Downgrading... Is it possible??? Suggestions

07-12-08: Shadorne
You have such awesome gear it will be very tough to downgrade, IMHO. If you don't spend time in the sweetspot then something with wide dispersion or omnidirectional is in order - hard to say without any pics of your setup.

I agree. I have a dedicated "big rig" home theater system and a rather modest 2-channel living room system, but it's the living room system I have going most of the time.

It's a big listening area because of the cathedral ceiling and the open architecture that extends into the foyer, up the hall and over to the dining area.

I have omnis and love what they do for this type of arrangement. For the last 3 years I've been using little football-sized Mirage Omnisats with a subwoofer. They do an excellent job of filling the space because of their omnidirectionality. Still, I wanted something that would scale up a bit more for big band, opera, and large orchestra, so Monday I'm to receive a pair of Mirage OMD-15 floorstanding columns to replace the sat/sub arrangement. The OMD-15s are very unobtrusive at 40" high, 8" wide and 12" deep and are available in piano black or rosewood. They are biampable/biwirable, have 91 dB efficiency, and can handle 250 watts. This translates into quite a dynamic range.

If the OMD-15s are too downscale for you, Mirage's flagship model, the OMD-28, would probably do. These got a rave review in Abso!ute Sound, and have become the reference speakers for one of their reviewers. They're a little bigger than the OMD-15s, but are still relatively modest at 46.5" tall and an 11x13 footprint. They can handle 300 watts and go down to 25 Hz w/o a sub. They would absolutely fill the living space with very tonally balanced sound. By this I mean that Mirages with the Omniguide have a very natural, balanced sound, but are by no means compressed or indistinct. The dynamics and transparency improve with more power and better wires feeding them, but regardless they energize the listening space like live voices and instruments would. There is no suckout non-uniform dispersion or venitian blind effect with these speakers.

You can also eliminate a rack space or two by going to one of the new breed of high end, high-powered integrated amps from Bryston, Musical Fidelity, Classe, PS Audio, Krell, VTL, etc.

No It is not possible to downgrade. I tried to get a cheaper phono and they sounded like mid fi. I can't take that sound very long. It is altogether possible to upgrade and spend less however!

if you are referring to size down grade, yes it is very possible. you can get very fine European products that are very fine sounding and don't take up much space.

if you are referring to sound down grade, only you can answer that question. for me, it's possible even though I won't be happy about it.

if you are referring to financial saving, it's very possible. I have achieved very musical sound with a good tube integrated.

Zu Presence does it for me. Compact with low visual impact, they take up little floor space and because of hi-efficiency and internal powered subs, allow for the use of smaller amplification. Very wide dispersion so you get good soundstage across wide area. And they are very dynamic sounding due to pro audio influence brought to bear by their designers. You can have them painted any color or pattern to suit your decor or to blend with background.

I am in the process of down-sizing or down grading or both not sure which yet as I have not received my amp yet (in the mail). Wife hated the big Thiels in our family room and all the electronics in the cabinette.

I just sold all my cj electronics (premier 16lsII and premier 350 amp) and Thiel 3.6's. Just purchased JM Labs Electra 1007 Be monitors and Cary SLI-80 F1 direct coupled tube integrated. Still have my modded SCD-1 as I still needed a front end. So we shall see if this works out. If it doesn't it may all be up for sale. Good luck on your endeavor.

Chuck