Often times there are those in my circles who ask for help with AV equipment or information about the subject. That combined with a natural love for the hobby finds my periodically auditioning schtuff of interest anyway. Ever on the watch for overachieving components, along with a favorable review in Home Theater Sound (http://www.hometheatersound.com/equi...e_omnisat6.htm), my interest piqued enough to finally meet Mirage’s Omnisat in person.
Therefore on a recent business trip to Ontario, I stopped at a favorite haunt (East Hamilton Radio) and auditioned them in a stereo configuration, as I wanted to hear how well they do on their own. Being a Martin Logan owner, I also wanted to compare them against a brand with which I’m familiar to see just how close they come to or fall from grace.
This kind of situation is great fun, because it lets me see how good a budget component may be, rather than not having a clue to its potential due to the usual budget components its likely to be displayed with. This then helps me give better advice to those having constrained resources - wanting systems that take a healthy swipe at the big boys, which is a very understandable desire. Therefore, when I find a component that can do better for half the cost, with an apparently good build quality, reputation, et al, this gives me more room to choose within the limit established by those requesting the help.
So then if making personal and professional associates happy with the advice is the icing, the cake comes via jaw dropping by the associated sales staff during such an audacious audition. After all, they and customers alike are usually apprehensive in comparing such unlikely candidates, let alone brave enough try it in the first place. This is probably due to cost and reputation factors along with the fear of getting browbeat by the opinion of those who usually don’t know any better.
Through interest, research, experience, and consideration for the sales staff at the time, there are limits as to what I’ll compare. However, when a component shows promise that others naturally gloss over and if I’m interested in it, I’ll try it! To wit, everyone benefits and becomes more educated on those particular aspects of the hobby. The pleasantly shocked sales folk can then relay better advice if they’re not afraid to, and those with whom I travel get better systems for their hard-earned moh-nay!
Thankfully EHR carries Martin Logans and just happened to have a pair of Aerius’ fronting an all ML based-system (sans center channel) in what may be the worst sounding room in the entire store. It was here that the little MO’s (with roughly 30 hours on them) on their removable stands were plopped - right next to and inside of the ML’s (with roughly 50 hours on them).
The last time I visited this room, there was a Pioneer Elite DV37 upstream from an Anthem AVM 20/MCA 5 combo feeding ML Requests. Actually, having heard the ’20 there in that setup prompted me to purchase one from EHR almost a year ago. Yeah I know the room acoustics sucked, but being somewhat familiar with it allowed me to weed-out most of the aural deadwood whilst being stunned by the ‘20’s very considerable capabilities. Well much to my dismay, they’ve since moved the Anthems to their showcase home theater room which doesn’t include ML’s (dey got in-walls…). The Requests were replaced with Aerius’ (Aerii?) for front channels, and in the electronics rack were the following 2 front ends:
FE 1
·Pioneer Elite DV37 DVD player
·Pioneer Elite VSX 47TX Receiver
FE 2
·Kenwood “Sovereign” DV-5050M multi-disk DVD player
·Kenwood “Sovereign” VR-5080 Receiver
I don’t know the origin of the interconnects or the cables so I can’t make comment, but I nonetheless resigned to work with what was currently “in the rack”; ‘sides, it was the only dedicated room where I wouldn’t be bothered by a lot of pedestrian traffic and noise. Ergo, the sales guy hooked the MO’s to the Kenwoods and left me alone.
Given the above, please understand that I didn’t take the time I didn’t have to position/reposition the speakers, seat, and rack to get a better sonic return. Nonetheless, with this first round of listening I used material displaying various vocal, soundstaging, and imaging aspects so, I proceeded to listen armed with the following:
·Loreena McKennitt – The Mask and Mirror
·The Turtle Creek Chorale – Postcards
·Lyle Lovett – Joshua Judges Ruth
·Billie Holiday – Billie’s Best
·Gustav Holst – The Planets
·Kelly Joe Phelps – Lead me on
·Hot Jazz Biscuits (a compilation)
·Contate Domino (A Swedish Christmas compilation)
·Bonnie Raitt – Luck of the Draw
·Rusted Root – When I awoke
·Seal – Seal (first disc)
Understanding that Track 1 of Mask and the Mirror (The Mystic’s Dream) combines the aforementioned criterion, along with finger cymbal harmonics (might be crotales –small round ~ ¼” thick brass disks used in percussion, but I’m not sure) I got my baptismal into what the Omni’s might be capable of. Hooked-up to the Kenwoods they sounded open, but constrained, flat, and lifeless. Suspecting that the sales person connected one of them out of phase, I stopped the music, went behind the speakers and found my suspicion was confirmed.
Having righted that wrong, I listened again. While they were noticeably more open and less constrained, vocals still had what was to me an irritating congestion. This was something that sounded not so much like a characteristic of the room but quite possibly the electronics. On top of that, the attack of the finger cymbal and the associated harmonics and decay were truncated and “darker” than what they should be.
So I switched from the Kenwood to the Pioneer rig and played track 1 again. Woh-ho-ho! Mouth agape, I sat totally disbelieving what I heard. Because the comparatively severe personality imparted by the Kenwood setup was stripped away; every aspect of the Omnisat’s presentation was cleaned up by roughly an order of magnitude! OMG, in one fell swoop, the Omni’s immediately vacated their price bracket and headed upward – in a word: unbelievable! As you can imagine, it was at this point the test became the fun I hoped it would.
For the MO’s simply didn’t sound as colored and constrained as the box speakers anywhere near this price that I’ve auditioned lately. Yep-heh, the culmination of non-parallel internal surfaces, reasonably wise choice in drivers, internal components, overall cabinet design, and low price has paid off in a nice way. No, really… And on top of that, their true (unlike Mirage’s other designs) omni-polar radiation pattern provides a very enveloping presentation along with presenting a HUGE sweet spot. And this was one of the main reasons for my audition, as I’ve waited quite a long time for a manufacturer to come up with an omni for the masses and get it done right.
So without getting too happy about the prospect of an inexpensive speaker I could be initially comfortable with (in many an application), I disconnected the MO’s and connected the ML’s to shed some comparative light on the subject… For roughly an hour after that point, I compared the two speakers back and forth on mostly track 1 of Loreena’s disc. The reason? I couldn’t believe how much the little “nerf ball” was doing right! For relief, I occasionally threw in The Turtle Creek Chorale or Rusted Root to recalibrate my aural palette, but tended to go back to Loreena and key-in on the subtle differences I heard between the two contenders.
First off, with that room, speaker placement, and upstream componentry, the Omni’s threw a stage every bit as deep and wide as the Aerius’ (Aeriusesses???) though the imaging wasn’t quite as specific – but not too far off. If that wasn’t unbelievable enough, they came very close to the ‘Logans in overall timber in the mid-mids to mid-highs (at least for this type of vocals, and small brass cymbals)! In that setup with that track, the four initial clear differences the ‘Logans had over the Mirages were in: attack, detail, efficiency, and bass.
For instance, in detail, there was a slight roughness to the breathy quality of Loreena’s voice that the Aerius nailed and the Omnisat smoothed over. There was also a clarity in how the venue was portrayed that was slightly veiled with the Omni’s. Though the timber of the cymbal was remarkably(!) similar between the two, the as presented attack and decay was (again) smoothed over by the smaller speaker. This is not to undermine the overall presentation of what I heard; I mean in that situation, the Omnisats were so good as to be an immediate hands down recommendation for LOTSA people in LOTSA different disposable income brackets! You should’ve seen the sales person's expression when he ducked back in and asked which one was playing!
Now in a different room (rooms are like wine glasses, some will bring out the splendor of a subject while others will very much obscure it), with the same or better equipment, better placement, and more challenging source material, the race might not be as close. But in the there and then, I was so pleasantly stunned with what I was experiencing, I could’ve EASILY spent another few hours comparing the two and enjoying the education I received from each. But I had to meet beer, wings, and friends down at Chaps (down the street from EHR on Barton Road), so it was time to go.
Still, knowing what can be had for the money, the music lover in me needs a better tweeter. I mean a design with this much promise for this little money deserves a more accurate high end (as a drummer, and being somewhat familiar with the break-in tendencies of Mirage Titanium tweeters, I need something more accurate). And they can look no further than under their roof and down the hall to John Tchilinguirian (of Energy fame). John has designed and implemented IMO some the better dome tweeters and as a matter of fact, Mirage could use the same tweeter from Energy’s C3 (which costs roughly the same per pair) and have a much better Omni! Then again the C3 is direct competition to the Omni and would provide a very interesting comparison. Even though I haven’t heard the latest version yet, a review lending some promise to their performance can be found at: http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/energy_c3.htm
Without a doubt, that evening was highly beneficial, for my initial meeting with the Omni’s was very favorable AND I received an EXCELLENT price on an AVM 20 V2 upgrade board. So all of the above mixed afterwards with good beer (Rickard’s Red), WANGS, and friends, made for a very enjoyable evening!
Nevertheless, this was round one. Round two will be conducted when I get back to Michigan, as there’s a place outside of Detroit that has both the Omnisat and Gallo’s Due’ in the same room – a place I summarily plan to visit. On the next trip back to Ontario, round three will be conducted with some more challenging material for the aforementioned two – then I’ll be able to get a better handle on what it can do.
For the here and now, the Omnisat modded with a replacement tweeter from Energy (or other supplier, if either will fit) will start to do the trick along with any necessary crossover changes. Once I get a better handle on the midrange, I will see if it too needs to be replaced – ergo a very kewl aspect to this hobby. For with the right components and its already wonderful and true omni-polar performance, they indeed have the potential to be true giant killers. ‘Sides it would be worth it to purchase then modify them; a practice I’m not into but it’d be worth modifying these just to show people what can be done on the cheap, not to mention getting all silly over that kind of performance for that kinda money!!! Yeah I know the warranty would be voided – but what a way to go!!
Hmmmmmmm… Now if only I could convince the A/V Shoppes to cater the beer and wings to me while I audition…
In the meantime, go thee forth and listen wisely. ;- )
Therefore on a recent business trip to Ontario, I stopped at a favorite haunt (East Hamilton Radio) and auditioned them in a stereo configuration, as I wanted to hear how well they do on their own. Being a Martin Logan owner, I also wanted to compare them against a brand with which I’m familiar to see just how close they come to or fall from grace.
This kind of situation is great fun, because it lets me see how good a budget component may be, rather than not having a clue to its potential due to the usual budget components its likely to be displayed with. This then helps me give better advice to those having constrained resources - wanting systems that take a healthy swipe at the big boys, which is a very understandable desire. Therefore, when I find a component that can do better for half the cost, with an apparently good build quality, reputation, et al, this gives me more room to choose within the limit established by those requesting the help.
So then if making personal and professional associates happy with the advice is the icing, the cake comes via jaw dropping by the associated sales staff during such an audacious audition. After all, they and customers alike are usually apprehensive in comparing such unlikely candidates, let alone brave enough try it in the first place. This is probably due to cost and reputation factors along with the fear of getting browbeat by the opinion of those who usually don’t know any better.
Through interest, research, experience, and consideration for the sales staff at the time, there are limits as to what I’ll compare. However, when a component shows promise that others naturally gloss over and if I’m interested in it, I’ll try it! To wit, everyone benefits and becomes more educated on those particular aspects of the hobby. The pleasantly shocked sales folk can then relay better advice if they’re not afraid to, and those with whom I travel get better systems for their hard-earned moh-nay!
Thankfully EHR carries Martin Logans and just happened to have a pair of Aerius’ fronting an all ML based-system (sans center channel) in what may be the worst sounding room in the entire store. It was here that the little MO’s (with roughly 30 hours on them) on their removable stands were plopped - right next to and inside of the ML’s (with roughly 50 hours on them).
The last time I visited this room, there was a Pioneer Elite DV37 upstream from an Anthem AVM 20/MCA 5 combo feeding ML Requests. Actually, having heard the ’20 there in that setup prompted me to purchase one from EHR almost a year ago. Yeah I know the room acoustics sucked, but being somewhat familiar with it allowed me to weed-out most of the aural deadwood whilst being stunned by the ‘20’s very considerable capabilities. Well much to my dismay, they’ve since moved the Anthems to their showcase home theater room which doesn’t include ML’s (dey got in-walls…). The Requests were replaced with Aerius’ (Aerii?) for front channels, and in the electronics rack were the following 2 front ends:
FE 1
·Pioneer Elite DV37 DVD player
·Pioneer Elite VSX 47TX Receiver
FE 2
·Kenwood “Sovereign” DV-5050M multi-disk DVD player
·Kenwood “Sovereign” VR-5080 Receiver
I don’t know the origin of the interconnects or the cables so I can’t make comment, but I nonetheless resigned to work with what was currently “in the rack”; ‘sides, it was the only dedicated room where I wouldn’t be bothered by a lot of pedestrian traffic and noise. Ergo, the sales guy hooked the MO’s to the Kenwoods and left me alone.
Given the above, please understand that I didn’t take the time I didn’t have to position/reposition the speakers, seat, and rack to get a better sonic return. Nonetheless, with this first round of listening I used material displaying various vocal, soundstaging, and imaging aspects so, I proceeded to listen armed with the following:
·Loreena McKennitt – The Mask and Mirror
·The Turtle Creek Chorale – Postcards
·Lyle Lovett – Joshua Judges Ruth
·Billie Holiday – Billie’s Best
·Gustav Holst – The Planets
·Kelly Joe Phelps – Lead me on
·Hot Jazz Biscuits (a compilation)
·Contate Domino (A Swedish Christmas compilation)
·Bonnie Raitt – Luck of the Draw
·Rusted Root – When I awoke
·Seal – Seal (first disc)
Understanding that Track 1 of Mask and the Mirror (The Mystic’s Dream) combines the aforementioned criterion, along with finger cymbal harmonics (might be crotales –small round ~ ¼” thick brass disks used in percussion, but I’m not sure) I got my baptismal into what the Omni’s might be capable of. Hooked-up to the Kenwoods they sounded open, but constrained, flat, and lifeless. Suspecting that the sales person connected one of them out of phase, I stopped the music, went behind the speakers and found my suspicion was confirmed.
Having righted that wrong, I listened again. While they were noticeably more open and less constrained, vocals still had what was to me an irritating congestion. This was something that sounded not so much like a characteristic of the room but quite possibly the electronics. On top of that, the attack of the finger cymbal and the associated harmonics and decay were truncated and “darker” than what they should be.
So I switched from the Kenwood to the Pioneer rig and played track 1 again. Woh-ho-ho! Mouth agape, I sat totally disbelieving what I heard. Because the comparatively severe personality imparted by the Kenwood setup was stripped away; every aspect of the Omnisat’s presentation was cleaned up by roughly an order of magnitude! OMG, in one fell swoop, the Omni’s immediately vacated their price bracket and headed upward – in a word: unbelievable! As you can imagine, it was at this point the test became the fun I hoped it would.
For the MO’s simply didn’t sound as colored and constrained as the box speakers anywhere near this price that I’ve auditioned lately. Yep-heh, the culmination of non-parallel internal surfaces, reasonably wise choice in drivers, internal components, overall cabinet design, and low price has paid off in a nice way. No, really… And on top of that, their true (unlike Mirage’s other designs) omni-polar radiation pattern provides a very enveloping presentation along with presenting a HUGE sweet spot. And this was one of the main reasons for my audition, as I’ve waited quite a long time for a manufacturer to come up with an omni for the masses and get it done right.
So without getting too happy about the prospect of an inexpensive speaker I could be initially comfortable with (in many an application), I disconnected the MO’s and connected the ML’s to shed some comparative light on the subject… For roughly an hour after that point, I compared the two speakers back and forth on mostly track 1 of Loreena’s disc. The reason? I couldn’t believe how much the little “nerf ball” was doing right! For relief, I occasionally threw in The Turtle Creek Chorale or Rusted Root to recalibrate my aural palette, but tended to go back to Loreena and key-in on the subtle differences I heard between the two contenders.
First off, with that room, speaker placement, and upstream componentry, the Omni’s threw a stage every bit as deep and wide as the Aerius’ (Aeriusesses???) though the imaging wasn’t quite as specific – but not too far off. If that wasn’t unbelievable enough, they came very close to the ‘Logans in overall timber in the mid-mids to mid-highs (at least for this type of vocals, and small brass cymbals)! In that setup with that track, the four initial clear differences the ‘Logans had over the Mirages were in: attack, detail, efficiency, and bass.
For instance, in detail, there was a slight roughness to the breathy quality of Loreena’s voice that the Aerius nailed and the Omnisat smoothed over. There was also a clarity in how the venue was portrayed that was slightly veiled with the Omni’s. Though the timber of the cymbal was remarkably(!) similar between the two, the as presented attack and decay was (again) smoothed over by the smaller speaker. This is not to undermine the overall presentation of what I heard; I mean in that situation, the Omnisats were so good as to be an immediate hands down recommendation for LOTSA people in LOTSA different disposable income brackets! You should’ve seen the sales person's expression when he ducked back in and asked which one was playing!
Now in a different room (rooms are like wine glasses, some will bring out the splendor of a subject while others will very much obscure it), with the same or better equipment, better placement, and more challenging source material, the race might not be as close. But in the there and then, I was so pleasantly stunned with what I was experiencing, I could’ve EASILY spent another few hours comparing the two and enjoying the education I received from each. But I had to meet beer, wings, and friends down at Chaps (down the street from EHR on Barton Road), so it was time to go.
Still, knowing what can be had for the money, the music lover in me needs a better tweeter. I mean a design with this much promise for this little money deserves a more accurate high end (as a drummer, and being somewhat familiar with the break-in tendencies of Mirage Titanium tweeters, I need something more accurate). And they can look no further than under their roof and down the hall to John Tchilinguirian (of Energy fame). John has designed and implemented IMO some the better dome tweeters and as a matter of fact, Mirage could use the same tweeter from Energy’s C3 (which costs roughly the same per pair) and have a much better Omni! Then again the C3 is direct competition to the Omni and would provide a very interesting comparison. Even though I haven’t heard the latest version yet, a review lending some promise to their performance can be found at: http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/energy_c3.htm
Without a doubt, that evening was highly beneficial, for my initial meeting with the Omni’s was very favorable AND I received an EXCELLENT price on an AVM 20 V2 upgrade board. So all of the above mixed afterwards with good beer (Rickard’s Red), WANGS, and friends, made for a very enjoyable evening!
Nevertheless, this was round one. Round two will be conducted when I get back to Michigan, as there’s a place outside of Detroit that has both the Omnisat and Gallo’s Due’ in the same room – a place I summarily plan to visit. On the next trip back to Ontario, round three will be conducted with some more challenging material for the aforementioned two – then I’ll be able to get a better handle on what it can do.
For the here and now, the Omnisat modded with a replacement tweeter from Energy (or other supplier, if either will fit) will start to do the trick along with any necessary crossover changes. Once I get a better handle on the midrange, I will see if it too needs to be replaced – ergo a very kewl aspect to this hobby. For with the right components and its already wonderful and true omni-polar performance, they indeed have the potential to be true giant killers. ‘Sides it would be worth it to purchase then modify them; a practice I’m not into but it’d be worth modifying these just to show people what can be done on the cheap, not to mention getting all silly over that kind of performance for that kinda money!!! Yeah I know the warranty would be voided – but what a way to go!!
Hmmmmmmm… Now if only I could convince the A/V Shoppes to cater the beer and wings to me while I audition…
In the meantime, go thee forth and listen wisely. ;- )
