Drawbacks

All-in-all these speakers proved to be a great addition to my home theater setup but there were a few drawbacks. While I could almost feel the cannonball in Sahara rushing past my face, I wasn't able to pinpoint its exact location the way I would have been able to with conventional speakers. Mirage speakers disperse sound, creating a wider soundfield at the expense of some of the detailed, plottable sound that direct radiators can provide. It wasn't a huge drawback, but could affect folks who are interested in perceiving a tight, well-defined reproduction of sound effects or music.

This little sub was necessary to expand the sound around my room.

Also, the speakers did a wonderful job of providing sound from my CDs, but definitely need the subwoofer with their small size. At one point, I played a CD, Jack's Mannequin Everything in Transit without the subwoofer turned on, and the lack of depth seemed to deflate the music. With speakers of this size, it's not suprising that a subwoofer is needed to add the lower frequencies, but it's worth mentioning. When I turned the subwoofer back on, the music had added depth and power.

Conclusion

I'd recommend these speakers for a few different types of rooms:

• Multi-purpose rooms where people, like myself, need the room to be devoted to many different functions but still would like a strong surround system for movie nights and music listening.
• Secondary home theater rooms where folks are looking to have another movie room in addition to their main system. I could see these Nanosats also working well in a bedroom, guest room, or den.

Overall, I really enjoyed using the Nanosats, and they turned my ill-equipped living room into a great sounding home theater room. These, or similar Mirage models, will definitely be on my list of items to purchase in the future.