Mirage Speakers - Page 144

Basically, the sound seemed muffled, almost like I was wearing earplugs. I adjusted the placement of the front speakers (moved them forward so there would be no deflections off the side of my entertainment center), and that made a considerable difference.

I do have a subwoofer (old cheap Sony sub). I'll probably replace it at some point, but bass response hasn't really been an issue.

Unfortunately, my receiver predates the inclusion of Audyssey, so I'm making manual adjustments.

Since adjusting the speaker placement really helped, I guess my only remaining question is do you think a receiver upgrade (with proper calibration software) would make much of a difference? I was looking at something like the Onkyo NR1007, which is pretty affordable now that the 1008 is coming out. Thanks!

Hi, this is a great forum and I am very happy that I was able to find a section for the Mirage speakers. I was wondering what options do I have for speaker stands for the OMD5? I am looking for a stand (at least 30 inches high) where I will not have to use the sticky pads but if I don't have any other options then I will have to use one with the sticky pads. Also how do you compare the speaker stands vs wall mounting? Does it effect the performance too much?
I would appreciate as many suggestions as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Westworld, I am very close to do the same thing and I know that the OS3 speakers are probably more than enough that I need but I just cant stop thinking about the OMD speakers. I am thinking about making arangments with Chase to return most of the OS3 speakers to them and get a refund. so I can get the OMD. I am sure that the Optimum 12 is going to fill the small gap in the bass that I may get with the OS3 but I guess we learn from our mistakes. Let me know of the results when you receive them. I hope that the upgrade was worth it.

can anyone give their opinion on how will the
OMD15 compare to the Energy's RC-50 or RC-70 for that matter but more concern with RC-50s, thanks

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo...2&variation=32

Hi alphaiii, thanks for the imput. I just want to know if you can mount the OMD5 on the plate of the speaker stand with the hardware provided without the sticky pad?

Anyone else with suggestions for speaker stands for the OMD5 surround?

Thank You!

I looked around and did'nt want to spend to much money , The Omni WS24 OR 31 Fits perfect for the OMD-5

Take a look at OmniMount - WS24 or WS31

Thank you. I will look into those as well.

Need some opinions on the following:

OMD C1 Center
2x OMD 15 Fonts
2x Os3 FS Mids
2x Os3 FS Rears
1 x MartinLogan Dyanmo 1000 Wireless

I currently have

Os3 CC Center
2x Os3 FS Fronts
2x Os3 FS Rears
1 x MartinLogan Dyanmo 1000 Wireless

Should I upgrade the system with the OMD's and use the Os3 FS's for the mids?

Well I have OS3Fs for left and right right channel and some cheap sony htib speakers for rest. But OMD15s are a great upgrade. Now I just need to upgrade my reciever, move my OS3FS to surround and use my OMD 15s for left and right channel. Even with my cheap Sony HTIB OMD 15s are big imprivement. You won't regret it.

Should I return or sell the 2 os3 fs I have.. There unopened and just stick to a 5.1 setup? using os3 fs for mids may get in the way. I ordered a OMD c1 and OMD15s..

Hey Mirage gurus. Thinking of replacing my current surround channels (Ref 0.5) with the OMD-5s. The Refs have always seemed very directional to me and call too much attention to themselves when surround effects come into play. Whenever a bullet goes flying by in a movie, for instance, my first thought is always "Oh right, I have a speaker next to me." I was hoping the omnidirectional nature of the OMDs would fix that, and provide a more enveloping, convincing surround field.

However, would placing an OMD-5 on the edge of a recessed windowsill be a complete acoustic disaster? It'd be right up against the wall of the sill and just a few inches away from the window. This isn't really a problem for the Refs, since I have the grill clearing the edge by a good inch or so, but for an omnidirectional speaker this might be trouble, yeah? For better or for worse this is pretty much where the left-surround channel must go, so if this is a resolutely terrible thing to do to an OMD-5 maybe I'll stick with monopoles after all. Thanks for any advice.

IMO, yes

Hard to say. But it might matter more to know: What's it like to either side? How far away is the side of the window, and how far away are the side walls?

Max 2010 and others, I received and have been listening (about 20 hours) and comparing the OMD-15 and OMD-C1 to the OS3 FS and OS3-CC I already owned. I've compared music, all types, and HT.
I found the OMD speakers to be more clear and have transparent sound qualities especially in the mid to treble frequencies without being overly bright. I can't hear those sounds in the OS3 line. When listening to music I feel I am at a live performance. When listening to a piano you can here the strings vibrate when the hammer hits them, when a cymbal is hit you can hear that extra little bit vibration zing and the end. While the sound from the OS3 line is good, I feel the frequency range is not as great and sounds flat in comparison to the OMD’s. As far as the low end range I can’t provide an opinion since both the OS3 and OMD are running with 2 Velodyne Optimum12’s. The crossover for the OS3 was 80 and I’m using 120 for the OMD’s.
I’m glad I purchased the OMD-15 and OMD CC. They are well worth the money and improved my system. I’m glad I bought these.
Here is my speaker system now.
FS, OMD-15
Center, OMD CC
Sides, OS3 sat
Rear, OS3 sat
Sub, 2 Optimum 12
Hope this helps you and others that are on the fence about purchasing the OMD’s.
BTW I have 2 OS3 FS, 1 OS3 CC, and 2MM8’s for sale.
John

Thanks for your reply. I'll try to provide more info below--hope it makes sense!

The recessed windowsill in the left wall, where the SL channel sits, is perpendicular to the couch and not near any other wall. The SL is flush against the one-foot left "wall" that makes up the window recession, and about two feet away from the right window-recession "wall." Also, if it matters, the SL is 5-6 feet away from the primary seating position, at just about ear level (as is the SR).

I hope that description made sense...whaddya think, does that sound like awful placement for a speaker like the OMD-5?

Hmm... Since you have the current surround right up against the left side of the recess, would it be possible to mount (OMD-5 comes with a simple wall mount bracket) the speaker on the actual wall of the room, right beside the recessed window...instead of sitting it on the sill?

If I'm visualizing this correctly, you'd really only be moving the location of the speaker less than a foot, but moving it "outside" of the recess, flush with the main wall. Then you wouldn't have the one side of the speaker completely blocked by the 1ft recessed wall. Plus, overall placement would be better since the speaker is then pulled out of the recess.

I did a quick paint sketch. Is this the general layout of the SL? The red box being the current ref 0.5, and the black circle being a wall mounted OMD-5 in the location I described.

Keep in mind, with the OMD-5 you can wall mount them higher up... just mount them upside down if above 6ft or so.

This gives you flexibility in that you don't have to have it at ear level, and you don't have to worry about angling the speaker downward if you mount it higher up the wall...

Will a denon 3310CI have be enough to power a OMD 15/C1/5 setup? Im looking to move forward with all of this but am such a noob that I have no idea if it would be a good fit or a disaster. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

it'll power them just fine. The beauty is you can always add an amp (Emotiva 3 channel, for example) if you feel the need for more juice. The omd15s and C1 are more efficient and easier to drive than my previous monitor series Paradigms.

I just ordered my OMD package. I got 2 OMD 15's, 4 OMD5's and 1 OMD C-1. I used the smackdown promotion which gives you an additional $25 discount on the OMD 15's but if you chat with Vanns rep you can get 5% on the rest of the speakers like I did. Here is the link:

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/promo?v_c=EM_SDPromo

The promo code is: smackdown

Good Luck!!!

Thanks for the suggestion (and the pretty accurate sketch!) but I'd like to avoid mounting right now for a number of reasons.

Any other thoughts on whether being too close to a wall would kill the OMD-5's potential as a surround speaker?

ThisOneKidMongo, alphaiii has laid it out well for you. These work best for surround if you can mount them upside down, up high. When they are at ear level, you'd usually want to tilt them forward if you could. Which you could do on that windowsill, but it would involve some fooling around and might get in the way if it sticks out.

I guess you ruled out stands, too?

Anyway, it's not going to kill them but if you're looking for an upgrade in sound and are saying putting them on the windowsill is the only way to go right now ... then I'm not sure it's going to be worth the time and money. Hard to say.

Posting this for a friend (that's too lazy to register)

He recently bought a set of Rosewood OMDs from Vanns (pair of OMD15s, pair of OMD5s and a OMD C1 center)

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Very happy with the OMDs (rosewood looks so perfect I wonder if it's plastic - tempted to do a hot needle test on the bottom of one) - always wanted these but they were out of my price range but with the vanns sale, I jumped on them.

Only concern I have is the OMD C1 center's midrange seems almost unused. I noticed what seemed to be a lack of midrange (dialog in -some- movies) compared to my old center (Infinity PC350). I'd run Audyssey (NR3007, bought a store demo (said unused) recently under $1K) with them and love the sound in general.

Wondering if the midrange was bad (or bad connection or crossover?) as I can't really feel any response from the midrange (driver under the tweeter).
Even during the 'white noise" Audyssey level test (lightly placing fingertips on driver cone, etc.) - there might be _some_ slight vib feeling but compared to the (1/2 smaller IIRC) midranges on my Inifinity 350 center, it's as if the driver isn't being used. (MUCH more response felt from Inf 350 midranges - like night and day)
I know about speaker breakin (and that its disputed by some articles) but curious if what I'm seeing (not feeling) is normal for the C1 midrange. (literally nothing felt on C1 mid, clearly felt on Inf 350 midrange)
Tried music, etc still never feel like the C1 mid is active

Can any other OMD C1 owners comment on this? (normal? not?)

I hate to return it as I already had to return my first C1 due to it having some minor damage out of the box (many surface scratches, a nick out of the top edge, torn cloth on one of the grille corners, etc) - 6 days shipping each way to Vanns. (I actually paid $40 to have the repl C1 I have now sent 3 day vs free gnd/6 day) - and maybe this is normal for the C1 midrange driver?

Thanks!
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BTW - other test suggestions welcome.
(I saw a outlet black OMD C1 at CF for $99, tweeter dented. Tempted to get it, but not sure on tweeter replacement cost but I think I could swap in the tweeter from a spare Omnisat V2 perhaps (my speakers are outlet (cheap price!) Uni-theater ($105) and Omnisat v2s - have one spare V2, bought 3 at $65ea at outlet earlier this year)

If it were me, I'd run some of the audio test tones or Audio Test CD through a set of the frequencies and see what he hears.

Something like this, or Google it - audio test tones or audio test cd, maybe throw in the word free, or mp3 if that's easier
http://virtuelvis.com/archives/2004/09/audio-test-cd

Just don't use the ones that are designed for subwoofers, they don't have the right set of frequencies.

If he's having trouble setting up his receiver to get the sound to come out of the center, just take the wires from the left or right front speaker and hook those up.

Actually, he might want to do that in any case to make sure he eliminates any odd settings that might be limiting the sound that is going to the center channel. Just put the receiver in stereo and connect the center to one channel. Turn the balance all the way to that channel to isolate it, or disconnect the other channel.

Be very careful with the volume. It doesn't need to be high to do this.

Thanks Buzzy - much appreciated. A great tool. Passed the info/link along to him.

And I also made a CD from the download at the page you linked. I picked up the dented tweeter C1 and played the test CD (w/C1 hooked to a front speaker wires - no others connected) Of course some of the lower freq tracks were too low for the C1, but I did hear the others up to track 43 (volume very low - -45 on a Pioneer 1020).
44 and up I could not hear (I'm old plus with some hearing damage from my younger days (stupidity) - not sure if higher volumes would have helped but I know at the upper freq's my hearing is gone.)

Anyway, even on this C1, although tones in that range were heard, I never 'felt' any vibration/movement of the midrange driver on the C1 (fingertips very lightly placed on the driver and center cap) at least at the volume I used - so I suspect his new C1 is probably OK.

thanks again for the info. I was a little frustrated at him for being too lazy to register/post this himself but now glad I did, as this CD will be useful for me in the future too.

Glad it helped. I've found I use that disc a lot, too.

You can play it at a normal volume or a little under, IMO. The thing to avoid is turning it way up to try to hear the high frequencies.

FWIW, not what you asked about and maybe you know this, but the consensus on dented tweeters seems to be that if it's not too bad, it doesn't have a noticeable effect on the sound. It does of course affect the resale value in a big way. But it's often not worth fixing giving the cost of replacing the tweeter.

Has anyone heard news of an update/replacement for the OMD line? Someone mentioned word at CES of a new model slated for release this year. CEDIA would seem to be a good time for an intro, but Vanns' summer sale will be over before that time. I'd hate to pull the trigger on some 15's or 28's only to have a better model be released a couple months later.

No matter what new model Mirage releases in a couple months, you're not going to get if for $399 like the OMD-15. The next speaker might be better but you'll most likely end up paying full price which will be over $1K each.

quick question for those willing to help out a noob. My speakers arrive wednesday and Im curious which way I should place the OMD-5 surrounds. Should I mount them high on the wall and upside down, ear height on the wall or stands closer to the couch? The couch is 7ft from the back wall. As always I am grateful for any and all responses. Thanks.