[prepress]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Charles...if you are happy with the sonic signature/attributes of your Mirages, I would stick with them. Especially if they have rewarded you with improving sonics as you have upgraded the front-end as that means they are punching above their weight.

If you are missing something (dynamics, low end authority or articulation, imaging/sound staging, etc...whatever your sonic priorities are) then that is a different story, however, since you have kept them for 20+ years, I doubt that is the case.

The only thing I would be worried about are the caps in the crossovers and the driver surrounds starting to crack/dry out after so many years. So maybe a call into Mirage is in order to ask them about these issues and if they can point to a local tech who can check those out along with any other issues they suggest. After their check up, your speakers may be given the thumbs up for the next 20 years.

Enjoy them in good health and for as long as you can.

My 2c.

A good two cents.

The dynamics issue is due to the preamp change from my ARC LS3 to the Mac C2300. I've compensated with the 2300's tone controls, and things improved, definitely, but are not quite where they were though I'm not sure the difference is that bad. Before this speaker thing started I was considering simply changing out speaker cable to see if that would tweak things, to either Kimber 12TC or Transparent MusicWave Plus. I have 2 pairs of AQ King Cobra inerconnect, and I could try those in place of my Kimber Hero for a bit. Meantime, more listening is in order.

Psychologically, there's also the influence of the forums and reading about other people's experiences with their speakers, especially ones within or near my price range. The course of my preamp thread was altered by that very same thing.