$14,800 (stands $1490)
If you asked an AI computer to design a state-of-the-art loudspeaker materialized from another galaxy, you’d have MBL Radialstrahlers. This applies most particularly to the diminutive 126. But, of course, there is no need for AI when you have Jürgen Reis, the gifted Chief Engineer at MBL. Year after year, the littlest Radialstrahler remains on my short list of exhilarating compact loudspeakers. It speaks in one concise and authoritative voice with a speed and transparency that knocks on the door of planars, ribbons, and electrostats. Three-dimensionally expansive, with imaging and orchestral layering that, for want of a better word, is nearly holographic. Tonally sweet and pure, dynamically powerful and extended beyond its modest dimensions, the three-way 126 omni still drops jaws and perks up ears, lighting up a listening room with its sheer musicality and provoking more questions from disbelieving and delighted listeners than any speaker I’ve plopped down in my room. And as a source, it flat out disappears from the room, kind of like, well, poof. So open and expressive was its opulent and tactile midband that even now I continue to pinch myself that I’m listening to a “mere” stand-mount just shy of 14″ tall. Like a tractor beam, it draws listeners into its orbit like few other speakers in or out of this world. If ever a loudspeaker was deserving of a Golden Ear nod, the MBL is it. (320)
Tags: LOUDSPEAKER STANDMOUNT GOLDEN EAR AWARD MBL
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By Neil Gader
My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.
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