Ferrari or MBL 101X-treme, What's It Gonna Be?

Let's assume you've won some money on the lottery; not the fortune of your life but definitely enough for you to indulge one hell of a dream. Since you like cars maybe you've been thinking about a Ferrari...yet you're an audiophile and there were quite a lot of moments in the past when you drooled over some super-duper sound systems... What's it gonna be? And since I am no auto editor I guess I'll better skip to briefly introducing the MBL 101 X-treme.


MBL Akustikgerate GmbH are Germans and they're not at all used to kidding and nor are they into manufacturing sound systems you meet everyday (unless you work there or own some, that is). The MBL 101 X-treme is indeed extreme as it sports everything taken to the max and even beyond, from the very design to the looks and the way it sounds.

The most striking feature is the design as it is far from you'd normally expect to see as you hear "sound system". Sound enthusiasts are surely well-acquainted with power conditioners and tube amplifiers lying around on the floor between two huge stacks of speakers...this is where the MBL 101 X-treme is no different from the other packs out there. But it's them stacks which provide will all the awe and wow.

The MBL 101 X-treme sports two tall towers loaded with four 12" audiophile-grade bass drivers that will doubtlessly let anybody know you're listening to Bach one mile away; these bass stacks will deliver the thunderous punch that will add stupendous presence and articulation to whatever music will you be playing. Just in case you are seriously thinking about this system you'd better have a very large room at hand as they will never fit in a common-size living room.

The most intriguing presence as far about the MBL 101 X-treme is in the shape of the two almost organic-looking omni-directional tweeters with resonating ribbon. These units are shaped like a football (or something alien) and are actually using the drivers of the acclaimed 101E 360-degree radiating system; the two drivers are placed vertically, one suspended above the base units, hanging from a complex structure with a scaffolding-like look. The whole ensemble is made form carbon fiber, aluminium, steel, acrylic and wood and it takes a month to build it "from zero to hero".

The MBL 101 X-treme is available only on a custom order and unlike other systems that indecently have "extreme" in their code names, it fully lives up to its name. Again, for $180,000, what's it gonna be? Ferrari or the MBL 101 X-treme? Buy a vowel?


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