Audiohead84
Active Member
So my neighbour come over yesterday and asked me if I wanted to take a look at a pair of speakers his brother was throwing out, he wasn't sure what they were or if they would work for him. Boy was I surprised when I walked up and seen two mirage 750s in fairly decent shape, considering they sat in a garage for the last 20 years. First thing i did was take a cover off, first thing my neighbour did (before I could say anything) was put a finger threw one of the surrounds lmao. He told me his brother had bought them after he graduated in the late 80s as his first system with a denon receiver...how cool.
So a bit of background for those who don't know, these are among mirages flagship line built by the great Kevin Voecks. Mirage was eventually bought out by api but by that time api was doing all the manufacturing anyways so win win. Its interesting to see how similar all api products are, I have a set of athena s3 with p3 subs, a set of mirage ohm14 omni-polar towers and now these 705s. It's pretty clear to me they all are from the same family. They all have tremendous sound, staging, and presence, they are all fun musical speakers, all well built but not overpriced usually beating the competitors price points and sound quality, one clear reason why I think klipch ended up buying out api imo. They ended up closing down all but api's energy brand of speaker but even the quality of them changed.
Of course I immediately brought them in and hooked them up lol. I have my new a402 hk so it was a good pair for a test. Fist thing I noticed was how bright and alive the highs and mids are, not in an over the top way but more smooth and easy on the ears. There really wasn't much bass but that was expected as the surrounds were falling apart and when i turned up the bass they blew apart. I can tell the woofers must be well made enough and probably pretty capable, they do have a 25w- 200w raiting. like all the other api line that I have had a chance to listen too these are very clear with a natural sound, more sound then you would expect.
Now I'm not quite sure what my neighbour wants to do with them. I gave my opinion that they would be worth saving but where I live we don't have speaker repair guys, the closest one is a couple city's away and who knows how much they charge. His listening needs and wants are quite different then mine aswell. He wants a complete home theater system for his home, I'm more into vintage and analog, so of course I would think they are worth saving. But will they really suit his needs ??? Iv even started the restoration process oops. Pulled the drivers, peeled the surrounds, cleaned the baskets...not that iv ever done a refoam lol. The boxes were very messily packed full of insulation so I pulled it all and repacked it neatly, got rid of all void spaces and even reduced by one full piece, figure I can add it back latter if the sound is off.
Now I have zero experience in refoaming a set of speakers but I am very meticulous and mechanically inclined, and I have watched enough YouTube videos too think I'm capable of giving it a shot. It wasn't easy but I did sorce the surrounds, the proper ones are a filleted angle (no defined inner lip) be careful if ever looking for them. The boston acustics line of 10 inch woofers and some subs also used this type of foam surrounds if you can't find any 750's. I opted for the domeless option as I really don't want to cut off that fabric one, or bother shimming the coil, seems to be the consensus that using test tones works just as good for bigger speakers even if they have little coil resistance??? Worth a shot lol...
I was also thinking of upgrading the wires in the crossover I think they are 16 or 18 gauge seems kinds thin? I use 12 or 14 gauge from my amp to the terminals but then inside its so thin, kinda seems redundant??
Any help would be appreciated, any knowledge of the 750s or if anyone has refoamed/restored them that has any tips and suggestions?? Opinions??....Will keep updating this post as I progress.
So a bit of background for those who don't know, these are among mirages flagship line built by the great Kevin Voecks. Mirage was eventually bought out by api but by that time api was doing all the manufacturing anyways so win win. Its interesting to see how similar all api products are, I have a set of athena s3 with p3 subs, a set of mirage ohm14 omni-polar towers and now these 705s. It's pretty clear to me they all are from the same family. They all have tremendous sound, staging, and presence, they are all fun musical speakers, all well built but not overpriced usually beating the competitors price points and sound quality, one clear reason why I think klipch ended up buying out api imo. They ended up closing down all but api's energy brand of speaker but even the quality of them changed.
Of course I immediately brought them in and hooked them up lol. I have my new a402 hk so it was a good pair for a test. Fist thing I noticed was how bright and alive the highs and mids are, not in an over the top way but more smooth and easy on the ears. There really wasn't much bass but that was expected as the surrounds were falling apart and when i turned up the bass they blew apart. I can tell the woofers must be well made enough and probably pretty capable, they do have a 25w- 200w raiting. like all the other api line that I have had a chance to listen too these are very clear with a natural sound, more sound then you would expect.
Now I'm not quite sure what my neighbour wants to do with them. I gave my opinion that they would be worth saving but where I live we don't have speaker repair guys, the closest one is a couple city's away and who knows how much they charge. His listening needs and wants are quite different then mine aswell. He wants a complete home theater system for his home, I'm more into vintage and analog, so of course I would think they are worth saving. But will they really suit his needs ??? Iv even started the restoration process oops. Pulled the drivers, peeled the surrounds, cleaned the baskets...not that iv ever done a refoam lol. The boxes were very messily packed full of insulation so I pulled it all and repacked it neatly, got rid of all void spaces and even reduced by one full piece, figure I can add it back latter if the sound is off.
Now I have zero experience in refoaming a set of speakers but I am very meticulous and mechanically inclined, and I have watched enough YouTube videos too think I'm capable of giving it a shot. It wasn't easy but I did sorce the surrounds, the proper ones are a filleted angle (no defined inner lip) be careful if ever looking for them. The boston acustics line of 10 inch woofers and some subs also used this type of foam surrounds if you can't find any 750's. I opted for the domeless option as I really don't want to cut off that fabric one, or bother shimming the coil, seems to be the consensus that using test tones works just as good for bigger speakers even if they have little coil resistance??? Worth a shot lol...
I was also thinking of upgrading the wires in the crossover I think they are 16 or 18 gauge seems kinds thin? I use 12 or 14 gauge from my amp to the terminals but then inside its so thin, kinda seems redundant??
Any help would be appreciated, any knowledge of the 750s or if anyone has refoamed/restored them that has any tips and suggestions?? Opinions??....Will keep updating this post as I progress.
it's a filleted surround similar to the boston acustics line. Only found one guy with the proper surrounds audiodog...(iykyk) but they are the exact match to what I took off, and went on like cinderella's slipper.