Sad news. MBL has filed for insolvency.

[sbo6]

And they don't cheat with their sensitivity ratings. For example, the first 800 Matrix didn't have 93 dB, but significantly more. Runs well with 25 watts.
For me the best speaker they ever made.
View attachment 153268View attachment 153269

So you believe not one speaker since the late 80s from B&W is any improvement over these speakers?

 

[DasguteOhr]

So you believe not one speaker since the late 80s from B&W is any improvement over these speakers?

Yes.. b&w best idea make from 808 studio speaker a home version matrix 800. With the krell alignmentfilter from 17hz really good bass the new ones just lack definition extremely clean.

 

[infinitely baffled]

Or maybe they would have failed sooner without the audio press?

I wonder if MBL's issue was that their marketing was overstimulating demand among folk who will never be able to afford their gear, if the reports from audio shows are accurate.

I'm very sad to hear this news as i aspire to own their speakers. I actually don't resent their pricing as they offer a lot for the asking price- it's companies like Tobian that seem to me to be taking the piss with their pricing, and regrettably they will be better insulated from the coming downturn as they charge an awful lot and give you very little- so they may be inherently more profitable due to lower costs.

 

[infinitely baffled]

Because I was taught to be kind. I was taught to, if you have nothing kind to say? Say nothing at all.

I will just leave it at that.

Tom

But isn't that the point of a forum....any forum, to openly discuss the good, the bad and the ugly, and to allow others to benefit from our experiences, good and bad?

Otherwise it's all just marketing

 

[treitz3]

I get what you are saying here. I would still choose to not say anything negative about my observations with these speakers. It's like commenting negatively about another's wife. Some things are just best left unsaid.

I feel as if I have already said too much.

Tom

 

[infinitely baffled]

I hear what you are saying, but with respect, I'm not in the market for anyone else's spouse, however i may well be in the market for other member's choice of equipment☺

 

[Rexp]

I hear what you are saying, but with respect, I'm not in the market for anyone else's spouse, however i may well be in the market for other member's choice of equipment☺

Shame, you could have had mine..

 

[TooCool4]

Shame, you could have had mine..

Wait till your wife reads this, you will be sleeping on the couch and your dinner will be in the dog.

 

[Joe Whip]

If he is only that fortunate ;-)

 

[keithc]

Wait till your wife reads this, you will be sleeping on the couch and your dinner will be in the dog.

He could always appease her with: "Well, honey, better high-fidelity than infidelity."

 

[Lagonda]

He could always appease her with: "Well, honey, better high-fidelity than infidelity."

Now that is a wonderful sentence, i will use it in the future !

 

[Massimo66]

He could always appease her with: "Well, honey, better high-fidelity than infidelity."

This is exactly what my wife says about her passion for high fidelity. She is happy and doesn't mind if I buy a 10,000 euro cartridge because this hobby keeps me at home often, indulges my Peter Pan syndrome and, by reducing my time spent in pubs, reduces the risk of dangerous encounters and relationships.

 

[keithc]

This is exactly what my wife says about her passion for high fidelity. She is happy and doesn't mind if I buy a 10,000 euro cartridge because this hobby keeps me at home often, indulges my Peter Pan syndrome and, by reducing my time spent in pubs, reduces the risk of dangerous encounters and relationships.

Unless you have attractive and flirtatious saleswomen representing audio companies.

And so on post #193, we come full circle. If only MBL had attractive ladies that lure all the guys to dropping big cash, they'd be fine.

 

[Massimo66]

Unless you have attractive and flirtatious saleswomen representing audio companies.

And so on post #193, we come full circle. If only MBL had attractive ladies that lure all the guys to dropping big cash, they'd be fine.

easy easy easy easy Here you are satisfied

 

[orfeo_monteverdi]

He could always appease her with: "Well, honey, better high-fidelity than infidelity."

[please forgive my poor English]

And it is better to avoid poor quality audio equipment, because then you get either low fidelity, or high-infidelity, depending on the level of genius with which the music wreckage is achieved. Therefore, in all cases great gear is mandatory.
Q.E.D.

 

[andromedaaudio]

[please forgive my poor English]

And it is better to avoid poor audio equipment, because then you get either low fidelity, or high-infidelity, depending on the level of genius with which the music massacre is perpetrated. Therefore, in all cases great gear is mandatory.
Q.E.D.

You just opened Pandoras box again lol .

" great gear "

 

[curiousjim]

With so few high end companies left, even losing one is sad.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

With so few high end companies left, even losing one is sad.

IMHO, there is too much redundancy in the high end but MBL was not part of that. Their loudspeakers are unique.

 

[Anton D]

This is exactly what my wife says about her passion for high fidelity. She is happy and doesn't mind if I buy a 10,000 euro cartridge because this hobby keeps me at home often, indulges my Peter Pan syndrome and, by reducing my time spent in pubs, reduces the risk of dangerous encounters and relationships.

Yes, because it's an either/or proposition!

 

[orfeo_monteverdi]

IMHO, there is too much redundancy in the high end but MBL was not part of that. Their loudspeakers are unique.

[please forgive my poor English]

I agree 100% with you on that.
And I am 100% sure they will find a solution, because, yes, their loudspeakers are unique and excellent in their own kind. Continuity (orders, sales, support) is still running perfectly well currently, as has been officially stated, and I have complete confidence in them.

The thing is: as they will find a solution which will come from an investor, the latter could raise his eyebrow when he will see that the brand charges sub-20K prices (in Europe) for its two first models*, on a market now populated by super-expensive loudspeakers. The investor could be tempted by a price-surge. (I am 100% sure that their prices will soon go up.)
Conclusion: if I would be highly interested by a pair of MBL, I would place an order at once to pick them at the present price. Because they said they can produce and deliver quite normally.

* (and all MBL models embed the same midrange-and-tweeter unit)

---

I can't resist: here is a Google translation of my enthusiastic post about the MBL system on the Brussels show in 2021. Posted on a French speaking forum. It was well-written in French, my mother tongue, but I'm sure some words will sound weird in this Google translation. Apologies. So I did the best I could to adapt it.

GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Imperial system, which delivers captivating and heady musicality, and a very "concert hall" sonic rendition. It's all a matter of perspective: here, the sonic perspective is more that of the listener in the concert hall, not that of the microphones on the stage. But the details and the "air" are present nonetheless; that's the real feat. And I didn't at all have the feeling of listening to low-efficiency speakers: on some recordings, it had an exhilarating live quality. Other recordings sounded more muffled. By contrast, French singer Barbara ("Pierre") was breathtakingly articulate, clear, and emotional.

Jürgen Reis, the chief engineer and technical director, makes classical recordings (including some of the Concerto Köln), plays in a rock band, and sings in a choir. It seems to me that all of this can be heard.

It seemed to me that everything was conveyed with disconcerting ease: opera, rock, French songwriters, symphonic, with very natural sounds, but changing according to the recordings. And high sound pressure levels (SPL) can be reached too, without obvious distortion (at least audibly): at about 10m from the speakers, I measured a SPL of 85dB! 10 meters away! Knowing that they radiate their energy over 360°, spread in all directions, it is therefore all the more remarkable to reach such a level, at such a distance, in a particular direction.

On Sunday, 5 minutes before closing time, the MBL hall was still nearly full. A young amateur musician I talked with (he plays piano, vocals, guitar), and who endures what his perfect pitch allows him to hear, was ecstatic in front of the MBL system, and raved about it (as all attendees did).

PS: for those who fancy omnidirectional speakers, the little 126 model is already a little wonder: from € 12 930 per pair.