MBL 101E V. Dali Megaline

[Pcar928fan]

they're loudspeakers - I'd be making my purchasing decisions based upon the SOUND. In this case the Dali's are amazing sounding speakers, not that the mbl's aren't. As I said before, whichever you end up with you will have a great time auditioning and eventually living with a truely great speaker.

I think that was the point. All things being equal (as one would expect as you reach into the stratosphere on speakers pricing) the MBL's are not only going to sound good but they will have a HUGE wow factor and be a HUGE conversation starter even if they are not turned on...

 

[Diamonds]

I am still making my decision. I hope to figure this out in the next few days (weeks). I will be so excited to hear either. Thanks to all of you for your advice.

 

[bonzo]

I heard these speakers, in a badly set up live but big room. The ribbon is awesome. great soundstage, and vocals. Fast. At some frequencies they become shouty, which could have been because of the live room (it was a warehouse with stock in it), and I also read on Albert Porter's reports (he is the Audiogon Dali Megaline expert) that he changed the external crossover box to take care of that problem. His crossovers can be copied.

They are better for rock than Logans and Analysis, and massive in Soundstage, equal in vocals. They are like a cross between a planar and a box, but they are bass light, and will need a JL or Velodyne. Good slam, and great for classical, but nowhere like the Analysis Audio on Piano. Not as natural as the Logans or the AA, but still good. Much better off axis, in fact, great for off axis.

Albert Porter replaced his Soundlabs with them, and another guy compares them to the Apogee Grands once a sub is added. Albert also said they were better than his friend's Kharma exquisites, which retail for 110k.

There are 3 modules, each stacked on top of the other, for a 7 ft. ribbon, and a 12 woofer line array. They are essentially a two way, but need 4 channels, 2 for the ribbon and 2 for the woofer, ideally of the same brand.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Wow! Way to resuscitate a seven year old thread!

 

[InterMechanico]

Wow! Way to resuscitate a seven year old thread!

Now I want to know what happened. How did it all end?

 

[Joey_V]

Albert porter here in Dallas replaced his megas with the top shelf Jmlabs grande utopia EM. Maybe that's what diamonds should get after 7 years of contemplation... Hehehe

 

[Gordon Gray]

My next and final speaker will be the MBL 101E's. Used of course.

Will power with the top Bryston / 1,000W mono block amps.

Source will hopefully be the dcs Puccini with clock. Can use dac as server based system if I wish.

Preamp should be good.

Hopefully 3 years out once I retire and relocate from Jackson.

GG

 

[bonzo]

My next and final speaker will be the MBL 101E's. Used of course.

Will power with the top Bryston / 1,000W mono block amps.

Source will hopefully be the dcs Puccini with clock. Can use dac as server based system if I wish.

Preamp should be good.

Hopefully 3 years out once I retire and relocate from Jackson.

GG

Hi Gordon, please do try the Lampi 7. One guy who owns both that, at $10k, finds it to be better than his $35k MSB stack. Another guy on headfi says that the Level 6 "is the best I've ever owned for both DSD and PCM (includes Berkely, Playback Designs, Weiss, Metric Halo, Metrum, Mytek, Empirical Audio, Auralic Vega, Lumin, PS Audio PWD, etc.). Only DAC that I've enjoyed as much on PCM that I've had in my system is the top of the line MSB stack w femto clock; NONE touch the performance of this DAC's DSD, which is a very unique design that can be studied on the Lampizator web site. "

Try both.

 

[bonzo]

GG, you have heard the Analysis Audio. How do you compare them to the MBLs on classical?

 

[bonzo]

Albert porter here in Dallas replaced his megas with the top shelf Jmlabs grande utopia EM. Maybe that's what diamonds should get after 7 years of contemplation... Hehehe

I have been chatting with him over the last 3 days. He says he took years to get the SL sounding right, and years to get dalis too. He heavily believes in modding every speaker. Says the focal are not there yet since its only been a year, but he will get them right.

 

[Gordon Gray]

GG, you have heard the Analysis Audio. How do you compare them to the MBLs on classical?

Hi bonzo,

Have heard three times at RMAF. Very impressive and very musical. Did not hear any classical. From my recollection (been several years ago), definitely on the warmish, romantic side of the sonic equation. If I were shopping for a planar, they would be a "must" audition but it does seem to be a bit "voiced". Just make sure you like that before purchasing.

MBL. Entirely different technology as you know. I found, after swapping out my Summits for the 116's three years ago or so, the latter does everything ML does very well (except for deep bass and some mid-bass definition) and more. I assume the AA's would be similar but I can't definitely say.

My take on classical with the MBL's. The ML's do a very good job of recreating the sound of the "recording venue". Given the 360 degree dispersion design of the tweeter and mid-range pods, there's certainly less of mentally "filling in the blanks", and a more convincing aural experience within the context of hearing dimensionality, decay, and character of the orchestra, music played, and corresponding hall.

Gordon

 

[User211]

Bonzo you still need to go and hear Jerry's MBLs - he's a classical lover too. Same model as Gordon's but one iteration newer.