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You would think there is little enough to be said of wall mounting brackets for satellite speakers, but the MK-01’s deserve a few words of mention, since they are a well made, and highly durable set of wall mounts that make them the only viable solution for some surround sound purists.

The MK-01 speaker mounting system uses MidiLand’s unique Platallic material, a plastic like material with durability that is quite impressive. I’ve had the privilege of handling some of MidiLand’s speakers built with Platallic, and the wall mount system seems to be made of an even stiffer rendition of that material. I passed the mounting set along to some colleagues, and all were quite surprised by the stiffness and strength of the wallplate-mounting nut. Once the whole thing is assembled and tightened, it took a serious amount of effort to force the shafts to move out of position – a sure sign that even a heavier satellite speaker would not slowly lean towards the ground once everything is set up. The mounting system capitalizes on the rising popularity of “personal” home theater setups, where stands for rear speakers become an awkward obstacle that causes nothing but grief. Now, with a pair (or two) of MK-01s, you can recreate the atmosphere that Bose strove to capture with its miniaturized Acoustimass speakers (which are almost always mounted on walls in local audio showcase rooms) at a fraction of the cost.

The MK-01s come ready to assemble and use. Included in the package is a set of screws designed for the common drywalls of current day homes (if you have cement walls, you’re going to have to do quite a bit of handiwork on your own). The design of the mounting kit is rather effective. A rubber endcap is embedded in a socket in the wall backplate. A separate metal shaft ends in a texturized platallic ball designed to pop right into the wallplate socket. The ball and socket design allows a significant freedom of movement when positioning the shaft (and hence the satellites), which is what makes the MK-01s an almost essential system in certain installation instances. A large tightening nut forces the socket to clamp onto the textured ball, and the whole shebang is absolutely immoveable when tightened properly. The MK-01s are compatible with most satellite speaker systems out there, thanks to its use of the unofficial "standard" threaded mount. If your satellites have a large threaded insert (like a large screw insert), then you are good to go.

The old fashioned way of mounting speakers on the walls would have been to simply use screws or nails, but these prove totally unreliable and quite inflexible when it comes to mounting in less than optimal locations. Thanks to the ability to angle the mounting shaft any which way, it is feasible to use the MK-01s to mount and position your speakers in many awkward installations (such as high on the ceiling, near a corner, or against the side of an angled wall). Any situation where you find you have to fire the speakers in a direction other than directly perpendicular to the mounting surface is one where you would make good use of the MK-01s. The set comes with enough materials to mount two speakers, and in a personal home theater setup this might suffice, but slightly more ambitious enterprises requiring all four satellites to be mounted are bound to come up. In fact I’m already figuring out how to set up a mini theater in the office right now, for a little off hours frag fest with all the works. Hehe.

Not immediately obvious is the modest loop built into the back plate for wire management. When your speaker sits a good hand span from the walls, it is nice to have the plastic loop to pull the wires flush against the wall, for a cleaner run of wires. Unfortunately, the loop is closed ended, and small enough that only bare wire can be threaded through. This means that owners of speakers that use RCA jacks on either end of the speaker wires are out of luck. MidiLand argues that most (if not all) 4.1 speaker sets have some bare wire cables for rear speakers, so the point should be moot. I personally think that open ended D loops would have been more accommodating, and would allow the MK-01s to be used as wall mounts for front speakers. MidiLand has confirmed that at the very least, their S4 7100s, S4 8200s, and Mli 490’s all have bare wires that thread through the loops quite easily.

The MK-01s are rated to hold up to 10lb satellite speakers, and though we didn’t test this spec out ourselves, the solidity of the whole construction and design convinced us that the only thing that could go wrong was that your drywall would not support the weight ;). The MK-01s have an MSRP of 49.99, but a quick search on the net reveals prices as low as $27, which is a fair price compared to similar products for the audiophile world.

Besides, right now, for a limited time, MidiLand is offering a special promotion whereby you receive a complimentary MK-01 set when you purchase a set of S4 7100s (currently one of the most popular speaker systems), which is just their way of saying “Thanks” to their loyal customers.

And if your’re REALLY short on cash… join Neoseeker’s July giveaway, where we are not only offering up 10 MK-01 sets as prizes, we’re setting up a whole S4 7100 PLUS ADS2000 prize, and an Mli 490 too.

The MK-01’s aren’t going to cause a lot of stir in the community (they’re certainly not all that exciting, when you think about it), but they fill a need nicely and effectively. Some people are happy with the flimsy tripods that come with their 4.1/5.1 systems, but others want the clean, professional look of a well-planned personal theater. I’m one of the latter people, and $55 (for two sets) is not a lot of money to invest in a system to have all four of your main sats hooked up higher up on the walls and aimed straight at your sweet spot. Besides, it looks snazzy to have your sats on the walls, and I’m one who values the simple beauty of technology.

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