it appears MK sound which makes MK speakers is closed down,their factory has been closed as per the notice on their website..now even the website is down.Is this the end of MK...
Well, excellent speakers won't overcome bad management, and in the case of M&K that's where the problem lay, as far as I can tell. You don't have "supplier" problems unless you don't pay the bills. They used fairly standard drivers (Vifa and such) and apparently were unable to obtain them. No-one else seemed to have trouble getting Vifa drivers, as far as I can tell. (Madisound has a steady supply). So let's put the blame where it should be, with M&K's management who apparently were unable to survive in the increasingly competitive marketplace.
I have an M&K MX100 sub ...guess it's about 16 years old now.. and contacted them about replacement drivers about 2 years ago. They said to send my board in and for a small fee, 50 dollars I think, they would recondition it and send me new drivers. Well I did send it in and they sent me back the drivers and new board... and didn't charge me a thing. Made my sub as good as new. Great service.
Of course in retrospect, I would have paid the 50 dollars if it would have helped them stay in business.
You're right Tony. Of course, regardless of how the management was, M&K managed to survive for quite some time. In fact, in addition to my excellent Aragon (Mondial) amp, I also have an excellent CD playback system from Audio Alchemy, another fine American company which succombed to bad management. Of course, I'm not sure Mondial was the victim of bad management. They were purchased by Klipsch (why?) and that was the end of them.
Yes M&k is dead unfortunately. I consider myself lucky to have their S-150 THX 7.1 system and 2 M&K THX subs. I'm glad I bought when I did, although it did take about 6 weeks to get all of the speakers after I ordered them. I believe that their long delivery times on their consumer line of products lost them customers. I noticed that over the last few years fewer and fewer retailers were carrying their line. They probably got tired of customers complaining of the long lead times.
This may be old news to some, but M&K Sound has re-emerged as MK Sound and is available again in retail outlets. The entire line has not yet been brought back however; just google 'mksoundsystem.com' for details. I bought my original speakers years ago at ABT electronics since their store is near to my house. ABT has picked up the line again; see their website for details. It appears that the original design of the new speakers, including the drivers, crossover network and steel mesh grill remains the same as the original M&W product. MK is the best speaker I have ever listened to, bar none. I was disappointed they went Chapter 11 but am thrilled now that they are once again available and am posting here for others who may think the same way.
Yes, M&K is dead, however Mr. Kreisel is very much alive. I noted in a post by him that you can email him for information, which I did some time ago. When you see the brand name MK, that is the Asian firm that bought the nominal brand name to produce somewhat similar speakers.