MBL omnidirectional speakers. How do they sound ?

I heard the MBL "system" during one of my travels in Dubai in a store that looked more like a luxury HiFi supermarket, a few stores down from the Ferrari dealership. The demo room was acoustically optimized and the presentation was simply unreal. That was the only time in my life that I wished I had picked a different line of work, legal or illegal, and could just hand my credit over to the salesman with a shipping address... It completely ruined my ears for music. Madeleine Peyroux's voice has never sounded the same..

Yep it can be an acquired taste in that its not what most are used to hearing at home but once one gets a proper taste of good omni/radial speaker sound, its hard to ever go back and be 100% satisfied. Beware!

.....its hard to ever go back and be 100% satisfied.

Not true. Been there, done that and never ever going back to MBL. 
Moving from MBL to Vienna Acoustics' coincident midrange/treble transducer/module was indeed most revelatory and satisfying at the same time. :)

jon,

That’s my personal experience only of course. It is an acquired taste, not for everyone obviously. YMMV

But good radials/omnis like mbl or OHM are worth a try for those just not finding the complete answer with more conventional designs and willing to try something truly different and unique. Like conventional speakers, no two designs will sound or work exactly the same. OHM and mbl for example share a radial design but sound very different.

I mention OHM mainly becasue I am most familiar with those and they are a much more affordable and practical option for those interested in trying such things than mbl. The largest most expensive OHMs will likely still cost less than the smallest mbls so that’s a big difference.  Both will respond similarly to quality amplification and source material upstream.

I think they're a very good loudspeaker.  I also think they're not a good value.   There are other loudspeakers I like as well if not better, for less money.

In this league, I'd encourage you to audition the big Avalon loudspeakers.  You can get some of the older, Eidolon models for $12,000 or less on the used market.

What's an even better value is for you to build a Linkwitz LX521 or Orion system.  Both will stand up against the MBL or Avalon systems without breaking a sweat.  You can build either, with amplification, for $6000 or less.  They're extreme hi-end the common man can afford.  But if you feel you just have to drop $20,000, go right ahead.