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Mission 7XX series

qboneus

qboneus

Senior Member
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and now on to something you don't hear much about; mission 7XX series speakers.

This is a cruddy picture of one my mission 765 speakers.
I bought these speakers at a half-Price sale at a local pawn shop years ago for $75; funny thing is I had looked at them the week before and they were marked $200, considered and passed.
The following week I was driving around and heard an ad for this pawn shop running their annual 1/2 price sale and thought of these speakers.
when I got there they were marked $150! and 1/2 price of that!!
at $75 it was love at first sight, and then it was further compounded when I listened to these beauties; they are really an excellent speaker (even if my picture sucks).
I only rarely see mission speakers mentioned, in passing typically.
What gives?
these are GREAT speakers!
I have been enjoying mine for years and will continue for many more:music:

any other figurative 'closet' mission fans ready to come out?
Tal
 

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No closets, but I've owned several pair of Mission's, 700, 701 and my personal favourite, Mission Cyrus 751's. The 751's were small stand mounts that went for $800/pr in the '80's. A 5.5 in. mid/bass and 1 in. tweeter. Real Rosewood cabinets. Twice as deep as they were wide, they were superb speakers. Wish I still had them. I've never heard a Mission speaker I didn't like.
 
Several years ago I auditioned Mission 751 speakers at a dealer and loved them. Couldn't afford them then, though.

Now I have a pair of Mission 733 speakers, which sound amazing with a Kenwood Basic C2 and M2 pre and power amp. This system is in the children's room, but I listen to it a lot. The speakers do need the right amp to sound their best, I think. Didn't sound too good with a Sony TA-N55ES amp, even though that amp is great with other speakers I have.
 

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Glad to see a few more mission users, these are really great speakers, I'm not sure why they don't have a larger fanbase.
tal
 
never owned but i have heard the 760i and 780se...both excellent..first class imaging..and they dig out a surprisingly deep and articulate bass for their size...
i'd love to own the 751..or 771 too...mission do know how to make a good sounding speaker:thmbsp:
 
I have a pair of Renaissance 737s, that I picked up on vacation for $25 at an antiques store in Cape Cod. They sound very nice, sort of similar to my Rogers LS7t, but not quite as revealing at the high end.
 

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I bought my daughter a pair of little Mission 761i speakers.....and a 10" Dayton (Parts Express) powered Sub-woofer.
Pretty sweet little system she has now.....all Denon components, with a Dual TT.


Steve
 
There's a pair of 765's for sale local to me. He's had them listed for several months.....at $325/pr. I'm an ADS fan, but also not in the market for more speakers (don't we all say that?) right now. I'm curious to hear them, but don't want to waste the guy's time. Seems a bit overpriced, but maybe not.
 
qboneus said:
Glad to see a few more mission users, these are really great speakers, I'm not sure why they don't have a larger fanbase.
tal
Click to expand...

One more here... I love my 700s although they don't see much use these days.

I'm in the process of deciding whether or not it's time for them to go.

They're great for late night, classical/jazz listening sessions...
 
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I picked up a pr of 763's for 80 bucks and i just love them even though i havnt heard any good reviews of them i always hear i should have a different model.Wish i knew what they were worth org. out of curiosity
 
I've accumulated 3 pairs (732, 70 MkII, M50) and like them all. The 732's are perfect as near fields at my computer, among the very few speakers that allow me hours of CD listening without getting a digital hangover. The diminutive M50's easily bested and replaced the Minimus 7's in my office system.

Mission consistently did a crappy job of marketing their speakers in the USA (currently, they don't even have a distributor here) so their name recognition is poor, unlike in Europe. Which is good for us, keeps the resale prices low....
 
I have five pair. I got some 700s (the original with the woofer on top) in 1982, some slightly larger 717s a couple of years ago (both in beautiful a teak-like wood with white motorboards), some 760i minis, some 763s and some 762s (the latter three all black ash vinyl clad).

Early and mid-period Missions were very much in the Rogers, KEF, Harbeth, Decca Monitor, BBC school of sound. Later Missions went kind of downhill sonically (IMHO), as they tried to stay afloat with cheaper construction, and a more "attention getting" sound.

700w.jpg

700 (stolen image)

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717 (stolen image)

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760i (stolen image)

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762i (my actual speaker)

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763i (stolen image)
 
I owned pair of 700s and still have a pair 702e's both suffered from the rattle baffle problem but was easily fixed and worth the time and effort. Great sounding budget speakers.
 
I sold tons of Mission speakers. They offered amazing bang for the buck with the little 70 MK II and the follow ups such as 700LE, 760, 761 etc. Paired up with a small NAD amp and a Yamaha CD player I could deliver serious sound quality for the same price as a horrible rack system as long as the customer could accept fewer buttons and lights. Most did once they heard it.

The Mission sound of the mid 80's was much more upfront and dynamic than the other "polite" UK speakers of the era which made them best sellers in our store. I was not crazy about the mid size ones such as the 762 as they were not as neutral as the top Canadian brands like PSB or Mirage, but they were a good compromise for someone who wanted something a bit more exciting but not as obviously colored as some of the more commercial US brands. Some iterations of the bigger 770s were good, some were not. The bigger 780 Argonauts (second generation) were pretty bad. They could be set up to sound spectacular, but they were hardly accurate. I think Mission really did a good job with small speakers, less well as they got bigger.

I currently have a pair of the Cyrus 780, looks like a deeper 760 with real wood veneer. Nice, but perhaps my favorite all around speaker from Mission was one step up, the Mission/Cyrus 781. About the size of a 762 but much more neutral without giving up the fun. It was better than the twin woofer 782 big brother.
 
I once listened to Mission 767 speakers at a dealer, and I've never forgotten the experience. Frighteningly huge speakers (at least compared to other Mission speakers), two bass units, two mids and one tweeter per speaker, plus some sort of control unit in a separate box, which looked a bit like a Mission Cyrus amp (but wasn't). Sounded very good, very high end, but I think they would need a really large room to work. I've never seen or heard a pair since then, but I wouldn't mind owning a pair!

Here's a so-so picture:

http://www.audiokarma.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3296&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent
 
We had a pair of the big Missions on the floor. The box was called the LFAU I think (Low Frequency Alignment Unit). It came out after the Kef speakers with the Kube and was probably vaguely similar. I think you are right, they needed a big room. We never managed to get them to sound right, though I am sure they had potential. Space was probably the issue. I don't think we ever sold any, but they did have lots of internal competition with the ESL-63, R107, Thiel CS5 and ProAc Response series.
 
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