Oh my God. What a sound! The lighting and my distance from the speaker doesn't allow you to see it clearly, but there's a little cross inside the radiating grille atop the workings of MBL's Radialstrahler Reference mbl 101 Mk.II speakers ($59,990/pair) that drives home the religious experience that listening to an all-MBL system can create.
Music is treated with equal reverence. "Ve don't stop the music midway!" boomed the voice directed at the hapless assistant. "Ve must vait until it has ended. I do not like this!"
Somehow, we all survived, and Rachmaninoff's
Symphonic Dances from Reference Recordings' miraculous disc filled the room with the most astoundingly real, three-dimensional presentation I have yet witnessed. Of course, with so many rooms to visit, I didn't want to sit through all 18 minutes of the first section. So, praying that I would not witness a decapitation, I had to beg the hapless assistant three times to do his best to lower the volume and give me back my CD before he dared make a move.
But what an experience! At my previous Show experiences with MBL electronics, there has been a certain pearly shininess to the stunning sound that I've found a bit unnatural. But that was with different speakers. This was some of the most natural sound I've heard from any system. Also responsible were the mbl 6010 D Reference preamp ($23,800), 9011 Luxury amplifier ($42,900.00), 1611 F Reference DAC ($24,750 with 24/96/192 and SACD interface capacity), and1622 Reference transport ($27,500). It's time for me to check my Lotto ticket to see if I can find a way to buy the whole thing.
