Sad news indeed. We don’t know what went wrong and it is not fair to second guess their business decisions that got them to this point. Even though I did not like all aspects of their sound (a touch too hard and metallic sounding), they certainly did other things well (imaging and having a wide sweet spot. From a purely sonic perspective, they deserved a place in the market. I bet someone will buy the design and this design will remain in the market in some form.
MBL Insolvent
I apologize if someone else has started a thread I missed, but reports indicate that MBL has initiated insolvency proceedings under German law. Not all businesses succeed- its a feature not a bug in a free enterprise system- but hopefully new investors will come in and save the company. This seems to be following the way of Audio Research (fortunately saved) and others-lots of uncertainty surrounding Dartzeel, Krell, etc, which is unfortunate. So many of these manufacturers are small businesses, obviously without huge capital reserves and sometimes without a good succession plan when the founders move on. I hope MBL successfully restructures, it makes great products. I think we all benefit from a healthy, vibrant group at the top end that has the resources to create and innovate. Good luck MBL.