Mirage M7si V Def tech BP 20

I agree with Johnny, the M5 si is the best starting point in this line. The m5 si lasted longer than any other speaker in my system, 12 years. They do many things very well and some day I would like to revisit them. Of the M si series only the 5 si and 1 si were true bipolar speakers. The m3 si is a terrific speaker, though. All of them like lots of power and need to be well out into the room to be at there best.

"Mirage's M_si series is great. The M7si is OK but from the M5si on up they're awesome! I've had miy M5si's for almost 19 years now and have no intention of swapping them out."

They also make for good headphones. If you've never tried it, play some music and go over to one of the speakers and stand facing the thin side. Move forward and touch your nose to the cabinet and it will sound like you are wearing headphones.

What Zd542 said!

Mirage's M_si series is great. The M7si is OK but from the M5si on up they're awesome! I've had miy M5si's for almost 19 years now and have no intention of swapping them out. An excellent condition used pair (when you can find them) run $500-700 and are the bargain of the decade: the midrange intimacy of a mini-monitor with the room-filling power and bass extension of a big floorstander. Mine are near linear down to 29 Hz and audible to 26.

I bought mine for half price when Magnolia was dropping the line in 1996 and replacing them with Def Tech. It was a commercial--not sound quality--decision. The sales people I talked to there were sad to see Mirage go because they knew it was a better speaker. At the time Def Tech was launching with a high budget ad campaign and had more buzz and visibility. That doesn't mean they were better.

In fact, Def Tech's bipolar implementation missed the point according to Mirage. Mirage had purposely made the speakers wide and shallow to make them as near omni as possible. When Def Tech went narrow and deep, it separated by front and back drivers by more than a foot, and created a bigger void in the side radiation pattern.

When the Def Tech's first came out, they were meant to compete with the Mirage M series. You may be confusing the Msi series with the origional M series. The origional M's were very laid back and forgiving. They really went a bit too far in that respect. The si upgrade really balanced the speakers out quite a bit. If you could, though, you may be happier with the 3 or the 5's. I would still pick the 7si's over the BP 20's, but if you really want to see what the M series is all about, the 3 and 5 are worth it if you can find some. I think they just came out with the 7's because a lot of people didn't want such a big speaker.