Mobile Fidelity OML-2

dougy

These are on close-out for $800/pr. What y'all think?

Early B.

At 84 dB, it's gonna take a lot of power to drive them.

VR3

Thats borderline white van...

But what do I know.

mulveling

I've heard good things about them. Mobile Fidelity makes/has made some of the best recordings so building a great speaker should be a cinch for them. You heard or heard of the old "Original Master" vinyl recordings by Mobile Fidelity in days gone by? Bloody incredible stuff - beats the crap outta the current "state of the art" SACD.

My favored internet audio dealer, Todd The Vinyl junkie, has raved about them to me in the past (yes he is a dealer). I believe he claimed the sound was more on par with that of $10,000+ speakers (which he also sells). At $800 it sounds like a *steal*, though the rosewood fnish looks a lot more attractive (only $200 more). Could be a hidden cheap gem. Go for it!

They also make a really nice looking monitor, the OM-1, on closeout for $650. Gotta admit I'm now very very tempted to put some rosewood OM-1's to work in the computer room

RuSsMaN

Great speakers, but nothing to really best what you already have a/d/s wise. I'd spend the $800 on the front end of the rig instead, get a proper amp for your speakers.

Cheers,
Russ

F1nut

You heard or heard of the old "Original Master" vinyl recordings by Mobile Fidelity in days gone by? Bloody incredible stuff - beats the crap outta the current "state of the art" SACD.

Hmmmm.....you obviously haven't heard SACD on my rig.

dougy

I guess I should have provided more details about what I wanted them for. They are not to replace my a/d/s/ home theater rig speakers, but will anchor a separate two-channel music system in another room.

Yes, they are rather insensitive, but I'm no head-banger, and I can always pick up a good used amp (adcom/NAD/Rotel, etc) on ebay or audiogon...I hope!

The reviews I could find seemed very much in agreement about them and I believe I will like them very much...for $800 anyway! If not, surely I can't lose too much on them if I decide to sell them later.

I love the looks, and the build quality would seem to be very high according to the reviews. I have no idea as to the pedigree of the drivers, so that is a bit of a question mark. But of course it's the sound that counts!

I thought I'd wait for the new RTi's, but then I kinda got on the trail of the klipsch la scala II. I just couldn't part with $4300 for a pair of those, though (much to my wife's relief), but by then my finger was on the trigger and ready to spring...and then this bargain showed up in my in-box from Music Direct! And the rest, as they say, is history! They should be bouncing my way in the back of some UPS truck in a few days.:)

cstpeter

I live near Music Direct and heard that model being demoed a while back. Can't recall specifics, but I recall being very impressed. Then again they were being driven by top-o-the-line BAT gear, an Avid turntable, and thousands of $ in cables, but they definitely sounded good!

I also remember them being well built and very good looking.

For that price, go for it!

mulveling

F1nut wrote: »

Hmmmm.....you obviously haven't heard SACD on my rig.

Nor have you heard vinyl on my rig Just relaying my experience. Mobile Fidelity makes some of the finest - if not the finest - SACD discs too, which are probably the best consumer digital has ever sounded. Just making the point these guys probably wouldn't put their name on average speakers.

FYI I have heard SACD on a Sony SCD-1 I formerly owned, as well as my friend's Modwright tube-modded SCD-777.

madmax

They weigh in very heavy at 65 pounds, thats for sure.
madmax

dougy

madmax wrote: »

They weigh in very heavy at 65 pounds, thats for sure.
madmax

Yeah, I think they are solidly built. Plus, you can mass-load them with up to 24 pounds of sand, so they shouldn't be dancing around the floor any. I may be, but not the MoFi's.:)

I'm pretty excited about all the positive things I've heard about them. I hope to put a big MOS-FET amp on them and add a good sub or two and...and...Oh geez, here we go again!:D

madmax

I've heard the ADS speakers you have, they are nice. I realize you are using them in another system but hopefully you will do a comparison between them and the OML-2.
madmax

dougy

Oh yeah, I will definitely do that. In fact, it was a side-by-side comparison with a pair of B&W 703's that earned my little ADS HT's their place in my media room. Not that they sounded better than the B&W's, but considering the price difference, they sounded good enough!

dougy

Well, UPS got my new Mo-Fi's here from Chicago in three days --not bad at all, and the best part is, no damage! I got'em unpacked and set up yesterday. I had bought a bag of play sand to mass-load the speakers, but the sand was dripping wet. I'll have to put it in buckets and dry it out, but in the meantime, I could not be bothered with setbacks, so I plunged ahead and slapped the wooden bases and steel spikes on the speakers and walked them into what looked like a good position in the room.

After getting everything hooked up I had myself a little listen. 'Course, mind you, this was about two in the morning, so I was rather limited in how loud I could crank. First up was "Shade" by Holly Cole. Midrange was very clean and a bit recessed. Not forward at all. Images seemed to have good depth and three-dimensionality. At least within the limits imposed by my humble electronics and by the speaker placement which had the front baffle about three feet from the rear wall. Highs were very smooth and natural. No spittiness or sizzle. Bass was a bit restrained but very solid and smooth, with nice extension. No boominess was heard, and this was without my usual audiogeek set-up ritual. It's amazing the bass than can be coaxed from a pair of 6.5" drivers! Still, I think when the spl's rise, a good sub or two would provide a worthwhile improvement in slam and weight.

So far, so good. Build quality seems very good, and I do love the looks of these speakers. And the fact that they were a screaming good deal doesn't hurt, either!

When I've had time to listen some more and maybe do a little comparison between the Mo-Fis' and a pair of my ADS HT400's, I'll post a follow-up.

Early B.

Cool.

Don't forget to snap some pics.

madmax

Give them 50-100 hours of break in time too. Let us know what you think.
madmax