites. The MK THX speakers’ accuracy and imaging qualities let us hear all the nuances of dialogue, music and sound effects at every stage of the creative process. This gives us the ability to create the powerful, yet subtle and persuasive soundtracks that are the hallmark of the Star Wars films.”

-        Rick McCallum, Producer, Star Wars

We are also working on a POS display to feature the S150MKII in a cabinet and driver cutaway, highlighting the technology and features, as well as a backdrop on the display of either Star Wars or Red Tails along with licensed endorsements and testimonials from George Lucas and engineers at Lucasfilm. We will also show the logos and list of other studio users.

While the S150MKII and 2510P are used mostly in film studios, the New York Philharmonic, Danish Broadcasting, and others are using for music mixing and editing applications. We soon will be able to add Cirque du Solei and Blueman Group to the list of professional users for music.

I share this information as I feel that it may be useful for you and your efforts. Please feel free to share with your associates and customers, and let me know if you would like any additional information, images, or technical details. Thank you for your support!”

Best regards,

Aldo

The beautiful new Elite HDTVS

Last week Karrie and I went down for our annual Pioneer Elite Dealer training session which is always great, but there was an increased level of anticipation for the event this year; it was the first chance to evaluate the recently unveiled Pioneer Elite HDTV display line. Videophiles who demand the best have been a little perplexed that the new Elite displays will feature LED technology and we have to admit we were quite curious over the last year to finally see how the next gen LED sets compared to the revered KURO plasma displays, which remain an industry benchmark to this day.

Keep in mind that we weren’t able to evaluate the set for an entire day as we performed an ISF calibration on it, so this article is our first impressions. The 60″ Elite used for the classes was hooked up using out of the box settings in the “PURE” pic mode and it certainly impressed! Unbelievable black levels, detail and color saturation. Long story short, we would agree with the handful of early reviewers out there who call the new Elite sets the best looking LED display on the market.

Visit the Elite HDTV website here. Or, enjoy this early evaluation review by legendary calibrator Kevin Miller, who was also involved in the development of the Elite displays. The new Pioneer Elite LED displays are a collaboration between Pioneer and Sharp Electronics, are available in 60″ and 70″ sizes and are currently in stock at the distributor if you want one now. Our customers are welcome to take a trip with us to the distributor’s showroom where they already have one on display for you to experience……… until we get our own that is!

The legend…….enjoy your content with the same speakers Lucasfilm, Disney, Dolby Labs and more use to create your entertainment.

Here is all the exciting MK Sound news for 2011:

• The legendary S150 THX Ultra models are still available in limited supply, and MK Sound has now redesigned it as the S150 MKII to be paired with the new S150T Tripole surround. Expected shipping on these is mid-March and they feature THX Ultra certification and use the same newly redesigned monitor tweeter first introduced in the 950 LCR.
• A completely new model will be the MP7, a slimline onwall LCR speaker designed for use with flat panels that will ship mid-March. 
• New MX8, MX10 and MX12 subwoofers will ship by July 2011, with the current line of awesome MK subs available until then.
• And we have waited for this one: new floorstanding tower models of the LCR750 and LCR950 speakers that are due September, 2011 with attractive cabinet designs-can’t wait to see these!
• The MX1000 Reference subwoofer, one can only imagine what a subwoofer called “Reference” by MK Sound would be like…….
• MK has also completely retooled their active amplification studio monitor series with new MPS-1611p, MPS-2150p and MPS-2401p beginning to ship in March. Visit MK Professional here.

Just in case you hadn’t seen this elsewhere, the MK Sound 950THX system got a lot of attention at this years’ CES show and received a glowing review in Home Theater magazine this February. In our experience as integrators, the 950THX offers a special combination of value/ performance that is not available elsewhere and the 950 is our top-selling speaker system for THX Select2 rooms. Make an appointment so you can experience the MK Sound 950LCR speakers at our showroom.

A challenge we often encounter in dedicated theater designs is the video display. Many clients simply do not have the proper dedicated, light-controlled space available for a traditional front projection home theater setup. An HDTV display is a popular compromise and brings the benefit of lower maintenance costs as there are no bulbs to replace. But available HDTV sizes have been a limitation for larger theater spaces until now, as the largest practical size available has been a 65″, which at viewing distances greater than 12′ is not a true cinema-size experience. Rear projection DLPs do come in the larger sizes, but like front projectors are very reactive to lighting conditions, need periodic bulb replacement and also just have a lot of moving parts to wear like color wheels, etc.

But have no fear, 2011 brings the game-changing large format display products to the table:

Mitsubishi offers one solution with their very nice Lazervue DLP sets finally in full production, with a 75″ display at a very attractive price point. These sets display excellent resolution and color saturation and because they use laser as the light source, the troublesome color wheel/bulb technology of traditional DLP is no more. And in the evaluation session by our staff this HDTV proved itself by maintaining image clarity well in ambient lighting conditions. This is a very nice large format set that displays more accurate images than many of the LCD/LED sets that we have seen.

Not to be outdone though, Panasonic has just announced their entry into the large format commercial, digital signage and home cinema display arena using the reference quality plasma technology they are known for. In 2011, Panasonic is shipping full HD 3D plasma displays available in sizes up to 152″ diagonal (that’s a viewing area just over 11 feet wide X 6 feet high in full HD 3D!!) for commercial and home cinema applications.  With the lifespan of Panasonic plasma tech now at 100,000 hours, new anti glare technology that works so well and top-notch service from a company you know will always be there, these new Panasonic plasma displays have just changed the game in high end display applications forever.

This is significant in light of the recent developments in the home automation market. Both Philips Pronto, one of the pioneers of dedicated HT/whole home control products and relative newcomer Nevo have recently ceased operations. Theater Design is a Philips Pronto Certified installer and we will continue to offer support to Pronto customers in need of service. We never signed on as a Nevo dealer, why would you when you already have the entire product line of world-leader URC at your fingertips?

So the remaining popular choices for automated system control are RTI, Logitech and URC. To us, RTI are pricey for what they offer and we don’t like the form factor. Logitech is OK if you only require limited control of a small system and like to DIY your own stuff-they just don’t offer real custom programming options or a complete product line to be taken seriously in the pro control market.

We are staying with URC as our sole manufacturer of home automation products for our projects and the years of satisfied clients we have using URC remote controls is a great confirmation. The 2011 URC product line is exciting, ranging from high end web-enabled touchscreens capable of  luxury whole-house automation or the new wallmounted network keypads for 2 way whole house sound control from anywhere in your home. And then there is one of our client favorites, the MX-450- a no-point RF remote designed for small-large single systems, with Lutron lighting control capability, custom programmed using user-friendly activity based programming from a URC Certified installer and an LCD color screen. And the best news? This great control system sells for a very competitive $549.00 programmed and installed. If you have “control issues”, look into URC products today.   

      Make sure to follow this link to read what the experts say about the quality of this amazing HDTV voted the Best Electronic Device of 2010 by Popular Science Magazine. Right now is a great time to upgrade your system to 3D capability with this Ultimate pack and a reference Pioneer Elite 3D capable AV receiver from Theater Design Northwest. And don’t forget Theater Design is a dealer for reference-quality MK Sound speakers.