Magico Mini 2 vs Kharma Midi Exquisit vs MBL 101s

Sirspeedy
In my experience, the Magico Mini sounded more aggressive than all the different Kharma's I heard, even grating. Perhaps due to partnering equipment. The Martens use mostly ceramic drivers too, and i haven't heard people say they sound aggressive. Ceramic drivers do sound dry, and ring a bit at high volumes, esp when partnered with wrong equipment usally SS amps.

Alectiong,

the Mini's don't use a ceramic driver. (after re-reading your post i may have mis-interpreted your comments, you may not have intended to say the Mini had a ceramic driver, so i added this note) the original Mini used titanium in a constrained layer sandwitch. likely due to feedback that it sounded a bit dry with certain amplification the Mini was reworked and now the Mini II uses a 'Nano-tec' mid-woofer. i think Nano-tec is carbon fibre.

ceramic drivers are not inherently dry. but they have remarkable stiffness to weight and therefore are very linear. with their accuracy they do require very good amplification; and will not tolerate edgy or dry amplificiation. the top level Accuton ceramic mid-range used in the Kharma Midi Exquiste and the Marten Coltrane have black resonance discs on the cone that eliminate the ringing you refer to.

the best implementation of ceramic drivers uses two of the top Accuton ceramic drivers. using two ceramic midrange drivers increases dynamics and slam (ceramic's lone weakness) and makes them even more linear. the Evolution MM2 and MM3 and the top level Kharma and Marten use this approach. i have yet to hear better mids than i hear from these speakers. accurate, transparent, quick, rich, organic.

it is a mistake to generalize about ceramic drivers.

Having heard Marten Coltrane, Magico Mini, and MBL 101E, though in different setup, I will say you are out of luck trying to find answer here.

They are so different, all three of them.

MBL 101E, or any MBL to be exact, still works well close to wall but does sound better if you have them far away from back/side wall. To my ears, the bass is a little muddy at times and high does not have as much air/extension compared to the best tweeters out there. I also don't like the low efficiency fact, you lose some jump factor no matter how many watts you feed them.

Marten Coltrane can be fatiguing over time, unless you spend mega bucks on upstream which can produce details and no grain. I find the diamond tweeter easier on the ears than ceramic, but those ceramic midrange still sound dry and analytical. I heard the big Avalon ISIS, Lumenwhite, and Avalon Eidolon, same impression. I rather lose details over musicality in this case.

Magico Mini left me not too much impression, I sure didn't think it was worth the asking price. The dealer even told me he was glad to sold his pair.

Some speakers you might also want to consider: Tidal acoustic, Burmester, Gryphon, and Usher BE.

Mikelavigne,
Not disagreeing with you abt the ceramic drivers. And I do know the Mini's don't use ceramic drivers. My post was to point out in my experience, all the Kharmas i have heard have never sounded "aggressive" compared to the Mini's. It was always the other way round for me. But perhaps due to partnering equipment.

i hope everyone realizes the obvious fact that kharma midi exquisite speakers retail for about $80k (maybe more). i believe that the MBL speakers are over $40k (retail of course). at one time i would "kill" for a used pair of the kharmas, but after being forwarned about system and room synergy issues, i relunctantly lost interest. i don't think anyone, even rockport, makes a better box (maybe denser/heavier but not necessarily better). even THINKING about them is making me a little dizzy- i already HAVE a good set of loudspeakers! the fact that they are made in Holland, a place, like Denmark et.al. which does not cut corners when it comes to esoterica like loudspeakers (or wooden shoes), makes me even more envious of someone who has a pair of these gorgeous speakers. but a simple reminder of the day i compared the lowly Andra-ONE'S to a speaker costing over SEVEN TIMES more, and the andra's sounded more like real live instruments (quite a bit more actually) almost knocked me off of the chair i was sitting on. when i agreed to buy them on the condition that they would sound just as good in my living room, i was equally impressed- and this is without being able to place them "just so". and you should know this- i NEVER liked the way they looked- i wanted wood veneer or Wilsongloss, sonus faber or usher, avalon burled walnut or- well, you get the idea. but music wise, i was really so happy deep down, where you have really deep tuneful bass, detailed without shreiking solo violins, and cellos and Joni Mitchell sitting a few feet away, second only to Magnaplanar's transparency and presence.
blah blah blah, right? Get a good deal, OR go for the "gold"?- only the gold may be too heavy, too "something".
Free Will- it's a Bitch...