2. amps-preamps
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Downgrading... Is it possible??? Suggestions

I am currently running what I consider to be a really nice setup. I like the sound a lot and don't really have an itch to change a thing. That said, my system pretty much has overtaken our living room and while it looks pretty cool to an audiophile, it is rather unsightly to most others. I have 2 racks and am using a total of 9 rack spaces.

My wife is very cool about this, but really we have rather small house and I feel like a jerk hogging up the whole living room like this. I originally had a dedicated built room for my gear but I found I liked having my music where I am all the time and not having to go out all by myself and play music in closed quarters.

Check out my system and give me suggestions. I don't want to change my sources but am open to speakers (maybe going to a standmount?) and the preamp and amps to an integrated. I don't spend most of my listening in the sweet spot and value a good lively dynamic sound. I listen to all music types.
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Showing 1 response by johnnyb53

johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
07-12-08: Shadorne
You have such awesome gear it will be very tough to downgrade, IMHO. If you don't spend time in the sweetspot then something with wide dispersion or omnidirectional is in order - hard to say without any pics of your setup.
I agree. I have a dedicated "big rig" home theater system and a rather modest 2-channel living room system, but it's the living room system I have going most of the time.

It's a big listening area because of the cathedral ceiling and the open architecture that extends into the foyer, up the hall and over to the dining area.

I have omnis and love what they do for this type of arrangement. For the last 3 years I've been using little football-sized Mirage Omnisats with a subwoofer. They do an excellent job of filling the space because of their omnidirectionality. Still, I wanted something that would scale up a bit more for big band, opera, and large orchestra, so Monday I'm to receive a pair of Mirage OMD-15 floorstanding columns to replace the sat/sub arrangement. The OMD-15s are very unobtrusive at 40" high, 8" wide and 12" deep and are available in piano black or rosewood. They are biampable/biwirable, have 91 dB efficiency, and can handle 250 watts. This translates into quite a dynamic range.

If the OMD-15s are too downscale for you, Mirage's flagship model, the OMD-28, would probably do. These got a rave review in Abso!ute Sound, and have become the reference speakers for one of their reviewers. They're a little bigger than the OMD-15s, but are still relatively modest at 46.5" tall and an 11x13 footprint. They can handle 300 watts and go down to 25 Hz w/o a sub. They would absolutely fill the living space with very tonally balanced sound. By this I mean that Mirages with the Omniguide have a very natural, balanced sound, but are by no means compressed or indistinct. The dynamics and transparency improve with more power and better wires feeding them, but regardless they energize the listening space like live voices and instruments would. There is no suckout non-uniform dispersion or venitian blind effect with these speakers.

You can also eliminate a rack space or two by going to one of the new breed of high end, high-powered integrated amps from Bryston, Musical Fidelity, Classe, PS Audio, Krell, VTL, etc.
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