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MBL 111a
MBL 111a
MSRP: $ 15600.00

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Rating
Reviewed by:

rminsf

(AudioPhile)

Review Date
April 29, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

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Review 1 of 2

Price Paid:  $11000.00 from Private seller

Summary:
Like most MBL Products these are the best of the best for their time. I use them as my surrounds now with the 101E as the front left and right.(Center channel,you must be joking) I have had Wilson's and B&Ws and Martin Logan's JBL's and others these speakers turned my wife into a complete audiophile snobe. At first the looks are striking and my wife thought I was nuts but once set up properly they continue to blow us away to this day.

Proper amplification is nessasary and I use all Mono's Krell FPB amps, the 450's can drive them well the 750 is without compression, all amps are run through Monoed and modified PS Audio P1200 power conditioners set at 117 volts exactly which makes the amp sound as refined and sweet as can be. Higher voltages sound harsh. Friends think I'm crazy with our power bills and such but once they experience the jaw dropping mind blowing OMG factor these speakers can provide they never say another word. The soundstage, depth, treble and mids, bass and dynamics are more extreme than you can imagine!!! Turns my living room into a stadium, a grand stadium of performance. With enough Power thay can produce drums kits like nothing else. Want get nuts, listen to some Pink Floyd and Led Zeplin and here just how amazing these can be. I get how they can make sounds go around you with just two channel, I get the depth, I get the large as actual life soundstage but how do they produce so much hieght? Especially on Pink Floyd some tracks can make the image go strait up 50 yards left, right or center? How it was ment to sound on steroids. Once you go MBL you never go back as my wife says jokingly, everything else will sound cheap and lifeless after this. like driving a turbo Porsche 911, everything else is something less.

Strengths:
DYNAMIC POWER, SLAM, PUNCH, Grace. They reproduce the real event with no real trade off. They get me into the music and performance like nothing I have experienced. When we go to the IMAX to watch a movie and my wife turns to me and says it sure would sound better at home I think that says it all. From the tiniest detail to the 1812 overture they will deliver, they are worth selling all your other toys for. I feel priveliged to have them in my life, I feel luckier than everyone else. Fun to watch friends duck and dodge bullets on movies.
If you think they are expensive you are wrong I have spent more, never got anything close to this!!!

Weaknesses:
High power bills, intolerant of lesser equipment. They will show you how good everything else in your system is. They can scare the hell out of you on movies. Movies with pushed up dynamics sound bad on a system that will not hold back or compress. You will here all the digital artifacts in recordings you used to love, the pops and clicks of too much digital processing that you never knew were there, will be in your face.

Similar Products Used:
B&W 808,801,802 N802. Wilson Watt-Puppy, Grand Slam, Martin Logan SL, JBL L65(when I was 12, my first system). Other MBL's.


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Rating
Reviewed by:
Bernardo Mercado
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
May 19, 2000

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

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Review 2 of 2

Summary:
The stunning looks and engineering behind these great speakers is just the beginning. Sound stage is fantastic and sound is sweet and detailed. This speaker is revealing so you need to have top notch electronics. A powerfull amp of minimum 200 watts per channel that can drive low impedance loads is required. Compared to the this speaker, the others I auditioned sounded bright and did not have the refined presentation of the 111's. This is a world class speaker that deserves classic status. Highly recommended!

Strengths:
Liquid mids and highs, holographic presentation.

Weaknesses:
Bass, depending on room.

Similar Products Used:
B&W 802III, Magnepans, KEF, Dunlavy


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