Sad news. MBL has filed for insolvency.

[Porsche]

pretty simple, if priced to high do not buy it, in todays market there is soooo much high end gear to choose from, choose another

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

Prices of the products you fellows sell are definitely not less is more either

We do carry several "more for less" brands and products as well

/ Marcus

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

You dealer fellows always push what you have on your shelfs at the moment And MBL is not it. Less is more ? Not when it comes to price that is for sure.

I was trying to give some insight and a point of view in a thread considering the status of MBL on the current market.

MBL is certainly not the only brand that's "stuck in the old ways" facing a lot of challenges right now. There are several others.

/ Marcus

 

[andromedaaudio]

Whats the Future .... ?
A product designed by AI and manufactured by Robots

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

Whats the Future .... ?
A product designed by AI and manufactured by Robots

A future without humans will become inhuman.

I believe and wish for a strong counter reaction to a screen based, virtual and artificial future living scenario.

Analogue is the future

 

[andromedaaudio]

In the case of MBL, there are a combination of rather obvious potential issues with the current product line up:

- Very slow if any real product development - especially within the speaker segment
- Heavily increased prices on models that's stayed more or less the same for +10 years or more
- Outdated aesthetics (depending on preferences) with bulky, high gloss designs

Adding to this is of course 50 pay checks to be paid each month where a sudden downturn could drain a business economically very quickly.

Any company within this highly competitive market needs to stay relevant being lean, flexible and fast moving to cope and adjust when needed.

MBL is/was an innovator in Speaker design , i wish them all the best .

Speaker innovation?

Box speakers with voicecoil / magnet driven membranes are about as old as rome .
A box , a Voicecoil / magnet driven membrane , some coils and caps for X overs and resistors for SPL adjustment is that " High Tech " lol

Modern membrane materials like ceramics , Synthetic diamond , carbon fiber etc fall short in regards to good cheap /old paper for the midrange for natural sound / long term listening. ( imo )



Alnico magnets were already developed in the 1930 s nothing new here .

So called Innovation in box speakers is often nothing more then marketing , " stick a bit of carbonfiber on top "

I design " Box speakers" so i m to blame as well , cabinet materials have improved but for the rest .......not much technically speaking , no fundamental progress , thats why some well designed 10- 20 year old speakers can sound as good as new products , because the fundamental tech. is...... THE SAME

 

[matthias]

thats why 10- 20 year old speakers can sound as good as new ones

...and about hundred year olds can sound even better

 

[andromedaaudio]

...and about hundred year olds can sound even better

Yes good example , to a lot of experienced audiophiles the WE s do exactly that

 

[matthias]

Yes good example , to a lot of expeirienced audiophiles the WE s do exactly that

Yes, and to stay on topic they have a sensitivity of more than 100dB while MBLs are around 80dB, maybe one reason for their decline

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

MBL is/was an innovator in Speaker design , i wish them all the best .

Speaker innovation?

Box speakers with voicecoil / magnet driven membranes are about as old as rome .
A box , a Voicecoil / magnet driven membrane , some coils and caps for X overs and resistors for SPL adjustment is that " High Tech " lol

Modern membrane materials like ceramics , Synthetic diamond , carbon fiber etc fall short in regards to good cheap /old paper for the midrange for natural sound / long term listening.



Alnico magnets were already developed in the 1930 s nothing new here .

So called Innovation in box speakers is often nothing more then marketing , " stick a bit of carbonfiber on top "

I design " Box speakers" so i m to blame as well , cabinet materials have improved but for the rest .......not much technically speaking , no fundamental progress , thats why some well designed 10- 20 year old speakers can sound as good as new products , because the fundamental tech. is...... THE SAME

The point is that the market wants to see life, ambition and progress in one way or another. I'm certainly a great supporter of brands that don't release new products for the sake of doing so with only superficial updates, but any product will loose most of the attraction value after 10 years. There's always a challenge to find the right balance.

The progress within the dynamic box speaker segment is (as you say) fueled by material and production development where the overall concept stays more or less the same.

 

[bonzo75]

The perceived progress within the dynamic box speaker segment is (as you say) fueled by material and production development changes where the overall concept stays more or less the same.

Fixed

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

Fixed

Right ;D

Wolf von Langa makes SOTA field coil drivers btw which we adore and do carry for those who are attracted by this technology.

 

[bonzo75]

Right ;D

Wolf von Langa makes SOTA field coil drivers btw which we adore and do carry for those who are attracted by this technology.

The big one is a dynamic box?

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

The big one is a dynamic box?

Please elaborate (we might be way out of topic by now though

 

[bonzo75]

Please elaborate (we might be way out of topic by now though

My comment was on your dynamic box comment. Not sure how WVL entered the context

 

[Perfect sense Audio]

My comment was on your dynamic box comment. Not sure how WVL entered the context

WVL (using field coil drivers) was mentioned as an example of an alternative concept which has matured over the years managing to stay relevant despite being "old technology".

Please note that I'm not criticizing the MBL concept or performance at all. That's beyond the point. It's still unique and relevant in itself.

 

[Porsche]

its a niche product, I doubt they in this issue because of lack of new product, more so to raising prices without changes, etc and probably something within the company how its run, is everything built etc in house, or do they have suppliers and the tariffs is eating there lunch, etc

 

[PeterA]

...and about hundred year olds can sound even better

I think part of that is a result of the efficiency of older speakers and the amplification that can be used, avoiding the powerful solid state amps. It is always the amplifier/speaker combination that we hear.

 

[gleeds]

This hints of sour grapes. When was the last time Burmester stole the show relying on SQ alone? Don't take this the wrong way, in general I like the brand, they were very much Germany's answer to Mark Levinson in the '80s-'90s. But like Levinson, they become a reliable staple that has been surpassed--marketing wise--by other, flashier competition. IMO, there's now an over saturation of competing makes to choose from which excerbates the problem.

Purogave, you are spot on - there are too many competing high-end speakers, especially dynamic designs. MBL was continually interesting due to its driver technology and presentation, including specific electrostatic, ribbon, and horns designs, as well as horns. I suppose if they had made it more efficient and their amplifiers less Bauhaus, that would have been a positive modernization of an iconic product line. Their smaller white series components were an interesting attempt at more affordable, lighter-weight, and more room-friendly designs, but I'm not sure how they fared with them.

Burmestster, in my opinion, is the epitome of a modern-day high-end company with unbeatable branding (courtesy of Porsche) and a Class A dealer network in the US. Their newest bespoke speaker program and new finishes are stunningly well executed. That said, for some boutique brands built for one reason and one reason only—the best sound, whose products outperform more glamorous offerings at lower price points —they are well worth seeking out.

I recently heard the Odeon Carnegie horns (96 dB) with Airtight SE amplifiers and was quite taken with them. While not inexpensive, at $100,000, to my ear, they represented excellent value at up to 2X the asking price. This is especially true of their $ 50,000 Semper model. Drawing from my stable, I could pair them with a Trafomatic Rhapsody parallel single-end 300B integrated amplifier (20 watts per channel - MSRP $22,000) and either a Lampizator Posidean or Rockna Wavedream Ref Sig, and live contentedly for years to come.

Hopefully, good news from the ever iconic MBL company will be forthcoming shortly. I suspect it will!

 

[orfeo_monteverdi]

Hopefully, good news from the ever iconic MBL company will be forthcoming shortly. I suspect it will!

[please forgive my poor English]

You couldn't have said it better yourself.
(more on this later)