MBL Pre-amp De-Thrones Benchmark?

[Kal Rubinson]

Or does it tell you when its batteries are leaking- that would be actually clever.

My Roku remote control does that.

 

[MattHooper]

What have you replace them with? I am contemplating for a pair of the newer bookshelf MBL 126 in the living / stereo room; love the sound and is so different from my current setup in the home cinema room; This way i will have two rooms with total different but equally good sound.
But the price so far has stopped me from this purchase...still debating

I *sort of* replaced them with Joseph Audio Perspective speakers. By that I mean, I owned (and still own) several speakers that I listen to.
The MBLs were just one of them. I got them for a killer deal because they had been aesthetically damaged in a shipment to a customer and the dealer had to get rid of them. They were wonderful, but I was really lusting after a pair of the Joseph Speakers which were very expensive. The only way I could afford the Josephs was to sell the MBLs.

My take is the MBL 121s were a nice size - bigger with lower frequency range than the newer 126, but not quite as big as the vastly more expensive 120 model that succeeded them. The 121s frequency response was just low enough to be satisfying on their own. I've heard the 126 briefly at a show. Can't remember but suspect I'd want a sub with those ones.

BTW, when I sold the MBLS I put them up on the local CanuckAudioMart. I'd never had that much interest in a speaker I've sold, nor seen that much interest in any other add. within a couple hours my inbox was flooded, and by the end of the day I had about 40 very enthusiastic offers, people offering to drive hundreds of miles etc. And these were damaged speakers, no shipping boxes! A lot of people are intrigued by the MBLs so when an "affordable" pair came up there was tons of interest. Easiest sell ever.

 

[Jukebox]

I *sort of* replaced them with Joseph Audio Perspective speakers. By that I mean, I owned (and still own) several speakers that I listen to.
The MBLs were just one of them. I got them for a killer deal because they had been aesthetically damaged in a shipment to a customer and the dealer had to get rid of them. They were wonderful, but I was really lusting after a pair of the Joseph Speakers which were very expensive. The only way I could afford the Josephs was to sell the MBLs.

My take is the MBL 121s were a nice size - bigger with lower frequency range than the newer 126, but not quite as big as the vastly more expensive 120 model that succeeded them. The 121s frequency response was just low enough to be satisfying on their own. I've heard the 126 briefly at a show. Can't remember but suspect I'd want a sub with those ones.

BTW, when I sold the MBLS I put them up on the local CanuckAudioMart. I'd never had that much interest in a speaker I've sold, nor seen that much interest in any other add. within a couple hours my inbox was flooded, and by the end of the day I had about 40 very enthusiastic offers, people offering to drive hundreds of miles etc. And these were damaged speakers, no shipping boxes! A lot of people are intrigued by the MBLs so when an "affordable" pair came up there was tons of interest. Easiest sell ever.

Yes, probably I would add dual sealed subs with Dirac for that full range sound. On their own don't go that low, but is very room dependent... I would have to test this.
The 120's are the better solution but more expensive than dual good subs
Thanks for your time. Much appreciated!

 

[TLEDDY]

If it's possible to fire a person for saying something untoward on Twitter, it should be possible to fire a person for this musical abomination.

Oh, come on! It is too much fun!

 

[TLEDDY]

As I lose mobility due to nerve degeneration at age 78, my AV system, PC and the internet (160Mbps) are my windows to the world, and I rent a small two bedroom casa here in a small town in the mountains of western Panama, and use the second, smaller bedroom for a media and computer room. I can still walk some and do basic exercises, but there will likely be no more long hikes or drives for me.[/QUOTE]

My sincere condolences! I am in my 80th year with similar issues and have the same windows. Any hope for treatment?

Tillman

 

[beefkabob]

So much bs in the review...

 

[ShadowFiend]

As impressive as it measures, one of the engineering design decisions leaves me scratching my head. Input impedance of only 2.3 kOhm for unbalanced analog inputs? Why? Yet the input impedance of its other unbalanced analog input is 50 kOhm. That's more what I'd expect, why so different from the other? Why the inconsistency?

Anyway, for the price I'd expect a reference quality DAC and headphone outputs to be built in. And ... to be polite ... I'll just say it looks ridiculous. Too blingy. Form should follow and serve function, "tools not toys".

It is actually brilliant design. Low input impedance, which means low shunt input resistor, is an optimization for noise performance (Johnson noise of resistor). If customers have source with low output impedance (under 200 Ohms from 20-20kHz), i.e. modern DAC/CDP with opamp output can use this analog input and have the best performance possible with this preamp. If customers have source like DAC/CDP/phono with 10uf capacitor coupling which output impedance can be 800 Ohms at 20Hz then they can use the another input with 47k Ohms input impedance. This input will compromise the noise performance but have high enough loading and keep the frequency response even, which is more important.

By doing so, MBL does give their customer a choice to optimize their set up. It is for me far flexible than Topping A90 where customer must use a low output impedance source or legacy preamps with 47k input impedance and a compromised noise performance.

 

[LTig]

It is actually brilliant design. Low input impedance, which means low shunt input resistor, is an optimization for noise performance (Johnson noise of resistor). If customers have source with low output impedance (under 200 Ohms from 20-20kHz), i.e. modern DAC/CDP with opamp output can use this analog input and have the best performance possible with this preamp.

The same would be true for an input impedance of 10k or 100k. AFAIK Johnson noise is calculated using the combination of output impedance of the source and input impedance of the sink. 200 Ohm || 2k is only insignificantly lower than 200 Ohm || 10k or 200 Ohm || 100k. The lower the output impedance the less role plays the input impedance.

 

[MRC01]

It is actually brilliant design. Low input impedance, which means low shunt input resistor, is an optimization for noise performance (Johnson noise of resistor). ...

Of course, in theory. But in practice it seems like unnecessary overkill, a poor trade-off. The degree to which it reduces noise is virtually or pragmatically immaterial, yet the low input impedance can be problematic with some sources. If you want a 10:1 impedance ratio you can only use sources having output impedance < 230 ohm. That does cover most solid state sources, but I've occasionally seen some that are higher. Especially with the boutique sources that somebody who buys a preamp like this is likely to own. It doesn't seem that the benefits are enough to justify the downside.

In a cost-no-object device like this, if they really wanted to reduce noise, an alternative approach seems better. Usually, noise is not a problem at max volume, but becomes a problem at low volume settings. Why not have the volume knob change the actual gain, instead of attenuating a fixed gain? This is one way to significantly reduce noise at low volumes without the downside of low input impedance. I'm sure their brilliant engineers could devise something even better.

 

[Billy Budapest]

If it's possible to fire a person for saying something untoward on Twitter, it should be possible to fire a person for this musical abomination.

He’s a professional whistler. Give him a break for that!

Otherwise, he has been a d-bag to me on Facebook so he won’t get a pass from me.

 

[DACs_Lover]

Benchmark Pre Amp / Topping Pre 90 and MBL are the best of the class.