Speaker Possibilities

[o0OBillO0o]

With an extra pair of amp trigger cables, your (future) speakers can glow too!

Sent from my iPad using A.Aficionado

[prepress]

I received this reply from Mirage today:

Hi Charles,
Unfortunately there isn't any particular service I can refer you to for a general diagnostic or otherwise, but realistically if your speakers are in good working condition, you shouldn't have to replace any parts. Parts are potentially still available for the speaker in case any drivers are blown or there is a crossover failure. Do the surrounds appear to be cracking or do they look okay?

I don't recall if the speakers' grille is removable (I don't think it's designed to be). I may try, though. The larger question is how to apply this info to my thought process.

[prepress]

After playing the Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play the Blues DVD (Jazz at Lincoln Center), I am leaning strongly toward no immediate moves on the Mirages at the very least.

[o0OBillO0o]

Thanks for the update

[prepress]

Originally Posted by o0OBillO0o

Thanks for the update

If I make a move anytime soon, it would probably not be for preemptive purposes; more likely it would be because I decided to get new speakers for another reason. I'm still thinking it out, but have yet to discover a truly practical/philosophical reason to replace the Mirages under the circumstances that convinces me. Fear of failure during retirement doesn't seem to be cutting it.

That said, I'm going to start putting some money away if I can (NY is EXPENSIVE), just in case . . .

[o0OBillO0o]

I don't know what others think- but I like this "outer" monologue that you are having.

I fight the urge to want more all the time. more this more that, with music as almost a religious experience many us want to be closer to the "signal" or the artist.

We all hem and haw over things and some just say "MAKE A DECISION!" - whatever path you take I am almost certain you knew exactly why, when, and how.

[prepress]

Originally Posted by o0OBillO0o

I don't know what others think- but I like this "outer" monologue that you are having.

I fight the urge to want more all the time. more this more that, with music as almost a religious experience many us want to be closer to the "signal" or the artist.

We all hem and haw over things and some just say "MAKE A DECISION!" - whatever path you take I am almost certain you knew exactly why, when, and how.

My sudden interest in the Legacy Focus was fueled by someone else's very positive experience with them. Def Tech 7000scs are bipolar and should provide a similar soundfield to the M-3sis, plus they'd be the least expensive and easiest to get. The XR200s came about due to hearing the XRT1K in a HT/stereo demo at a local Mac dealer during the NY Audio show; I was quite intrigued. The Brystons have been praised universally, and the specs are nice. All quick, intense highs that have settled down, though not vanished.

[prepress]

I have received instructions from Mirage on how to remove the M-3si grille socks, as well as the drivers and crossovers. I don't have time to do it right now, but will investigate. In the crossover's case I would need a soldering iron for replacing it, which I don't have. The plot thickens a bit.

[prepress]

Saturday night a friend from church came over. She had expressed an interest in doing so a while ago, and "cornered" me on it last month, so we set up yesterday. She arrived, and I gave her a tour of the system. We (I) ordered burgers and sweet-potato fries from a nearby burger joint (NOT a chain, by the way), we brought them back here and I put on some music to eat burgers by, an Antonio Carlos Jobim anthology. Her mouth hung open at the sound. She hadn't heard anything like that before. She was amazed.

After burgers (there was key lime cheesecake later, too), we came back to the living room and I played VJ for her with tracks from Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live from Madison Square Garden, Marcus Miller In Concert, How Great Thou Art from the Bill Gaither Homecoming series, and Ivete Sangalo MTV Ao Vivo (she's a Brazilian pop singer, if you didn't know). There was even a video from an animation tournament on laserdisc, Oral Hygiene (you wouldn't believe it if I told you, so I won't; suffice it to say the lead character is a skeleton head wearing oversized tennis shoes). She raved about the sound of everything, and laughed at Oral Hygiene. She had a good time and it was obvious. I did, too.

I have a bit of clarity going forward. I haven't had a chance to inspect the Mirage drivers, but after Saturday night, I don't see replacing my speakers in the absence of a compelling reason, and I'm not sure what that would be. If I get around to looking at the drivers and see evidence of a problem, then I'll go forward with an active search. Other than that, I doubt "a change is gonna come" soon.

[winston1156]

So well thought through. Honestly, if the sound is good, why change? I always did think the mirage sound was enjoyable..... I had def techs when they were just starting in business and my comparison was to mirage... very smooth.