Mirage Omni 50-Black Omnipolar, Two-Way, Bookshelf Speakers, Black Finish
From Mirage
This magnetically shielded 2-way bookshelf model utilizing OmniGuide technology consists of a 1" Pure Titanium Hybrid tweeter, common throughout the line, and a 5 1/2" polypropylene titanium deposit hybrid woofer. The OMNIGUIDE module, found in all OMNI Series speakers creates 360-degree sound directed in a spherical pattern producing real, lifelike sound to more areas of a room than traditional front radiating loudspeakers. A wide dispersion 5-1/2" woofer and 1" PTH-pure titanium hybrid tweeter is directed in a spherical pattern by the Mirage OMNIGUIDE module on a sloped platform at the top of the speaker.The OMNI 50 features traditional looking cabinet design, with 2 speaker grills. One grill hides an angled platform at the top of the loudspeaker housing the OMNIGUIDE module and all working drivers, while the other grill hides the port area. The OMNI 50 uses 5/8" MDF for cabinet construction as well as high quality 5-way mounting terminals to add to the quality of the speaker.The 8 ohm nominal impedance (4 ohm minimum) and frequency response from 55Hz,20kHz +/- 3dB ensures that the OMNI 50 has more than adequate low frequency performance. The OMNI 50 is perfectly designed to blend with any of the Mirage OM or LF series subwoofers in case a subwoofer is preferred and the optional OMNI Series stands can be used to raise speaker height when used as main speakers. Maximum power handling is rated at 100 Watts.
Spacious sound for a enveloping experience
The Mirage Omni-50 is the bottom model of Mirage's Omni speakers. It is a small bookshelf model and as such is a perfect as a satellite speaker in a surround sound application. Being a near full range speaker, this speaker makes for a better choice for music listening than those smaller satellites offered in those 5.1 complete speaker kits.
The advantage of this speaker is its Omni-polar design, which fires sound upwards and deflects the treble and midrange into saucer shaped Omniguides(tm), which causes sound to radiate in a near 360 pattern. As such, when you listen to this speaker, the spacing of sound is wide and diffuse, and you get more of the impression that sound is coming from everywhere. Since the speaker deflects 70% of the sound outwards in this pattern, the sound bounces of the nearby walls, and much more of the sound you hear is reflected sound, but also makes placement of the speaker more picky as you have to take into account the surroundings more. So don't expect this speaker to sound its best when placed away from walls as it does rely of some boundaries nearby to get the full effect.
So how does it sound? Surprisingly good actually. The bass is limited to down about 55-60 Hz, so you really need to augment this with a subwoofer such as Mirage's own Omni S8 or S10 to match, but on a whole, this speaker is a lot more punchy and "warm" sounding than Mirage's own Omnisat speakrs which cost a lot more. It's a well controlled bass, there isn't that boxy effect you get with other bookshelf speakers I've heard in this price range. The treble and mirage isn't as prominent as other direct firing bookshelf speakers, overall tone of the speakers is not overly bright, maybe a slight bit more polite than a neutral reference. This makes for a smooth non-fatiguing sound that makes it very easy to listen to for long periods of time. This is in my own fairly small room with lots of hard surfaces (walls) around them about 12 inches away. I liked the amount of detail the Mirage conveyed, it's treble is smooth with a good control of sibilance even on bad recordings. It's a pleasant sound.
So, all in all, I recommend this speaker. It makes for a fabulous set of speakers in surround applications where you don't want to be able to pinpoint the speaker's location and it really does give the word "surround" a new meaning.
Huge soundstage - excellent value
These speakers are probably unlike most speakers you've ever listened to, and I think many people either love them or hate them. I down-sized my system to get rid of some big towers that my wife never liked (adding a plasma TV made the speakers seem even bigger), and I was hoping not to compromise too much on sound quality in the process. The speakers also had to perform the double duty of handling music as well as home theater, and do this in a room that was not acoustically ideal for either. It's basically a large L-shape with a vaulted ceiling.
My old towers were amazing for music and movies, but the sweet spot was about the size of a grapefruit. Lean a few inches to the left or right, and everything just collapsed. These Omnis manage to turn the entire room into a sweet spot. They disappear somehow, to the point where you can't locate their exact positions with your eyes closed. It's great when three people sitting on a sofa can all hear stereo sound equally well, and that was very important to me.
The Omnis give up some imaging accuracy and "in-your-face" mid-range on some vocals, but I got used to them quickly. They are a bit sensitive to listening height (and wall reflections), however, so it took some experimenting to find the right placement. The drivers are on top, so putting them at ear-level can look too low compared to the TV, for example. I guess "unconventional" would be a good description.
These are bookshelf speakers, so they really need a subwoofer for full range sound when used as mains, but they go low enough to fill any hole in the response curve, and they certainly go loud enough for indoor listening. They would likely work well alone in a small space, or as surrounds. I grabbed a pair of Omnisats for surrounds, and an Omnisat center channel for consistent voice matching, and the movie experience is pretty amazing, especially considering the cost and physical size of the entire system.
