Sugg. Retail: $1100 pr (CAN)
Size: 36″H 7 1/2″W x 12″D
Manufacturer: Mirage Division, Audio Products
International Corp., 3641 McNicholl Ave., Toronto,
ON M1X 1G5 (416) 321-1800 FAX 321-1500
www.miragespeakers.com

From the Fall 2004 Audio Ideas Guide

Omnidirectional loudspeakers have been a mainstay of Mirage over the years, and have evolved under their design team from large panel designs to compact towers like the Omni 250. With a tweeter mounted under a dispersive lens and over a slant- mounted woofer/midrange, this design is intended to disperse sound much like a musical instrument. An additional front-mounted woofer is used, with a port below.

The Omni 250 has a quite small footprint for a full range loudspeaker, and is quite elegant looking. Mirage calls the dispersion device working with the tweeter the Omniguide. The tweeter itself is a “Pure Titanium Hybrid”, according to their web site, and “titanium deposit woofers” are also employed here. The Omni 250s are available in black ash or cherry finishes. Our review samples came in cherry, and I, being a true technophile, preferred them without the grilles on.

I did some extra measurements to confirm the speakers’ omnidirectional character. At top are a pair of Summed Axial Response (SAR) curves, the second from top one including 0, 15, 30, and 60 degree measurements, and the one above adding an 180 degree back measurement; they are very similar, confirming the omni performance.

This is also seen in the individual axial curves below, the bottom one taken at the speaker’s rear. We also see excellent bass response for its size, within a couple of dB to 50 Hz at the bottom, and very smooth across the band. The low end rolloff is quite gentle, so with careful placement, you should be able to coax good deep bass out of these speakers. Being front ported, they should not be all that room placement sensitive.

I guess, though, that we ultimately come to the philosophical question of whether omni is better than point source. I think not, but in many listening situations, a speaker like the Omni 250 can provide very pleasing sound throughout the room, not to just a sweet spot. That it’s as tonally accurate as we see here is a bonus, because reflections will be very similar to the direct sound, just as if you were listening to, say, a real cello being played in your room. Of course, API also has their direct radiator high end speakers in the Energy line, so they do get to have it both ways.

My advice would be to listen to the Mirage 250 and decide whether Omni is your thing. All that said, this is a very well engineered and excellent sounding loudspeaker, with surprising bass response for its size, very good dynamics, and a lot of value for the money.

Andrew Marshall