Imaging, large scale presentation, beautifully balanced with the right room setup, full range bass, never over bright.

Placement and room!

Another review a few years on from my first one. I STILL have these speakers which is incredible as I've changed everything else in my system many times. I've run these with Krell, Sony, Marantz and all sorts of other amps and CD players. One of the finest speakers bar none. Placement is critical! Spend all of your time moving these around or they'll boom. I use 140 watt Audio Research monoblocks now which the speakers love. Power is key but so is quality. The soundstage will open up as you give these better partnering electronics. They do not pin-point the sound so if you're looking for a WATT/Puppy 7 style presentation these may not be for you. However the Mirages do throw a much bigger image than even this sort of high end. Most speakers will sound really small after these. I was amazed at how much was missing after running JM Labs (floorstanders) and the classic Acoustic Energy AE2's. Certainly these are great but the image is too small. The main problem with the Mirages is getting them balanced correctly, with drivers pointing both ways, whatever is behind them will have a large effect on the sound. I will be considering a TACT room correction device in the future. Still difficult to get hold of in the UK, if you can DO IT!!!

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Lots of high end kit.

Strong rich imaging. Close your eyesand believe you are front and center.

Size depending on you space

This is truly anamazing set of refrence speakers. Not yet to be duplicated. In my opinion Mirage went way down hillwhentheygot bought and though some of the names are the same the speakers are not. Who invented Bi Polar? MIRAGE...THis has yet to be duplicated in the midrange price point of the M1si.

Similar Products Used:

BW 801, Theil 5543, Infinity Kappa, Magnaplaner T1D

Huge, wide, deep soundstage. Full bodied presentation with great bass.

Speakers are very large and takes up a lot of space. And at a massive 185lbs are very difficult to transport.

For an audio enthusiasts on a budget. The Mirage M1 speakers were a bargain of a life time. They have a massive deep and wide soundstage. With superb low end bass and liquid midrange. The bipolar design lends superbly to Hometheater application with a very enveloping presentaion. The sound is not bright or fatiquing. The soundstage presentation tends to be more holographic than pin point and precise like a smaller monitor speakers. Associated equipment used in the audio system with the Mirage M1 speakers. The EAD Theatermaster Signature Preamp/processor, EAD Powermaster 2000 power amp, Sony Scd-777es Sacd player used as a transport. Harmonic Technology cables throughout and PS Audio 300 powerplant. The Mirage M1''s are a massive 185lbs beast each and for best results should be used with powerful solid amplifiers.

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Mourdant Short Performance 860''s, B&W Nautilus 802, Dunlavy SC-IV and numerous others.

highly detailed mid and top end, superb depth and impact when properly set up

As an audiophile on a budget, I've been forced to compromise over the years...looking for good used gear cheap.When the M-1si's became available I figured this would be a signifigant step in the right direction.Fortunately I was not wrong.
After dealing with getting them home(185 lbs. X2)and rearranging one end of the room to accomodate them, I bi- amped them with a Counterpoint SA12 on the mids and highs,coupled with a Soundcraftman PCR-800 on the low end.
At the 6 ohm load this was approx 250wpc-low, 160wpc-high.
Very impressive, but one side occiasionally sounded distorted on certain sustained tones like a fender Rhodes or a pipe organ.The speakers had instantly made this apparent.
Replacing the top end amp corrected the problem which I hope is just a preamp tube in the SA-12.
I only had 1 amp to replace it with, an Audio Innovations Series 200. All tube, pure classA,and a grand total of 12 watts per side.I laughed in the face of danger and hooked it up.I was in a state of bliss until the mains transformer went about 10 hrs later.
To make a long story longer another PCR-800 was acquired for the mids and highs.At approx 200US used these amps are giant killers.See seperate review.
The sound was huge and detailed with a superb sense of depth.The bass was overloading the room somewhat.They weren't spiked and the room bieng small is not the ideal space for them.That said... they rocked.I haven't heard 25-35hz accurately reproduced before...wow.I was hearing reverb trails I had not heard before. A great sense of space.
But I still missed the sweet mids and highs that the tube amp provided so the transformer was replaced with a beefed up one form Border Patrol in Britain.New EL-84's were installed and I took the plunge again.
Fifteen hrs. and no problems later I'm here to tell ya...
TUBES RULE! It's just more natural and compelling.More emotional...something those cold transistors aren't aware of...
I'm sorry if the review got a little off track.The speakers are superb. One of the greatest BI-polar designs ever.

VERY DETAILED SMOOTH SOUND. IT DRAWS YOU INTO THE MUSIC, AND THE BUILD QUALITY IS GEORGOUS. I ALMOST FORGOT THE BOTTOM END IS SO DEEP AND CONTROLED, NO NEED FOR A SUB WITH THESE SPEAKERS!

NONE I CAN THINK OF OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS.

I HAVE OWNED MARTIN LOGAN PRIMARILY, AND HAVE ENJOYED THEIR TRANSPARENCY, BUT WHEN I HEARD MY FRIENDS M-1's I WAS AMAZED BY THE COHERENCY, AND THAT THEY SOUNDED SO MUSICAL. I DID NOT BELIEVE YOU NEEDED ALL THAT BASS, BEING A MARTIN LOGAN FAN, THEY COULD NEVER REACH THE BOTTOM THE WAY THE M-1si CAN! UNLESS YOU ADDED A SUB, BUT IT WOULD NEVER BLEND AS SEEMLESSLY AS THE MIRAGE DOES. THEY DO REQUIRE A BIT OF ROOM TO FULLY REALIZE THEIR SHEER LIFELIKE SOUNDSTAGE. IT TOOK MYSELF AND ANOTHER STRONG FRIEND TO MOVE AND POSITION THESE ENORMOUS BLACK BEAUTIES. I HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN TO SOME FINE LOUDSPEAKERS, AND IN MY OPINION, UNLESS YOU HAVE UNLIMITED FUNDS, FOR THE DOLLAR, YOU CANNOT PURCHASE A MORE "COMPLETE" SPEAKER! IT HAS EXTENDED, DETAILED HIGHS. ACCURATE, LIFELIKE, WARM, RICH, SHALL I GO ON?!, MIDS. AND THOSE ULTRA DEEP LOWS, NOT BOOMY,FLABBY, BUT IN THE RIGHT SET-UP, AS TIGHT AND CONTROLLED AS ANY SUB, I'VE HEARD SO FAR. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, IF YOU CAN FIND A SET FOR WHAT I PAID, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!

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MARTIN LOGAN SEQUALII, RE-QUEST, THEIL CS-7, CS-5i, B&W 801 MATRIX MKII, KEF REFERANCE 3MKII(AWESOME SPEAKER!)

Smooth as glass highs and a solid midrange. These speakers have as much bass punch as my M&K MX145 subwoofer! I have had them for about a year and would highly recommend them to anyone not turned off by their 5' 0" height and 185 lbs. (each!) weight. These are big speakers and can do every trick in the book. I am currently in the market for a smaller pair of speakers and have not found their equal at anything near the price. Maybe some Dynaudios or ATCs.

Everything.....

Fussy speaker placement.

I bought the M1's for 1500 pounds in the Uk after getting a discount. The wife of the guy who bought them said he wasn't allowed them because they were too big. So I got them cheap 'cos they were too big to keep in his hifi shop.

I'll start by saying that out off all of the speakers I've ever heard only a few get anywhere near this. Wilson Bench 'The Bishop' being one of them (they're also 20000 pounds).

The soundstage is huge, a vast spread of sound. No sub required as they go cleanly as low as you'll need. The integration is also far better than most speaker + sub setups... and really if you want to do it properly you need 2 subs.

You'd really have to hear these for yourself to gauge what you're missing. Close you eyes and the singer is there with you, a guitar being plucked behind him and an orcestra filling the room with warm strings. Absolutly stunning!

Placement however is very very important, getting these at least 3 to 4 metres apart is a minimum. 1 metre away from a back wall minimum and a concrete floor helps too.

As far as partnering electronics goes, I found these will really shine with decent cabling, Vdh The First is a great one to use. Your amp will need a fair bit of power 100 Watts as a starting place.

I prefer a warm sound so setting up something like a Meridian Cd player would be prefered. You don't necessarily need expensive equipment though, these will perform very well with basic Cambridge Audio stuff etc... just make sure you get the cables right. Mine benefited from an Einstein mains filter too.

If you can find them, buy them, along with some of the my favourites, high end Maggies, B&W's top stuff and The Bishops, these rank among the best I have ever heard. BUY THEM!

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Heard many similar priced high end systems.

Extremely detailed highs & very realistic midrange. Bipolar design creates large soundstage from almost anywhere in room.

Probably needs biamping to really drive the bass.

I traded Infinity Beta's for these speakers because I thought the highs and midrange was more realistic. I also moved and didn't have a room large enough for the Beta's.

I'm driving them with VTL-300 monoblocks with the signature transformers. The speakers are for all practical purpose transparent with this setup. The bass could be better, but overall I think the speakers are excellent reproducers of music. Like the Beta's, the M1si's will faithfully reproduce a full range orchestral performance.

I haven't really auditioned speakers since I traded for these. I'm not sure there's any reason to do so.

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Infinity Beta