Do speaker wires matter


I recently was given a pair of Mirage M1 speakers. All highs, mids and lows work but I don’t believe they sound like they should.

The tweeters are not giving the detailed highs. I am not sure if the mids and lows are where they should be.

i am currently using a vintage 2226b Marantz I just had restored. Impedance is 8 ohms and it only puts out 26 wpc. I know these speakers require A much more powerful amp. I’ve done a little research on this.

im wondering if the speakers could not sound as good because of the Marantz and/or also because of the speaker wires I’m currently using. I don’t know what gauge they are. They were given to me as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

i did also find a Mirage technician in Canada who still repairs them if I’ll have to take that route. No turning back now 😊
em2music
I would bet more on buying a decent amp and decent speakers.  I am sure speaker wire can make a slight difference, but how much do you spend is another question.  I would think speaker wire under $1,000 would be sufficient.
If you had said the wires were 30 feet long, I’d say, look for wire with relatively low inductance. (High inductance will cause a rolloff of high frequencies and may interact with the speaker and/or amp.) It’s doesn’t have to be expensive -- the Belden wires sold by Blue Jeans Cable measure well in that regard (and others).
Like in a good recipe everything matters....

But some ingredients are so much important than the rest is way less important and you can live without them temporarily or for a great period of time...

Like someone ( Erik_Squires) who know something about speakers just said a couple of posts behind mine : the room acoustic is very important way more than cables... Cables matters but can wait if you have already some good one...

I will mention also that in my experience the other 2 embeddings are more impactful than even the choice of cable... Mechanical controls of vibration and the noise floor of the house and not only of the audio system...

Then dont bother with cable now, choose a not too costly good one, and think about these 3 embeddings or at least about the room acoustic...

No speakers can beat the room were they live, NONE.....


Merry Christmas
I had M-1’s for years. Love the soundstage. I used to watch Henry Kloss upside down double stack them with 8 amps. They need appropriate power, mucho. I used a Sim W-5, 185 watts into 8 ohms, double that into 4, was barely enough because the M-1’s really didn’t come alive until pushed =loud. If that’s your bag then you need the power. As myself and others with experience have already iterated, friendly speakers that are efficient is the name of the game for many now a days.   However, being that you have a pair, after all, they were a product of Canadien research, enjoy the education and pick up a quality used powerhouse amp. Give Paul Egan of Syzygy Subwoofers a call. He was intimately involved with Mirage. Most of all, enjoy the ride.