Mirage speaker setup?


Hello,

I'm new to Audiogon and am very pleased to have found such a great resource! I'm hoping to get some advice/suggestions on a purchase I am considering. We are moving from a smaller home to a larger one where I will have enough space to invest in an upgraded sound system. Currently, we listen to most of our music from a pair of small bookshelf NHT speakers. For movies, we have an Onkyo home theatre in a box setup with the receiver being a tx-sr606. Anyway, I work with a colleague who is moving and wants to sell his Mirage speakers: a pair of M5si's, M7si's and an MCsi center channel. I've listened to his setup and thought it sounded great, but I am a novice in terms of audio equipment. I understand that these speakers are from the early nineties and quite old, but are of good quality. My questions are: Would this be a good purchase for listening to 70%music and 30% movies? Would my receiver (onkyo tx-606) be able to handle these? Are there other factors I should consider? Finally, what would be a fair price for these speakers being in good condition but older? I really appreciate any advice/suggestions on this, so thanks in advance for any replies:)
markus77
I've have had M3si's, an MCsi, and OM10's for surrounds, as well as the Mirage wall mounted bipoles (can't remember the names just now) for a decade. I loved every minute of music and movies through the Mirages. Especially, 2-channel listening via the M3si's. There were literally only two drawbacks: They are monolith-sized speakers, and because they are wide (rather than narrow and deep) they "feel" even larger. I know the M5's are smaller, but as I recall they're still fairly imposing. Secondly, in order to sound their best (holographic, deep soundstage, balanced, etc.) I always found my M3's needed to be about a yard out from the rear wall (ie., the wall where your display would be) and at minimum, a couple of feet from any (hopefully symetrical) sidewalls. If your listening room can accomodate those constraints, you may be as thrilled as I was with my setup for many years.
Thanks so much for your response! I think I will have some flexibility in where I have the speakers in the room, so hopefully I can have them away from the walls - maybe not a yard though, I'll have to see. Do you have any recommendations in terms of an amplifier or receiver for these speakers?
I've owned M5si, amd M7si speakers. They`are great sounding speakers for the money. I sold a mint used pair of M7si for just $180 via Craigslist. Not many folks want such large speakers. Not sure how much power the Onkyo has but these older M series Mirage speakers are power hungry at around 85db efficiency.
They sound best with high powered solid state amps, or high power tube amps which typically cost alot of money
I had a pair of M5's. Not Si's. Kjvail is absolutely correct; those Mirage need room to breath. I had mine about 4' from back and side walls, when i was home alone :0). They sounded excellent. Threw wide soundstage. Never harsh. When they were close to the wall exaggerated bass, not a good stage.

They are large and imposing, an accurate description by Kjvail. That's why I ended up selling them, size and the space they were normally in didn't do them justice.

I used a pair of Adcom 545 v.2 as amplification. The guy who bought them brought over his amp and preamp, B&K, don't recall models, and fell in love.

Sold them for $400 about 4 years ago.

I really enjoyed them, but you got to have space!
I bought the M3si's as well as a Musical Design (John Hillig) pre-amp and amp from a dealer in St. Louis, MO. after many weeks of auditioning. I don't know if the JC-1 tube pre-amp is still available, but the solid-state D150 dual mono amp (or it's replacement) is. I'm sure there are many other fine combinations that would work as well. I also drove the M3's with a variety of pre-amps and processors, including Lexicon's CP1, and Arcam FMJ, but the constant was Musical Design amplification (which I still use).
Thanks for all your help and advice guys! I really appreciate it. I think I've got my research cut out for me in terms of amps and pre-amps. I'm really just getting started in this hobby and the choices are overwhelming. Do you guys have any recommendations for an amp that would be budget conscious? Maybe something used of good quality that could be had in the $500-$600 range?
Emotiva makes some nice gear for the money. Factory direct pricing. However, you'd still need a 5 channel amp, and a preamp/surround processor. That will certainly go over your budget.
I see a NAD T748 surround receiver as a refurb for sale here on Agon from Spearit sound. Has 80 watts per channel. NAD tend to rate their gear conservatively. I had an older 7155 receiver that drove my Mirages remarkably well at 55 watts per channel. Thinking this will offer good sound quality and should have enough power to get you by.
I've owned Mirage M-1's since 1989, although they have been replaced by even BIGGER speakers, Sound Lab Majestic 945's (9' tall!) Mirage, like all plannars which they mimic, need to be out in the room with space behind them to really be at their best. I now have these set up in my shop (2,000 sq.ft) and they still please, but they will soon be offered for sale here on Audiogon.
Yeah after doing some more research I think my budget is a little unrealistic considering what I want out of a system. My current onkyo receiver doesn't have an output for an external amp which is a problem. So I'm thinking this will need to be updated first. I was looking at the pioneer elite sc-68. This seems to offer quite a bit in terms of both audio and video capability and Itunes which I often use. I could combine this with an emotiva 5 channel amp to power the Mirage speakers. What do you guys think of this setup? Again I'm a novice so I welcome your expertise. Would I be better forgetting about the pioneer and just go with a preamp to go with the emotiva amp?
I would say an Emotiva Amp would be great "new" bang for the buck amp. You could also look for a used B&K Ref200x5 (these were $2500 or so new) or 5 channel Adcom or Rotel amp here. You could also save some money by buying an Emotiva UMC-200 Pre-Amp process for $599 new and have a nicer system than most AVRs. You could get an entire Emotiva system (pre and amp) for less than the Pioneer.

I still own several sets of Mirage speakers. The M series are power hungry. How much power they need depends on how big the rooom is and how loud you want to play them. the louder you want them to play the more juice they will need.

Also, for the record, I do not own Emotiva gear, I have recommended them to friends and have heard them and they do a very nice job for the money and much, much better than AVRs.