opinion: mirage m290 bookshelf spkr?
Bryan Levin
for evaluation, and I was curious what else (in that size) might be
comparable?
Any opinions on this spkr?
I found them at a local store, in 'used' condition. They cost me $250/pair.
I was told that there's a 5-yr warr on these, if brand new. The salesman was
willing to give me a 4-yr warr (from the store, I guess), since he said they
were trade-up's from a regular customer, and he believes they were in use for
about 1 year.
Is this a good price/deal ?
thanks,
--
.bl
Bryan Levin
I'm not familiar with these. What does 'psb' stand for? Any phone #'s to
help me locate a dealer in my area? Anyone know of a local dealer (south bay
area; silicon valley/sunnyvale, CA) ?
> I also hear that Signet makes fantastic speakers in this price range,
I did compare these with signet (260's, I think). Same basic size, but much
deeper, physically. The signets lacked a lot of midrange - I felt I was
missing too much sound in that range. The mirage boomed a lot more (had to
turn the bass down quite a bit) but was a bit smoother in the midrange. I
felt that with lower power amps, the 'boom' could be a plus, with more bass
per watt than the Signets.
> Where I worked, we always sold demo gear for at least 10% off retail
>(usually 15% off) and offered the FULL MANUFACTURER's warranty to boot.
>This guy should be offering you more than just $10 off.
I have bought lots of used gear before (in different hobbies), and I
usually go with the '1/3 rule', in general. I insist on 1/3 (or more) off
current retail price, for used gear. I thought I had a good price, but not
knowing the original retail for these, I was buying blind. I was told I had 7
days to evaluate them, risk free. I guess I'll see if they mean it. Of
course, if I find that they did me 'no favor' by not discounting them enough,
back they'll go - good sound or not.
By your comment of "$10 off", I assume you compared my purchase price to that
of current retail? If all I got was a $10 discount, I'd be VERY upset with
that store. Did I really only get 'noise' for a discount on these? ;-(
thanks for the comments - 6 days left to decide ;-)
--
.bl
Anshu Prasad
|> > Try the PSB Alpha ($200/pr) or better yet, the PSB 300 ($300/pr)
|>
|> I'm not familiar with these. What does 'psb' stand for?
Paul S. Barton, if I remember correctly. Don't ask me what the "S"
stands for though. PSB is a Canadian company with products ranging from
the inexpensive Alphas (mentioned above) to the $2300 Stratus Golds (which
get a Stereophile Class B rating, if you care about that). Personally,
I like the PSB characteristic sound a great deal. Very musical and never
fatiguing. Perhaps my only complaint is that while the midrange is smooth
and the bass is acceptable with careful placement, the top end often sounds
a little too laid back for my tastes. This is really only a minor gripe
but it applies to every PSB model I've heard upto (but not including) the
Stratus Silvers. Regardless, I think the Alphas are definitely worth a
listen if you're looking for inexpensive bookshelf speakers.
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______________________________________________________________________
_ ___
Anshu Prasad /\ | ||\\ |Advanced
Bell Northern Research Ltd / \ | || \\ |Intelligent
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada /____\|_||__\\|Networks
______________________________________________________________________
st...@rosie.uh.edu
I used to sell Mirage products, and while I like their M-series
products, IMHO the 90 series sounds sibilant and artificial compared to some
other products you can get around the same price.
Try the PSB Alpha ($200/pr) or better yet, the PSB 300 ($300/pr). They
come with a five year MANUFACTURER'S warranty which would be safer for you, and
I would personally rather listen to them than 90-series Mirage, for whatever
that's worth to you.
I also hear that Signet makes fantastic speakers in this price range,
but I have no model numbers or specifics. I do know that there are likely many
more PSB dealers than Signet in the US given that PSB is distributed by the
same people who distribute NAD in North America, and given that the British
Signet products have a smaller distributer (I think).
Remember--this is just my opinion. Listen to them all and buy what you
enjoy listening to the most. But I will say that any "reputable" store should
offer you a better price than that for a used product. Where I worked, we
always sold demo gear for at least 10% off retail (usually 15% off) and offered
the FULL MANUFACTURER's warranty to boot. This guy should be offering you more
than just $10 off. Hell, you could get $10 off a new pair without too much
trouble if you try. Have fun, and good luck!
Parth
st...@jetson.UH.edu
uP...@physics.ucla.edu
How are the Paradigms compared to the PSB's for inexpensive bookshelf speakers?
Thanks..
Cheers,
Vince
E-mail:hi...@mercury.sfsu.edu, \|/ System Adm - CircleStar Technologies, Inc.
ro...@berkeley.circlestar.com,(o o) San Francisco, California USA
_________________________oOO__(_)__OOo_____________________________
| There are many forms of science but only physics is the quantum |
| leap of the 21st Century. |
\_________________________________________________________________/
uP...@physics.ucla.edu UCLA Physics
le...@CERF.NET Los Angeles, California USA
ro...@ucla.circlestar.com
Bryan Levin
I didn't like the boom I was getting with the m290's. Admitedly, I was using
a cheap 'all in 1' amp/pre/tuner. JVC rated at 80w/ch, but I'd believe more
like 10 or so, clean.
Anyway, to dampen the woofer kickback (to the amp), I tried stuffing a sock
into the front port channel! Really. (ok, hold back on all those jokes on
stuffing socks to impress the ladies, etc) ;-)
Anyway, it was just a whimsical attempt to dampen the excess woof movement,
and to muffle the bass a bit. It seemed to help. I now have less boom but I
think that the boom was hiding some roughness in the midrange. Reducing this
boominess brought out some weaknesses in the design. Perhaps I was
'defeating' some of the design - could be ...
In any case, these are not really hi-end spkrs, and I mainly wanted a clean
tweeter (this one seems accurate enough) and a flat midrange - something that
would not squeak and squeal on upper-range female vocals. This seems to work
ok, although I still want to compare a few more models before finalizing my
decison.
Anyone else try the 'sock mod'? I know this is heresy [to some], but it does
seem an effective hack/cure ;-)
comments?
--
.bl
Anshu Prasad
>
>How are the Paradigms compared to the PSB's for inexpensive bookshelf speakers?
that's just me. You pretty much have to listen for yourself.