Bookshelf Speaker Reviews

Moving right along, I popped in one of my favorite DVDs: A Bug's Life. Again, my notes indicate an enveloping soundstage with a particularly high score on detail. There's a scene within the first few minutes where an ant is sounding a horn to alert his colony of the arrival of the grasshoppers, which has never stood out with any system I've reviewed. I could almost feel the ant's lips against the horn (do ants even have lips?).

Although I listened to several movie excerpts for this review, The Matrix stood out on my list. It's not often that I forget I'm reviewing speakers when I pop in a DVD; however, with the Mirage ensemble, it was easy to become lost in my work. The dialogue was clear, uncolored, and, again, extremely smooth. And the bass response and accuracy of the subs make this ensemble a keeper. It's important to note that, while the pair of subwoofers produced excellent bass response, one woofer could certainly fill the bill in an average-size room.

This is the first review in a while that I actually looked forward to writing. Mirage not only impressed me with the types and amount of material included in the HDT owner's manual but with the effort they put into their HDT ensemble, as well. This is a company who obviously takes a great deal of pride in what they do—building speaker systems that enable us to truly enjoy our home theater.

The bottom line is, take the time to give the Mirage High-Definition Theater ensemble a listen. If you're like me, you'll be glad you did.

Highlights
• Extremely helpful owner's manual
• Center channel reproduces dialogue wonderfully
• Wide, enveloping soundstage

HT Labs Measures: Mirage HDT Speakers

This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the HDT-F (top trace) and HDT-R (lower trace). All passive loudspeakers were measured with a 2.83-volt input and scaled for display purposes.

On-axis response of the HDT-F measures +1/-3.5 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The -3dB point is at 72 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 4.4 ohms at 141 Hz. Sensitivity is 88.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz, measured at a distance of 1 meter.

In-room averaged response of the HDT-R measures +3/-4 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. The -3dB point is at 76 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 4.31 ohms at 260 Hz. Sensitivity is 86 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz, measured at a distance of 1 meter.—AJ