EAW MKD Series Breakdown

Here’s the technical lowdown directly from EAW on their new MKD series, based off of the landmark MK series released some 20 years ago…

The MK-series of installation loudspeakers has been the standard for leading installations over the past 20 years.  While the series has gone through some improvements, the fundamental concept of a single woofer and HF horn driver with matched coverage through the crossover region has remained unchanged.  However, recent transducer developments have allowed us to advance the series further and that’s what EAW has done in the new MKD series.

In order to increase output and take the exceptional pattern control of MK to the next level, we have taken concepts from the highly successful QX series and applied them to new dual woofer loudspeakers. This approach has yielded as much as a 6dB increase in LF output with significantly enhanced beam-width along the axis of the dual woofers.

Improvements. But from where?

As with QX, the MKD HF driver needed to achieve a crossover point at least 1 octave below that of a single woofer design.  New transducers were then required in all instances. In the 10” version (MKD1000) this is achieved with a 4” coil HF driver.  In the case of the dual 8” version (MKD800) a new 2” coil driver had to be developed as no 1.75” coil could achieve low enough resonance. This allows for wider operating ranges to match the LF sections and avoid the lobing of a typical dual-woofer design.

The slanted mounting technique of the recessed woofers inherently improves time coherency as well as minimising the overall long dimension of the cabinet.  This technique was first applied in the KF860 touring line array cabinet and then evolved for the AX series. It is now used in several EAW loudspeakers including QX3, QX5, and now MKD.  The result is that the dual woofer MKD loudspeakers are no larger than the MK cabs yet boast dramatically improved LF pattern control, LF extension, and exceptional output.

What’s Shipping

The MKD800 and MKD1000 series are shipping now in horn patterns of 120×60, 60×45, and 90×60, but we haven’t stopped there.  Dual 6”, 12”, and 15” versions (MKD600, MKD1200, and MKD1500) are in development.  Each will benefit from specially developed HF drivers.  The MKD1200 will use a specially developed co-ax driver and the MKD1500 will receive a radical new design, a ground-breaking wide bandwidth driver covering down to 350Hz in one device.