Mirage speaker setup?


Hello,

I'm new to Audiogon and am very pleased to have found such a great resource! I'm hoping to get some advice/suggestions on a purchase I am considering. We are moving from a smaller home to a larger one where I will have enough space to invest in an upgraded sound system. Currently, we listen to most of our music from a pair of small bookshelf NHT speakers. For movies, we have an Onkyo home theatre in a box setup with the receiver being a tx-sr606. Anyway, I work with a colleague who is moving and wants to sell his Mirage speakers: a pair of M5si's, M7si's and an MCsi center channel. I've listened to his setup and thought it sounded great, but I am a novice in terms of audio equipment. I understand that these speakers are from the early nineties and quite old, but are of good quality. My questions are: Would this be a good purchase for listening to 70%music and 30% movies? Would my receiver (onkyo tx-606) be able to handle these? Are there other factors I should consider? Finally, what would be a fair price for these speakers being in good condition but older? I really appreciate any advice/suggestions on this, so thanks in advance for any replies:)
markus77
I've have had M3si's, an MCsi, and OM10's for surrounds, as well as the Mirage wall mounted bipoles (can't remember the names just now) for a decade. I loved every minute of music and movies through the Mirages. Especially, 2-channel listening via the M3si's. There were literally only two drawbacks: They are monolith-sized speakers, and because they are wide (rather than narrow and deep) they "feel" even larger. I know the M5's are smaller, but as I recall they're still fairly imposing. Secondly, in order to sound their best (holographic, deep soundstage, balanced, etc.) I always found my M3's needed to be about a yard out from the rear wall (ie., the wall where your display would be) and at minimum, a couple of feet from any (hopefully symetrical) sidewalls. If your listening room can accomodate those constraints, you may be as thrilled as I was with my setup for many years.
Thanks so much for your response! I think I will have some flexibility in where I have the speakers in the room, so hopefully I can have them away from the walls - maybe not a yard though, I'll have to see. Do you have any recommendations in terms of an amplifier or receiver for these speakers?
I've owned M5si, amd M7si speakers. They`are great sounding speakers for the money. I sold a mint used pair of M7si for just $180 via Craigslist. Not many folks want such large speakers. Not sure how much power the Onkyo has but these older M series Mirage speakers are power hungry at around 85db efficiency.
They sound best with high powered solid state amps, or high power tube amps which typically cost alot of money