Mirage Nanostat 5.1 Speaker System

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I apologize up front that this product review has nothing to do with food. But there is a 3-degree separation from the kitchen remodel, which has a 1-degree separation from food. Also, these would be used to listen to any kind of cooking show…Yeah, it’s a stretch but it’s the best I can do.

As part of the kitchen remodel, we decided to update the family room since it’s right next to the kitchen and required some type of reconfiguration in order to make room for the island. Kind of a 90-degree shift. Since the ceiling drywall would have to come down anyway, we thought we’d take the opportunity to hide speaker wires in the ceiling. This led to new speaker layout, which, yes, you guessed it, an excuse need to look into new speakers.

My first inclination was to go with in-ceiling and/or in-wall speakers. This would give a nice, clean contemporary look which would go well with the new kitchen. But after a lot of research, I shifted away from those even though they would be the cleanest. The biggest drawback with in-ceiling was the sound and the limited ability to redirect tweeters. The higher end in-ceiling speakers offer some flexibility but none of them are boxed and would require some kind of box building on my part. Uh, nope, not going to put in that kind of effort. Yes, I want a good surround home stereo system but I’m not an audiophile nor did I want to try to work around my GC (general contractor) to get these make-shift sound boxes up in the rafters. No, I will not be a subject matter for Renovation Realities. Also investing in a high-end (i.e. very very expensive) home theater system would be wasted due to the configuration of the family room. Bottom line, dollar-to-dollar, nuts-to-nuts, an in-ceiling speaker will never sound as good as its cabinet counterpart.

I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, under $1K for everything, including speaker wires. Also, I was NOT going to buy Bose, not that I could have gotten a Bose system for under $1K (sha!). Again, after a lot of research, I decided to try out the Mirage Nanostat 5.1 speaker system, sight unseen (er…sound unheard?) because of all the reviews. It seemed like the perfect solution to the small footprint I wanted in a satellite speaker while still being able to use my existing Onkyo AV receiver. Its omnipolar sound projection is perfectly suited for the way our seating will be set up. I can keep the stock center speaker and create a 6.1 rather than a 5.1 system. Granted my current setup is 7.1 but if the reviews about the Nanostat are correct, I certainly won’t be missing that 6th speaker. Besides, there really isn’t a place to put center satellites like I currently do without it looking really tacky and obtrusive.

Mirage is a Klipsh company so I was hopeful that the Mirage line would have the same high quality that Klipsh is known for. I also considered Infinity (first choice) or Polk but neither offered as small of a footprint with the same sound output. Mirage Nanostat 5.1 is actually Mirage’s lower line system but as I explained above, the layout of the family room as well as its size made this a good match.

So Brown (aka UPS) dropped off the new speakers today and I giggled like a little girl on Christmas morning as I opened up the box. It’s a fairly heavy box, ~37 lbs. The first thing I wanted to see was the tweeter and woofer on the speaker. The tweeter looks like a little space ship to me, hovering over the midrange (woofer) and the combo is what gives the 360º sound. The speaker is cute and cool looking and it fits in my palm. Definitely the contemporary look that I wanted. Cute and cool as it may be, but how does it sound?

I popped in 300 and went right to the first fight scene. We listened to the scene on the existing Onkyo speakers. Sounds good. Then I swapped out the back surrounds and listened again. No real distinct difference but maybe the surround was a wee bit clearer? The Mister didn’t really hear a difference. I decided to try one of my favorite movies as well as a good movie to test for sound, Gladiator! Again, we went right to the first fight scene. Background noises sounded good, can hear the arrows zinging through the air, although directionality seems to be missing. 

I then swapped out the front speakers leaving the Mirage back surrounds hooked-up. Again, back to the same scene but this time the background noises were crisper. There was no doubt, even the Mister’s ears heard a difference, more brilliant and defined. I sat in different places on the couch to check for the sweet spot and indeed it seemed to have gotten wider!  Then I went to the scene where Maximus is being ridden out at dawn to receive “A Soldier’s Death.” I was tickled pink when I heard the swooshing of the sword from the back of my right ear, flying across to the front of the room. It was just so cool! I think I even heard the Mister chuckle a little. I then swapped back to the Onkyo front speakers and replayed the scene. There was still swooshing and directionality but it was less defined to my ears. The Mister didn’t pick up on the clarity difference like he did with the other fight scene but I certainly heard the difference. And all that coming out of such a small speaker.

This was just a quick out-of-the-box test with no adjustment or tweaking, the Nanostats definitely provided a better sound than the existing Onkyos. Of course the true test will be once the room is all wired and I have all the speakers hooked up and adjusted. With a price way under my original budget, I think I’m really going to like these Nanostats. And did I mention these looked really cool up on the wall mounts?

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