Mirage Omni 350 omnipolar

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.

yeah, i'd have to agree about the lack of detail in the 550s. particularly the midrange, which is sort of what differentiates the high end from all the rest. i don't know what to do because my tektons just can't handle this large room 12 foot celings, at least 20 feet long, almost 15 feet wide, otherwise the tektons are the real deal. decisions decisions....

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.

Maybe these will improve with more break in? Also any simple tweaks that might help? Brace cabinet, more sound absorbering in speaker walls, points, etc?

07-22-09: Kkm
Maybe these will improve with more break in? Also any simple tweaks that might help? ...

I'm sure they need more break-in. They need 50-100 just to get some idea of what they do, and mine continued to reveal higher and higher levels of resolution for quite a number of hours, certainly more than 200.

Also, bear in mind that every speaker has its own presentation. In one design you'll hear more tambourine, another, pedal steel, etc. The Vandersteens are phase-coherent designs, so the perspective and arrangement of the mix is its strong suit *as long as you are in the sweet spot.* The Mirages' strong suits are uniform in-room power response and a natural, relaxed feel to the tonal balance and the timbres.

I have the OMD-15s, which are about the same size and shape as the 550's, but there must be some reasons they are three times the original list price of the 550s. They are definitely not wanting in midrange clarity or low-level detail, but I'm not sure how much of those virtues hold up when you go down the line. The Omnisats maintain those strengths as well.

The Omniguide assembly is nearly an omnidirectional point source. The closer you get its perspective to a point source where you're listening, the more coherent the waves will be when they reach your ears. The speakers improve when spiked, and should pierce the carpet and engage the floor below. Also, if you jack up the rear spikes and lower the fronts as much as possible to get a slight forward tilt, you'll also get more phase coherence. Generally you'll get a smoother soundstage if you face the speakers forward, and you'll also get a better soundfield if you bring the speakers out into the room (at least 3' if possible), and spread them a bit wider than you're accustomed. You'll then discover the larger soundstage while the center stage remains with no "hole in the middle."

Since the 550's intentionally bring the room into play, you can also dramatically shape the sound with wall treatments. My OMD-15s sit in front of tall, narrow windows, and I can control the brightness of the presentation by opening or curtains and raising or lowering the pleated shades.