MC Audiotech is a relatively new company but, like many, its founders have a long history in the high-end audio business. Their creatively-designed floorstanding speakers are hand-built in Oregon but hail from Pennsylvania (like our publisher). For those in need of a WAWA hoagie and a killer soft pretzel, the MC Audiotech team amazingly invite well-qualified audiophile clients who want to buy their speakers to visit and, when a sale is made, the company comps the entire trip. Another unique feature of MC Audiotech is that that they offer a beyond-generous trade-in program towards their speakers. Imagine trading in a bunch of audiophile components that you have in your system or around the house, and not needing to list them on Audiogon.com (or somewhere like that), but still getting great values towards your new speakers. Not every speaker company offers such a customer-friendly program, but MC Audiotech does.
The MC Audiotech TL-12s are currently the largest flagship speakers from the brand, and priced at $29,500 per pair. What most differentiates MC Audiotech from other A-list audiophile speaker makers is that they use a unique technology that stems from a very special driver that is comprised of a pair of U-shaped, paper-thin plastic membranes, joined in the center with a wire wrap that resides between magnets to form the voice coil motor structure. The outsides of the membranes are fixed. When the membrane oscillates, it creates a wave that propagates down each membrane, creating sound. It’s a very cool technology, unique to MC Audiotech, and has outstanding sonic properties.
What Makes the MC Audiotech TL-12 Loudspeakers So Special?
- The MC Audiotech TL-12 is a full-range loudspeaker with very unique driver technology unavailable anywhere else. The broadband driver (WBLS) is only available from MC Audiotech, and is what first catches the attention of most well-informed audiophiles. The WBLS a massive driver arrangement that stretches two feet tall and almost one foot wide. In reality, it’s made up of three individual transducers that are combined to form a coupled array. It has outstanding transparency and creates a massive soundstage. Of particular interest is the fact that the higher the frequency, the smaller the point source of the sound, which is ideal.
- The MC Audiotech TL-12 has very distinctive industrial in a world filled with boring, boxy speakers. Realistically, there are no other speakers that look quite like the MC Audiotech TL-12. The cabinet has a traditional, rectangular box shape, but has very untraditional rectangular slots cut into each side, while the rear of the enclosure is rounded. The slots are open to the rear of the membrane to perform what would normally be done by a bi-polar speaker. The grille is a series of rods that run from top to bottom of the speaker. Behind the rods, there is an acoustically invisible mesh that protects the WBLS driver. Located below the WBLS driver is the 12-inch woofer. It’s a handsome design that even my wife liked. (Note: she is way into both listening to music and investing in audiophile gear, as all wives should be, I think …)
- The MC Audiotech TL-12s are extremely easy to set up and perfect for spaces that have limited speaker location flexibility. When I received the TL-12s, I was told by Mark Conti (aka: the MC of MC Audiotech) that they were not really finicky in terms of speaker placement. He said “Just put them anywhere reasonable and you should get great performance.” I placed my test samples just outside my Rockport Avior II speakers (read my review of those speakers) and gave them a little toe-in – and I was pretty much done, despite trying all sorts of small adjustments over time. Mark Conti was right, they sounded very good without any additional extensive effort. Of course, anybody investing $29,500 in audiophile loudspeakers will spend his or her time tweaking placement. It is reassuring that you don’t need a Master’s Degree in acoustics to be able to make the MC Audiotech TL-12s sound really good, even in a less-than-perfect audiophile listening room.
- The MC Audiotech TL-12 uses a single, internal crossover which many very well attribute to a more accurate sonic presentation. Paul Paddock, Mark Conti’s partner and lead designer for MC Audiotech, is the inventor of the WBLS, which was first marketed by audiophile company Linaeum. The WBLS membranes are truly wide band, operating from 300Hz all the way to 20kHz. This means there is only a single first order crossover in the entire speaker, which many purists prefer for their negligible phase changes, resulting in a more transparent performance.
- The MC Audiotech TL-12s are very easy to drive and work well with even low-powered Class-A or tube amplifiers. The TL-12s are highly efficient loudspeakers at a reported 93dB, which makes them perfectly suited for low-power amplifiers. Offering an eight-ohm nominal load means that they don’t need amplifiers that run down to very low impedances like lots of audiophile speakers do. This opens the door for audiophile favorites, such as single-ended Triode tube amplifiers for those who love the warm, sweet sound that comes from these pure-sounding but very low-powered tube amps.
- MC Audiotech offers various finishes for the TL-12 speakers to make integrating them into your home’s décor simple. My pair of TL-12s were finished in Hickory, which I thought looked beautiful. The contrast of the dark grille and side vents and the light wood finish really worked for me visually. The MC Audiotech website (I am told a new, vastly updated one is coming very soon) shows a slightly darker-colored wood finish, which is also gorgeous.
Why Should You Care About the MC Audiotech TL-12 Loudspeakers?
If you are shopping for full-range floorstanding loudspeakers and want something that is not only unique, but also sounds great, then the TL-12s should be on your audition list. Again, there is nothing like the MC Audiotech TL-12s on the market, which is quite a feat, considering how many high-quality loudspeaker brands and models exist. The MC Audiotech only WLBS driver assembly sets it apart from your standard round driver designs, which are most prevalent. The WBLS is a combination of traditional cone drivers and electrostatics. Electrostatics use a thin membrane like the WBLS. However, the electrostatic membrane is electrically conductive to interact with the electrical fields created between the front and rear plates that surround the membrane. Contrast that with the MC Audiotech WBLS, which also uses a thin membrane, but utilizes a more traditional copper winding between magnets to create air motion. One logistical advantage is that there is no power cord required to drive the WBLS, where electrostatic speakers have high-voltage power supplies to create the extremely strong magnetic fields needed to move the membrane. This can limit the dynamic performance of electrostatic speakers. The TL-12’s traditional motor structure makes it easy to drive and reproduce the strong attacks of music. Like most electrostatic speakers, the TL-12 relies on a traditional round woofer to handle low frequencies.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the MC Audiotech TL-12 Loudspeakers
- The MC Audiotech TL-12s are large speakers and may not fit in all environments. The TL-12’s dimensions are 48 inches tall, 15 inches wide and 17 inches deep. They are big and they are impossible to overlook. This wasn’t an issue in my physically large living/listening room, but I can see where some may shy away from speakers this size. On the positive side, however, there is no rear porting to impact how close to a rear wall they can be placed.
- The MC Audiotech TL-12s use very high-quality Cardas single knob-like binding posts, so they only really work with spade connectors on your speaker cables. I’m a huge fan of Cardas binding posts for their ease of use, solid engagement and overall physical quality. My speaker cables are spade connectors, so I had no problems at all connecting them to the MC Audiotech TL-12 speakers. However, if you have existing cables with banana connectors, then you will have to either get your cable ends changed, or use “banana to spade” adapters. While I don’t see this as a dealbreaker I’d be remiss not to mention it.
Listening to the MC Audiotech TL-12 Loudspeakers …
My current system consists of a Lumin U1 mini-streamer (read a more modern version reviewed here), Weiss Helios DAC, CH Precision L1 preamplifier (review pending) and CH Precision M1.1 stereo amplifier. My cables are Wireworld Series 10, with AudioQuest speaker cables (but not for long, as I have new speaker cables coming for my latest room installation and upgrades).
With the recent release of David Gilmour’s latest album Luck and Strange, I found myself digging back through his earlier catalog and settled on the epic recording Live at Pompeii, recorded in 2016. The last time Gilmour played this mystical location was way back in 1971. 45 years later, he sounds as good as ever. The MC Audiotech TL-12s presented a soundstage befitting an outdoor amphitheater, but located right in my listening room. “Impressively wide” are the words that I wrote in my listening notes. My living room has very tall ceilings at a little over 15 feet high, and the music filled every bit of it. On the classic track “Wish You Were Here,” the acoustic guitars had a magical presentation, amazingly clear and razor sharp in definition. The guitar’s decay was completely natural, hanging in the air and slowly fading in and out as Gilmour played. The TL-12s fleshed out layer upon layer of detail without ever sounding artificial. Vocals showcased Gilmour’s gritty and emotional singing. The drums sounded punchy and tight. Overall, the TL-12s excelled at recreating the atmosphere and performance of this important live album with the openness of electrostatic speakers, without the grief and logistical problems.
“All At Once” by Jack Johnson from the Sleep Through the Static album is another reference track I know well. As with “Wish You Were Here,” I heard the same fantastic guitar qualities on the same enormously wide soundstage. The clarity, transparency, and delicacy that the TL-12s produce is extremely enjoyable (even a bit addictive) to listen to. Top-end and midrange performance is topnotch. That’s not to say that the lower frequencies are lacking in any way, quite the contrary. The kick drum comes across fast and with impact. But it’s clear the crown jewel of the TL-12 is the WBLS transducer that covers from 300Hz up. The midrange and high-frequency performance is just addictive. Its sonic accuracy creates a sense of realism that puts you in the performance, rather than just being a listener. I was beyond impressed by the sound that I was able to make with the MC Audiotech TL-12s.
“Life in the Fastlane” from Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles is an all-time, coke-fueled, classic rock anthem with one iconic guitar riff. This track’s complex arrangement stands in contrast to “Wish You Were Here” and “All At Once,” which are relatively deconstructed thus easier to reproduce. What I heard was the same excellent hard-driving bass performance and the ability to fill even large rooms with a wall of sound. I noticed, however, that when the music got overly busy with lots of instruments and vocals at the same time, there was a slight congestion in the presentation. That’s not to say it was bad or unenjoyable, but it didn’t have quite the same sense of space and openness that I heard on the other tracks.
Will the MC Audiotech TL-12 Loudspeakers Hold Their Value?
MC Audiotech is a boutique audiophile speaker manufacturer that features their proprietary technology in their compelling designs. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective. The pessimist may wonder about the longevity of the company, or the completely proprietary support that may be needed for the WBLS. I, however, see it as a positive, in that the MC Audiotech TL-12s are the epitome of outside-the-box thinking. Large companies typically aren’t always as willing to take chances to develop (and come to market with) a new technology like the WBLS. It’s the startups that are typically market disrupters and can push new tech to the masses. All this to say that the performance of the TL-12s is such that the asking price of $29,500 makes them a relative bargain. “High performance at reasonable prices” tends to deliver long-lasting value, no matter what product we are talking about. I was not surprised when I found no MC Audiotech speakers for sale on places like Audiogon. However, when looking at the discussion posts, I always found MC Audiotech referenced in a positive light. That was without exception. There seems to be a bit of a cult following to this brand with advanced, higher-end consumers of loudspeakers, which is a great indicator of things to come. Would I hesitate to own a pair of MC Audiotech TL-12s? Not at all. My wife was actually trying to talk me into buying the review samples, and we just bought Rockport speakers this year at over twice the retail price.
There are some dealers for MC Audiotech, but they are mainly now sold direct to the consumer. The upside is that the issue of low-volume production. which raises the cost of manufacturing is more than offset by the direct business model which keeps the cost of these speakers priced right in with some very high quality competition.
What is the Competition for the MC Audiotech TL-12s?
This is the portion of the review I was dreading, in that the MC Audiotech TL-12s are so unique in terms of design as there aren’t any exact “comps” for speakers like these.
I would say that the MartinLogan Renaissance ESL 15A could be a competitor to consider. The $28,999 MartinLogan Renaissance speaker has an electrostatic hybrid design, with two 12-inch aluminum cone woofers, each powered by a dedicated 500-watt Class-D amplifier with DSP. The DSP is used to optimize the bass performance to your listening space, and make the woofers integrate better with the electrostatic panels. MartinLogan speakers are known to have a similar open and transparent sound to the TL-12s, but they are much more susceptible to “head in vise” listening, on a side-to-side basis, as well as with height. The visually transparent electrostatic design element of the MartinLogans is super-cool, but they are harder to drive. The MC Audiotech speakers will allow you to get very exotic in terms of your wood finish selection. However, MartinLogan’s Fender-like “custom shop” can make you a pair of truly exotic/personalized speakers, which is ultra-cool, too.
MBL Loudspeakers also come to mind when I think of unique and unusual technologies. The $24,900 MBL 120 Radialstrahler is another speaker I would cross-shop with the MC Audiotech TL-12. It uses the MBL omnidirectional “bending mode” drivers for tweeter and midrange, which has earned it an equally passionate following as that of MartinLogan, but from a different technological angle. Conceptually, bending mode drivers operate in the same way a playing card displaces air when you compress it and it flexes. Imagine a sphere of these with a motor structure that squeezes and releases them to create audio, and you have the idea behind the MBL technology. The MBL 120s don’t play nearly as low as the TL-12s, running out of steam at 45 Hz, but the presentation is very open and crystalline, as with the TL-12s.
Final Thoughts on the MC Audiotech TL-12 Loudspeakers …
I really enjoyed my time with the MC Audiotech TL-12s loudspeakers, as I didn’t fully know what I was having sent to my home when I got the call about the review. These MC Audiotech TL-12s are unlike any other speakers I’ve heard, offering a very unique technology that brings the listener closer to the music/recording. The accuracy of the WBLS driver was beguiling and often revealed new sonic details on familiar recordings, while never, ever giving me a hint of harshness. I listened to the MC Audiotech TL-12s all day, every day for weeks and never wanted to take a break from them. I cannot say the same of other speakers that come from more well-known audiophile speaker brands and cost every penny as much.
I found that the MC Audiotech TL-12 loudspeakers were absolutely magical when reproducing many, varied types of musical genres. The TL-12s excelled with music. The small ensemble jazz Kind of Blue by Miles Davis is a notable example. Acoustic folk music from acts like America, Crosby Stills & Nash or Jim Croce also sounded uniquely outstanding on the TL-12s. Jazz guitar from Pat Metheny or Joe Pass were also firmly landing in the TL-12s’ wheelhouse. I didn’t test any Tiny Tim or Gwar, but I bet they sound pretty damn good on these speakers, too.
The MC Audiotech TL-12 is a loudspeaker for a self-confident audiophile who knows what he (sorry, I am not sure one pair has ever been sold to a woman, which perhaps will change over time) wants sonically from his speakers. This audiophile wants an open and wide sound, like you get from the best electrostats. This audiophile wants dynamics like you get from a pair of highly efficient traditional floorstanding speakers. This audiophile wants a nearly distortion-free experience that allows the music/recording to shine, without the speaker putting a powerful influence to the sound. If this appeals to you, and you’d like to have that “pick your Ferrari up in Modena” experience, or want to parlay a pile of good but older audiophile gear into some hand-crafted, bespoke, kick-ass audiophile speakers – then give MC Audiotech a call. They’ve got you covered, and I am willing to bet that you will be equally impressed with these speakers as I have been in my time with the MC Audiotech TL-12s, as they are just wonderful speakers, even if they are not from the most well-known audiophile brand.
