Hi Chrisla and Tboooe I'm sure that was fun to just actual get to trade stories back and forth along with listening to some great music.
I have a couple of points to make here with my own personal experiences so take it for what it is worth.
I find when trying to do these demos and removing and placing in new cables (IC's or speaker cables but not power cables) actually doesn't work for me. The reason I say this is that most not all cables need time to relax, settle in and can sound totally different then they should when not allowed this time, they can take a day, two or even three. I have actually pulled cables out of my own system trying to re-route so they have a cleaner install appearance, I may have changed their actual bend and when I put them back in my system sounded thin, bass issues, stage collapsed etc. This all corrected it's self with some time, usually a few days. When it comes to auditioning cables I feel it is very important to have them in for at least 2-3 days just so they can settle in. I'm not trying to be negative about your outcome but I just don't agree with the demoing process and with what you are describing leads to my own experiences so I would try again but leave them in the system for 3 days and then evaluate to see if this changes the outcome. I had one extreme situation when dealing with the VD cables, the image was not centre focused after playing around with the cables but to the point it was coming out of one speaker, never experienced this before but it did come back but actually took 3-4 days.
A friend purchased some Sistrum platforms and put them under his speakers and for what ever reason placed one under his stereo amp and he had all kinds of weird things happening, placed the platform underneath his other speaker and still had weird things happening to the point of calling me saying what's going on. I told him just wait they need to settle in, I personally have no clue what's going on with all of this but there is theory behind it all and the manufacturers can explain in depth. When I placed the Sistrums underneath the MBL's they defiantly improved, they are just unbelievable, the bass wow! focus wow! and the stage even more precise with better holographic detail, just unbelievable.
Tboooe's system should have a (slight) edge and this would be nit picking on being more image precise sharpness than the MBL's but not by that much as I'm experiencing my self they are very very slight over my Andra's image.
When I went and heard Exlibris system with his MBL's I experienced a overly large balloon effect focus and this did concern me but I was listening into his system trying to retrieve other factors. I have heard allot of systems not dialed in with a similar effect, not quiet exaggerated but could have been corrected. In this same room where my MBL's are now I originally had W/P 7's which I felt had a razor sharp unrealistic image, these got replaced by Eggleston Andra 2's which were less focused (slightly less focused) but to me sound more realistic and more musical, these speakers I felt dominated the W/P 7's by far. Now comes in play the MBL's, the over all sound characteristics is just totally different which I prefer by a far margin and I am currently loss for words what I am experiencing. Now take into account that these are new to me but not the placement and what I'm use to hearing in this room. The focus was absolutely a big balloon effect initially when I was hearing them at Exlibris place but not at mine, Sistrum Platforms assist in this along with believe it or not the Holographs. Exlibris does have Holographs but I'm not sure if they are dialled in and if they are than it is something else which could be many different factors. Yesterday when I was listening I was playing around with the degree settings with the Holographs and could not believe what I was hearing, I actually could dial that image focus right in or out which was really interesting so Chrisla this is one item I would recommend for you and yourself Tboooe they work! It's funny really because when I bought them I just laughed saying please these do something and said boy am I ever going to have a expensive camp fire with these the next time I go camping. Sistrum platforms underneath the speakers, they work also and every person I know that has tried them was very happy with the results, Chris I sent you a pic showing the MBL's placed on them.
So that's my take after reading this, too bad we don't live close so we could get together.
Enjoy your listening.
