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Old 02-27-2018, 10:50 AM
JemHadar JemHadar is offline
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Default mbl at the "Cost is No Object" show - A tale of the third dog

There is nothing like unrestrained dynamics to open the dopamine floodgates in the brain; it is addictive. Unrestrained dynamics are exactly what the Radialstrahler mbl 101 X-treme deliver. This speaker belongs to a select club; only if you are a Mother of all End Game speakers need you apply.

Welcome to the “Cost is No Object” Show staged during the weekend of February 24th 25th at Alpha High End in Belgium. Main Star of the Show, the mbl X-treme Reference system; Supporting Cast, the Noble and Corona Lines. Audience, Audio Aficionado members Bart, Meta and Spirit Crusher so expect some great pictures.

Antoine Furbur, International Sales Director for MBL, put it quite eloquently when introducing the X-treme, “we are not talking Ferrari’s here, but Bugatti”; a bold boast. But just as with the Bugatti Chiron, the X-treme speakers married to mbl Reference Line separates are not concerned with such trivial and mundane pursuits as efficiency and cost effectiveness. Only mind-bending performance reigns supreme. There are but a few contenders for the crown and most are left so far behind as to make them irrelevant.

If you can afford the whole deal without blinking twice, you will gladly part with €500.000 and enjoy the rest of your days immersed in audio bliss. The only speaker I’ve heard so far that is capable of similar dynamics is the XRT2K by McIntosh. Unfortunately, the line array from Binghamton doesn’t even come close to the finesse projected by the 4 towering Teutonic behemoths. There really is no contest.

Surprisingly, it is the absence of a speaker enclosure that makes you unwittingly aware of how much an impact that enclosure has on performance. An advantage of not having one is that there is nothing to store energy, energy that otherwise would play tug of war with the drivers and wreak havoc on phase and impedance. Save for thermal losses in the wiring, voice coils and driver surfaces, all energy is radiated outwards by the main tower a.k.a. System in a 360-degree sphere. Thanks to the alignment of the sphere like drivers, all wave fronts are time aligned.

At the frequencies the, 6 drivers each, Bass Towers operate, directionality is of no concern. The push-push pairing of subwoofers and the way the bass cabinets are fashioned minimises any impact those cabinets could have on the overall sound. Although the whole X-treme system is massive, it is less intimidating in real life than one would assume from pictures.

The mbl X-tremes do not project a mere sound stage as such, they energise the room with an immersive sound field that is almost tangible. They play louder than their sensitivity would suggest. Nevertheless, be sure to feed them plenty Amperes as they most surely will eat less capable amplifiers for breakfast.

Listening to the X-treme system is like being present at the actual performance. Subtle spatial cues are transduced, even during the occasional onslaught of dB’s, painting a very convincing picture; a picture more natural than many contrived surround mix presentations. It is hard to imagine one is listening to just a Stereo source and one immediately realises how many of these cues are lost with unidirectional speaker configurations.

In your mind, try to revisit a really good concert you once attended in a hall with outstanding acoustics, instruments playing on stage, close miked and played back through a really exceptional PA and it will give you some inkling of the sheer presence the X-treme’s establish. The size, detail, finesse, delicacy, power, staging, immersion, it is all there and it all fits like a Chinese puzzle. There is nothing artificial about the whole presentation whatsoever. That is what unrestrained dynamics and time coherence will do for you.

Some titbits about the X-treme. Group delay can be tweaked for the active Bass Tower - System combo so as to achieve the best possible integration and coupling with the room. On top of the System tower an ambience tweeter can be found featuring its own control. The crossover can be tweaked by selecting different internal wire types, a feature also found on smaller mbl models that will certainly delight wire aficionado’s.

Here is the good news. One can enjoy nearly the same level of performance in your average sized listening room courtesy of the Radialstrahler mbl 101 E MKII, the X-treme’s smaller sibling at a significantly lower price point.

All mbl speakers share the same tweeter/midrange assembly. The integration between tweeter and midrange is stunning to a point it makes one wonder why bother with the classical designs fraught with trade-offs. For experiments sake, move closer to the tweeter of your speaker when playing. At a certain distance the treble separates from the midrange and both sound, literally, disconnected. Not so with the mbl assembly, it is the closest thing to a point-source I have ever heard. I have no idea how slow or fast the mbl tweeter is compared to SOTA designs by Magico or YG Acoustics. What I did hear was that the sound stayed true to life all the way up into the highest registers at any volume, meaning a complete absence of breakup, distortion or compression.

The mbl 111 F was also on active display, and although it is a very capable speaker, the one you really want, when hearing them back to back, is the 101. The 111 forgoes the spherical woofer for a more traditional push-push woofer design. If the 101 does not survive your significant other’s acceptance, the 111 will still let you enjoy the excellent treble/midrange all mbl speakers offer.

In Europe, at €57.000, the 101 is a direct competitor to the YG Acoustic Hailey. Two outstanding speakers, two completely different design paradigms, two different sound presentations, and I could happily live with either one of them. Where the Hailey’s trump the 101’s in accurate imaging and resolution, the 101 drops you in the event. A subtle difference between experiencing one of the best 3D presentations on the planet, the Hailey, and being there, the 101. I can only surmise this is due to how the respective speakers couple with the room and how the 101, by design, more naturally mimics behaviour of sound sources. Compared to the Hailey’s razor sharp, but nevertheless detached holographic rendition, the 101 makes the room complicit in creating a more natural ambiance and experience probably playing tricks on the brain while doing so, but what a nice way to be tricked.

One could nit-pick about the 12” subwoofer integration with the spherical woofer but it really is of no consequence, I found the bass one of the best of any speaker… period. You will certainly not need a separate subwoofer to get excellent natural sounding bass. Good to know when deciding if this is the one for you, the 101 does love to play loud and it loses some of its magic when playing quietly. As the 120 and 126 models (not at the show) do not feature the spherical woofer/subwoofer combo, they likely are more suited for those not craving chest pounding bass.

At this price point it all comes down to personal taste, it doesn’t make choosing any easier though. There is no escaping a bit of psychology here. The Hailey is but the second entry into the YG Acoustic range and one could easily fall victim to the “just out of reach syndrome”, lusting after the more expensive Sonja. This makes it complicated to consider the Hailey a true End Game speaker for the money. The price gap between the regular 101 and 101 X-treme is so extreme, pardon the pun, however the experience so similar that the 101 truly qualifies as an End Game speaker; a speaker that will never make you look back or make you covet any other transducer; you’ll be too lost in the music to have time for such musings.

All three lines of electronics, the Reference, Noble and Corona were on active display.

To my pleasant surprise the pricing of these three lines makes sense and is perfectly aligned with offered performance and execution. The entry Corona line bringing exceptional value for the price of admission. I’m impressed with how the three lines allow anyone to step into the mbl-world at whatever point their wallet allows and yet enjoy the full craftsmanship mbl has to offer no matter what that entry point is. They have the “Manage Expectations” game perfected to a tee, that is for sure.

Talking sales numbers and business model with Antoine Furbur it became very clear that mbl is in a very good place, a healthy place where they can maximise their business and delight customers around the world without compromising core values, vision and mission.

While Magico and YG Acoustic slug it out in the fight to win the Hearts, Minds and most notably the Dollars/Euros of Customers, mbl, kind of under the radar, manufacture and market these world class odd looking speakers, banking on evolution rather than revolution, refining their original and innovative design as they go. It speaks volumes about mbl’s attitude. I did get a sense, though, they would welcome a more visible profile among music and audio enthusiasts.

If you are in the market for an End Game speaker, remember the “Two Dogs and a Bone” proverb as the Radialstrahler mbl 101 E MKII might very well be the surprise you never heard coming.

Last edited by JemHadar; 02-27-2018 at 11:04 AM.
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Old 02-27-2018, 11:29 AM
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Jacques.......Kudos to you for a most interesting, informative, and well written review of the "Cost Is No Object" show and MBL's presentation. Your post is excellent.
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Old 02-27-2018, 11:30 AM
Still-One Still-One is offline
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I have said it before, when I heard a properly set-up xTrreme system it was my audio epiphany. Every system I have heard since has failed to evoke anything near my reaction to that event. The room seemed to be energized with music. The closest I have been to the effect I get when attending a live event.

Will everyone like them, I am sure the answer is no.That's cool too.
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Old 02-27-2018, 11:51 AM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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Never actually heard the MBL speakers but have heard plenty of MBL gear over the years and was always impressed. Too bad MBL was totally messed up here in the states back in the day. Don’t recall who’s fault that was.
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Old 02-27-2018, 12:27 PM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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Going from memory and the feedback about the MBL speakers, they sounded as they create more of a diffused, enveloping, rather than the focused images most are used to? Something you would indeed hear at a large live event where it is the collective sound rather than the sharp imaging of individual instruments. I wonder if the classical listening enthusiast would find the MBL more to their taste then?
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Old 02-27-2018, 01:54 PM
JemHadar JemHadar is offline
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Default mbl at the "Cost is No Object" show - A tale of the third dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by PHC1 View Post
Going from memory and the feedback about the MBL speakers, they sounded as they create more of a diffused, enveloping, rather than the focused images most are used to? Something you would indeed hear at a large live event where it is the collective sound rather than the sharp imaging of individual instruments. I wonder if the classical listening enthusiast would find the MBL more to their taste then?


That was my assumption going to the show. However, after having experienced three models from the range, diffuse is a word I definitely would not use anymore. The rendition is just different. There is more energy coming from reflections, just like with instruments radiating in all directions, but somehow our brain makes sense of it. The effect has a name, but it evades me right now. Makes one wonder what is more true to life.

No worries for those about to rock...they rock...they will bring down the roof if you want to.
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Old 02-27-2018, 02:12 PM
bodiezaffa bodiezaffa is offline
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One of the best written posts I have ever read. Bravo.
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Old 02-27-2018, 02:46 PM
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Jacques:


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Last edited by bart; 02-27-2018 at 02:52 PM.
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Old 02-27-2018, 02:51 PM
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I will post more impressions and pics as soon as Meta is happy enough about them.

This is indeed your last speaker; you will never want to upgrade anymore.

Half joking, I said to my better half yesterday: I think we could just fit in an X-treme system in here.
She said: I wouldn't mind, they are true pieces of art in every way possible.

Now I just need to find 400,000€ + some money for decent cables...
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Old 02-27-2018, 03:28 PM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jem666 View Post
That was my assumption going to the show. However, after having experienced three models from the range, diffuse is a word I definitely would not use anymore. The rendition is just different. There is more energy coming from reflections, just like with instruments radiating in all directions, but somehow our brain makes sense of it. The effect has a name, but it evades me right now. Makes one wonder what is more true to life.

No worries for those about to rock...they rock...they will bring down the roof if you want to.
Thanks for the info Jacques.
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