MBL 116 F Radialstrahler

When a pipe organ fills the nave of a church, the sound doesn't arrive from a point — it surrounds. The MBL 116 F is built to evoke that ambiance in a compact 4-way floor-stander. A pair of push-push low-midrange drivers handles the mid-bass registers, and a larger pair of push-push woofers at the bottom of a 46-liter bass-reflex cabinet carries sound pressure down to 40 Hz, while MBL's proprietary Radialstrahler midrange and tweeter — the MT50 in woven carbon fiber, the HT37 in unidirectional carbon fiber — handle everything above with full 360-degree radiation.

The push-push arrangement is the structural key. MBL's cone drivers are installed only in pairs, mounted on the left and right sides of the cabinet with their rear baskets braced together by a solid aluminum strut. The membranes swing in and out in unison, and their recoil forces cancel each other out — the cabinet is spared the mechanical shocks that smear conventional designs, and the bass stays controlled, tight, and refined. A crossover with passive high-pass filter and 2-pole subsonic filter protects the bass chassis.

Above, the Radialstrahler drivers do what only MBL's do: distribute sound in every horizontal direction simultaneously, filling the room with a stereo image every listener shares rather than a single sweet spot — and smoothly overcoming the angled walls and reflective surfaces that defeat forward-firing speakers in real living rooms. Suitable for all room sizes and optimal up to about 60 m², the 116 F is the natural entry to MBL's full-size Radialstrahler floor-standing program. Handbuilt in Berlin. Hear it at LMC — walk in during business hours at Scottsdale or Tempe, or book ahead for a prepared listening session.