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Mission Speakers

vintage 5.0

vintage 5.0

vintage 5.0
I picked up these Mission 771 book shelf speakers. All I can say is wow they really sound nice. Was not sure what to expect but the mids and highs are really nice. I can not believe for the price how nice these sound. I gave 80 bucks for them. First pair of Mission speakers I have used. I am really impressed with them.
 
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I was tempted to buy some large Mission floor standers, but dismissed the idea because they were simply too large for a good WAF. From an admittedly limited listening experience I've found Missions to be very good sounding speakers.
 
I have a pair of bookshelf Missions as well . Not sure of the #.
I too was very impressed. At one point had paired with a SEP amp and a decent sub and thought to myself , this could be an everyday system.:thumbsup:
 
I just checked
Mine are 771s as well.
Really a nice little speaker
I think I paid about what you paid. One of my better value audio purchases.
 
Mission woofers had issues with corrosion where the wires attached to the coil, in essence killing the woofer. I believe they may have solved the problem with later woofers, hopefully yours is one of them. Other than that, I was quite impressed by the sound, having paid so little for a used pair of 771's. I no longer have them, as they unfortunately succumbed to the corrosion issue.
 
Nice collection of speakers.
What are they?
I guess my point (more to the point) are you comparing to Towers, OBs, Electrostats , Maggies, 200$,500$,1000$....?
I'm just trying to get context. Its easy to say this speaker is too..... Then there's taste and synergy. At least if you said, "compared to XYZ speakers i think mission speakers are. It sort of lends context to the conversation. Clearly your opinions are as valid as any and after enjoying many of your comments in threads, I'm genuinely interested to get your take, so please don't take this as some kind of knock.
 
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botrytis said:
Missions were entry level speakers. Nothing wrong with them but they are a bit rolled off on the top and a little tubby on the bottom. They were bought by Denon so they are no longer British made....

I compared them to many different bookshelves - mostly British. Rogers LS2's sound way better than Missions, which I have. Castle speakers I had sounded better too.
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Yeah, but the Rogers cost 6-10 times as much as those Missions. Castles cost way more than $80 too. Fair comparison? I've only owned one pair of Missions (Mod 70) and I would say they were/are a very good value.
 
I am using them in a small office. I have a small M@K woofer with them. I still have a pair of sonus faber concertino in this room. I am using a Thaedra preamp completely rebuilt. For the amps I have a Son of Ampzilla and a Ampzilla. They are both total rebuilds as well. I still like the sonus faber but like the Mission speakers a lot. In fact the past few days I have been mostly using the Mission speakers. For the price there is no comparison. The highs to me are clear and open. The mids are really nice on female vocals. It sounds very real and good imaging. I notice on my pair the bass lacks a little. That is where my sub takes up the slack to even it out. I do not hear anything I do not like. I have had lots of nice speakers pass through my place. In my opinion if I wanted to spend only a 100 bucks or so these are giant killers. This is just my opinion in my setup. I do listen to lots of vocals, and like stringed instruments. I do not listen to a lot of hard rock. I know there are lots of nice speakers that would sound better. I am not sure in this price range I have found any that have sounded better.
 
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That's almost, but not quite as bad as saying I compared them to Cornwalls and they outperforms the Mission, LOL! This point does not diminish the fact that the Missions do a particularly fine job for their price/size.
 
I have not heard of Q Acoustic speakers. I will have to look those up. They sound pretty interesting. botrytis I see you really like the English speakers. What is your favorite of the English speakers? I have heard a few of them and liked them.
 
botrytis said:
When I bought them used, the Missions were more than the Roger :D Same with the Castles.

I am not saying they are a good value, but they are what they are. A intro price point speaker. Q Acoustics is the modern version of Mission and way better.
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What one pays on the used market depends a lot on luck and a bit on timing. It is possible to have well know or over hyped mediocrity over price something less well known but better performing. Outside of the type of people that inhabit AK, and more than a few that do, I would guess more have heard of Mission speakers then Rogers or Castles. Just my opinion.
 
I'm also a big fan of British speakers. I've had a number of British speakers, and although I like the missions, I would only use them in a home theatre system. Comparably sized speakers I have had and liked are Kef 103.2, Wharfedale 507.2, Celestion Ditton 15, Mordaunt-Short Pageant, Rega 2.0, Tannoy Stratford, and Tannoy T125.

I've had the following Missions; 220i, 707, 710, 761i, and M74. They sound good, but not as good as I found the ones above sound. My favourite of the Missions I owned were the 707s. I had trouble selling all of them around here and ended up getting less than I expected. Maybe because they were quite common around here. These all cost comparable between $20 and $150. I was surprised when I paid $80 for the M74 towers and sold them for $160.
 
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That is a hard one. The Tannoys come to mind, adding the C8s. Definitely the Kef 103.2s, and those Pageants were quite nice too. I like bass, but want it to be balanced over all. Keep in mind, I power any of these with a stout amplifier. All of these speakers need a robust 100 watt amplifier to sound their best. Even the Ditton 15s. Just don't over drive them. You normally can hear the change when you start to over drive a speaker. Alcohol can also impact volume. Listen safely...
 
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eiraved said:
Mission woofers had issues with corrosion where the wires attached to the coil, in essence killing the woofer. I believe they may have solved the problem with later woofers, hopefully yours is one of them. Other than that, I was quite impressed by the sound, having paid so little for a used pair of 771's. I no longer have them, as they unfortunately succumbed to the corrosion issue.
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Do you have a ballpark figure of years/models where this issue ocurred?
 
DirtFarmer said:
Do you have a ballpark figure of years/models where this issue ocurred?
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I don't have that information readily available, it was in an article I read many years ago. The corrosion was pretty obvious on my speaker, as I could see the after removal of the woofer. It was located where the wire from the spade terminal entered the voice coil area.
 
I haven't tried all of the Mission Speakers, but all the ones I've tried I've liked.

700 LE Speakers - probably my favorite. Really sweet mids, nice highs and more bass than I'd expect. I have been running these in my home office for a while and really like them.
731 Pro Speakers & 760i Speakers - I think I like the 731's more than the 760i's, but I haven't done a side by side yet (one set at the office), so not really sure I could tell them apart, but they are something I'd recommend to about anyone for a starter set or bedroom/office setup

In a smaller room, they really do the job, and I have wondered what they'd do in a bigger room with a sub woofer to fill in the lower ends
 
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