Mirage OMNI 350 Floorstanding Speakers (UPDATE: Now with SVS PB-1000!)

The Canadian electronics retailer Visions recently featured a very attractive sale price for a pair of OMNI 350 speakers by Mirage. The price was so nice, it would have been silly to pass on the offer. There isn't a whole lot of information or reviews online about these speakers beyond the basic specifications and the folks in the forums (fora?) who generally speak positively of them. I went ahead and bought them anyway.

I wasn't necessarily planning on purchasing a new set of speakers, as I had just upgraded my front left and right channels from Polk RM6750 satellites to a pair of JBL ES30 bookshelf speakers. They offered a significant improvement, to be sure. But they weren't exactly stellar performers in the clarity and detail departments. When I saw the deal on the OMNI 350 towers, I had a hunch that they would provide a step up in these crucial aspects of sound reproduction. They did not disappoint.

The Before. Listening to Constant Bop by Bop English here.

Oh, hello...

Visions Electronics offers free shipping for products shipped within Canada, but not this time on these speakers. My guess is that the sale price was "too good" to offer free shipping with them. This wasn't a deal breaker for me. The speakers arrived an extra business day or two beyond the original estimate. This is to be expected for those of us residing in rural Newfoundland. Again, not a problem. They got here just fine with no damage. The speakers are sold as a pair by Visions, but they arrived in individual boxes. On to the unboxing...

Spikes: Engaged.

The spikes are a nice touch. The speakers aren't particularly heavy, but they are plenty stable atop the plinth and spikes. Plus it just looks cool.

Rise!

I didn't know the OMNI 350 featured a dual-port design until I took them out of the box. The front grille came already attached, but the top grille cover had to be installed manually. The curved top has little pegs that fits into four little holes and has to be pushed in with a little force. It's nice and snug; it's not coming off by accident, that's for sure. This is important since the domed grille protects the Omnipolar waveguide attachment that houses the tweeter and disperses the sound from the mid-range woofer.

Setup was simple enough, next came placement. Some furniture needed readjusting to make way for the floorstanding speakers, and the JBL ES30s have been "demoted" to the rear surround channels (replacing, yet again, a couple Polk RM6750 satellites). 

The After. First thing I listened to was the new Jamie xx album, In Colour.

The speakers are a little over a foot from the back wall to give the rear ports their necessary breathing room. Ideally the towers wouldn't be placed so far apart, but the layout of the room and the fact that my computer (which handles much of my playback content) needs to be next to my receiver kind of limits my placement options. It's not perfect, but wait a second! Isn't the whole point of this whacky Omnipolar design to make these speakers sound good in all sorts of placements and listening positions!?

To own the truth, I was initially a little worried that the speaker's non-traditional design would result in a weird sound that may take some getting used to. After all, I had purchased them online without ever auditioning them in a store or anywhere else. Would the dispersion characteristics of the Omnipolar design yield an unfocused sound that I would have to learn to love? Would it be weird? Did I make a huge mistake? Fortunately, I did not have to wait long after connecting the OMNI 350 to be completely reassured by them. They sound great.

The improvement in clarity was one of the main things I was looking for when replacing the JBL ES30. The bookshelf features a 6" woofer crossed over at 3kHz with two tweeters. Sure, the ES30 could fill the room with sound (they had to be turned up a little in order for them to sound "good" and it was tough to get a nice blend with my subwoofer for whatever reason), but they weren't exactly winners when it came to detail and depth. Conversely, the OMNI 350 is designed with two 5.5" woofers and a single 1" aluminum dome tweeter crossed over at 700Hz and 2.2kHz. The sound is much more open, and it wasn't difficult to notice.

I don't often sit directly in front of my speakers when listening to music, which is another reason I found the Mirage Omnipolar design intriguing. The idea here is to disperse sound in such a way that relies more on reflections rather than just a direct approach to creating a soundstage. The result should be a bigger sweet spot, so where you sit should matter less when it comes to experiencing the full range of sound that the speakers are emitting. I envision these speakers as 'spraying' sound around the room, instead of 'shooting' it at the listener. Again, I was immediately convinced by the OMNI 350. They sound good regardless of where I am sitting in the room. Do not be swayed by the strange proboscis-looking thing sticking out from atop these towers -- it may not be pretty, but it works!

After some break in (the manual recommends 100 hours of full-range material before making final adjustments for critical listening!) and tweaking with my receiver and subwoofer crossover settings, I can say without hesitation that I am very pleased with the Mirage OMNI 350 speakers. Now all there is left to do is just listen to them.

Odd Blood by Yeasaer. Great record.

 ___

UPDATE (July 25, 2015): This PB-1000 from SVS really ties the room together, both aesthetically and sonically.

Play nice, you two.

Obviously, the PB-1000 is a huge improvement over the old diminutive Polk subwoofer from the RM6750 5.1 set. After a couple weeks of tinkering and careful listening (mostly with music), I've currently settled on a crossover of 60Hz for the OMNI 350 towers and the sub. There are plenty of considerations to make when choosing a crossover point, but ultimately the decision comes down to what sounds "best" in the room to my ears.

My first instinct was to try a high crossover around 80Hz-100Hz because I got a new toy and I wanted to use it. But for stereo music applications, I grudgingly accepted that the subwoofer shouldn't really being "taking over" but rather supporting the bass extension of the main channels. Due to interactions between the sub's placement and the room, I found that a crossover at 80Hz or above yielded dramatic differences in frequency response depending on where I sat. Crucially, there was an audible drop in the central listening position in front of my towers. Lowering the crossover down to 50Hz and letting the OMNI 350 handle more of what they're designed to (they're rated down to 40Hz ±3dB, after all) helped with this immensely. Yet my desire to "hear" more of the PB-1000  compelled me notch the setting back up to 60Hz. It seems to provide the perfect blend of beefy but clear sound. So there it shall remain... for now. (UPDATE [July 26, 2015]: On second thought, I think I'll try it at 80Hz again. I think some minor placement and system tweaks have provided clearer bass in the central listening position now. Plus, I often see it recommended that the subwoofer should cover the lower two octaves (<80Hz) in their entirety. But I've also seen other recommendations stating that he crossover should be set 10Hz higher than your main channels are capable of "reproducing cleanly." I don't know what to believe anymore. It certainly sounds good crossed over at 80Hz right now with the volume turned down a notch.)

I should also mention that I've experimented a little more with the placement of my speakers. Certain limitations pretty much demand that the subwoofer stay where it is (a complete room makeover would otherwise be required), but the truth is that I was never really pleased with there I initially set up my towers. After reading more on the subject of omnidirectional speakers (and getting to know the Mirage "omnipolar" design better), it became clear that I needed to move the OMNI 350s a little further out into the room and away from the side walls.

A slight furniture adjustment allowed for nearly a foot of extra space from the side wall for both speakers, though ideally they could probably benefit from a little more breathing space. The OMNIs sound better than ever. Stereo imaging is more focused and less smeared, and the soundstage is much deeper. And I thought I liked my speakers before... I've never been more sold on this whole omnidirectional sound thing.

That said, I've still yet to fully test out the PB-1000 with some proper movie viewing. I can scarcely tear myself away from listening to music during this new gear honeymoon phase. I could kick myself for not taking this whole sound reproduction thing more seriously sooner. So many years 'wasted' listening to music and movies on tiny satellites and puny subwoofers. (Okay, so not really wasted, but now it just means there is so much to revisit and, in a way, experience for the first time again.)

It's hard to know what you're missing until you've heard it.