MBL alternatives

Sure. They don't have the impact of the T-1 or T-3 (they go down to about 30 Hz), but they do everything else about the same. I don't know if John Wolfe is working on a field coil technology for that model or not.

That. Looks. Awesome.

I run the Classic Audio Reproductions T-3. It is set up with dual 15" woofers, has 20Hz-45KHz bandwidth, nice flat impedance curve, 97 db 1 watt/1 meter and matches the transparency and detail of the best ESLs with its field-coil drivers. Nuance, bandwidth and efficiency all in one package, plus they are easy to set up (mine are about 8" from the rear wall.

Sound: they image beautifully, easily play 'outside the speakers' (try out Amused to Death on LP...), plenty of dynamic range that no planar can reproduce, bottom end impact that most speakers (including the ATC) only hint at, smooth and extended... its hard to argue with them. I've had the speakers for a long time, and the field coil setup is something brand new that I just got updated. The improvement was stunning.

All amplifiers including solid state will sound better with higher impedances like 16 ohms. Although a solid state amp might drive low impedances easily, do not confuse that with offering the best sonic performance: just like tubes, SS amps need higher impedance speakers to *sound* their best.

If you are looking for wide-angle dispersion, the High Emotion Audio speakers like the S7 have a tweeter that is really amazing- the 90-degree off-axis response is nearly the same as straight on! It is also one of the fastest tweeters I've heard.