Hi Clickster2, I demoed a pair of broken-in 9008's in my home and did not prefer them. That being said there could be reasons for this, firstly I did not have a MBL pre-amp set-up with them but instead my ARC Ref3. When I was listening I preferred the sound when I pushed the "INVERT" button on my remote to change the phase for the AR pre. I have been told since by another person that product from Germany (using XLR connections) are wired differently then say US made product such as the AR Ref3 pre. which I had hooked-up in balanced mode.
So this would have a major role in the sound so I would think. Also I was using cables of what I had (Stealth, Indra Ic's, Dream PC's and SC's and Sextet AES digital) and did not do any cable changes so all that being said I'm not totally convinced now of my findings. Other MBL users recommend not use silver with the speakers and all use different cables than I do.
I will say other amps I had on hand I used the same with and never had any issues what so ever. I believe the biggest issue here would be the phase issue and if this is true, I have not done any research to find out due to just actually learning about this. If this is true with the amps then the same would go with the pre and all other gear that everyone out there is using and mix and matching with non German made electronics.
Hope this helps, I also had Pass X600.5's with them with no issues what so ever, Cat JL3 Sig. MK2 mono blocks also with no issues and preferred both over the MBL's.
In closing the MBL's are my favourite speakers period and anything you put with them will sound great. If I was you I would look at other alternatives for amps and save large, Spectron mono blocks, Nuforce and others. Do some home work as others are using them and did comparisons already but still listen for your self.
