Mirage M-390i vs Mission m30i - mini review

drabina

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I just got used Mirage M-390i tower speakers. Yesterday, they replaced my Mission m30i (small bookshelf) so I could test them. All connected to the same receiver (Marantz 2215b) and with the same audio source (HTPC, audio CD, analog out). Well, they are totally different (no surprise here). I have to say that I still like the small Mission speakers better. They are just more clear if that's the correct expression. Mirage have better bass (no need for loudness at low volumes) but somehow they are missing something. I have to say though that vocals in Mirage speakers are excellent. They are also very easy to listen too. No fatigue even after few hours at moderate volume levels. Mission speakers are better balanced though. They do lack low end but they are not big enough to have a lot of it. With Mission, I do need loudness, but with it on, I do not need subwoofer for casual listening. Loudness with Mirage speakers would distort the sound too much. I will keep the Mirage connected for few days and then switch back to Mission speakers. Hopefully, my speaker preference will remain the same after the switch.

This is my mini review in case somebody is interested in either one of the speakers. I am not an expert by any means not even an advanced amateur when it comes to audio so keep that in mind when reading this.
 
15 watts is fairly low power I wonder if the Mirages would sound better with 60 watts per channel or better?
 
For my casual listening, I do not go past 9 on the volume when using Mission and I did not even go past 11 when listening to the Mirage. I will test them again in few weeks when I put together my 55W per channel gainclone that's currently in pieces.
 
11 though can actually be clipping on some amps especially on transient peaks. I find 100 watt per channel plus solid state amps listened to at 25% volume or less sound very good as there is lot of current available and a lot of head room. Just a thought.
 
i don't know a watt/clock indicator of sorts . but IME, speakers sort of slurp what makes
them feel good . if you have an amp w/ headroom, and low impedance capacity ,
they'll perform nicely.
 
I've done some extensive listening to the slightly bigger Mirage M-490i. Many of your comments on the 390's echo my experiences with the 490's. Good strong bass, non-fatiguing, and easy to listen to, yet somehow lacking something. Well, that something, IMO, is in the upper bass/lower midrange region. The 490's sounded good with modern jazz and rock, which often have lots of energy in the bass and treble, but sounded lifeless on classical and acoustic music where the upper bass/midrange is all-important.
 
I had the top-'o-the line Mission bookshelf, the Mission Cyrus 751, that had a deceptively simple looking 6 in. woofer and 1 in. aluminized dome tweeter. Rosewood cabinets that were as deep as they were tall, bi-amping capability, the whole schmeer.

Overall, the sound was very good, but lacking in deep bass. Mids were a tad recessed and the top end was a bit bright. I think this description could be applied to many vintage Mission speakers from the late 1970's or early 1980's. Although they presented a very clear, precise sound stage, I never found them to be involving speakers that could be listened to for extended periods. A friend had the tower version, the 753, which was identical in tonal qualities except for a slightly stronger bottom end due to the addition of two extra woofers. He ended up buying mine to pair with his for a h/t setup.

Mission eventually ditched the aluminized plastic tweeter for a textile dome to smooth out the high end.
 
Those Mirage speakers do need some power. The 190 is's I have are on rated at 87db, 1watt 1 meter. But they can handle 110 watts. I believe the 390's handle 125. But Mission does make very good speakers.
 
I think 390's are rated at 89db sensitivity and m30i at 86db so theoretically, Mirage should be easier on the amp than Mission. I have used volume at 11 only for a short period of time. Most of the time I listen at about 9 (10 max) even with my small 15W Marantz. This week I will connect both pairs to the amplifier so I can switch between them easily.
 
Mission 731 vs Mirage 390i

Hey folks,

I used to own small Mission 731, fantastic bookshelf speakers as you can expect from that manufacturer. Very well balanced, great detail etc but of course not much bass extension. Very pleasant though.
I just got a pair of Mirage towers this week while buying other stuff, not sure if they are M390i but from the pics I can see, they seem to be. Well I have hooked them to a mint Bryston 3B + Rotel preamp and waow, amazing !
So yes, I guess we can assume that tower speakers in general greatly benefit from clean and powerful amplification. A Marantz 2215 is sweet, but seriously, there is much better to get for a few bucks :p
 
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