Summary:
About 8 months ago the urge to upgrade my speakers stuck. I went to an audio retailer that I had never been to before in search of Paradigm speakers. The Paradigm book shelves sounded excellent but the full rage speakers (which is what I was looking for) sounded some what mid bass colored. I listened to a number of speakers and then discovered the Mirage with I had never heard of before. The Mirage had very clean bass and sounded big, very big. I could not believe that these speakers only housed 5 1/4" woofers. After 8 months of listening to them, I still can't believe it. When going between the Paradigm and the Mirage while listening to Boney James track 3 (I think) where there is finger snapping in the track, the Mirage sounded more like flesh that the Paradigm.
I was quite pleased when I learned that these speakers were 1 of 3 systems that were recommened by the pro's in 97. (Stereo Review)

The mid bass in these speakers are incredible and the midrange is very musical. Oh and the cabinet, with those piano style end caps, are so so sexy.

Summary:
I recently purchased the Mirage 595 bipolars for the LR for a stereo and home theatre setup. After listening to what felt like hundreds of speakers, I narrowed by selection to the Mirages, Def Tech 8 and 10, and Vandersteen 1c. Obviously by those selections, I was looking for a wider soundstage achievable through bipolar speakers. I have now spent hundreds of hours listening to the 595's in both music and theatre settings and have been extremely impressed. They possess a balanced and adequate low end however the lack the bass extension and "umph" of DefTech products. They really excel through the highs and midrange with a more solid, and well-rounded performance than DefTech 8 or 10, and maintain a more dynamic performance than Vandersteen 1c. As with all bipolars, placement is critical and I continue to screw around with the "optimal" location. In summary, if you are looking for a balanced speaker that creates a tremendous soundstage with detail and imaging for music, as well as home theatre, give the Mirage 595's an audition. 4 stars.