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mbl - is there a problem?

For a while now I've been planning on purchasing the new Magnepan 20.7's when they become available.
However I've always been intrigued by the idea of the MBL's - partly because they are so pretty and partly because it would be nice to have a speaker with a larger sweet spot.(I've owned and listened to Maggies for about 35 years but have never had the opportunity to hear the MBL's)
Since I've already purchased mongo electronics to power my new Maggies I think they would likely also power the MBL's.
And with the new discounts on the MBL's, they become more price competitive with the Maggies.
So I was thinking of flying somewhere to actually hear the MBL's.
But the website for MBL was disconcerting. Partly is is because the discounts are so large. Partly it is because they say that and warranty work now has to be arranged from Germany. As an experiment I tried to see what to do if I had an MBL speaker that needed to work and what would I do and I did not find an easy answer.
I have a fear of purchasing an expensive set of speakers and being unable to fix a problem.
From everything I've read on Audiogon these seem like wonderful speakers and maybe I should buy a cheap airplane ticket to where I can hear them. But I worry about the service. Maybe I'm just better off purchasing speakers from Magnepan - this company must be so succesful that even if the whole town was destroyed by a large meteor somebody else would pick it up.
Does anybody know if MBL is a safe speaker to purchase?
nottop
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,182 posts
 
String.

"Don't you think that an outlay of this much money would be designed so that the room or speakers aren't that critical of each other?"

No clue.

What dealer?

The good mbl demo I heard (mbl 111s) was at United Home Audio in Annapolis Junction, MD. in a good sized showroom. Bass was not boomy.

"or could it be that the bass is boomy and undefined and the right room can suck up these flaws??"

Not sure any room can make a bad sounding speaker that is inherently boomy and undefined into one that isn't?

Rather, a good setup is key to bringing out the best in whatever is played in it. Results are usually only as good as the weakest link in the chain.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,216 posts
 
Why is it so difficult for some people to accept that someone somewhere heard an MBL speaker and didn't like it? Odds are, it will happen again.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
People are certainly going to have mixed opinions on any product. Further (to String's point), I have heard the big MBL sound boomy on a couple of different occasions. I've always thought that they need a very large room for the bass to sound natural and, even when that is optimized, I still find the bottom 2 octaves the speaker's greatest weakness. However,....

IME, the holographic 3D effect that the 101s reproduce is just stunning. It really is in a different league (in this respect) than anything else that I've ever heard, and I've heard a fair number of mega$ loudspeaker systems. (The only meaningful challenge that I recall came from an audition of the original Wilson WAMM, back in the day, and - if memory serves - that wasn't the equal of the 101).

When set-up well, the MBL can really produce a "reach out and touch it" illusion, and I specifically recall an electric guitar (at very high SPL) just hanging in space way in front of the accompanying rhythm section at the LA Stereophile show some years back. Like 'em or not, I have a very hard time believing that anyone could fail to be impressed by that specific aspect of the 101s performance.

The comment regarding "no depth or space at all" suggests to me that there was a real problem with the set-up that String heard.

Marty
lrsky
1,118 posts
 
String,
Anyone making fun of Vandy5's has no idea what he or she is talking about.
They are excellent, excellent speakers.
I've heard the MBL's sound less than stellar but they never sound 'design flawed' which is kinda the description of what you heard, from your posting.
Again, the omni thing makes for difficult set up...but I can't explain the bass you're hearing...it's just not something I've experienced.

Larry
lrsky
1,118 posts
 
Onhwy61,
I have NO difficulty believing that someone heard MBL's not sounding great.
Personally, I've heard them not sound great.
I think the issue was, that the inference was that these are 'flawed designs'...that being the case, they cannot sound good.
Neither is true.
They are wonderfully engineered...but can sound bad when not set up correctly.
If they sound bad and the dealer set them up, he did a poor job...THAT is very possible.
I followed some hot shot into a home in which a rather well thought of 'sound guy' set up a system, but the owner was unhappy. He had every right to be...the system sounded really bad.
This guy had used calculations, yada, yada, yada...no, I"m not discounting those calculations, but whatever math he used it didn't work.
I spent 15 minutes listening and moving speakers and it sounded great.
The sad part is, my friend had payed this so called expert a lot of money.
So...dealer set up is not equal to correct necessarily.
The MBL's in my experience can, CAN sound good...they don't always, but then no speaker ALWAYS sounds good.
I heard Sound Labs sound really bad...and that seems impossible, but it happened.
Again, the issue was one of the tenor of the comment...the implication being that they are inherently flawed.

Larry
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