26-Feb-00

Miller & Kreisel Sound Introduces Surround-55 Tripole Speaker

Miller & Kreisel Sound (M&K) has announced the long-awaited introduction of the Surround-55, the company's second Tripole surround channel speaker. Priced at only $699/pair, the Surround-55 is the smallest and most economical speaker with M&K's exclusive Tripole design. The Surround-55's ability to perform well in a variety of room conditions, along with its very high level of performance, make it ideal for playback of all surround material, whether Dolby ProLogicÆ, 5.1, 6.1, DolbyÆ Digital Surround EXô, 7.1, or enhanced music mode sources. What makes the Tripole concept so unique is its ability to give even ""illumination"" of sound throughout the listening room, enveloping listeners while providing directional information for good imaging, regardless of where listeners are in the room. To achieve this unique sonic feat, the Surround-55 operates as if it were two speakers: first a near-ideal point source direct radiator (on its front baffle), with an M&K Phase-Focused crossover feeding its 5 1/4-inch woofer and 1-inch soft-dome tweeter. The second is a dipole speaker using two unique 3-inch paper cone mid-tweeters treated with a special damping compound. These drivers achieve optimum phase and sonic coherency, as well as a very smooth and transparent sound from 300Hz through the critical midrange and above, due, in part, to their operating without any midrange crossover. The Surround-55 uses the same tweeter as M&K's reference THXÆ speakers, with a full Phase-Focused crossover and the same 5 1/4-inch woofer as the recently-introduced LCR-750THX. The proprietary Phase Focused crossover technology is computer-designed to give an extremely coherent response over a wide and controlled listening window (including the vertical plane, which is critical when surround speakers are located above listeners' heads). This very complex and unique crossover was critically tuned through both psychoacoustic analysis and complex computer time-domain analysis to achieve a uniform timbre balance throughout the listening room. The Tripole's imaging coherency is optimized for placement ranging up to two feet above or below the listener's ears, with the front tweeter always closer to the listener than the front woofer. The Surround-55's heavy curved metal mesh grille and attractive black or white cabinet is stylistically consistent not only with the recently-introduced LCR-750 THX system, but with the new LCR-55 Mark II. All of these systems share the same drivers to achieve an excellent timbre match, creating a seamless 360-degree sound field, enabling the user to create any of three complete 5.1 channel systems with a Tripole surround at its heart. For easy installation, the cabinet has integral mounts for M&K's corner and wall mounting brackets and ST speaker stands, as well as a flush mount hanger.

For further information, phone M&K at 310 204 2854, or visit www.mksound.com.