Loudspeakers are all about balancing conflicting variables: accepting that you can't have electrostatic transparency <I>and</I> horn dynamics; finding something to suit the size of your room <I>and</I> credit rating; and picking the best all-around compromise to suit your particular taste. Goldilocks had the right attitude for loudspeaker reviewing. All that too-soft/too-hard, too-hot/too-cold merely sets the scene; "just right" goes straight to the heart of the matter.

Loudspeakers are all about balancing conflicting variables: accepting that you can't have electrostatic transparency <I>and</I> horn dynamics; finding something to suit the size of your room <I>and</I> credit rating; and picking the best all-around compromise to suit your particular taste. Goldilocks had the right attitude for loudspeaker reviewing. All that too-soft/too-hard, too-hot/too-cold merely sets the scene; "just right" goes straight to the heart of the matter.

Loudspeakers are all about balancing conflicting variables: accepting that you can't have electrostatic transparency <I>and</I> horn dynamics; finding something to suit the size of your room <I>and</I> credit rating; and picking the best all-around compromise to suit your particular taste. Goldilocks had the right attitude for loudspeaker reviewing. All that too-soft/too-hard, too-hot/too-cold merely sets the scene; "just right" goes straight to the heart of the matter.

Loudspeakers are all about balancing conflicting variables: accepting that you can't have electrostatic transparency <I>and</I> horn dynamics; finding something to suit the size of your room <I>and</I> credit rating; and picking the best all-around compromise to suit your particular taste. Goldilocks had the right attitude for loudspeaker reviewing. All that too-soft/too-hard, too-hot/too-cold merely sets the scene; "just right" goes straight to the heart of the matter.

Loudspeakers are all about balancing conflicting variables: accepting that you can't have electrostatic transparency <I>and</I> horn dynamics; finding something to suit the size of your room <I>and</I> credit rating; and picking the best all-around compromise to suit your particular taste. Goldilocks had the right attitude for loudspeaker reviewing. All that too-soft/too-hard, too-hot/too-cold merely sets the scene; "just right" goes straight to the heart of the matter.

Loudspeakers are all about balancing conflicting variables: accepting that you can't have electrostatic transparency <I>and</I> horn dynamics; finding something to suit the size of your room <I>and</I> credit rating; and picking the best all-around compromise to suit your particular taste. Goldilocks had the right attitude for loudspeaker reviewing. All that too-soft/too-hard, too-hot/too-cold merely sets the scene; "just right" goes straight to the heart of the matter.

<B>HAYDN: Symphonies 99 & 102</B><BR>
Frans Br&#252;ggen, Orchestra of the 18th Century<BR>
Philips 434 077-2 (CD only). Sieuwer Verster, prod.; Jaap Bogaart, eng. DDD. TT: 48:57<BR>
<B>HAYDN: Symphonies 100 & 104</B><BR>
Frans Br&#252;ggen, Orchestra of the 18th Century<BR>Philips 434 096-2 (CD only). DDD. TT: 53:35

Mirage is a good name for a speaker manufacturer; it suggests that their products produce realistic illusions. A 1934 dictionary I've got supplies a definition for "mirage" that might also be apt: "An optical atmospheric illusion by which the image of a distant object is seen as if inverted." I don't mean that the Mirage OM stands Harry Belafonte on his head, or make him sing "O-Day"&mdash;instead, certain tenets of cones-in-a-box loudspeaker design and usage are turned turvy-topsy by Mirage's Omnipolar concept.

Mirage is a good name for a speaker manufacturer; it suggests that their products produce realistic illusions. A 1934 dictionary I've got supplies a definition for "mirage" that might also be apt: "An optical atmospheric illusion by which the image of a distant object is seen as if inverted." I don't mean that the Mirage OM stands Harry Belafonte on his head, or make him sing "O-Day"&mdash;instead, certain tenets of cones-in-a-box loudspeaker design and usage are turned turvy-topsy by Mirage's Omnipolar concept.