The advertisement appeared just months before the speaker did. It was intriguing at first ... then almost annoying. Enough marketing, when would I get my chance to audition an OMNISAT ensemble?

Finally that day came. A relatively small box arrived with our daily shipments and a picture on the box confirmed the Mirage OMNISAT had arrived!

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For those of you who are new to home entertainment, and for those of you who aren't, the Mirage name may still be relatively unknown. I have always considered Mirage to be a higher-end offering, not mass marketed or easily afforded by those with tight budgets. The enclosures have traditionally been very plain and straightforward while the technology has resided within the driver selection and crossover technology. The OMNISAT represents a radical departure for Mirage on many fronts.

Unique Features - Where do I begin? As the OMNISAT name implies, the "sat" or satellite is omni-directional. In other words, sound emanates in every direction. If you're an old audiophile, then you may want to sit down for this one. The OMNISAT line incorporates Mirage Omnipolar technology. Omnipolar technology relies on natural, and inevitable, room reflections to create a sound field not typically associated with conventional loudspeakers. More simply described as 70% reflective and 30% non-reflective--exactly the same ratio as natural sound. Okay, audiophiles, here it comes--the OMNISAT relies on off-axis response to create its desired sound field.

Remain seated for just one moment and, please, keep reading. When audiophiles hear the term "reflective" marketed with a speaker, they tend to get a little woozy. Oh, what the hell, I'll just come right out and say it--this is NOT similar to "Direct Reflective Technology" which has a hole in the soundstage big enough to drive a truck through the Mirage OMNISAT actually works well.

Now that that's off my chest, let me get back to the review. . .

Omnipolar designs have been attempted before with little success. While they may have worked well, they required twice the driver compliment and were inherently more obtrusive and much more costly. Effectively what Mirage has done is engineer an Omnipolar satellite speaker that uses a 1-inch tweeter and 4.5-inch mid/bass driver and high quality 5-way binding post connections. The end result is a compact speaker that weighs about 7 pounds and can be placed just about anywhere in the general proximity of 5.1 parameters.

Through the shape of the satellite, baffle offset and shaped acoustic reflectors above the speaker array, the OMNISAT speakers create a spherical radiating soundstage producing what Mirage calls "sweet spot everywhere."

To anchor the soundstage, the OMNISAT 6 ensemble features a Mirage LF-150 10-inch powered subwoofer. The LF-150 is also magnetically shielded (rare for a subwoofer), to keep it from potentially damaging your display, and features a 150-watt amplifier, 40Hz-120Hz @ 18db per octave variable crossover and high and low level inputs. The sub enclosure measures approximately 12x20x14 and weighs a hefty 45 pounds.
Click to Page 2 for Installation, Listening, and the Final Take.