Anyone ever hear a set of Mirage M-3?

billbillw

Anyone ever heard a pair of Mirage M-3 speakers? They were one step from the TOTL in Mirage's lineup back in 1990 with a price tag somewhere slightly north of $2000. A set came up local yesterday and I was curious how they would compare to something of Polks SDA and SRS offerings.

http://www.miragespeakers.com/PDFs/classic_manuals/M/M3/M3brochure.pdf

Stereophile really loved them back in 1990 (the review is online). I think they had them as Class B. Looks like they are not very efficient and demand a lot from an amp.

george daniel

I listened to their flagship model back in the nineties @ hi-fi buys in buckhead,made an appointment to hear them,beautiful speakers,I prefered the larger SDA's at the time.As I recall,the imaging was very good with fast and accurate mids and a good sized sweet spot.They look like they have been well cared for. Let us know. Good luck.

heiney9

Great speakers, not the traditional design. Their claim to fame was to use a bi-polar design and they executed it quite well. The M1 was THE speaker to have in the late 80's and while I sold Mirage right next to Polk, the SDA's were the better choice but it's really not fair to compare the two designs.

The Mirage bi-polar series faithfully reproduce music and have a very open soundstage. All the drivers integrate well from top to bottom and overall they are a very dynamic speaker. I'd give them a try if you have the scratch and are into experimenting. They are 1 of about 6-8 speakers on my short list, but none ever come up FS in my area. KEF 104.2's are on my short list as well.

The newer Mirage "OM" series expand the original idea and they call them Omni-polar now. They seem to have tweaked the original bi-polar design and while the "OM" line is formidable I give the edge to the original "M" series. I believe the "Mxxsi" series adds the capability to bi-wire.

YMMV

H9

billbillw

I'm tempted to try them out, but their need for power makes me believe that I wouldn't really get much out of them with my current amp setup (only 100wpc). I probalby need to look for something more efficient.

heiney9

billbillw wrote:

I'm tempted to try them out, but their need for power makes me believe that I wouldn't really get much out of them with my current amp setup (only 100wpc). I probalby need to look for something more efficient.

You'd be suprised especially if it's high current. We used to run the Adcom GFA-535 all day long on the M1's. The ultimate volume wasn't achieved but that damn Adcom handed many an amp their ****. Many had power ratings 3-5 times the little Adcom. I wouldn't hesitate based solely on the effeciency. But in the end it's your $$$ and you need to do what's right. I'd say 100 watts is the minimum to get in the door for those speakers.

H9

billbillw

Hmm. He lowered his price again. I think I might have to go give these a listen and deal with the wife later....

george daniel

price down to 500.00,looks like he wants to move them. Did you audition them?

mantis

They are fantastic speakers.

billbillw

george daniel wrote:

price down to 500.00,looks like he wants to move them. Did you audition them?

Haven't had a chance to get up there yet. Not sure if I really have room anyway. If I did get them, I wouldn't be able to position them anywhere near ideal.

heiney9

billbillw wrote:

Haven't had a chance to get up there yet. Not sure if I really have room anyway. If I did get them, I wouldn't be able to position them anywhere near ideal.

Offer him $400. As far as postioning that's one of the charms of the Mirage line, they don't have to be optimally set-up to sound right. Because they are bi-polar it gives you a bit more flexibility in placement, within reason of course.

H9

billbillw

heiney9 wrote:

Offer him $400. As far as postioning that's one of the charms of the Mirage line, they don't have to be optimally set-up to sound right. Because they are bi-polar it gives you a bit more flexibility in placement, within reason of course.

H9

Right now, they would have to go in a corner (see my sytem showcase for my2-ch). I've read that they really don't do well in corners. I'll probably try to get up there sometime this coming week (if he doesn't sell them) and give um a listen. The guy sounds like he was a serious audiophile. He said he used to run them with Silver 7s, but he has a spare Bryston to hook them up to now.

billbillw

I finally got a chance to give these a listen today. Spent about an hour or so with a handfull of familiar CDs (no SACD or vinyl available). Gotta say, they don't seem to have much on my Monitor 5A except for the deep bass (boy do the Mirage have that!) Of course, I was listening on different electronics, that weren't as good IMO, and it was in a bigger room. They just didn't seem to have the magic to my ears. The midrange was too laid back for me and the highs seemed a little harsh (that may have been due to the electronics). They were impressively built though. If the highs smoothed out with my better CD player and the MOSFETs in my amp, they may be a nice upgrade, the laid back mids would take some getting used to though. Doesn't seem like many people are banging on this guy's door for them, so I can let it sink in for a little and decide.

EDIT:
Postscript: I ended up purchasing these and found out there were some problems with the crossover (mismatched caps, bad inductor). After rebuilding the crossover, the sound was completely magical. Extremely smooth throughout, very tight/deep bass, midrange right were it should be, not too laid back. I love these speakers now!