Mirage Speakers - Page 158

Get the OMD-5s

+1 on the OMD5s. They do sound different and better than the OS series. Since you'll have a sub, the FS doesn't give you any advantage. And the OMD5s have plenty of power handling ability.

Hi Seadaddy:
Though all active (powered) equipment (amplifier, line-level source, processor, powered speaker such as sub-woofer with built-in amp, etc) has - or should have - fuses, passive loudspeakers generally do not have fuses.

According to most manufacturers and pro-sound sources, fuses aren't appropriate for loudspeakers. For example:

....fuses can add distortion as their impedance changes with heating, and are not the best match to model long term heating, or short term over excursion. http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geeks...rotection.html

....a fuse may blow with a signal that would not damage the speaker, but it can also pass a signal that can damage the speaker. http://www.jblpro.com/pages/general_faq.htm

Several manufacturers have used protection techniques such as light-bulbs which avoid some issues that fuses would create. Nonetheless, bulbs are not without their own foilables...for a detailed description see the New Zealaander's comments: http://www.churchsoundcheck.com/faq4.html

There's lots of other enlightening info about all this on the internet. For example, a higher-powered amplifier with undistorted un-clipped power is much preferred to a lower power amp which, when it distorts, can send nasty ugly clipped signals to the drivers and burn out the voice coils. An axiom is that speakers are more likely to be damaged by not having enough power than by having too much power. Without having sophisticated active processing such as a limiting curcuit, matching amplifier power to speaker efficiency, room size and acoustics, and listening-level requirements is the preferred method of loudspeaker protection.

Cheers

I don't think Seadaddy was asking why the subwoofer amp has a fuse but rather why it uses a slow blow instead fast blow fuse. My guess would also be for peak power handling in short spurts so that you're not blowing fuses every time the amp gets stressed for a bit.

oops...my bad for not paying attention that the model to which Seadaddy was referring was a powered sub-woofer. you can disregard my "treatise."

Yesterday I received my 5.0 Mirage set (4 X OMD5 & 1 X OMDC1). I am still braking them in but loving the sound.

However, checking the speakers I discovered that the midrange driver under the omni-directional tweeter does not seem to be doing much. In other words, unlike every other driver, when I touch the baffle it does not vibrate while playing loud music. Curiously, on the other hand, my receiver's Audessey frequency response graph does not show any dips at any frequencies.



Is this normal? Is it a passive radiator? Any other known procedure to check the mid-range driver? Could it be that the midrange frequencies are higher and therefore imperceptible to touch? Any feedback before calling the vendor/manufacturer would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: After some additional searching I discovered that other people have observed similar behavior (e.g., Xlr8yourMac).

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I did not see it.

From my research, the OMD-5 speakers seem to be better sounding and more popular than the OS3-Sat speakers. If that's the case, why do the OS3's cost more?

That's because Mirage has discontinued the OMD line while the OS line is still actively sold. I have the OMD-5's you speak of as well as the Omnisat V2 (pretty much the same as the OS3's but in an aluminum enclosure) and the OMD's do sound better to me, but it's not as such a drastic difference as I would like to think. With the way the OMDs are currently priced, it's hard to recommend the OS series over this.

I see. That must be why Mirage stills shows the OMD's on their website, but they don't display the MSRP for them. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks guys! I pulled the trigger...they should be here in a week

Is there a certain brand of receiver that is prefered to use with Mirage like Marantz is with Klipsch?

I noticed the same thing with my OMD-C1. After checking the cross over points, the OMD-C1s smaller midrange speaker operates within a very limited high frequency range. The range appears to be too high to cause any significant movement. I discover that it does produce sound by carefully covering the tweeter and other midrandges. If anyone else has anymore info, please chime in.

Guld, see this discussion of this same issue and the suggestion of doing a frequency sweep

Discussion in this thread

Another discussion in this thread

Mirage says:

Crossover Point 1 kHz and 2.7 kHz

- that is, the woofers cover up to 1 khz, the tweeter covers above 2.7 khz. (Not a hard cutoff - it's phased in.) So if you hear sound coming out between those two points, then the midrage driver is working.

Playing test tones is a lot easier IMO than guessing which speaker the sound is coming out of, trying to cover one up, wondering if it's moving as much as it should, etc.

There are lots of sources for free test tones if you google.

Thanks fellas! Using pink noise and test tones, I tried the pick-a-boo experiment (covering the other drivers) and my findings were consistent with those reported here. I'm glad it's working since I've become very much attached to my new center channel. For what I paid for these speakers, they are a steal -- and their imaging compliment my awkward room acoustics to boot.

Thanks again for the replies.

How do you know the OMDs are more popular? They've only been sold through one online dealer for the past two years, whereas the rest of the Mirage line is available in popular retail stores and on mainstream shopping sites. The new smaller Mirage line are heavily pushed by Crutchfield as a Bose alternative for example and apparently that's how Klipsch/Mirage like it now.

We in this thread do not represent the sales figures for Mirage, we only represent those who know where this forum is and that Vann's are selling an old but good speaker for a stupidly cheap price.

i have an older set of mirage speakers...just wondering if they are worth anything...
the floorstanders are omni 260's and the center is an omni cc...can't remember the surround speaker model numbers right now...

Yes, they probably are. The Omni series was the lower end of Mirage's full size lineup, the higher end was the OM (now OMD line). I believe that there was a newer version (can't remember the name) of your line, before the klipsch buyout, and before Mirage only started making small cute speakers (not including the stuff sold through Vanns).

They are definitely worth something. Are they made in Canada? If so, it's one of the last line's they manuctured before everything was moved to China. I also believe that these were the first full-size speakers to use the Omniguide. Do a search for the Omni 60 and you'll see a few years back they were getting rave reviews on here. I believe teh 260s were the floorstanders. Surrounds were probably Omni-FX. You can try throwing them on the marketplace here, audiogon, or eBay. Selling the floorstanders might be harder due to shipping. They are some very nice sounding speakers though.

yes the surrounds are fx (i just checked) and they were manufactured in canada.

Anyone have a V2 Center or OS3 Center laying around they want to sell?

Just rigged up my new basement 5.1 set-up this weekend. I bought the Mirage MX 5.1 bundle from Vann's. My initial reaction is very good!

Due to space (& wife) issues, I used Mirage Omnican OC-45 in-ceiling speakers for the rears.

If anyone is interested in a coupe of new MX speakers, shoot me a PM before they hit ebay.

well, all i have to say is WTF. the blue led on yet ANOTHER prestige s10 i've owned has died. i can't believe i'm the only one having this problem. the sub is plugged into a decent tripp lite surge protector/line conditioner so i don't think the lamp is shorting out. the sub still works, but it sure is an annoying problem. i'm sure vann's will take it back again, but i'm getting tired of paying for shipping back to them which is not cheap. very disappointed in the build quality of mirage since they moved to china.

Hello all,

I have in my posession 2 sets of OMD-5s intended for surround and front effect duty. However, I had ordered the wrong mounting brackets with only 1/4" threaded stems which is too small for the OMD's threaded insert which appears to be 3/8"?. Are there reducers I can get which will allows for the use of sthe smaller mounting bracket to the larger threaded inserts on the speakers? I tried and ordered 2 sets of these reducers thinking they are what I needed but turns out to be the wrong size though it does say 3/8" to 1/4" reducer. These suckers are HUGE so don't understand why it uses the the above size description:

http://www.airridefittings.com/store...&products_id=2

Anyone who has experience or can help would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Kenobi

I am running OS3 Sats as my surrounds in 5.2 setup, would upgrade to OMD 5's be a worthwhile upgrade? Would it be worth the money?

Yes, I have a setup with dual s10s and I've experienced a similar issue with the LED on one of the units. If I power up with the power mode switch (""off" to "on") the LED will not light or if the unit is on auto the LED will turn off and not light up again when there is a signal. However, if I have the power mode set to "on" and unplug the unit and plug it back the LED lights and stays lit. Of course, I have to keep the unit powered on all the time in order to have the light. Not energy efficient.

I know exactly how you feel. The speaker works fine, but it's always nice when you pay good money to have the LED as well. For aesthetic reasons, I just keep the unit powered on all the time. Maybe this trick will work for you.

I think your reducer is a pipe fitting. Those are measured differently. This is what it appears to me.

hey carny, i appreciate your sympathy and tip!

unfortunately, the LED on my unit is completely dead. it doesn't light up no matter what i do. haven't decided if i'm just going to live with it or waste money on yet another replacement. if i was smart i'd go out and get a hsu or something, but for no good reason, i want the sub and speaker manufacturer to match. maybe i'll swap it out for an mm-8, i don't think that has an LED. :P too bad it doesn't go as deep as the s10.

Yes, at the time that I bought I was operating under the belief that sub should be the same brand as the fronts and surrounds. Now, I would probably take a different route. Still, I do like the aesthetics of having speakers with matching finishes. Looks good. I'm fairly pleased with the performance of these subs as well.

Bluvette,

Thanks for your input. You're probably right as even Home Depot had the exact size as my example above.

I am just wondering what others do to retrofit the 1/4" mounting brackets to the larger inserts on these speakers. Maybe I'll just have to be creative and mount the speakers first onto a piece of metal or wooden plate, drill 1/4" holes to then mount the brackets.

Best regards,

Kenobi

Check Lowes. In the hardware section they have a display that has dozens of drawers with all different kinds of hardware. Good possibility you'll find what you need there. It's a 3/8 x 1/4 machine thread reducer.

Thanks much Jack. Will try Lowes and hope for the best!

Best regards,

Kenobi