Mirage Nanosat® 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System 5 compact satellite speakers and a powered subwoofer
includes 5 satellites and 1 subwoofer * Omnipolar technology creates a larger, more realistic soundstage * sensitivity: 87 dB * frequency response: 30-20,000 Hz (±3dB) * warranty: 5 years speakers, 1 year subwoofer *
Mirage Nanosat® 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System 5 compact satellite speakers and a powered subwoofer Accessories
 Mirage Nano CC Center channel speaker with high-gloss black finish
Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)
HDMI Cable 2M (6 Feet)
Mirage Nanosat Single satellite speaker
Mirage MS-STB-1 Stand for NANOSAT and NANOSAT Prestige, Pair - (MSSTBSTND)
Cables To Go - 40315 - 2M (6.6ft) Velocity HDMI Digital Video Cable (Blue)
Philips Spooled Speaker Wire - 100ft - 16 gauge
Onkyo DS-A2X Remote Interactive iPod Dock
Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
Fiber Optical Toslink Digital Audio Optic Interface 6 Foot Cable
Mirage Nanosat® 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System 5 compact satellite speakers and a powered subwoofer Reviews
Speakers fill the room with sound very well , and take up very little space. Got rid of my huge dinosaurs, wife was thrilled. Sub isnt huge but gives plenty of thump. Great set.
For the general user, the Mirage Nanosat speakers are great. At first glance, I had no intention of buying these. For those who pump up the bass, this may not be the set for you. I was against the small size and didn't think they could get loud enough. After installation, I was pleasantly surprised.
Thus, it is satisfactory for "punchy" bass, but not for any extended bass in a large room. The performance is beyond other speakers of this price. You'll have to pony up a LOT more cash for superb "reference" level speakers. The speakers can get fairly loud in volume, although they do lack a bit of mid-range sound.
If you are an "audiophile" looking for speakers for this price, you may have to realize that you are not going to find anything to your satisfaction. I own Klipsch floor standing speakers, but my parents didn't want to spend that kind of cash for their home theater.
These are great speakers for this price range. The subwoofer speaker isn't a large unit with a lot of power.
The powered subwoofer included with this set is not suitable for large rooms or "rumbling" bass. After reading some reviews and online forums, these speakers were held in high regard.
This installation was for my parents.
For the price, of course.
I used to pursue hi-fi nirvana, but now I think good enough is good enough. This aspect of omnipolar speakers is of course well publicized from people into alternate speaker technologies. What is amazing about these speakers is that when you hear the speakers from another room, human dialog is eerily natural, as if a real person is actually speaking in the next room. The build quality is excellent. Omnipolar technology is still non-existent in mass market outlets. And the sound is great. So why buy inferior technology when you can get ominpolar technology for the same price. Still, these speakers don't cost more than conventional speakers.
Unfortunately, I think the price is good only because Mirage is almost always on the verge of going out of business. For the price, this system is spectacular. In the best listening position, these tiny speakers sound just as good as the B&W and 3a speakers I was using. The design is cool. However, for my ears at least, this 'unusual' property does not seem to stand out as much, or at all, when I'm listening seriously in the perfect position, and when listening to music.
It's a fact that makes subwoofer placement very, very important. Overall I would say that these speakers are a good value. A few reviews said something concerning volume with the center channel speaker. I found that placing the sub behind something to break up/ disperse the sound a little helps a great deal, but the way I've solved this problem is by putting the sub under my desk basically right in front of me facing straight at me, but I realize that isn't an option available to everyone. The problem turned out to be dirty contact points on the volume knob. The center channel volume is fine. I have had a little trouble with the sub electronically.
It ruins the surround effect when everything lower than a certain pitch seems to be coming from the corner of the room where the sub is, especially when that pitch is so high relatively speaking. They do, however, have the amazingly seamless soundfield that the speakers 'dissapear' into that people have raved about. It's something that has to be experienced to believed. I haven't had a problem with it since, and it doesn't pop when you mess with the volume knob any more.
I solved it by turning the sub off and turning the know back and forth a bunch to wear off any crud built up on the contacts. For the first time I can actually hear a difference between DTS and Dolby Digital. (people with a high pile carpet should possibly put a pad or something under the sub because the down firing speaker moves so much it will probably hit the carpet on louder bass notes) The satellites have crystal clear and highly detailed highs. The sub has excellent, powerful bass. The improvement was remarkable. Most of what they said has proved true, so I'll try not to rehash what others have said. When I decided to get these speakers, I had read tons of reviews online.
There are a few things you may also have read about these speakers that I would like to dispell. I had heard about the 'cloud of sound' these speakers supposedly have that makes the room sound somehow bigger. I've had my Nanosat system for several months now, and I think I've finally spent enough time with them to write a review that does justice to this system. Bass without the sub is undeniably weak, but not aweful. I've been listeneing to a lot of old favorites, and it's almost like I'm hearing them for the first time again. I have the Nanosat 5 system plus 2 extra nanosat speakers setup in a small (approx 12x14) room in a 7.1 configuration. I've heard nuances that I'd never noticed in the hundreds of times I've listened to them before.
That is somewhat true. Sure it was better than the Creative Inspire 6.1 speakers I had, but was the improvement worth several hundred more. My center is mounted a bit lower than all the others (it sits on a pedestal behind my monitor about 6" above head height while all the other speakers are mounted on the wall about 16" from the ceiling facing down), but I don't really think that makes a big difference. They look very cool, are built like tanks, and with the sub properly located, they deliver a top notch movie and music experience.
Maybe. Volume on this system seems adequate for a small room, but I wouldn't put it in anything much bigger than what I have. The real problem is this: sounds below a certain frequency may be more or less non-directional, but this sub covers much higher pitches than that. The speakers are connected to a Yamaha RX-V659 7.1 receiver which I bought at the same time as the speakers, so I had no prior experience with the sound quality of the receiver with any other speakers. The sub would pop every time I touched the volume knob when I first got it, and then one day I started noticing this low grating noise coming from the sub.
Maybe I just don't have enough experience with higher end surround sound to recognize what they're talking about, but I don't hear it. It may be that the receiver -and not the speakers- can't handle the volume, but it certainly doesn't seem like my setup could handle much more. As far as sound quality is concerned, the limiting factor seems to be the recording quality of the movie or cd. but to me everything sounds convincingly located and very detailed.
All of this is connected -initially with 7.1 analogue and then finally digital fiber optics - to my PC which has a Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme Gamer soundcard. If you buy these, the one thing you absolutely, positively need to know about these speakers is that they need some break in time.especially the sub. Maybe it's just not as evident in 7.1 vs. Another thing that I'd read was that these speakers -need- the sub to sound good because the speakers don't have much bass. Some people had written that this 'cloud of sound' made the pinpoint possitioning of sounds a little less distinct. When I first got this system, I was a little dissapointed.
5.1. I've never had a problem hearing dialogue. After about 2-3 weeks things began to smooth out. I have a full 88 key keyboard hooked to my pc, and without the sub the speakers can cover the full piano range no problem. This is definitely this system's weakest point, and keeps me from giving it a full 5 stars.
The Bose 10 speakers are going back to Best Buy tomorrow. I have an Onkyo TSR605 receiver and I hooked up the Bose 10 speakers versus the Mirage Nanostat and the Mirage satellites are much, much clearer; also my old Onkyo woofer that came with my previous Onkyo Home Theater System produces much cleaner bass than the Bose (I started to get a headache with the Bose subwoofer because it was almost always booming when it shouldn't be and it was a muddled bass instead of a clean bass). For those who complain that the Mirage Nanostat center channel would be better if it pointed at you instead of the ceiling, I turned it so the speaker faced me to get a slightly louder sound or you could turn up the center channel and lower the rest of the other speakers but if this isn't good enough, I also hooked up the Bose center speaker and it acoustically matched the Mirage Nanostat speakers so you could always buy the Bose center speaker separately for $200. I tested both with a movie (The Incredibles) and a concert DVD (Sarah Brightman). I wish I could change my rating to 5 stars but Amazon won't let me change it. The Mirage Nanostat is about $500 without a woofer and the Bose 10 is $1000 but even if they were the same price, the Mirage is much clearer and won't give you a headache like Bose's subwoofer.
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