MBL Speaker Placement + 116F

I'm familiar with and own the larger models, the 111E and the 101E. The key for great sound is to make sure that they are away from the front wall and also, ideally the side walls. In many traditional speaker setups, the speakers can be within a few feet (2-5) of the front wall, depending on design. The omnidirectional nature of the MBL is a wondrous thing to behold however, in order to ensure that the reflections hitting the front wall to not occur too soon relative to the direct sound, the speaker should be away from hard, reflecting surfaces. Otherwise, you may find the sound a bit muffled and the images indistinct whereas when properly set up, imaging is excellent.

Also, I hope you have amps that deliver current. I had an odyssey finding amps that would work best, starting with Lamm and ending up with Boulder and Krell.

I haven't heard the F version, but I did audition an earlier 116 (sorry, don't recall which generation) in a room similar in size to yours - with the MBLs against the short wall, out about 4'. There were maybe 2 feet between the outside edge of each 116 and its respective side wall. I thought they sounded very good, but I'm not sure that they wouldn't have sounded better in a larger space. You definitely get a generous taste of the omni juice in such a set-up. OTOH, while bass impact was superb, real deep bass extention struck me as (just) a bit shy for a speaker at this price point.

Good Luck,

Marty

I have the MBL 116 in my showroom with similar dimensions. The placement was very easy compared with other speakers. In my case, a have a kind of cotton fabric covering the walls. This help me to adjust only the bass. Normally with MBLs I do this with a small toe in.
I can't compare MBL with other similar speakers because for me
avoid sweet spot, speed and dynamics are in another championship compared with conventional speakers.
Vlamir

Hey Partner, I say buy them if you can and not to worry about the placement as much. There are lots of opinions on how best to set up "Radialstrahlers", with MBL giving instructions, room dimensions, and a whole lot of mind numbing mathmatical calculations (in their owners manuals). All of that is cool if you have the size room to do it. Mbl speakers can fill up an acoustic space like nobodys business, but you don't NEED to have them set-up on the long wall (although preferable). I have a "smallish" room just like you do, 15 feet wide by 18 feet long. I have owned 111e's and placed them on the short wall on 8 foot centers and that worked very well for me. Although I did need to tame the front wall a bit with some acoustic panels as omni's throw alot of energy out and tended to be a tad bit "bright". I recently sold my 111e's and bought a pair of 101e Mk2's. Put em in the same room...right in the same spot, and they work killer. I am sure a larger room would only improve their awesome performance, but don't be afraid to go for it in your listening room. My guess is that you will be as blown away as I was that it actually worked!

I realize most of you guys are talking about speakers being placed 3 to 5 feet away from the front wall, which is where my 111e's will be. My situation is a little different in that although the speakers will be about 8 feet apart and 5 feet from the side wall, between the speakers against the front wall I have a big tv which is built into a big 7 foot high cabinet and is about 2 feet deep.

Anybody care to quess what that may do to the sound waves? I have my vandersteeen quatros listed right now and if you go there you can see my front room. I also have a 5 channel Krell amp and processor. I am thinking I might want to change them. I listen to both 2 channel and home theatre. Any suggestions would be appreciated.