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Anyone owns the mbl 116?

Hi folks :)

I'd like to hear from people who own or have demo'd the mbl 116 speaker in their homes.. What is your experience with this speaker? What electronics did you use? Please also describe your room setup and dimensions if possible.

I have listened to the full Noble Line setup at my dealer rather extensively and I like it a whole lot.

I'm strongly considering buying the mbl 116 and a complete mbl electronics setup (6010D pre-amp, 8011AM or 9007 amps, 15xx or 16xx CD+DAC). In case you are wondering why I'm looking at the 116 and not the 101E: it's because of a limited room size (13' x 18' x 8'). I think this is too small for the 101E, unfortunately, but I know that the 116 works well in small to medium size rooms.

Any insights you may be able to give me would be greatly appreciated.
osgorth
simonw
12 posts
 
I finally bought the MBL 116 this week. It is still being run-in (driven by Ayre MX-R mono), and so far the result has been very positive: big soundstage (even in my small room), piano very dynamic and real-life. Ayre is definitely powerful enough to drive them.

The strings/violins right now is a bit thin/bright, but I hope the glare will be reduced after run-in. Any MBL users would like to share their experience on cabling to get the best out of them (or reduce the brightness)? I am using Ayre interconnects and Kubala Sosna spk cable...
osgorth OP
109 posts
 
Congrats Simon! :)

I have ordered them as well, should be getting them late March if all goes well.

As for cables, the best I've heard so far is a silver/copper hybrid cable as interconnect (balanced) that my dealer makes, and Audience Au24. That's a great match, very neutral and natural-sounding. You might want to look for similar stuff. Send me an email and we can stay in touch when I get my gear, and we can exchange experiences on this - I'm planning to try a bunch of cables when they're finally here. :)
stereo_phile's avatar
stereo_phile
32 posts
 
Hey Simonw, I had MBL111E speakers with Kubala Sosna speaker cables running on MBL9007 amplifiers but Tara Labs The One clearly to my ears sounded much better. Kubala Sosna was too laid back and polite where as Tara Labs The One opened up the sound, became more dynamic and life like. I now have replaced MBL11E speakers with Dynaudio Evidence Temptation which I hear string section more than MBL11E which to me sounded bit muddled. I still have MBL111RC for home theater center channel and MBL121 as rear surround speakers. MBL111RC has a much clearer sound in the same mids and highs because they use the same selected drivers as the MBL101E speakers which in restrospect I should have dished out more money to get.
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