Ever discover cheapo speakers actually sound...

The short answer is yes.

Most even decent speakers that fit a room properly will sound good with good equipment upstream. The deciding factor can easily become more one of personal taste.

Two different speakers in different price classes can be "night and day" but still each sound good in their own way.

The less expensive speakers should likely have more limitations but they can still sound "good" and do the things they do well.

Pedrillo, Shadorne may be on to something. From your pictures, I've long suspected your room acoustics could be quite challenging.

The jury is also still out for me also regarding the benefits versus disadvantages of hanging speakers from bungees rather than coupling them more tightly to the room and it's acoustics.

Have you tried a more conventional approach to locating the speakers as an experiment in particular since having heard the MBL sound that you like?

If it was not clear distortion or similar noise you heard early on, its possible that the speakers just sounded better after a while because your ears adjusted to the different sound.

I'd like to see a picture of your entire listening room, but I'm suspecting that you might just have tight quarters that might call for a smaller box in order to breathe and sound open and free. That is a good thing perhaps because in general a smaller speaker should cost less to get right than a larger one.

A lot of people fear omnis and their room interactions, but with my pseudo-omni Ohms, I'm finding these are actually less sensitive to room acoustics and easier to place for good sound than other box and planar designs I've used. So I think omnis, again if not too large, are not a bad thing to be considering, but a smaller conventional box speaker design might be able to fit the bill as well.

I currently have weather-worn Realistic Minimus 7's ($100 retail back in the 1980's) on my deck that sound fantastic these days with my current system....leaps and bounds beyond what they sounded like with much lesser gear that I have used them with over the years.

PEdrillo,

Can you describe the room in question?

Thanks.

You might just need a good but smaller, more compact speaker design in a room that size.

For Ohms, I'd try the Ohm Micro Walsh Talls in a room that size first, I think, particularly if you already have a sub that might be added. Ohm recommends these mainly for more near field listening in a variety of room sizes I believe.

The Ohms are bottom ported though which could work against your desire for isolation. Placing them on concrete slabs or something similar could help. Loosely plugging the ports can be an option as well in more lively rooms that are less isolated naturally.

Both my larger and smaller Ohm Walsh speaks are located in my basement currently on a concrete floor with thin carpeting and padding and this provides an extensive amount of natural acoustic isolation.

Pedrillo,

Your reaction to hearing MBL reminds me of my own reaction 30 years ago when I first heard Magnepan compared to box designs.

Some designs are just so unique, for better or worse that they will always stand out in the crowd, either for better or for worse.