Mirage Omni 350 omnipolar

I do. I like them so much that I just bought a pair of Omni 150's.

Texas42, I remember you guys. I emailed you about Digital Phase and talked to Telescope_trade on the phone about them. I never did make it up to Chattanooga to hear them.

I'm SO close to biting on that Omni 550's from Vanns. I've always been interested in the Mirage Omni's but have never heard them. I have way to many unused speakers cluttering up the house, don't need to spend the money, and I love my Vandy 1Bs but...........

Well I bought them. For $299 what the heck. If I don't like them...in attic they go for another day. The Vandy 1B vs Omni 550 shootout will be interesting.

Very generous indeed. But, for some reason I never return anything. I just file it away. (<:

I'm really getting exited about thses speakers. There aren't many reviews on this series of Mirage speakers. I guess their prodution run was brief. I have been reading reviews on the Energy and Athena speakers which use the exact same drivers(I think all three companies are owned by Klipsch) and everyone thinks they are just wonderful. The Onmi 150,350, and 550 us a fiberglass sandwich woofer/mid and an Aluminium tweeter as opposed to the previous version of the 550, the Omni 260, which uses a titanum hybrid. The more expensive OMD-15 also use titanium hybrid. If I like them better than the 1B's that's saying something. I'm really excited to hear this "enveloping sounstage" everyone raves about with the Mirages.

$299 free shipping is a great price. They retail for $800.

I almost bought the Veritas monitors far AA a while back. That was a real good deal. The 1B's are Vandersteen 1B's.

After listening to the great Vandersteen 1B's for the last two hours it will be a miracle if the Mirage Omni 550's beat it out. They arrive on Friday.

Vandies go down to 38 hz. I don't feel like I need a sub with them.

Wow! They just raised the price. It was $299 at noon today. Mine are setup and ready to listen. I haven't heard them yet. I'm going to make an evening of it tomorrow.

Headed to the listening room right now. Mirage Omni 550 vs. Magnepan SMGas(Peter Gunn modded) vs. Vandrsteen 1B. I'll report back soon.

These Omni 550's sound great! It makes me wonder how much better the OMD-15 and 28 can possibly be. The treble is smooth and crystalline but the bass is what really surprised me. These things go LOW and with window rattling punch. They are very even keeled speakers that are well balanced. Oddly, in my room, I don't get the enveloping soundstage talked about. They sound like very open conventional speakers to me. The imaging is great also and from anywhere on the couch. I was worried that they would give a hazy image but it is actually pretty defined.

Hi Telescope_trade,

I believe we talked on the phone about Digital Phase speakers a while back. I never did make it up to Chattanooga to hear them. I'm glad you are enjoying the OMD-28s. They are a beautiful speakers. Vann's can come up with some killer deals can't they!

Harmon Kardon 3490 on Amazon.com for $350 shipped. Very powerful, high current, no frills reciever with remote.

http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-HK-3490-Receiver/dp/B00198F89A/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247907958&sr=8-5

Paul,

You're right about the midrange presence. Your speakers are taylor-made for that. I used to have Bob Brines single driver speakers with the Fostex 167E and it provides a much, much different presentation that the Omnni 550's. I never warmed up to the single driver thing. I tried adding super tweeters, phase plugs, adding resisters and never could get them to my liking. I will say that the bass on the 550s is overloading my room, which is 25x15x8. I need to work on that one.

Pete

The Mirage 550 is back down to $299 a pair on vanns.com if anyone is interested.

Hi Marty,

I few years ago I made these things for sound absorbtion to put behind Magnepans. They are five foot high tubes about a foot wide covered with a thick polyester cloth. I put them in the attic a few years ago for a rainy day. Maybe that rainy day have come! Do you think this would help?

Thanks,

PEte

Well that bites the big one. I thought the vanns.com Omni 150's were sold individually like the 550's so I paid $159 a pair of black ones off of Ebay. That's what happens when you don't read. I could have had the blacks for $119 or the nice cherry ones for $149. DOOOHHHH!

Kkm,

I haven't listened to the Vandies in about six months so that's a toughie. Off hand I would say they are more similar than different. Both have the huge soundstage. As far as tone, coherence, etc. I really need to listen side by side. If I had $2000 to spend on speakers right now I would buy the Vandersteen CE sigs II without a doubt. You can pick up a pair of older ones for four or five hundered on ebay of Agon to give them a try. I bet you will love them. BTW, people say that the 1 series can effecient but I tried my 1B's with a 15wpc 6L6 tube amp and the bass was flapping all over the place. That amp can drive most other speakers fine.

Pete

I listened a lot last night and have some new thoughts. I put on Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay and noticed that I couldn't hear Pete Drake's steel guitar very well. It sounded distant and muted which bothered me. I remembered reading an AVS forum thread where I guy said that he couldn't hear some violins on an REM song with the 550's but had a pair of OMD 15's and could hear them plain as day. I then put the same song on using my Vandersteen 1B's and there the pedal steel was in vivid color. Not good for the 550's. I'm going to move the 550's upstairs to the home theater. I'm having a problem, by not using a center channel and sitting off to the side, of hearing too much out of the left speaker. Maybe the 550's will solve this.

After this discovery I can't recommend the 550's for critical music listening but for home theater they should be great due to the wide sound stage. If they fix the upstairs home theater problem they will be worth it but I really wanted them for critical listening. On a good note the bass boom problem seems to be going away as I play them.

If you want something awesome for little money buy a used pair of Vandersteens. You can't go wrong there.

I have a two channel home theater system upstairs and I moved the 550's up there today. My Lazy-Z-Boy is off the left of the TV about 30 degrees and before today, with conventional speakers, it drove me BANANAS. Every sound that came out of that system sounded like it came out of the left speaker. With no center channel it was a hopeless situation. With the 550's the problem is solved! The sounds seem to come out of the whole TV and just sounds great. For a two channel home theater system these are absolutely wonderful.