MBL 111F or 101E ????

I certainly wouldn't consider myself an MBL "expert" but I did have an MBL obsession for many years, and was able to hear the majority of their speakers, often in very good set ups.  I had always lusted after the 101s but they were too much money, and I lost out on a once in lifetime second hand pair bid, which always haunted me.

I've ended up with a pair of the MBL 121 stand mounted speakers, which use the omni mid and tweeters.

As for the comparison between the 111F and the 101E...

For some reason, to my ears, the 111F somehow lacked the signature tonal balance of the rest of the MBL speakers, especially the 101E.
The 101E has to my ears, in a good set up, a truly gorgeous tone that sparkles with a rainbow of timbral colors - from the "woody" quality of a guitar body, to the brassy tones of a trumpet, etc.

Whereas the 111F didn't seem to have the same voice.   It certainly did the spacious omni-directional imaging thing we expect from MBL, but tonally it just seemed more subdued, darker, less believable.

I never figured out why, but it was a consistent impression whenever I heard them and I wrote them off my list.  YMMV of course, and there certainly are happy owners of the 111s.

It's doubly puzzling because my 121 monitors actually DO share much of the tonal quality I loved in the 101Es.

I question whether you'll lose a lot of the omni magic that you get from mbl speakers if you're going to have them as close to the sidewalls.and rear wall as you indicte.  Whenever I have heard them, they have had a lot of space around them, and that's when they have had that amazing soundstage.  Maybe someone who owns them can comment, but you might be better off getting speakers that work better with your room placement constraints.

Thanks for your comments.

i only heard the 101E mk2, and really love the sound but it’s price tag is way too expensive! So I go one step down to the 111F, nearly half price, but I also worry I might get far less quality from the 101E....

peppapig,

Careful about putting too much stock into my comments.

I've heard several people who own various MBLs mention, including reviewers, that the stand mounted 121s and 120 MBLs, despite only having the mid/tweeter of the 101s, nonetheless have essentially the same characteristic in the mids upward.

And I can say my 121s do indeed have that magic sound I heard from the 101s. (101E being the last version I heard).

It stands to reason that the 111 SHOULD produce the same mid/high voice.  Which is why it confused me when I didn't hear it on the 111s.

I've heard the 111s probably 2 or three times, but never at my place and not for a number of years.  So as I say, take what I report with a grain of salt.

This is the load v -phase graph of the 101E
https://www.stereophile.com/images/412MBLfig1.jpg

This is the load v -phase graph of the 111F even though it says 101 on the graph which is a typo.
https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/497MBLFIG1.jpg

Both are very very hard to drive in the low bass, with the impedance and -phase angle, the 101E again at 200hz to 500hz and again at 10khz.
The 111F is also hard at 1khz and again at 10khz.
You should take the Devialet to the shop to put it on both speakers. and listen compared to the big MBL amp I'm sure they have on hand.
Myself I would look at amps such as MBL own big ones, and also the bigger Gryphon's, big Krells and Agostino's big amp..

Cheers George