FXi3 or Mirage OMD-5

codyc1ark · October 2011

Hey gang, about to buy some new surrounds. Title says it all, wondering if anyone has comments? I have not heard either speaker, most state that the FXi will work great for surround duty, but they are pushing the size limits. Coming in a little smaller are the Mirage's, they have great reviews, and I believe that they will do the job. They will fit a whole lot better then the FXi's. (Did Polk make a smaller surround than the FXi3?) - LSiFX's are out of the question, price and size right now. Comments? Concerns? Thanks for any input. Heres a link to the Mirages, interesting little speaker - http://www.miragespeakers.com/na-en/products/omd-5-specifications/

Thanks,
-Cody

polkfarmboy · October 2011

Your going to have to go with lsifx for your setup or the tweeters will be off

codyc1ark · October 2011

codyc1ark wrote: »

LSiFX's are out of the question, price and size right now.

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Your going to have to go with lsifx for your setup or the tweeters will be off

Timber match isn't as important for surrounds. The LSi's are massive surrounds, and won't fit my space. As far as price, I'm doing the surrounds on a budget, I've got my eyes on the next (three) upgrades. :twisted:

polkfarmboy · October 2011

I had the fxi3 and I thought they were one of the best surrounds i ever owned and the best value out there . The double tweeters really fill a room with ambience that has a great depth to them giving one the impression the sound was coming from far beyond where the speakers were placed . A classic example of the effects was when i heard rain in a movie .I would go as far as to say that I liked the fxi3 more than I do than the dual center channel martin logan matinee's I have now and they retail for $1599 each

mufsoman · October 2011

codyc1ark - check my sig below and the System Showcase. I have four of the Mirage OMD5's currently and I've had Fxi3 and Fxi6's in the past. All are great speakers. Ideally you would want the matching Lsi surrounds to match the rest of your front sound stage, but I can vouch for the Mirages, they are great sounding speakers. Sound and build quality is awesome. Can't speak for how they will sound with the Lsi, but they sound great with the Rti's. Like you stated above, matching the surrounds is isn't quite as important. Ideal yes, but not critical.

edoggrc51 · October 2011

I have a pair of the OMD-5's and absolutely love them for surround duty. The just sound so natural and convincing, yet at the same time it's hard to place thier location and where the sound is coming from. Perfect for surround duty, IMO. Also build quality is TOP NOTCH!

Gaara · November 2011

OMD 5s by far. Phenomenal for surrounds, the omni directional tweeter makes them really dissapear.

I currently use them as surrounds, had LSiFxs before that and much prefered the OMDs.

Plus their at a big discount last I checked.

codyc1ark · November 2011

Excellent guys! Thanks! I spoke with mufsoman over the phone a few days ago, and after our conversation (he had run through about 10 pairs of surrounds it sounded like) went with the OMD's. Vann's had them for $119.00/shipped per speaker in rosewood. Not a bad deal. They should arrive Monday, very excited. The rosewood wont match in my room, but assuming I'm happy I'll have them done in gloss black. Thanks for the input guys, these are going to work great for my space.

themuskr · November 2011

i have a pair of the the OMD-5's ad love them! i also have one in maple i need to sell if anyone is interested

codyc1ark · November 2011

Bump! These arrive today, I'll snap some shots for everyone. Worked out great that I was off of work today. :cheesygrin:

polkfarmboy · November 2011

Congrats but you should have went with the proper polk surrounds that was designed to match

edoggrc51 · November 2011

codyc1ark wrote: »

Bump! These arrive today, I'll snap some shots for everyone. Worked out great that I was off of work today. :cheesygrin:

Congrats man! I just ordered a 2nd pair to use as heights. Can't wait!

Devlon · November 2011

I own both Mirage OMD's, and Lsi's. You made a great 2nd best choice. I would call the OMD-5's great, but the Lsifx's are totally awesome.

codyc1ark · November 2011

Devlon wrote: »

I own both Mirage OMD's, and Lsi's. You made a great 2nd best choice. I would call the OMD-5's great, but the Lsifx's are totally awesome.

I have no doubt about that, but even the 12" FXi3's we're pushing the size limit, let alone LSiFX's at 15". WAF as always, these are going to be great for what I can physically fit, I'm sure they'll do for now. Now where is the UPS truck?!? it went out at 5:50am, come on man! :mad:

Gaara · November 2011

Devlon wrote: »

I own both Mirage OMD's, and Lsi's. You made a great 2nd best choice. I would call the OMD-5's great, but the Lsifx's are totally awesome.

To each his own. I had the LSiFxs and sold them and kept the OMDs.

codyc1ark · November 2011

Got em' mounted and running last night, and didn't even break the binding posts! :surprised:

First off, I have to agree with mufsoman, the build quality of these are top notch, these things are great looking. I was going to have them sprayed gloss black, but I can't ruin the finish on these, they'll stay rosewood. Binding posts are very heavy duty, the cast tweeter omni mount is very well built, grills fit well and as always, I love magnet mount grills.

I can't say that I'm a huge fan of how they wall mount, the supplied rubber stops/boots didn't do it for me with the one mount system, so I used those in conjunction with blu-tack, they won’t move now. Go blu tack.

How do they perform?
Well, I did set these up for 3 or 4 hours on top of the lsi9's, and let them run just to get some a/b to the 9's, these little puppies can put out some sound, and do a good job of it. Not a whole lot of low end on these, but to be fair, they are not broken in at all. So, after the quick (and easy) wall mounting job, I fired up the PS3 and we watched Transformers 3, I had picked this title out because people have commented that it has a great surround FX mix. I felt about half way through the movie, these really opened up. I wasn't getting any impact from my old surrounds, and of course when I was driving the system hard with the old ones they always had a bit of distortion I felt like. The OMD's had no distortion at high levels, and added SO much more to the movie. It was like my surround speakers disappeared.

Overall, I'm VERY happy with my purchase. They blend very well with the LSi's, and for anyone who doesn't have the optimum mounting position for the LSiFX's, I'd take a serious look at these.(At 9” tall you can fit them into tight area) I'll try and remember to bring my camera home from work and get some photos of them tonight.

codyc1ark · November 2011

Got em' mounted and running last night, and didn't even break the binding posts! :surprised:

First off, I have to agree with mufsoman, the build quality of these are top notch, these things are great looking. I was going to have them sprayed gloss black, but I can't ruin the finish on these, they'll stay rosewood. Binding posts are very heavy duty, the cast tweeter omni mount is very well built, grills fit well and as always, I love magnet mount grills.

I can't say that I'm a huge fan of how they wall mount, the supplied rubber stops/boots didn't do it for me with the one mount system, so I used those in conjunction with blu-tack, they won?t move now. Go blu tack.

How do they perform?
Well, I did set these up for 3 or 4 hours on top of the lsi9's, and let them run just to get some a/b to the 9's, these little puppies can put out some sound, and do a good job of it. Not a whole lot of low end on these, but to be fair, they are not broken in at all. So, after the quick (and easy) wall mounting job, I fired up the PS3 and we watched Transformers 3, I had picked this title out because people have commented that it has a great surround FX mix. I felt about half way through the movie, these really opened up. I wasn't getting any impact from my old surrounds, and of course when I was driving the system hard with the old ones they always had a bit of distortion I felt like. The OMD's had no distortion at high levels, and added SO much more to the movie. It was like my surround speakers disappeared.

Overall, I'm VERY happy with my purchase. They blend very well with the LSi's, and for anyone who doesn't have the optimum mounting position for the LSiFX's, I'd take a serious look at these.(At 9? tall you can fit them into tight area) I'll try and remember to bring my camera home from work and get some photos of them tonight.

edoggrc51 · November 2011

codyc1ark wrote: »

It was like my surround speakers disappeared.

Isnt that the truth! They're just so natural sounding and when used as surrounds that omni-directional tweeter is awesome!! It really disperses the sound very well.

mufsoman · November 2011

Cody - glad to hear your so happy with them. These speakers really do put out a lot of clean sound. Low end isn't bad, but most surrounds don't dig a low as towers or bigger bookshelfs anyway. Now I just need to figure out what direct firing speakers to use for backs in a 7.1 set up. Maybe another pair of the OMD5's or something else......

Polkfarmboy - I agree that the matching Polk surrounds would be a first chioce, but these are a great alternative when your space or wall mounting options are limited and really kick some as# for a relatively small speaker.