A gem of a unassuming speaker. Mirage SM-.5

[Gaspar74]

Just got done refoaming a set of speakers I stumbled across. I have owned new models of Mirage but nothing of this era. Upon inspection it needed surrounds replaced as I figured for its age. I proceeded in tearing it down and inspecting drivers and woofers checked out as did tweeters. I had very low expectations for these especially after seeing what was the crossover. Few components hot glued to the cabinet. Speaking of cabinet. That part is what stood out to me most at first. How solid these were and inert. Orders up proper foam surround for this model from Springfield speaker and refoamed them yesterday. Today was try them out day. I half assedlynjust proper them up on top of one my main speakers and hooked it up to my class D Icepower amp I built and proceeded in playing a track by https://i.imgur.com/LeBK8Sq.png

I was floored at how lifelike and natural these sounded. Imaging and detail was amazing and not what I expected. These were some very accurate sounding speakers. Not warm not bright. Not soft on too full of brilliance and Atmosphere. The timbre blew me away.
Moral here is don’t assume like I did. Glad I put time into them.

 

[ghamilton]

I use to sell those speakers in the 80s.
They use a first order crossover which makes them extra musical.
I remember them well and I really liked them. Very natural sounding.

 

[Oldsansui441]

Nice find Gaspar74, good to hear you are enjoying your newly restored Mirage's.

 

[vntgedad2016]

Just got done refoaming a set of speakers I stumbled across. I have owned new models of Mirage but nothing of this era. Upon inspection it needed surrounds replaced as I figured for its age. I proceeded in tearing it down and inspecting drivers and woofers checked out as did tweeters. I had very low expectations for these especially after seeing what was the crossover. Few components hot glued to the cabinet. Speaking of cabinet. That part is what stood out to me most at first. How solid these were and inert. Orders up proper foam surround for this model from Springfield speaker and refoamed them yesterday. Today was try them out day. I half assedlynjust proper them up on top of one my main speakers and hooked it up to my class D Icepower amp I built and proceeded in playing a track by

https://imgur.com/LeBK8Sq

I was floored at how lifelike and natural these sounded. Imaging and detail was amazing and not what I expected. These were some very accurate sounding speakers. Not warm not bright. Not soft on too full of brilliance and Atmosphere. The timbre blew me away.
Moral here is don’t assume like I did. Glad I put time into them.

Back in 1982, in college, I was looking for speakers to complement my HK330i and Luxman K10 cassette deck. I listened to a lot of small bookshelf style speakers and with my hearing being off, lol, I found that the Mirage SM.5 gave me the best listening pleasure. Especially with my 80"s jazz albums. I still have the Mirages. Unfortunately, sadly, not the HK330i. Looking to rebuild my SM.5's and buying another HK receiver.

 

[The Plumber]

Back in 1982, in college, I was looking for speakers to complement my HK330i and Luxman K10 cassette deck. I listened to a lot of small bookshelf style speakers and with my hearing being off, lol, I found that the Mirage SM.5 gave me the best listening pleasure. Especially with my 80"s jazz albums. I still have the Mirages. Unfortunately, sadly, not the HK330i. Looking to rebuild my SM.5's and buying another HK receiver.

I still have my original pair too, bought new. I had them refoamed a couple of years ago and, despite being familiar with them, was amazed again at how lifelike they sound. The acoustic suspension design delivers tight bass a bit deeper than you might expect. Carefully pairing them with a decent subwoofer makes a remarkably realistic sounding system.

 

[Pablo77]

I always check out Mirage speakers when they go by, have the m-350s which have outstanding bass for the size and the smaller SM2, looks like this:

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649601268-mirage-sm2-speakers/images/2624481/

I like the SM2's a little less than the 350s but as OP says cabinet quality is outstanding and design is sound.. All Mirage speakers are not hard to find in Canada and good value (hard to resell though). Very flat and accurate - a little too much for my taste - and always high quality. I especially like the pre-API models.