MBL 101e mk 2 Speaker Owners?

I was obsessed with the MBL 101s for quite a while, and almost bought a pair (a great deal that slipped away from my fingers, years ago).

The best I ever heard them was actually in Michael Gindi's notoriously tiny room, driven by tube amps. He'd treated the room just right, but it certainly put to rest the notion for me that a large room was required to get great sound out of those speakers. (I've had similar success with full range speakers in a fairly small room at my place as well).

I ultimately ended up scoring a pair of the MBL 121 monitors
a few years ago, and it's so gratifying to have access to the MBL sound at home. (And as anomalous as it sounds, though the 121s have essentially the same brutal low sensitivity/impedance as the big 101s, they actually sound gorgeous driven by an old 14W/side Eico HF 81 tube amp).

I still envy those with the 101s!

A large room is not necessarily required, but 101s would probably be overkill in most smaller rooms and heavy treatment would likely be needed in lieu of distance to walls. I can also see where a good tube amp might work pretty well in a smaller room.

All I am saying is that it would be like driving a Lamborghini through town at 30 mph. No problem, and its still a very nice car, but not demonstrating its true potential.

In my living room, I had to place the 101's close to the rear wall and the sound was very closed in. I had plenty of power with my Stratos Extreme amp, but the sound just didn't gel in my room. Since it is the living room that I share with my wife and TV, I couldn't put the speakers out into the room as I would have liked.

My friend was indeed very kind. They were his dads speakers who had passed away. My friend knew I would appreciate the speakers and that is why they were offered to me for free. I could have sold them here and made a tidy profit, but I could have never of gone against his dad's wishes that they be GIVEN to a good home.

I love the Triton Ones and my wife likes that they don't dominate the living room.