MBL...
and it's products do NOT sound Hi-Fi...with all due respect, anyone hearing this is not hearing these products set up with any semblance of normalcy.
These are the standard bearers in the industry.
One can only wonder what's up when we read posts so foreign to the reality of audio.
Sorry to disagree Stringreen.
Larry |
With all due respect, the question here is, 'Should I buy MBL?', not which speaker does one like the best.
Personally, I prefer the MBL, but can fully understand, given the variability of sound at shows, that one might, 'not have connected with their sound.'
Call...you remember phone calls right? That's what we had before the internet, and web sites...you know, 'Hi, My name is Bob...I'm thinking about purchasing your speakers, but wondering about service in the United States.'
Really simple.
I have spoken to the folks at MBL, they're unfailingly helpful.
I don't think I'd have any compunction about purchasing, but then I haven't researched them diligently--recently.
Do that, find out what THEY, not we have to say about warranty and subsequent service...that should give you your answer.
Good luck...them's mighty fine speakers, my favorites.
Larry |
Synopsis...MBL Problem?
No...
Buy with confidence...
International distribution works.
Larry |
Perfect response Mapman.
Any audiophile worth his/her salt knows that the act of 'just moving' a system creates a different sound than the system had 'before' the move. Further, that it takes a while for things to settle in, so that the sound is back to its normal self.
Why...I don't know.
Some people think it's the wires that have to get back to whatever.
I've never heard a plausible engineering explanation...but this brings us to the 'show experience.'
Having done more than a couple of shows as an exhibitor, I can say this...the show experience is usually a shadow of what any given system can do under what I'd have to call typical circumstances.
The MBL's being omni polar create one extra issue.
Generally the bi polars and omnis sound less than they are in show settings.
Maggies never, at least to me, sound as good as I have heard them.
The MBL's can sound downright awful...and seem to suffer more than other, traditional dynamic loudspeakers.
In Munich, if memory serves, I heard them, and they were something to behold.
They are simply the best speakers I've personally heard..not in all ways, but over all.
One time, after buying a pair of CS5 THIEL loudspeakers...breaking them in, enjoying them...subsequently selling more than any other dealer on the planet...(bragging), Jim Thiel and I were having dinner and wine.
I asked, 'Jim, how could you improve the CS5?'
Without hesitation he said, 'I'd put another pair back to back, making them sort of omni polar.'
Funny, that, at the time sounded like heresy...it wasn't 'til I heard the omni MBL's set up correctly, that I got it.
I do now.
Larry |
String,
Anyone making fun of Vandy5's has no idea what he or she is talking about.
They are excellent, excellent speakers.
I've heard the MBL's sound less than stellar but they never sound 'design flawed' which is kinda the description of what you heard, from your posting.
Again, the omni thing makes for difficult set up...but I can't explain the bass you're hearing...it's just not something I've experienced.
Larry |
Onhwy61,
I have NO difficulty believing that someone heard MBL's not sounding great.
Personally, I've heard them not sound great.
I think the issue was, that the inference was that these are 'flawed designs'...that being the case, they cannot sound good.
Neither is true.
They are wonderfully engineered...but can sound bad when not set up correctly.
If they sound bad and the dealer set them up, he did a poor job...THAT is very possible.
I followed some hot shot into a home in which a rather well thought of 'sound guy' set up a system, but the owner was unhappy. He had every right to be...the system sounded really bad.
This guy had used calculations, yada, yada, yada...no, I"m not discounting those calculations, but whatever math he used it didn't work.
I spent 15 minutes listening and moving speakers and it sounded great.
The sad part is, my friend had payed this so called expert a lot of money.
So...dealer set up is not equal to correct necessarily.
The MBL's in my experience can, CAN sound good...they don't always, but then no speaker ALWAYS sounds good.
I heard Sound Labs sound really bad...and that seems impossible, but it happened.
Again, the issue was one of the tenor of the comment...the implication being that they are inherently flawed.
Larry |
Echoing Marty's words--the MBL's have that holographic presentation when set up correctly, sounding, to my ears, like real music...
Larry |
You know...without wanting to become embroiled in sophomoric nonsense....a few years ago we had this kind of contentious attitude and posts...it became tiresome, so I went away.
We all have different opinions. Why is that a formula for something beyond civil debate?
Personal attacks and vitriolic responses are uncalled for...I know, because I've been incited to do that at times.
Let's just try to stay on topic and not be confrontational.
DO YOU HEAR ME????lol
Larry |
We're talking apples and armadillos here.
Though wonderful speakers, Omni's and Bipolar and Dipoles are different in their presentations.
Which one sounds more real is such a perspective...such a personal call.
I've heard the Maggies when set up correctly, and have had people within the room be totally unimpressed...it's like Blondes and Redheads...one is beautiful to me, the other, to you.
I can always make a case for what I think is good, but if you don't like it, my words are meaningless.
Let's get real...Maggies IMHO are magnificent, especially their newer models...the MBLs are also top drawer, IMHO the BEST..but, but, if you don't hear what I'm hearin', let's agree to say, 'it's your money...' and so on.
Larry |
