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!
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!