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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
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.
twb2
129 posts
 
I've owned Mirage M-1's since 1989, although they have been replaced by even BIGGER speakers, Sound Lab Majestic 945's (9' tall!) Mirage, like all plannars which they mimic, need to be out in the room with space behind them to really be at their best. I now have these set up in my shop (2,000 sq.ft) and they still please, but they will soon be offered for sale here on Audiogon.
twb2
129 posts
 
An Adcom 545 amp does a nice job of driving my M-1's.
markus77 OP
3 posts
 
Yeah after doing some more research I think my budget is a little unrealistic considering what I want out of a system. My current onkyo receiver doesn't have an output for an external amp which is a problem. So I'm thinking this will need to be updated first. I was looking at the pioneer elite sc-68. This seems to offer quite a bit in terms of both audio and video capability and Itunes which I often use. I could combine this with an emotiva 5 channel amp to power the Mirage speakers. What do you guys think of this setup? Again I'm a novice so I welcome your expertise. Would I be better forgetting about the pioneer and just go with a preamp to go with the emotiva amp?
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