What receiver for my Mirage OMD 15's ?


Hi folks,new to this forum so Ill jump right into the topic at hand for me. I just picked up a pair of mirage omd15 speakers and am running them on a low end H/K AVR700. They sound ok but are lacking in fullness of sound, especially in terms of bass. I blame this mostly on the receiver and the smaller gauge speaker wires. The speakers seem to be yearning for more juice and better balance from top to bottom. My intended use for these speakers are to be in a 2 channel format with 50/50 split in duty for music and movies. Can anyone give some recommendations on some solid receivers that would be in the $500 range or less? I'm not planning on building a full 5.1 or 7.1 HT system off these but might add a center channel speaker sometime in the future. I prefer to keep my setups simple but stout if that makes sense. Also should I consider running a sub with these speakers or get the reciever test the components out and then decide on the sub?
hunter2678
Thanks for the good info Johnny. I picked them up new on woot last week for $399 each, snagged the rosewood versions as they were sexy looking. Wish they were made in Canada though. I guess I'm running into a conundrum right now because I want a solid 2 channel setup with the right receiver to run music AND blue ray movies. Probably sounds stupid but I don't obsess about surround like a lot of people do nowadays, I just prefer a good picture more than anything when watching movies. I was looking at the Yamaha RS700 receiver just a minute ago but it has no video inputs so that's sort of out along with the receiver from Outlaw Audio RR2150.I took them over to my brothers house last night to test them out on his Denon and they sounded much better esp the bass. However his is a 5.1 system so they still sounded like they were at about 80%. They do have the spikes so Ill make sure to bust them through the chitty carpet that came with the house..
I anchored my 2-channel system with a pair of OMD-15s for over 5 years. Excellent all-around speakers with lifelike transparency, room-filling sound, and good realistic tonal balance. Where did you get your pair? They don't seem to show up used very often and I wonder if you got mine after I consigned them.

The OMD-15s were originally priced at $2500, so yes, they really shine with good cables and a strong, high-current amplifier.

I recommend you expand your search beyond a receiver to an integrated amplifier. Integrated amp designs tend to be simpler with more of the design concentrated on dynamics, low noise, and sound quality vs. number of features typical of receivers. Integrated amps often have larger power supplies which translate into better dynamics and bass. You can still find a good amp at your budget, though you may want to expand your search to used items.

Check out offerings from NAD, Cambridge Audio, Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, and Marantz.

WIth its small woofers and compact cabinet, the OMD-15s aren't bass monsters, but they can put out pretty good bass in the right setting. My listening room is on a suspended floor, so I never got much bass below 50Hz at home. When sitting on a concrete floor at an audio shop, however, they put out very solid bass down to 40 Hz. If you have the spikes that came with the speakers, seat them solidly in the base, adjust height so there's no wobble, and try to get the spikes to punch through the carpet to sit solidly on the floor beneath.

Eventually I did get a pair of small subs to fill things out between 40 and 50 Hz, but as I said, if you have the right setting, the OMD-15s can make excellent bass down to 40 Hz on their own.