Dave, the MBL 101Es ($45,900) really grabbed me. They had the dynamics from top to bottom that I have been searching for as well as 3-D imaging and a full bodied sound that kept me returning for more. Reed instruments and cymbals came through as real as I have heard anywhere. The kick drum would slam me in the chest and a second later the snare drum would sound like, well, a snare drum. These speakers sounded great at low and high volumes. I heard no loss of articulation or musicality when turned down to about 65 to 70db.
Details were there but not to the point of becoming an irritation after a long listening session,(I was in the MBL room about five hours total in three days including a quite, private session Saturday evening). There was however, a bite or "edge" to the upper range that I did not care for and the bass seemed out of time with the rest of the music on occasions.
I then inquired about the new 111Es ($24,600) sitting off to the side. Later that afternoon the 111Es were hooked up and the bass timing issue was gone. I liked the 111Es better than the 101Es, at least in that room which was about 24' by 24'with a closet jutting into one corner. You could stand almost anywhere in the room and get a decent sound stage. The overall balance and sound in that room was smoother than with the 101Es, yet just as dynamic. Leading edge of piano and guitar notes were magic. Bloom and decay of piano notes was very realistic. I missed nothing soundwise with the 111Es over the 101Es. I will bet that these speakers will reveal every thing ahead of them, good or bad to the nth degree.
The 111Es and new 116s ($17,900) have the newest bass module design. (I understand the 101Es will be getting the new bass module next) While the 101s used a bass driver facing the floor, the new 111Es use two 12 inch bass drivers per module, one on each side facing away from the listener. VERY nice intergration of prodigious amounts of well controlled bass with the mids and highs. The upper "edge" was still there with the 111Es however, and I mentioned this to Jurgen Reis, chief engineer of MBL. He feels that without this extra edge, the speakers would not get the attention of some show goers. Jurgen removed the four pennies (German ingenuity?) per cabinet used for the show to isolate the radialstrahlers' brass spikes from the bass modules' brass cups. (the speakers are two seperate modules, bass and radialstrahler/mid) Then he removed the metal screens from the radialstrahlers and WOW, the upper range was as smooth as its piano black finish.
To these ears, the best sound in Vegas.
Yes, they take a huge amount of power and they look like Boris Karloff would need them back in his laboratory for some fictional science experiment, but they pulled me into the music like no other speaker has since hearing some horns for the first time in the seventys.
I will say that I also liked, alot, the VR9/darTZeel combo, the TAD room, the VR4SR Von Schweikerts as well as the Merlin/CAT room's sound. The Harbeth and Caravelle (Star Sound) monitors also were very nice. I was expecting more life from the Kharma rooms but did not hear anything exciting and who needs a sub in the middle of their room the size of a MiniCooper?
I never thought there would be a snowball's chance in hell that I would be replacing the Merlins. Friday it snowed in Las Vegas.
Cheers, Steve
Details were there but not to the point of becoming an irritation after a long listening session,(I was in the MBL room about five hours total in three days including a quite, private session Saturday evening). There was however, a bite or "edge" to the upper range that I did not care for and the bass seemed out of time with the rest of the music on occasions.
I then inquired about the new 111Es ($24,600) sitting off to the side. Later that afternoon the 111Es were hooked up and the bass timing issue was gone. I liked the 111Es better than the 101Es, at least in that room which was about 24' by 24'with a closet jutting into one corner. You could stand almost anywhere in the room and get a decent sound stage. The overall balance and sound in that room was smoother than with the 101Es, yet just as dynamic. Leading edge of piano and guitar notes were magic. Bloom and decay of piano notes was very realistic. I missed nothing soundwise with the 111Es over the 101Es. I will bet that these speakers will reveal every thing ahead of them, good or bad to the nth degree.
The 111Es and new 116s ($17,900) have the newest bass module design. (I understand the 101Es will be getting the new bass module next) While the 101s used a bass driver facing the floor, the new 111Es use two 12 inch bass drivers per module, one on each side facing away from the listener. VERY nice intergration of prodigious amounts of well controlled bass with the mids and highs. The upper "edge" was still there with the 111Es however, and I mentioned this to Jurgen Reis, chief engineer of MBL. He feels that without this extra edge, the speakers would not get the attention of some show goers. Jurgen removed the four pennies (German ingenuity?) per cabinet used for the show to isolate the radialstrahlers' brass spikes from the bass modules' brass cups. (the speakers are two seperate modules, bass and radialstrahler/mid) Then he removed the metal screens from the radialstrahlers and WOW, the upper range was as smooth as its piano black finish.
To these ears, the best sound in Vegas.
Yes, they take a huge amount of power and they look like Boris Karloff would need them back in his laboratory for some fictional science experiment, but they pulled me into the music like no other speaker has since hearing some horns for the first time in the seventys.
I will say that I also liked, alot, the VR9/darTZeel combo, the TAD room, the VR4SR Von Schweikerts as well as the Merlin/CAT room's sound. The Harbeth and Caravelle (Star Sound) monitors also were very nice. I was expecting more life from the Kharma rooms but did not hear anything exciting and who needs a sub in the middle of their room the size of a MiniCooper?
I never thought there would be a snowball's chance in hell that I would be replacing the Merlins. Friday it snowed in Las Vegas.
Cheers, Steve