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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
snips98
8 posts
 
Yeah powering those behemoths with 26 watts would be akin to pushing the Titanic with a pair of Evinrudes. I had a pair of M5s and drove it with the Acurus A250-terrific match, and using original monster cable.
knotscott
921 posts
 
Not being familiar with the speakers, and having not read thru all the replies, are there any adjustable pots on the speakers that could possibly be padding down the tweeters?  (apologies if that's been brought up)
ferrox
86 posts
 
I have been changing my speakers cables, from Siltech, JPS Labs, Acoustic Zen, Gotham Audio and I now ended up with the vintage WE cables. It always makes different when we switched the cables. It's all about the taste and the matching of the whole systems.
clwinbe's avatar
clwinbe
39 posts
 
I use a quality 10 gauge speaker on everything in my system. Any additional expense for supposed higher grade wire is a waste of money. It’s a total snake oil business. 
People do not hear cable. It just makes them feel special having it back there. I’ve seen power cables that cost more than my amps. Silly. 
gkr7007's avatar
gkr7007
150 posts
 
Those speakers are pretty nice but you need a heck of a lot more than a vintage integrated with 26 watts to drive them.  They are ridiculously low sensitivity.  And, being a dipole speaker, room treatment and placement becomes even more critical.  I guess it comes down to what you want to hold on to more....the Marantz or the Mirage.  But they are not a match.
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