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CNET editors' rating:
4.0
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 11 reviews
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Product summary
The
good: These uniquely styled, compact satellite speakers are built around omnidirectional driver technology that creates a huge sound. The all-metal satellite cabinets are exquisitely finished, they have versatile mounting options, and the 8-inch, 75-watt powered subwoofer is spunky for its size.
The
bad: The omnidirectional sound makes the Nanosat a less than ideal candidate for placement on a shelf under your TV (in the case of the center channel), and the lack of a crossover switch places that duty on your receiver. While the sound quality is great relative to the speakers' size, it can be a bit thin or anemic when compared to that of larger speakers.
The
bottom
line: Despite their tiny size, the speakers of the Mirage Nanosat 5.1 System offered positively huge sound on CDs and DVDs, with only a few minor shortcomings.
Specifications: Type of speaker: home theater speaker system ; Sensitivity: 87 dB ; Power output: 10 Watt=75 Watt See full specs
Price range: $499.99
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 06/15/2006
- Released on: 07/15/2004
Viewed from above, the Nanosat speaker is a smoothly rounded triangle, with its midrange and tweeter mounted on its angled top surface, visible under a curved, magnetically attached metal grille. The Nanosat's beautifully finished platinum/brushed-black aluminum cabinet is a mere 5.8 inches tall, 4.2 wide, and 4.3 deep. The speakers come with a metal L-shaped wall bracket attached to their bottoms. With that bracket, you can invert the Nanosats and wall mount them near the ceiling upside-down, so they'll direct sound toward the listening position. That may be an ideal arrangement for the front or rear/surround Nanosats, but if you can't wall mount the speakers or have them live on an open shelf, you can opt for Mirage's sleek-looking MS-STB-1 floor stands ($80 a pair), which give you lots of flexibility with placement.
The Mirage system includes five identical Nanosats, with no dedicated center-channel speaker. That's fine, but because of the way the speaker radiates sound upward, the center-channel Nanosat won't sound its best if you place it on a shelf under a TV--better stick with the top of your television. Wall mounting under a flat-screen model shouldn't be a problem, and if you're interested in a 6.1- or 7.1-channel system, extra Nanosats are available separately for $125 each.
You don't have to be an engineer or an audiophile to notice the Nanosat is a very different sort of loudspeaker. The Nanosats' perforated metal grilles don't hide the speaker's upward-facing dome-shaped "dispersion modules" strategically positioned above the Nanosat's 2.75-inch titanium-hybrid midrange and 0.75-inch titanium dome tweeter. The modules create the speaker's Omnipolar radiation pattern and use the room's reflections to create a deep, wide, and tall soundstage. The speaker's all-metal binding posts offer a solid connection with banana jacks, spades, or stripped bare wire ends.
As for the Nano sub, it's a neatly styled medium gray box with curved corners that measure 13.5 inches tall and wide and 11.7 inches deep, and it weighs 20.1 pounds. Its 8-inch down-firing woofer features Ribbed Elliptical Surround technology to lower distortion and increase the system's bass capability. Impressively, the sub's 75-watt amplifier is capable of delivering as much as 300 watts for brief periods of time. Connectivity is limited to a single RCA line-level input and a pair of speaker-level inputs. We noted the sub lacks a phase control that would help smooth the bass transition with the satellites in some installations. However, we experienced no problems in that regard.
The subwoofer itself doesn't have a crossover, relying instead on the one built into most A/V receivers (the Nanosat owner's manual recommends selecting a 120Hz subwoofer crossover). That's fine, but not all receivers offer that sort of adjustability and, instead, come with fixed 80Hz or 100Hz crossovers; we suggest you first consult your receiver's owner's manual to make sure you can tweak the necessary subwoofer crossover settings. The wrong setting won't do any harm but may cause a gap in the bass output between the Nanosats and the subwoofer.
Mirage also offers a higher-quality version of the speaker, the Nanosat Prestige, for $175 a speaker. The slightly larger Omnisat, now in its second incarnation, sells for $250 each and works with a wide variety of Mirage subwoofers, including the $500 Omni S10. The older--but still excellent--original incarnation of the Omnisat remains available from some retailers for $150 per speaker.
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