AXPONA 2013

MBL Transcends Analog Tape

John Atkinson  |  Mar 15, 2013

When I win the PowerBall and retire, I am going to have MBL North America's Jeremy Bryan on call as my set-up man. At show after show, Jeremy has demonstrated that he can tame the most recalcitrant, obdurately obstinate room acoustics problems, using whatever tools he can find, to allow his system to shine its brightest. When I went into the larger of MBL's two rooms in the Doubletree, it was apparent that he had worked his magic. But what I didn't know was that throughout the show, snow melting on the hotel's roof was causing a stream of water running down the wall of the room behind the drapes. (I was impressed by the system's liquid-sounding midrange, however!)

Speakers were the MBL 101E Mk.2 omnidirectional speakers ($70,500/pair) driven by 9011 monoblock amplifiers ($106,000/pair), both positively reviewed by Michael Fremer for this magazine in the spring of 2012. I have always loved the sound of MBL's omnidirectional Radialstrahler high-frequency drivers and I was bowled over in my first visit to this room by the purity of Joni Michell's voice and the depth and width of the orchestral backing on her 2000 remake of "Both Sides Now." But on my second visit, Jeremy played me open-reel tapes of Beatles and Led Zeppelin recordings, using a United Home Audio deck. I had never heard this familiar material sound so convincing, so magnificent, so authoritative. My best sound at the Show!

COMMENTS
audiohead's picture
Submitted by audiohead on March 16, 2013 - 8:37am

I was lucky enough to be in the room with John for some of this listening session with the Beatles and Led Zepplin playing.  I couldn't agree more, best sound of the show.

K.Reid's picture
Submitted by K.Reid on March 20, 2013 - 3:54pm

Time and time again MBL has proved it is at the apex of the current state of art in sound reproduction and engineering. I can personally attest to Jeremy Bryan's prowess in getting rooms to sound superb at hotel rooms with less than accommodating room acoustics. Every audio show that I have attended there are long lines waiting to hear and see MBL's gorgeous product line from Corona to Reference.

There is simply nothing like sound reproduction through an MBL Radialstrahler. It is otherworldly in its transparency. It's a true joy to listen to music in an MBL room. I'm with John when he says his first call would be Jeremy. In interim, the Corona line is a strong value proposition to those saving for the X-tremes.

My hats off to MBL, Jeremy, Jurgen Reis and staff at MBL.

audiocaptain's picture
Submitted by audiocaptain on April 1, 2013 - 7:36am

The water was never running down the wall. On Wednesday night there was a very small drip that stopped that evening. To my knowledge it never reappeared. It seems everyone writing about this room mentions this as if it were a river. One person actually say's imploding. Makes for good conversation I guess. 

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