Mirage Omnisat Micro loudspeaker.

Manufacturer: Mirage, Audio Products International, 3641 McNicoll Avenue, Toronto, Ontario MIX 1G5; 416/321-1800; www.miragespeakers.com

Price: $180; LF100 subwoofer: $300; 5.1 system with LF100 subwoofer: $1,200; dedicated stands: $149/pair

Source: Manufacturer loan

Reviewer: Kevin East

One interesting observation about speakers designed for home theater applications is how much the front channel (nominal stereo), center channel, and surround speakers vary in their arrays and driver complements. Front channel speakers run the "stereo" design gamut from 2- and 3-way driver complements to floor standing and shelf/stand models, and of course electrostatics. Center channel speakers usually offer two small woofers and a tweeter in generally a horizontally oriented D'Appolito configuration--tho' lately some makers have seen fit to add an extra tweeter and even a powered subwoofer (!). Surrounds are all over the lot: bipolar, dipolar, switchable bipolar/ dipolar, coaxial-you name it. I tell ya', if one weren't fully wedded to the notion that more channels equals better sound, one just might think that this whole home theater thing was simply a clever scheme to move more product. Nah ... couldn't be.

The Mirage Omnisat Micro is unique and perhaps revolutionary: it's a one-size-fits-all speaker. Yup, Mirage offers one design for every channel (except LF) for any configuration, 2.0 (tho' we'll see that you really need 2.1 and probably 3.1 to handle some material) to 7.1 and presumably beyond. Mirage has politely asserted that with so many speakers, separate designs for the front, center, and surrounds aren't really necessary so long as the one design can handle the heavy lifting of the front and center channels as well as the lighter fare served up by the surrounds. Another way of viewing this is that there's no reason why the center and surround channels should be designed any differently from the front/stereo speakers. What you need is a good design.

The genius of the Omnisat Micro is its design, a take on traditional coaxial arrays, something that looks coaxial, but isn't, and one that deploys convex "sound mirrors" to throw a virtual 360[degrees] panoramic soundscape--and it comes from seven different locations. Scary. Read on.

Basics. The Omnisat Micro is a two-way design that uses a 1" titanium hybrid tweeter mounted over a 3" polypropylene titanium deposit hybrid cone with butyl/santaprene surrounds. It claims a frequency response of 90Hz-20kHz, with the crossover point between the two drivers set at 2,200 Hz. The Micro offers a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, and claims a "room efficiency" of 89 dB. The last specification doesn't state its conditions, usually I watt at one meter, so we'll suggest that absent that or any reference it's suspect. Magnetically shielded, it weighs 2.35 pounds and measures 6.44"H x 5.13"W x 6.56"D, although these measurements are at the extremes of what is basically a slanted elliptical design; that is, the measurements represent the rectangular "box" in which the speaker fits. Minimum recommended amplifier power is 10 watts, presumably RMS per channel, nonetheless an insignificant power requirement given the power capacity of today's home theater receivers. Recessed at the speaker's base are two gold-plated five-way binding posts that can accommodate bare wire, spade lugs, or banana plugs. One caution. If you use anything but crimp-and-solder banana plugs, say, Radio Shack's two-piece solderless or Monster Cable's unique twist nut varieties, they won't fit under the collar that that surrounds the shell's post access. Dual bananas are entirely out of the question.

The Micro's appearance, a stylized fencing mask perched atop a 19th century New Yorker Magazine gentleman's collar, is the eye's delight, Brancusi-like in its simplicity and elegance. The elliptical shell is injected molded plastic, a design and execution which, like most rounded designs inherently defeats internal vibrations and standing waves. It comes in four finishes: Black, White, Platinum, and Platinum/Black.

The Micro's business end presents a unique twist on traditional coaxial speaker design. No the design is not coaxial--the two drivers are not configured on the same axis. But it is something very close. The Micro exhibits a wide sound dispersion that is achieved by the application of a proprietary component called the "Omniguide," an inverted saucer that hovers an inch or so over the woofer, holds the tweeter, and contains another inverted saucer that hovers a fraction of an inch above the tweeter. The saucer is not directly on axis. It is offset a tad on the woofer's vertical axis and canted rearward just enough to "push" the dispersion forward. The smaller saucer is similarly positioned over the tweeter. The two saucers enable a virtually omnidirectional sound dispersion. I say "virtually" because the saucer's arm interrupts a bona fide 360[degrees] pattern and the face of the speaker rests at roughly a 25[degrees] angle to the speaker's base. Those small quibbles aside, however the saucer is mounted and arrayed, the sound dispersion is impressive. The array also moots the quaint debate over the upper hand of bipolar and dipolar surround and rear speakers. Mirage's omnipolar design disperses the sound far and wide without the lack of focus bona fide out-of-phase dipolarity, because the drivers operate in phase. So, the Micro will give you sufficient ambiance when used as surrounds, but also tight focus in the front and center channel positions.

Associated Equipment. The Micro was auditioned in our den, the erstwhile A/V salon, the functional viewing/listening area of which is a smallish 8_' x 9'. The seven satellites were output through the Onkyo TX-SR800 receiver with an Onkyo DV-S555 DVD player and a very cheap Sony VCR supplying sound and picture sources. The DVD video interconnect was an S-video cable running directly from the DVD player to the television, a ten-year-old-plus 26" Mitsubishi. The low end was supplied by the Mirage LF100 subwoofer. The primary audio interconnect was a Radio Shack Toslink optical cable, supplemented by a hash of manufacturer-supplied cables and Radio Shack stuff. The seven speakers required over 100 feet of Radio Shack 14AWG flat wire, and a 6" Radio Shack gold-plated interconnect ran from the preamp out on the receiver to the subwoofer.

Setup. Mirage offers a wealth of installation options. First, each speaker comes with a mounting plate which can be screwed to the ceiling or mounted on Mirage's dedicated 31" stands. There's a niche in the rear which will allow the speaker to be hung, facing either up or down, from a nail or screw in a side or rear wall. Of course the flat base allows shelf and TV top placement. Although Mirage's user's manual doesn't suggest it, the Micro can be mounted on walls using the mounting plate. The difference between it and hanging the Micro on a nail in the wall is the dispersion pattern. Since I had everything on a shelf, the TV top, or stand, I didn't test the differences in the Micro's response to ceiling or wall mounting. However--sneak preview of the review conclusion--I'm so impressed with the Micro's capabilities as a surround and rear channel speaker, that if they're installed in Chez Ancienne's new family room, I'll let you know how they sound with ceiling and wall placement. In the review installation the surrounds and rear channel speakers were on the Micros' dedicated stands.

Once the speakers were in place, wired up, and ready to go, they were calibrated to the room courtesy of the Onkyo TX-SR800"s tuning facility. Once you've chosen whether or not you have a big or small speaker--the Micros are small--and told the receiver how far each is from a reference point at the listening position, the Onkyo emits a stream of pink noise from each speaker, which you raise or lower according to the same level all around using a sound pressure level meter.

It is appropriate to add a note here about the subwoofer Mirage sent along with the Micros, the LF100, one of three that Mirage offers and certainly the least expensive and one would assume the least powerful. I'm of two minds when it comes to subwoofers. One mind wants deep, accurate bass; the other can't be bothered with all the baggage that deep bass entails. It is indeed the least manageable of all the variables in sound reproduction--all those messy standing waves. Happily, when dealing with home theater configurations, the subwoofer's job is to reinforce rumblin', bumblin', stumblin' sound effects: fireballs, intergalactic battle cruisers, Old Nick hisself, and so on. The trick is to tame the tendency to turn it up to 11--to integrate it with the rest of the speaker array. With pure satellite speakers, such as the Micros, this can be an exceptional challenge.

The LF100 is unique among the subs I've had around because it offers two choices for accepting the preamp feed from the receiver. You can connect the feed to the normal input where you manually set the crossover point and sound level. Or you can connect the feed to an alternate input which bypasses the sub's internal controls and lets the receiver and, therefore, each DVD's bass output manage both the crossover point and the volume level. What I've found frustrating with setting subwoofer levels is that some programs call for more bass and some for less. By allowing the program to control the bass response, that endless fiddling is set aside, a boon for the lazy and for the duration of the Micros' and LF100's run a blessing. I found the LF response in this configuration uniformly smoothly integrated with whatever program was in play, from movies to concert DVDs where the LF demand is inarguably more complex.

Play. The sound emitted from the Micros was incredible. I wouldn't have believed that an array of small satellite speakers, indeed especially with the front and center channels, could achieve the cohesive enveloping sound, a bona fide cinematic experience, as with the Micros. From the subtle nuances of The Red Violin to the epic grandeur of The Fellowship of the Ring, the Micros whispered, sighed, moaned, and exploded with dead on sound. In a larger venue I'm not sure that they'd have done the same kind of job that they performed in our modest space, but in that modest space, lordy, what a sound. The Micro's upward canting and "omnipolar" design spread the sound in generous waves so that the normal cocoon of sound that one associates with surround applications was as seamless as we've had with home theater. By moving away from the directionality inherent in box designs, Mirage has achieved a minor miracle of integration: where the program material demands, the Micro's pass the sound in and around the watcher/listener with not so much as a moment's hesitation. You're not on the holodeck and reality hasn't been altered--but you're conscious that the aural environment is something you've never experienced before

However, with garden variety two-channel, stereo the Micros were immediately overwhelmed--even in our small space. Carefully engineered albums, like Darden Smith's Sunflower, became congested traffic jams: country lanes were transformed into crosstown Manhattan at midday. This was remedied by switching the receiver from Stereo to Dolby ProLogic II Music, which feeds the center channel with an arithmetic combination of the two stereo channels much like the original Dolby ProLogic created the surround channels. ProLogic II (recently upgraded--oops, watch out for planned obsolescence!--to ProLogic IIx, which permits greater control over how the center channel is blended) filled in not only the image, but created a fuller sound, once instance where I, who view most such artificial manipulations skeptically, was grateful for the receiver's option.

There's only so much that a small speaker with a 3_" driver can do on its own, and its need for help with pure stereo sound clearly defined its limitation in our space. However, in a near field environment, where the speakers are placed closer together--we had them, like all front channel placements in the den, about 8' apart--they would no doubt do a better job on that material.

The Micros, regardless of the deployment configuration, are satellite speakers with a frequency roll off at 90Hz. Any semblance of solid mid- to low-bass will require a subwoofer and all that integrating satellites and subs requires. The Mirage LF100 obviated that issue in this set-up, but with such small drivers in anything but a fairly constricted space, you're going to have to work some to manage bass response.

A Comparison. Being accustomed to either multiple drivers or a woofer with a bit more radiating area than that of the Micros, I put the Celestion 3s and their 5_" drivers back into the front channels. Two things happened. First, the amount of bass emitted from the front channels was more pronounced. Second, the sound became more directional. Both were predictable: the larger driver would handle more mid-bass and the box configuration of the drivers radiated a straight-ahead sound. What little extra bass was gained was offset by the loss of airiness. This was no more apparent than on Joni Mitchell's sublime Shadows and Light concert DVD with the inimitable Jaco Pastorius on bass. However, when I played CDs, the Celestions handled the music, nicely complemented by the LF100--again with the receiver handling the bass management, without needing to resort to the center channel for an acceptable sound. Clearly the directionality of a more traditional speaker design in this particular space created a more realistic stereo image than the Micro's "omnipolar" design.

Conclusion. There are limitations to "one size fits all." In our space, though, the Micros' limitations are negligible. In fact, in any relatively small space, I'd say from our modest 80 sq. ft. to no more than 120 sq. ft. (10 x 12), the Micros are going to perform very, very well. Beyond that I'm not sure that the petite driver complement could satisfactorily fill the space with enough sound. But that's why Mirage offers the Omnisats, the Micros' big brothers.

Further, the Micros' ability to handle two-channel stereo without DSP help is suspect. If you prefer your music without embellishment or a subwoofer, then the Micros are going to be a tough sell. However, their "omnipolar" virtues, chiefly their radiating pattern, moots all surround competition and the curious debate between bipolar and dipolar designs. Setting aside that as much ado about little--we're arguing about maybe 5% of the soundtrack's sound-my guess is that the Micros would suit virtually any surround configuration as the surround and rear channel speakers, even in larger venues where you'll need a righteous set of front channel/stereo speakers to do the job.

If I had to choose home theater speakers for our new room right now, I'd opt for the PSB Image 2B for the front channel/stereo duties and the Mirage Onmisat Micros for the surround and rear channels. They're subtle, a prerequisite for the surrounds. They can handle enough power that if necessary I can turn 'era up, and their "omnipolar" design guarantees the right amount of ambiance when the program calls for it. (I'm still undecided about a center channel speaker because it's mostly for dialog reinforcement. The Micros do a good job in a small venue, but I'm not sure about how they would react to the new room's size: 22 x 20.)

For a small venue, these are exceptional home theater speakers, affordable, great sounding, and unobtrusive. For larger venues, you may have found the elusive combination of size, guts, and sound dispersion that fits your surround and rear channel requirements. And at the price, they're more than $ensible ... they're recommended.--KE