I got a pair of IIIis as part of my home-theater and stereo-system and I was very, very happy with them: The soundstaging was great, the realism of the voices astounding and the bass-response so good, that I didn't even think abaout buying a subwoofer for the home-theater-applications. Anyway - I was happy. I heard the OM-6 and it blew me away. They excell almost in all aspects: deeper, more contured bass, better soundstating and the ability to finetune the speaker to any room. So the threes were great and deserved a 4-speaker rating, the OM-6 deserve 5. Or 6. They are great.

In response to all the reviews above, I would just like to clarify one thing: Mirage M3si is class B Stereophile recommended component. That means it rocks, it boogies, it swings, it serenades, it goes from 0-100db instantly. In a nutshell, this is the speaker you should own among at least hundred of speakers in the comparable price range. Form my opening statements you can assume that I am a big fan of M3si's. And I am. Simply because they are transparent and dynamic, and give a wider/deeper soundstage (bi-polar design, hah) without sacrificing the imaging, clarity and detail. E.g. I was auditioning B&Ws Vandersteens, Celestions, and Dynaudios in the comparable price range and have concluded that only the M3si's would give me joy of life in all above mentioned four areas that I praise.
By transparency I assume no strange coloration, but I also assume the faithful reproduction of the entire audible range. That means bass, midrange and treble. First I see no artificial colors and flavors in the sound of M3si, and second, it gives me a hell of a ride across the audible specter. Most of the competition from B&W and Vandersteen was lacking deep bass, and performance of auditioned Dynaudios or Celestions that I otherwise praise very highly was totally unacceptable in the bass range overall.

Dynamics. The middle name for these puppies is dynamics. They are very fast, and when they hit, they hit hard and heavy. My wife is seeking for shelter when I listen to some good old rock, classical music or live recordings.

Soundstage produced by M3si's is just wider and deeper than any of the competitor's comparable models. On the other side, this feature does not come with a heavy price of loosing clarity, fine detail and precise imaging. At certain point I was to replace my M3si's with a pair of Dynaudio Confidence (I think it was the 3.0 that is listed at $8,000, but I found a deal for around $3,500) because they knocked me off my feet. When I heard them, I thought "Seek no more - you have found the paradise lost". However economics were the reason I decided not to go with the deal (I would be replacing a speaker with the street price of $1,400 at best with a speaker costing almost three times more). And how lucky I was. In lieu of getting new speakers, I decided to devote more attention and of course funds to cables and accessories in my system in order to get the best out of my system without changing the basic components. And to be honest, it worked. I replaced all the wires in my system, bought me a nice rack, some isolation platforms, power line conditioner, and I am a happy kid now.

After these additions to my system, my M3si's are sounding seducing and sweet at times, and dangerously stray when needed. I still feel that I could further improve my system before changing the speakers. When I compare M3si's with Dynaudio Confidence now (Dynaudio was also played through a reference quality system, I still see more liveliness, more air, deeper soundstage, but that comes with the serious lack of bass (that can be cured only by prohibitive investment in two, yes two reference quality subwoofers, because Confidence lacks not only deep bass, but also mid-bass - in this area I think that M3si's beat the competition by the fact that the crossover on the 10" woofer is set to 350hz, and of course with some audio magic), slight lack of dynamics, and reduced width of the soundstage. In closing, I can not see a reason good enough not to buy these speakers at the bargain street price of $1,500 to $1,200. And again, I do not see reason good enough to buy more expensive speakers, unless your system gets congested at this point, which will happen at certain level, but definitely above the level of the average hi-end system that runs for under $15,000 (listed).

My system: Mesa Baron tube power amp connected via Synergistic Research all silver Marc V interconnects to ARC LS-7 tube pre-amp connected by Audiotruth Opal to SCE Harmonic Recovery System analog-to-analog converter (this puppy rocks - check out review in Stereophile, July 1998, and take my word - buy this item and you will be a happier audiophile for under $400) connected to Rega Planet CD player again via Audiotruth Opal. Mesa Baron and Rega Planet are placed on Big Rock 2 platforms additionally isolated by home brewed spike-rubber feet. Entire system is set on Justarack 48" rack. In addition, power is provided through the Lightspeed 3200 line conditioner by Mr. Chang. Finally, the M3si's are connected through Straightwire Encore II bi-wire cable (this is reasonably good cable that provides acceptable level of transparency, but can not deliver the full potency of my system to M3si's that are just saying "Bring it on baby" - the first thing I would improve in my system would be this cable, and I can tell you that I have tried Yamamura Millenium 5000, which further improved the system).

Good build quality. Great detail and soundstage.

requires tons of high quality amperage...

I have been looking for a good pair of speakers for some time now, I luckly stumbled upon the classic M-3si. I had a chance to listen to these at a friends house connected to a Music Fidelity A300 amp. He invited me to have a listen and bring my favorite speaker tourture CD's. I was pleasantly suprised at how well these speakers put you in the middle of the music. Huge soundstage fast and dynamic. You must try Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade it's most impressive on the M3-si. He also has a pair if Vandersteen 3A-Sigs. I gave it the same tourture test, the Vandersteen had better bass but I didn't care for the forward quality of the Vandersteen 3A's. I had also looked very seriously at the Sonus Faber Grand Pianos. the Sonus lacked bass and didn't image quite as well as the Mirages. I ended up buying the Mirages and have been very happy. Be aware that these speakers need a good high current amp. Anything less and you will not get the most out of them. These are truly a great bargan.

Similar Products Used:

Energy C-6

I recently bought a mint pair of Mirage M5si speakers to replace my Magenpan MGIIa speakers. I am still experimenting with them, but my impressions are as follows:
They are, like all bipolar speakers I have auditioned or owned, very sensitive to room placement. The soundstage can vary from quite flat to very full and deep depending not only on distance from back and side walls, but on how they are oriented with respect to the listener. I have found that they sound best in my home when angled about two or three degrees toward the center. At about five degrees, the imaging starts to suffer.

They are very quick speakers with a shimmering high end and satisfying bottom end. To my ears, they sound fairly similar to the NHT VT-2. I auditioned them head to head with Vandersteen 2ce speakers. They are brighter than the Vandersteens with very similar bass characteristics. The Vandersteens were slightly superior in overall imaging, I thought.

At the dealers, equipment used was proceed amp & cd player & Transparent audio bi-wire cable. My system at home uses a Sony ES330 amp (until I can afford to replace it), db1 pre-amp, Monster Reference 1 interconnects, and three different cd players, the best sounding of which is my Magnavox/Phillips 473-b.

So far, I am not completely pleased with these speakers, though I will keep them until I have beefed up some of the weaker areas in my system. While they are very clean and quick with great highs and house shaking lows, they still sound like ... speakers. I have yet to play anything that creates the illusion of musicians in the living room. I am pretty sure that the fault lies largely with the Sony amp. It has power, but has a sterile sound. I am hoping to upgrade to a Bryston or Aragon in the spring and feel that the sound quality will improve.

All in all, for under $1000 (used), the Mirage M5si is a very good speaker (though I wish it wasn't all black). If you can find a pair of Vandersteen 2ce speakers used for around $800, though, I think most people would be happier with them. I will give them a four star rating based on what I have heard up to now.

My review is for the Mirage M5si, which has been since discontinued. Bipolars are a different animal, the same speaker can sound wide open yet detailed or very closed and undefined. This is because of placement and room conditions (#1 it is allergic to walls - 3ft+ of space). Once set up correctly the M5si is a wonderfull speaker, great dynamics, tight and defined bass and very nice highs (thanks to Mirage's PTH tweeter). I find the soundstage to be better than all of the other speakers in it's price range, it also images quite well for a non-direct radiating speaker. The M3si shares the same qualities as the M5si but is better with the lower octaves.

I am writing this in response to Keith's review on the Mirage M-3si. These speakers are Bi-Polar designs as compared to Di-Polar designs. Bi-polar and Di-polars are somewhat quite similar. They are both designed with front and rear firing sets of speakers. The difference is in the phase. Di-polars are fired out-of-phase which means while the front speakers are moving outwards, the rear speakers are moving inwards. Experts belive this creates a somewhat pinpoint imaging. The Bi-polars however are better than di-polars (so the experts belive), in the sense that their speakers are always fired in-phase. The front and rear speakers are moving together at the same time. This is said to produce a rich, wide soundstage, and better then di-polars in the sense that they are better in producing low bass (the front signals don't cancel the rear signals out) .
I have heard of the Mirage M-3si. They are really good pair of speakers. However, I belive they don;t make them anymore. They (Mirage) have recently introduced their new flagship the OM-6 which is said to be the M-3si replacements. By the way, I find the Mirage M-3si to be too expensive... they are some what almost $1500 each. Try auditioning Definitives. They are as good as the Mirage.

I just purchased the M3s and these are an extremely revealing pair of speakers. These have a wide range of strengths:
1. Vocals are extremely realistic and clear where you will think the singers are in your listening room. Vandersteens are
compareable in this area.
2. Spaciousness. I've listened to Vandersteens, Snells, and various electrostatics and these provide a wide soundstage without
having to be exactly in between both speakers like electrostatics. Snells are also very good.
3. Dynamic range: You have to listen to Tchaikovsky 1812 on the M3si to know what I mean.

The only draw back of the M3si is the somewhat sensitive placment of the dipolar design. You need to have both away from a
corner, but my room doesn't allow this placement; therefore, I don't think I have beem able to really hear the complete
potential of these speakers at the moment. (Probably a "5 speaker" if I had the right room.)

Joey C. from KAlamazoo would be right to say that Definitives are similar, however it is a travesty to suggest that they are "as good as Mirage." While I have not heard the M3si, I own a pair of Mirage 1295is and Definitives are most certainly not "as good" But, that is a matter of opinion. In comparison, I concluded that the Definitives were a darker and more bass rich speaker than the Mirage, but that the width/depth of the soundstage was vastly inferior in the Definitives. And as for the bass issue, my Mirages each have bipolar 8" woofers in them which more than overwhealm their Definitive equivalents.In short, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME!