What is it about MBL? Love them, hate them, but there is something definitely different about them. For one, there is the fit and finish and over the top aesthetics of their gear. Yum Yum. Then there is their speakers. They look... different. They also sound... different. Big, open 360 degree soundstage. Nobody else does it better, in my opinion. No boxiness to the sound... at least for the midrange and above. But...

Why the over-emphasis on the bass? It is not just the demo music they choose to play and the volumes they play it at (loud). The speaker seems tuned to over-emphasize bass. But only bass in a certain range. Below this range it seems to fall off naturally, as far as I can tell. Above it seems to go into this otherworldly compression zone where it becomes a little weaker and dryer before it merges into the midrange.

And then there is the midrange. These are very smooth sounding speakers. This can be a boon for when a badly recorded CD is played - but the sound is smooth do to an apparent complete lack of microdynamics. This means that the emotional nuance and delicacy of the musician's performance is not able to be communicated by these speakers. And another thing. Listen to these and try to tell a keyboard from a piano, an electric guitar from a bass guitar... hey, even a electric guitar from a synthesizer. It ain't as easy as it sounds [pun accidental]. In fact, I could not do it several times - though I knew it *had* to be a guitar, I sure couldn't say it sounded like one.

Rumor is that they are going to update the new flagship 101E speakers to make them have the same bass unit design as their smaller speakers - the smaller speaker bass units using multiple smaller drivers instead of the one big driver, being quicker and providing more detail and clarity in that bass region.

An MBL speaker with more conventional drivers. Never got to hear this at the show.

The MBL 121's list for $9,999. Never got to hear these at the show either.

More pictures of the MBL 121

More pictures of the MBL 121

The MBL 6010D preamplifier

The MBL CD player being used

The MBL 1511D converter