Mirage Nanosat 5.1

It's safe to say that the Mirage Nanosat 5.1 Home Theater sounds unlike any box-type satellite/subwoofer combination system on the market. While conventional box speakers project sound forward, the Nanosat speakers are designed to produce a ratio of 30 percent direct and 70 percent reflected sound. The direct sound heads straight to the listener, while the other 70 percent is bounced off walls and the ceiling before finally reaching the listener. Mirage introduced this sort of omnidirectional technology--what the company dubs Omnipolar--in 2002 with the original Omnisat speaker. We recently raved about another Omnipolar Mirage system, the MX 5.1 Home Theater System ($1,200), but the new Nanosat 5.1 features larger satellites and a larger subwoofer. Incredibly, the larger system comes with a significantly smaller price tag at only $800. Even better, the $800 system sounds even better than the $1,200 one.

Design and features
The Nanosat 5.1 system comes with five satellite speakers and a subwoofer. The system doesn't include a dedicated center channel speaker; instead you get five identical satellites, which produce a better surround experience than a system with dedicated front, center, and surround speakers. Each Nanosat speaker is 5.8 inches tall and weighs 2.9 pounds.

Conventional box speakers have drivers mounted on their front baffles and project sound forward. The Nanosat 2.75-inch titanium/ polypropylene mid-bass driver and 0.75-inch pure titanium hybrid dome tweeter are mounted on the speaker's top-angled baffle. Top mounting isn't the only factor responsible for the MX's omnidirectional dispersion, as the speakers feature an Omniguide module, which has two deflectors itself. One tiny curved deflector is positioned over the tweeter, and the other is mounted atop the midbass driver's deflector. The deflectors project sound directly toward the listener, all while creating a 360-degree radiation pattern that reflects sound off your room's walls, ceilings, and other surfaces.

The omnipolar design is optimized for maximum sonic dispersal (the magnetic grille is shown removed at the right).

The Nanosat speaker's dome-shape perforated metal grille is covered in black cloth. Instead of pins or clips, the grille is magnetically attached to the speaker, which lets it easily snap into place when reattached.

We think the pod-shape Nanosat has more of an upscale look and feel than the black plastic satellites we found in the MX system. The matte black, molded-plastic cabinet and brushed aluminum is a much more attractive design. In terms of connections, the Nanosat speakers are fitted with gold-plated binding-post connectors that accept banana plugs, spades, pins, or stripped-bare wire ends.

Each of the five satellites comes premounted with a metal swivel wall bracket. Should you want to mount the rear-surround channel speakers higher than 6 feet off the floor, Mirage recommends mounting the speakers upside down. That way, they project sound down and out. If you're not going to wall- or shelf-mount them, you may want to use the optional Mirage MS-STB-1 floorstands.

If you wish to run a 6.1 or 7.1 channel system, extra Nanosat satellite speakers are available for around $125 each. If you already have a subwoofer, you can buy the five-speaker Nanosat bundle for $550. Meanwhile, the five-speaker Nanosat Prestige system includes a dedicated center speaker.

The Mirage S8 subwoofer has a down-firing 8-inch woofer and built-in 75-watt (300-watt peak) amplifier. The medium-density fiberboard cabinet is rather plain, but the smoothly rounded edges and satin black-painted finish are a nice touch. Connectivity is limited to just stereo line-level RCA inputs and stereo spring-clip speaker-level connectors.