Has anybody ever heard of this company? Go with a name that is familiar and reputable.

Vanns is a well-known A/V retailer.

Mirage is a very good speaker manufacturer; their big difference from most others is that their speakers aren't strongly directional for high frequencies. Most speakers have a tweeter pointing forward. If you're not within 10-30 degrees of where it's pointing, the volume for high frequencies drops way off. (The amount of "beaming" increases with frequency.) This is why people "toe-in" their speakers to point to the sweet spot.

Mirage speakers point the tweeter up at a cone, so the sound hits the cone and disperses much more evenly into the room. This makes the system sound much better when you're not directly in the center of the room, and also produces more natural reflections off the walls (instead of the reflections being weighted to midrange).

The Nanosats are very good (though obviously little bass from small speakers; range 110Hz-20KHz); with a bass/subwoofer unit they make a really nice system - they have package savings on these plus a 300W 10" Mirage subwoofer for $549 (the subwoofer alone is normally $799). It's a great price; list is ~$550. I'd go for that one over the 200W (8", normally $599) combo deal for $500.

I can't figure out if you really know way too much about speakers or if you are bullshitting us.

Check the reviews
http://reviews.cnet.com/surround-speaker-systems/mirage-nanosat-5-1/4505-7868_7-31624255.html?tag=mncol;lst

These really are great speakers. I picked them up last time he posted it. You do need a dedicated center channel and a sub to make them sound great, though. Best buy had last year's model of the center channel for $200 when I was there last week and you can get good subwoofer for ~200. Check avsforums for good budget models. Add a nice Onkyo receiver and some cables from monoprice and you have a nice 6.1 surround setup for ~$1000 that will kick the pants of most all-in-one solutions.

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You can demo them at bestbuy if you want to hear them. They sound great.

Bullshit, no speaker this size can have good sound quality. FACT!

ahh mofo to the scene.....where is the smirk m?

needs a sub

they sound awesome!

Great start to a speaker system. Obviously at this size one would need a subwoofer. Mirage is a great speaker company and I wholeheartedly agree with #2.