Mission ZX-2

[Buckster]

wondered if anyone has tried these and what their opinion was please ?

one of my rear heights (a Tannoy Eyris R) it is over 25 years old) seems to have failed, therefore looking for replacements. It was being used as an Atmos height - so was looking to directly replace that with something like a KEF Q150 or move the pair of JBL A130s at front, and replace those

price range is only around £300 so options are fairly limited, as I said I was looking at KEF Q150 (£300 here in the UK), or Q Acoustics 3030i etc - but stumbled across the Mission ZX-2s for £349 which seem a lot of speaker for the money.

Too long a drive to demo unfortunately. Wondered if anyone had heard them, any measurements online anywhere (couldn't find any). My only option may be to test myself and see how they measure.

they certainly look the part in their D'appolito configuration

ZX-2 – Mission

www.mission.co.uk

many thanks

 

[Penelinfi]

Here's a measurement of a previous model

Mission LX-3 MKII Speaker Review

This is a review, listening tests and measurements of the Mission LX-3 MKII bookshelf speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and is on sale for US $250 (pair). It is an attractive looking speaker with some vertical optimization by cutting the tweeter into the woofer surround. Alas, there is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The MTM will probably have a little narrower vertical dispersion but it should be symmetrical.
Ring radiators seem to narrow in dispersion on higher frequencies too.
I'd suspect that the ZX measures ok, but with some dispersion mismatches, that hopefully they tailor to make the in room response somewhat even.

Would be interesting to see how that woofer surround cover affects things

Then again if they are Atmos height speakers I'd definitely be checking the speaker first as maybe it could be a fixable issue

 

[Buckster]

thanks very much for the link and for taking the time to reply - much appreciated.

if I was to buy these ones they would be used as Front Left/Right and I'd move my JBL A130s to height duties. When I say I'm using a pair of speakers as heights I'd like to clarify they are not exactly positioned perfectly for heights but they do at least give some impression of heights. I have the height speakers on top of existing very tall bookcases, so these heights are about 5 inches from top of speaker to ceiling. It seems to work ok it does elevate the field of sound for sure.

If was replacing specifically as a height speaker I'd go for the KEF Q150s as I think Dual Concentric drivers would work well as heights. They would make good front Left/Rights too I'm sure but I'm concerned even crossed over to whether they'd be dynamic enough for home cinema purposes at higher volumes.

the Missions just dropped a bit more in price - they are now about same price as the KEF Q150s give or take. They seem a lot of speaker for the money from initial look. The QX range seemed to be well reviewed and these are one product line above

 

[GhostMotley]

Hello @Buckster, just wondering if you went ahead and got the Mission ZX-2 speakers?

They are still £349 at various retailers (Mission ZX-1 even cheaper at £249) and there are very few reviews for either of these speakers.

 

[Buckster]

Hello - I didn't go ahead in the end.

The speakers seem fantastic value (I think were even cheap with Ebay discounts), parts seemed very high quality for the money (crossover looked great, drivers looked great) - unfortunately for me though as much of a bargain they seemed

 

[Buckster]

Hi @GhostMotley - to note these are even cheaper at the moment new via Ebay (20% off) - takes them to something like £289

One thing that made me less tempted (but still am) is that if they didn't work for me as fronts, I have some very very old speakers as rear heights, I could move my rear surrounds to be heights, and use the Missions as rear surrounds, but I think with D'appolito speakers it may be more difficult position wise if I was to use them as rear surrounds ?

 

[Buckster]

these are even cheaper now - less than £250 a pair !

 

[Vini darko]

I'm trying to resist

 

[AdamFrandsen]

Considering they are using Scan-Speak R2904/70000 tweeters, which basically cost the same for one tweeter as for the speaker pair (380 euro), it really is a bargain price, add to that 1 inch plus MDF, two state of the art mid/bass drivers, piano lacquer finish and proper bracing - it really makes no sense, that they can sell it at this price! With eq I cannot imagine these sounding bad! Anyone had experience with these since the thread was abandoned?

 

[Vini darko]

Yeah I brought a set. Directivity is terrible. Power handling is very good. By ear and eq experimentation there is a resonance around 500hz, wich is unpleasant to the ear. They also have port noise at high volume. However for the £240 I paid they are nice.

 

[AdamFrandsen]

Yeah I brought a set. Directivity is terrible. Power handling is very good. By ear and eq experimentation there is a resonance around 500hz, wich is unpleasant to the ear. They also have port noise at high volume. However for the £240 I paid they are nice.

500hz is around tenor high C, being a tenor myself, I need that frequency to be stellar, hahaha! Is it the cabinet, can it be solved by further damping? Port noise is also really awful, are we talking real chuffing? I will run them (if I get them) with the LA90D, so while it is nice they have good power handling, it is more important for me getting confirmation of the sensitivity, given the low clipping point of the la90d - they write [email protected] which would be [email protected], which would be nice! But now I am leaning more towards getting the quad s-2 at a similar price point… Any other suggestions - other than a kit or making a pair… It seems to be more expensive to build something similar, the SB Acoustics Ara kit is 1.500 eur+.

 

[AdamFrandsen]

Considering they are using Scan-Speak R2904/70000 tweeters, which basically cost the same for one tweeter as for the speaker pair (380 euro), it really is a bargain price, add to that 1 inch plus MDF, two state of the art mid/bass drivers, piano lacquer finish and proper bracing - it really makes no sense, that they can sell it at this price! With eq I cannot imagine these sounding bad! Anyone had experience with these since the thread was abandoned?

EDIT: Seems they are no longer using that more expensive Scan Speak tweeter, but a version of the much cheaper R2604/833000 (63 eur).