Review of Mission 770

[Zvu]

Stereophile just released a review of new Mission 770 loudspeaker. Chief designer is Peter Comeau, who designed the Wharfedale Linton 85th anniversary.

Mission 770 loudspeaker | Stereophile.com

Some audio experiences stick in your memory. For me, one such was in 1978, which I reminisced about in a 1987 review for Stereophile of the Mission PCM 7000 CD player, Mission 780 Argonaut loudspeaker, and Cyrus Two integrated amplifier.

www.stereophile.com

It is present for months now. Did anyone got the chance to listen to it ?

Measurements are a bit meh. I wish Amir or Erin take this and measure it.

Here аrе few interviews with chief designer about the Mission 770:

https://soundcloud.com/johnhdarko%2Finside-the-mission-770-700-w-designer-peter-comeau

 

[Eetu]

The directivity is wonky as expected. If you have a 8" woofer crossed over to a ~1" tweeter you need a lower crossover freq and a proper waveguide. The Grimm LS1(Be) is a good example with the Seas DXT tweeter.

 

[Beave]

These retro vintage-appearing speakers must be selling well. It seems everybody is producing them now. JBL, KLH, Wharfedale, PSB, now Mission too.

 

[thewas]

Interesting that the designer (Peter Comeau) made 174 physical versions of the crossover and listened to them in 2.5 years.

Also the horizontal directivity till 10 kHz looks better than I would have expected for such a 8"/1" without waveguide

since the the 6 kHz peak off axis is rather an artefact of the on-axis dip on that frequency

as JA unfortunately has chosen to plot them normalised.

(Source of above measurements: https://www.stereophile.com/content/mission-770-loudspeaker-measurements)

Would love to listen to them but 5 grand pair price is also quite a substantial price for such a passive 2-way, even more considering that the 3-way Linton also designed by him can be bought here in Europe for less than one fifth of that price.

 

[Zvu]

My guess is that 3rd order acoustic slopes he chose in the crossover compensate frequency off axis. Reversed phase on axis probably doesn't result in a deep null in frequency response.

I'm also curious about measurements of Monitor Audio Silver 100 7G. That's also 8" midwoofer with 1"tweeter without a waveguide.

5000 euros is ridiculous price for something that should be mass produced loudspeaker. But, their choice was some sort of exclusive touch. Will it show as a mistake or not, we'll see. Reviewers help them quite a bit in that regard.

 

[Berwhale]

I love the look of these as I grew up listening to my brothers Mission 700's (with a NAD 3020 and Dual CS-505). However, that was 40 years ago and we can do way better for £5K in 2022.

 

[MaxBuck]

A lot of money for an okay speaker. Hard pass.

 

[Laserjock]

 

[Zvu]

It should say (mostly) assembled in UK since that writing is false.

 

[Laserjock]

It should say (mostly) assembled in UK since that writing is false.

Assuming one main reason for the cost.

 

[Zvu]

They are trying to justify the cost but it actually isn't made in UK but assembled and even that is in question.

Hint - pay close attention on the people working on the assembly line in the first youtube video i've posted.

- At 05:13 guy closest to the camera is just twisting the terminal left-right
- At 05:14 second guy in a row is just touching the screw heads on the woofer with his finger
- At 05:22 he is doing the same just from different angle
- At 05:29 the same guy is just cuddling the cabinet
- At 05:41 the guy connected the spade connector with tweeter terminals but forgot to pull protective silicone sleeve over the spade and he is pushing the tweeter like that into the cabinet.

If you want to see real production line, look at the Focal factory tour. Now this is how it' supposed to look - and that's why they have my deepest respect.

 

[Berwhale]

They are trying to justify the cost but it actually isn't made in UK but assembled and even that is in question.

Hint - pay close attention on the people working on the assembly line in the first youtube video i've posted.

- At 05:13 guy closest to the camera is just twisting the terminal left-right
- At 05:14 second guy in a row is just touching the screw heads on the woofer with his finger
- At 05:22 he is doing the same just from different angle
- At 05:29 the same guy is just cuddling the cabinet
- At 05:41 the guy connected the spade connector with tweeter terminals but forgot to pull protective silicone sleeve over the spade and he is pushing the tweeter like that into the cabinet.

If you want to see real production line, look at the Focal factory tour. Now this is how it' supposed to look - and that's why they have my deepest respect.

Labelling a product as 'Made in the UK' has legal implications which I'm sure a company such as Mission would be well aware of (and abide by)...

Are your “UK made” products actually made in the UK?

Read through our guide on 'UK made' products and how we can help advise on the origin / labelling requirements for any products you sell.

www.mlplaw.co.uk

Mislabelling a product could have some pretty serious implications when the items are exported.

 

[Curvature]

Yeah I've heard it. Not bad. Expensive. Ultimately paid it no mind.

Sorry for the boring comment.

 

[Zvu]

Labelling a product as 'Made in the UK' has legal implications which I'm sure a company such as Mission would be well aware of (and abide by)...

Are your “UK made” products actually made in the UK?

Read through our guide on 'UK made' products and how we can help advise on the origin / labelling requirements for any products you sell.

www.mlplaw.co.uk

Mislabelling a product could have some pretty serious implications when the items are exported.

I'm sure they know about it and fulfill the conditions of the law. Im just not sure if that is something you or me would consider made in UK. If you make transducers, cabinets and crossovers elsewhere and you assemble them, you have the right to write made in UK (as Adam Audio, HEDD audio and many others do). And i'm actually fine with that. I do have slight problem with it though when someone compares product made in 1978 and justifies the price of current product because both are made in UK. In 1978 it probably meant something, nowadays not so much.

But, i haven't oppened the thread to discuss business ethics of Mission and IAG.

I'd really like to find out more about subjective listening impressions for Mission 770 that doesn't come from some reviewer. Before we see high resolution measurements from Erin or Amir.

Oh, and i can't wait for NAD C3050 to hit the market. It would tottaly fit in my "i'm tired" system concept. It will have 100w/8ohm (more at 4 ohm), dac, streamer, dirac and visualy it fits with Mission 770, Lintons, KHL 5 and Passif 50. We just need to measure it and confirm by listening if that's where it's at

 

[DBA ndreas]

There is also a cheaper Mission 700:

Mission 700

 

[Berwhale]

Oh, and i cant wait for NAD C3050 to hit the market.

It's interesting that you mention NAD, because they were one of the first companies to outsource manufacture to Asia. However, I have to agree that the 770's would certainly look rather nice either side of one!

 

[Zvu]

^That's probably the reason why they still exist I have no problem with companies outsourcing to Asia. In fact, i'm kinda gratefull. I probably could never afford my cell phone (which i take for granted now), TV and system i have if all of it was still made in Europe.

NAD C3050LE limited edition will cost 1972$ and 1972 pieces of it will be made. After that limited series they intend to call it just NAD C3050 which will differ from C3050LE by not having wood veneer but vinyl foil over chassis. Dirac module will be optional (if i understood Cas in an interview correctly). And it will cost a bit less because of it - and we all love that

 

[dougi]

^That's probably the reason why they still exist I have no problem with companies outsourcing to Asia. In fact, i'm kinda gratefull. I probably could never afford my cell phone (which i take for granted now), TV and system i have if all of it was still made in Europe.

NAD C3050LE limited edition will cost 1972$ and 1972 pieces of it will be made. After that limited series they intend to call it just NAD C3050 which will differ from C3050LE by not having wood veneer but vinyl foil over chassis. Dirac module will be optional (if i understood Cas in an interview correctly). And it will cost a bit less because of it - and we all love that

Not much cheaper in the end if you get the DIRAC/Bluos module though. In Oz the LE will be A$3299, non-LE A$2199 but the module $700 so $2999 all up and you then don't have a spare MDC2 slot (not that there are any other MDC2 modules at the moment).
Re the Mission 770, as mentioned the directly does seem better than expected for the drivers. It goes deep too, lower than my Linton's. Still, too expensive for a basic box speaker.

 

[Zvu]

^Yeah, but it allows you to buy the amp first and if you like it enough, you give a hint or two to your spouse of what would you like to find under the christmass tree

 

[AlexanderM]

Here is another Mission speaker, can't find any reviews, which probably isn't a good sign. Anyone know of any reviews?

https://www.amazon.ca/Mission-LX-6-MKII-Tower-Speaker/dp/B09M2HCBMX/ref=sr_1_151?crid=2B0RBOHYNYFN5&keywords=tower+speakers&qid=1667336594&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI2LjAyIiwicXNhIjoiNS4zOCIsInFzcCI6IjMuMzMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=%2Caps%2C468&sr=8-151