The Original Bottom End Speaker
In 1973 Walter Becker from “Steely Dan”
asked Ken Kreisel to design a speaker system to use for the mixing of their
new album “Pretzel Logic”. This system included
a revolutionary new subwoofer Kreisel had developed, that had an excellent transient
response. Everybody fell in love with this subwoofer, and all the guys in Steely
Dan wanted one. Miller and Kreisel’s cliental included
some of the most prominent artists in the record and film industry.
The Original Bottom End Speaker
Many groups would come and record demo tracks at their salon. Even Ken’s
customers that owned Quads and Magneplanar were anxious to possess this subwoofer,
because it was very compatible with those speakers too. “Maggie”
dealers noticed how many of these speakers were sold, and wanted to know what
M&K’s secret was. When Miller and Kreisel revealed this to them, they
wanted to buy it too.
What made it so special was that it employed a 12” driver with a precisely
balanced magnetic drive system and suspension. It utilized a unique fibre
cone formulation and had special attention given to cabinet structure, configuration,
and interior damping. It was said that in 1973 M&K basically invented the
satellite/subwoofer configuration that dominates an entire sector of today’s
loudspeaker market.
It has also been said that this M&K design made multi- channel home theatres
possible. This incredible subwoofer was called “THE BOTTOM END.”
Due to this success, in 1974 Jonas Miller and Ken Kreisel formed a separate
corporation that was used exclusively for the manufacturing of subwoofers “for
the rest of the world”. On the second floor of their Beverly Hills store
on Wilshire Boulevard, M&K Sound Inc was born.
