Mirage speakers

EndersShadow

Anyone running older Mirage speakers like the M-5si or OMD-15's? If so, how do they fair compared to newer stuff you've heard, or with newer sound formats and movies?

There are a pair of each local to me and I'm debating if they might be worth switching up to, but curious if they have setup considerations I need to be aware of.

I've heard the M-5si and maybe OMD-15's need to be a few feet out into the room to really do their best, and I can probably at max give them a foot, but wondering how much that will detract from their "omnipolar" sound...

Also, anyone happen to have non-forum contact info for @falconcry72? I know he had a few pairs of these speakers he eventually moved on from so his thoughts appreciated.

Also love to hear from @mantis since he's run both Def Tech (what I am playing with now but may be selling), as well as Mirage.

jbreezy5

OMD-15 weren’t my cup of tea for music; I felt they sounded rather diffuse.

I didn’t get to hear them in movie surround sound. Perhaps I might feel differently with this application.

Can’t speak to the M-5si, never heard them.

mantis

The M-5si where a unique sounding speaker. We sold quite a few of them back in the day. They have that Def Tech kinda look with the sock like grill cloth. They had a very pleasing sound that you could sit down and listen to for a long period of time. We use to power them with B&K amps mostly but if you had a flagship Yamaha or Denon, you could get some unique sound out of them.
The Yamaha receivers would bring some sparkle up top and some really nice dynamics. It was a very good match. The DSPA1 was the choice when it came out and man was that a nice combo.
The Denon's back than had a milder sound to them and if you where into big band jazz kinda music, the Mirage / Denon combo was fantastic.
With the B&K , however it was different again showing sound from the Yamaha up top and the smooth mids and lows with excellent control and grace. Overall B&K was a the general choice but Yamaha always made a strong case especially if you where doing a surround system. I actually liked Yamaha better there.

The OMD-15 came out a bit later. They where based off the OMNI series speakers that I loved installing. I had a client say they looked like a pair of **** hanging off the wall. These where the wall mount versions LOL, we laughed and then every time we hang them, this was the theme. God your taking me back to time in my life that was great. I was an installer putting in surround systems and home theater damn near every single day. God I miss those times now , geez.

Anyway I didn't get a lot of time or experience with the OMD-15. For some reason I don't remember installing them much. I think I might have maybe a few times? We sold way more of the OMNI sats as that package was super popular and performed extremely well. These where goofy to me and I don't remember liking them that much, but honestly my memory of them is kinda lost. I didn't hold any candles for them.

The older Mirage models like the OM9 was a model and series I did a lot. They where damn perfection in sound. So damn good and very fun to listen to. Hell I think if I ran across a pair now I might want to buy them just for memories and to play with once in awhile. If you can find some of these older models which if I remember correctly replaced the M series was a step up. The M series were very good but the OM series I felt where better.

VR3

I always wanted to hear the omd 28

EndersShadow

Thanks @jbreezy5 for your thoughts on the OM-15. Not much out there on them compared to the M-Xsi models.

Thanks Dan (@mantis) for your detailed thoughts too!

I have seen some of the OM-7s and OM-9s (always at stupid prices) but don’t see much on them so I’ve stayed away from looking at them much, and the fact their form factor likely will be an issue .

WRT the two models I posted, how far out do they REALLY need to be in the room? Manual for the M-5si says 3 feet from the back wall (but says less should be ok) and 7-8 feet apart.. the depth is where the problem is… not sure if that same depth is needed for the OM-15s since I couldn’t find a manual for them.

VR3

Bipolar speakers in general need to be pulled out into the room a good bit to sound their best

EndersShadow

VR3 wrote: »

Bipolar speakers in general need to be pulled out into the room a good bit to sound their best

I didn’t think these were bipolar (unlike the def techs) since the woofers on both sides are in phase and fire at the same time…..

I’m likely wrong here, but just double checking.

I can maybe pull them out 12 to 14 inches max……

My current Def Techs are maybe 7 inches from the back wall….


Oh and @mantis, I am running a B&K 200.5 so looks like they’d be fine lol.

VR3

Dec tech and Mirage, front and back drivers are in phase to one another, both being bipolar

Dipole is where the back wave or drivers are present and out of phase to the front

erniejade

@geppy1 he had a few of them as well.