AXPONA NYC 2011

MBL in Gloss White

John Atkinson  |  Jun 27, 2011

It was déjà vu all over again when I went into the MBL room at Axpona (after a wait in the corridor outside, this room being packed throughout the Show). The system was the same used at SSI in Montreal and Axpona in Atlanta last April—101E Mk.2 omnidirectional speakers driven by gigantic 9011 monoblock amplifiers, a 6010D preamp, a 1621A CD transport, and a 1611F D/A converter—but this time with everything finished in a superb gloss white. I listened to "Fit Song" from Cornelius's Sensuous CD, "The Boy in the Bubble" from Peter Gabriel's Scratch My Back CD, and the hi-rez solo piano recording made by MBL's long-time chief engineer Jürgen Reis, "Walchensee, Mondnacht," performed by Martin Vatter, from the album Klangbilder. All the music was being played from a Linux music server put together by MBL's Jeremy Bryan and fed via an asynchronous USB link to the MBL DAC.

The room was a little on the small side for the speakers, with their extended LF response and omnidirectional highs, but that aside, the sound rocked, with an enormous and well-defined soundstage drawing me into the music.

COMMENTS
K.Reid's picture
Submitted by K.Reid on June 27, 2011 - 9:36pm

This was bar none my favorite room of the show on Saturday. I spent the most time with Jeremy Bryan and company listening...or shall I say experiencing the awesome MBL Sound. I waited in line like everyone else to get into the room and when I did get in, I did not want to leave. For me, the sound and music was highly addictive. Jeremy played a wide variety of music so we listeners were able to experience truly dynamic, emotionally involving music - especially a drum sequence which really showed off the 101E's low frequency prowess.

At the Atlanta show, I listened to the same system in Black and it was just as riveting. My sister, who accompanied me to the show, was speechless after hearing the demo material being played. She talked about the MBL room all during dinner later in the evening.

It is so great to hear someone describe music after their first time hearing it on a ultra high fidelity system that not only sounds incredible but is beautiful with impeccable build quality.

Thanks to Jeremy Bryan and his MBL team.

K.Reid 

 

soulful.terrain's picture
Submitted by soulful.terrain on June 30, 2011 - 8:32am

 

I totally agree with K. Reid's impression of the mbl room at Axpona in Atlanta. In my opinion, this was the best sound at the show next to Robert Lee's Acoustic Zen room and Mark Levinson's Daniel Hertz room.

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