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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
pdspecl
254 posts
 
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
corazon
210 posts
 
I had a pair of M5's. Not Si's. Kjvail is absolutely correct; those Mirage need room to breath. I had mine about 4' from back and side walls, when i was home alone :0). They sounded excellent. Threw wide soundstage. Never harsh. When they were close to the wall exaggerated bass, not a good stage.

They are large and imposing, an accurate description by Kjvail. That's why I ended up selling them, size and the space they were normally in didn't do them justice.

I used a pair of Adcom 545 v.2 as amplification. The guy who bought them brought over his amp and preamp, B&K, don't recall models, and fell in love.

Sold them for $400 about 4 years ago.

I really enjoyed them, but you got to have space!
kjvail's avatar
kjvail
3 posts
 
I bought the M3si's as well as a Musical Design (John Hillig) pre-amp and amp from a dealer in St. Louis, MO. after many weeks of auditioning. I don't know if the JC-1 tube pre-amp is still available, but the solid-state D150 dual mono amp (or it's replacement) is. I'm sure there are many other fine combinations that would work as well. I also drove the M3's with a variety of pre-amps and processors, including Lexicon's CP1, and Arcam FMJ, but the constant was Musical Design amplification (which I still use).
markus77 OP
3 posts
 
Thanks for all your help and advice guys! I really appreciate it. I think I've got my research cut out for me in terms of amps and pre-amps. I'm really just getting started in this hobby and the choices are overwhelming. Do you guys have any recommendations for an amp that would be budget conscious? Maybe something used of good quality that could be had in the $500-$600 range?
pdspecl
254 posts
 
Emotiva makes some nice gear for the money. Factory direct pricing. However, you'd still need a 5 channel amp, and a preamp/surround processor. That will certainly go over your budget.
I see a NAD T748 surround receiver as a refurb for sale here on Agon from Spearit sound. Has 80 watts per channel. NAD tend to rate their gear conservatively. I had an older 7155 receiver that drove my Mirages remarkably well at 55 watts per channel. Thinking this will offer good sound quality and should have enough power to get you by.
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