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MBL 111F or 101E ????

Hi experts :)

I am looking to get a new system and I want to hear your input.

I am currently have a Devialet Expert 1000 Pro, my room is 4 meters wide, 9 meters in length because joining with dinning area and an open kitchen next to the dinning area, so it’s like a L shape opened space. I haven’t done any acoustic treatment to it yet.

i have a long tv bench, so the speaker going be about less than half meter away from side walls and may be about half meter away from back walls, this is the limitation I can’t change and will never change unless I move house.

i wondering according to my room space and current equipment, should I get a MBL 111F or 101E???? If 101E will performs better, how much better? Distinctly??? The 101E is quite a bit more expensive than 111F.

I can change my current amp to the MBL N51 integrated amp but that’s it. I cannot afford their 9008 amps and pre-amp combinations, and probably not in any soon future. I am not sure if the single N51(350wpc) will perform better than the Devialet 1000 Pro(1000wpc).

Can any MBL Expert give me some input?

Thanks a lot!!!
peppapig
peppapig OP
11 posts
 
Hi Prof, the big melon in 101 also does low-mid range, so the mid is not the same between the two in my opinion.

George, I can’t take the amp to the dealer as there is no dealer in my city. And I can’t find any resource about Devialet and MBL on internet. When you said both are very hard to drive, in relative 111F should be slightly easier??? Because it doesn’t has the biggest melon to drive, the bass are handled by traditional drivers. Right?


pokey77
1,267 posts
 
@peppapig

MBL are wonderful speakers. And not as hard to drive as may be thought. Go see this thread and read the comments by Atmasphere. Also, in that thread I talk about the MBL models I've heard and you can get some ideas there. Prof also provides some great detailed comments as well.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/anyone-had-extended-listening-experience-with-mbl
peppapig OP
11 posts
 
@pokey77 in your post you said even 126 sounds so close to the 101e mk2, can you give a bit more details? Like which aspects sounds similar? 

what about the soundstage, 126 as wide as 101e? And what about the tonal? As real as 101e?

thanks!
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
When you said both are very hard to drive, in relative 111F should be slightly easier???

Hah, nothing to to with the midrange melon.
On the 111F it’s where the -phase (dotted line) meets the low impedance at 1khz and again more severe at 40hz again impedance only at 10khz that makes it a hard load.
On the 101E it’s where the -phase and low impedance again meet at 40hz also just the low impedance at 10khz and again between 200hz and 500hz.

Both are hard but in different areas, so it’s hard to say which is easier.

Also both are very low efficiency tested at 81db for the 101E and 80db for the 111F so they both need a lot of watts as well as good current from an amp, your Devialet may work?? but I have a thing against Class-D and have never heard one that makes me settle into the music, that why I suggested the MBL or big Krells for this job.

I've listened to the 101E's for 1/2 a day on different amps, they love to be driven hard, and they will impress big time.
The amp is very important for these speakers, just imagine this is the speaker cable and a wrong amp being sucked up by the speaker.
 http://sliptalk.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/29183752/snake-eats-a-porcupin...

Cheers George
peppapig OP
11 posts
 
@georgehifi 

Thanks for your info.

I heard many amp have problem driving speakers lower than 4ohm, the MBL looks like never fall below 4ohm, I hope it will be fine otherwise I need to trade in for the MBL N51 integrated amp.

have you listened to both 111f and 101e mk2? Any thoughts?
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