Mbl Magic?

I think the richness and liveliness you hear from a well set-up pair of MBLs is due in large measure to the unusually well-energized, spectrally correct reverberant field they generate. In this area, the MBLs replicate the soundfield characteristics of a live performance better than most speakers do; most speakers generate a reverberant field that is much weaker (relative to the direct sound) than one would find at a live performance, and that weak reverberant field is often spectrally dissimilar to the first-arrival sound. MBL isn't the only manuracturer who gives these characteristic high priority.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

Hi Duke,
Which speaker are you a dealer for that competes with the mbl's?

Pedrillo,

I belive he sells SoundLabs that he would say competes with MBL. With all due respect though, they don't. MBL's are the only speaker IMO that just do it. If money is no concern, they are the way to go.

Also, I will say that Duke's speaker (Dream Maker) that I heard at RMAF 2007 is great. I was VERY impressed. I personally thought with certain music they suck you in. I played blues and they reproduced just ammazing. They have a certain tone that you will either like or not. Interesting and worth a listen. Very good sound at a moderate price ($9k I think).

Good Luck

MBL isn't the only manuracturer who gives these characteristic high priority.

Yes this wide even dispersion charateristic was demonstrated by Dr. Floyd Toole in listening tests in the 70's as sounding most pleasing, natural and life-like convincing.

MBL's will work well placed well out into a room. They won't work as well up against a wall because of the strong rear radiation - so be careful about placing them in a small room without treatments -if you have the space then these are a great choice. There are a great many good conventional speakers with wide dispersion although sadily most two ways will "beam" in the upper midrange and therefore fail to sound convincing there you can somewhat overcome this by listening in a close near-field position).

Revel Studio 2 and Dynaudio Sapphire lare extremely good. Kharma's and other speakers with the accution mids and Dunlavy's Iv and V's are also worth checking out.

My guess is that "dynamics' may have something to do with your observations too. Real instrunents are actually very loud but they don't sound loud.

Good Luck in your search.

Ohm Walsh series can be had for much less than MBL and may share some of the unique qualities many admire with MBLs and other omni-oriented designs.