I suppose MBL is now in the corporate underworld, you could write an opera about their chances of returning to the living world.[please forgive my poor English]
You couldn't have said it better yourself.
Sad news. MBL has filed for insolvency.
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Less Bauhaus? Bauhaus typified a functional aesthetic aimed towards mass production. MBL couldn't less Bauhaus. I'm not sure Bauhaus had any influence on audio design, but the Quad II and latterly 33/303 have a Bauhaus aesthetic and were designed for mass production, with incredible success. For me the MBL aesthetic is something out of a 1970s horror movie or the audio version of the acrylic outfit Terence Stamp wore as General Zod. It is a weird thing that whilst audio is meant to be about sound quality, so many brands are identified by their aesthetic. If you follow Rams' 10 principles for design you won't go far wrong. If anyone needs reminding:
Good design | About us | Vitsœ
Dieter Rams’s ten principles for good design (sometimes referred to as the ‘Ten commandments’).
www.vitsoe.com
And cars have been around for 100 years, same old wheels on a body and a combustion engine, nothing new or innovative. ;-)
So you would spend 150k - 200k on an audio system, and live contentedly without fitting analog in that budget?
It’s the old enemy: hedonic adaptation (mentioned elsewhere). It’s almost as if audiophilia was invented to prove that theory to be true. No audiophile lives contentedly. Itchy wallet syndrome is part of the territory.
Good design lasts. Good design should provide high performance at low cost. Quad’s genius was getting state of the art performance from dirt cheap components. They have products that have been in production for 80 years. EAR is the same, the 834P was in production 50 years.
Incidentally, this is Bauhaus, designed in 1932, now being produced by the designer’s grandson. Proof that good design lasts.
You have to be emotionally able to put cables under a rug or carpet. I suspect this is a WBF heresy.
This is a very standard set-up for a small room, but there is a lot of hidden acoustic treatment and the furnishings do a great job getting a very natural sound.
Furnishings are of course a fundamental element of acoustic treatment. This room was a small part of a larger renovation and I did sound tests as things were progressing. I'm sure other people have done the same, but the change in sound quality as you fit out a room from bare walls is vastly more impactful than any change in component. It's quite a good antidote for audio-itis, because you realise minor component changes are far less relevant than room acoustics. But we do those changes anyway. Having just added a chair behind the speakers, the bass response changes and the speakers may have to come out a few inches.
MBL's design seems very dated. My dealer stocks it and I thought it positively ugly. I suspect there are many high-end companies that are so OCD that they don't take opportunities to drip down technology to cheaper, higher volume products that generate cash flow. It seems pointless generating brand value and not exploiting in mercilessly. Maybe instead of new money they need new ideas. Maybe they are not alone.
Looks very comfortable.
Since the MBL designer was responsible for innovative speaker and electronics designs, I never understood why they didn't branch out to an active design (at least I don't think they did). That, and adding a few color choices, might have expanded their market. I remember reading that the designer had different lines for different kinds of listeners and that he believed he knew exactly the kind of sound they were pursuing. Maybe. Maybe not.
Making great products does not mean you can run a great business.
In fact, it's very rare to find a highly intelligent / genius / innovative engineer, who also has the skills to run a successful business. Those two skill sets are almost mutually exclusive.
In fact, it's very rare to find a highly intelligent / genius / innovative engineer, who also has the skills to run a successful business. Those two skill sets are almost mutually exclusive.
Interesting observation. Nelson Pass seems to be an exception.
There are plenty of exceptions. But I don't know the full story - maybe he knows his limitations and hires professional administrators for the business side of things?
What makes you think an intelligent, genius (strong word IMO), innovative engineer is the one running the business? Does that mean he does testing, manufacturing, shipping, advertising, etc. also?
agree that perhaps running was not exactly descriptive. Bruno Putzeys, for example, did not run Hypex Electronics, but he did oversee the goals and design (including industrial design) of the Mola Mola gear. In other words, he had a vision of what he wanted to accomplish and worked with Hypex to build, market and service the gear. MBL used one of Hypex's amp modules (modified to incorporate Reis's innovations). I think of them as luminaries in their specialties.
From experience i can say its very difficult ( almost impossible ) to start up a new LS company .
People just like to buy established names , and to get a name it takes years and years .....
(Plus you have to behave on forums which i cannot , lol .)
People just like to buy established names , and to get a name it takes years and years .....
(Plus you have to behave on forums which i cannot , lol .)
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I do not know what will happen to high end audio but I hope this industry see better days in the future.
This hobby is our love and passion, very sad to hear MBL or Dartzeel or any other high end company stop production.
This hobby is our love and passion, very sad to hear MBL or Dartzeel or any other high end company stop production.
It will see better days if they make more realistic sounding products at reasonable prices which will expand the volumes sold. There is only so many times you can mock a select small bunch by selling them fake sound for millions
I 100% agree with you that they should make more realistic sounding products at much lower price but two things come to my mind :
1- many audiophiles prefer less realistic sounding products (for example less dynamic more sharp sounding systems) so the industry answer to their request, it means audiophiles should learn more.
2- if the sales drop then most audio companies will go out of business so there is less chance to produce good equipments in this market
I think in this complex situation many companies should decrease the prices to reasonable prices and audio magazines should more support less expensive better sounding products.
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[please forgive my poor English]
Regarding MBL, all I may say, and know, is that
MBL did NOT stop production.
All processes go on as usual: orders, sales, manufacturing, quality control, etc.
AFAIK, actually, this refinancing period for MBL is going very well. And - NO -, they are not in the corporate underworld ;-) (as suggested in post#261)
Everything should be back to normal within 4 to 6 weeks. In the meantime, all employees are paid and production is still at full capacity due to demand, especially since the Munich trade fair. They have opened several new markets, and often it was thanks to the excellent sound at their stand, they say.
Consequently, all processes go on smoothly: orders, sales, production, maintenance.
A dealer who is close to the case tells me that
- the issue is not at all too few sales: their production workforce simply cannot keep up with the orders (!) [I know that dealer who shared this information with me, very serious guy in the business since 90', I think this is no BS]. The waiting time for a pair of big 101 model is nearly one year, he said.
- but regarding production, (nearly) all transducers are very specific, and homemade. Specifically, the "rugby ball" transducer which covers the low-midrange, high bass and a part of the bass on the large 101 models is difficult and time-consuming to manufacture to the highest quality standards, then quality control takes time too (the mid-treble module is the same on all models). So it seems that there is also a manufacturing aspect. Maybe even a productivity aspect since the workforce cannot meet demand within acceptable time-frames.
- all this requires now 50 employees, and they will have to train more of them to some specific manufacturing processes such as the aforementioned one.
So, plenty of good news for MBL it seems, which is definitely an iconic brand regarding omnis.
I think this is good technical design, continuously improved btw. As for the aesthetics design, imho a "minimalist" and sober finishing could be offered as an option (with the same technology inside).
At last, regarding the sound, once the brain is used to this “different” sound rendering (it takes a few minutes, as it is initially unsettling indeed), the timbres are actually perfectly OK, as evidenced by
- two friends who joined me in the MBL room at the last Brussels trade show. One is a violin maker (luthier), the other one is a former sound engineer. Both were completely won over and found the system very convincing. (On the other hand, the other rooms did not all convince them, to say the least, as far as the quality of the tones is concerned.)
- a young amateur musician I talked with in the MBL room during the 2021 show (he plays piano, vocals, guitar), and who endures what his perfect pitch lets him hearing. He was ecstatic in front of the MBL system, and raved about it (as all attendees did), while complaining that "many other system had a tonality issue".
- Stereophile's Julie Mullins, who managed a music school, "suffers" from absolute pitch too (so all her turntables' speed must be perfectly setup). Her review of the MBL 120 was highly positive and detailed.
- many attendees in the MBL room in various shows, it seems.
- (and myself too, but who cares...)
50 employees is a cost. But there are plenty of good news for that "different" speaker manufacturer which really deserves success*. I am sincerely happy for them, as for the private audio enthusiasts too.
More on this later (if I may)
*(btw TAD also deserves success, especially in the US where the living standard is higher. Very sad that they no longer have US distribution for the moment; I hope this will change. I'm fond of their marvelous CE1-TX)
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You use the word many for a small population. The reason today that small population is many, is that the industry cannot attract a bigger population due to the expensive crap it produces, and the many will only become lower in number.
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