CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 11/18/2004
- Released on: 10/01/2002
Mirage's swiveling Omnimount wall bracket ($49 per pair, available in black or white) was designed with easy installation and mounting flexibility in mind. Oh, and here's a new twist: invert the Omnisats, and you can mount these little guys upside-down on the ceiling; they'll project down toward the listening position. That might be just the ticket for your rear surround Omnisats. The speakers are generally not fussy about placement, but we preferred the sound of floor-stand-mounted Omnisats. Audiophile buyers should go with Mirage's 30-inch-tall stand ($150 a pair, available in platinum/black or white)--it features a cast metal base and a hollow tubular support shaft to conceal unsightly wires.
The Omnisat is the largest of Mirage's omnidirectional satellites. You can save a bit of dough by opting for the Omnisat Micro, or even more with the smaller-still Nanosat. Omni technology is also available in the Omni Series range of tower speakers, monitors, and a center and surround speakers.
Traditional speakers, known as direct-radiating designs, project most of their sound forward in a conical pattern, but the Omnisat radiates a spherical 360-degree sound field. Its innovative, functionally elegant design utilizes a cast-aluminum baffle and a separate dispersion module positioned above the woofer and tweeter to create the omnidirectional radiation pattern. This approach utilizes a room's reflections to create a deep, wide, and tall sound stage. The 4-inch titanium-polypropylene woofer was designed specifically for the Omnisat, and the 1-inch titanium dome was derived from Mirage's top-of-the-line tweeter.The solid metal binding posts are beautifully made and offer a solid connection with banana jacks, spades, or stripped bare-wire ends.
The 10-inch, 200-watt Omni S10 subwoofer completes the system.
The Omnisats' sound is more open and less boxy than that of conventional box speakers, and once you're fully acclimated to Omnisats, box speakers may sound downright claustrophobic. Phish's Billy Breathes CD's warm sound was well served by the little Omnisats, without a trace of small-speaker dynamic range compression or the sort of recessed midrange sound that sucks the life out of acoustic guitars. The band's rich vocal harmonies soared as they do on high-end speakers. Continue readingMost helpful user reviews
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