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Mission 770

norriemal

Hertz and Minds
I have managed to find a nice Sony Ta-F770ES amp and it came with a pair of Mission 770's. I remember them being the must have speakers at one point but have never heard them. I am picking them up tomorrow but wanted to know if anyone still uses them and can give me some opinions of them. I am led to believe they are the mark 3 version.
 
IIRC the Mk III was the first of the grey-fronts as opposed the the white-faced 770s. I've never heard a pair but I'd expect them to be pretty good, they were not a cheap speaker in their day. I certainly remember the earlier white-faced models sounding good.
 
I think Mission speakers are love 'em or hate 'em. I'm not in the 'love 'em' camp, but there again, I love SBLs.
 
I think Mission speakers are love 'em or hate 'em. I'm not in the 'love 'em' camp, but there again, I love SBLs.

The early 770s are not that frightening at all really, almost BC1 like in some respects! The general consensus seems to be that they got a bit more aggressive and shouty later, but I'd take that with a pinch of salt. I reckon there's a good chance they'll sound rather decent.
 
Thanks for the link Dixie Chicken it's good to know the background. I'm looking forward to getting them set up for a listen but I'm not sure that I'll get to keep them longer term as they will be too large and retro for the wife to ignore.

In my youth I always aspired to BC1's so the similarity may just be my cup of tea.
 
welcome :) i have owned 770S with Luxman L410..loved it,more modern aproach soundwise as from that time classic KEF's,Spendor's etc..IIIrd generation should be "F(reedom)" as far i can remember,a fine speaker also..about few years ago i have enterd to second hand record shop in Berwick St.,London and noticed how good music sounds there..turned around,and it was 737R there.. :)
 
It's amazing how many of these keep popping up, they must have sold a bucket load of them in the late 70's / 80's.
Here's a pic for comparison of the two types I have, cabinet dims are about the same but the baffle layout is different (tweeter position and port size) and the voice coil is larger on the later r/h speaker.
The connections are din / 4mm on the left model and binding posts on the r/h one. The dust cap glue has dried and the cap has fallen off but I've yet to find anyone who will supply dust caps of the correct dia in a smaller quantity than 100 pcs!

http://s1000.photobucket.com/user/wowflutter1201/media/07042013001_zpse3bb3c1e.jpg.html?sort=2&o=0
 
The 770 was top of the mission tree in about 1981 when i bought the 700 model which was at the bottom.
The 700 cost me £89 at Laskys in Bristol.

From memory there were two models in between something like the 707 and 737??

The 770 was highly acclaimed and was then way out of my price range at something like £400plus.

All had foam grilles that secured with little hook pads.
 
The white-face 700 was a great budget speaker IMO. One of my friends had a pair on the end of a Planar 2 (wood plinth, S shaped arm) and an A&R A60, it was a really nice system.
 
Yes

Another classic set up of that vintage was original 700, nad 2030 and lp12/lv v arm and the original basic cartridge.

In 1981 it cost
700 £89
Lp12 £340
Lvv £46
Nad 2030 £ 79

It was that system that got me away from garrard sp25s, bsr mc donald record decks and ferguson music centres!!
 
The 770s to me were a sort of 'nice legs, shame about the face' speaker. Its weaknesses in no way made up for its few strengths.

The entry level 700 (or was it the 710s...the one that was upside down) was quite different....a flat mate of mine used a pair with a Dual 1205 table upstream and they sounded pretty decent. Until one day I replaced the dual with an LP12/LV-X and for the first time we heard what they *really* could do.
 
That 700 range always appealed to me. They got a fair share of recommendations in the magazines at the time.

I would fill a house full of speakers to try out. Thats why ebay has been a double edged sword for me. I must resist any further temptation as I'm running out of room.

Good luck. I bet they sound very good.
 
Trouble with the 770's was that you didn't know what you were getting. Every weekend they used to change a bit here and/or a bit there, just it seemed for the heck of it.

I bought a pair from Laskey's and enjoyed them for years in front of an AR A60 - then a NAIM 12s 160 combination and didn't feel that there was much wrong until I changed to valves. Soon after one of the tweeters went on the blink which I was going to change. I thought I would rewire them but I couldn't get into them, neither the bass unit nor the back pannel could be removed, and according to someone at Mission They never made any like that, and I ended up giving them away. I did like them though I had them for the best part of 20years.
 
They were my speaker of choice for quite some years. Very good if you get an erm good pair.... Think Spendor BC1, Rogers Export Monitor etc but more dynamic and taut.

P.S It's making me feel really old to see so much equipment that I remember first seeing at shows as the latest thing now being "classic"!
 
Just returned home with them and I am confused as they have the banana sockets in the bottom as per mk1 but the tweeter position is the higher one as in the mk2. The seller was sure they are a mk3 but there is no indication or marking. Logic would suggest that makes them a mk1 as you don't stamp mk1 on the first version.

Maybe it's an early mk2 or maybe just proof that they changed something at the weekend. There is a serial number written on the base so it may be possible to get a better idea.
 
I'll wait till the morning when I can get a good look at them in natural light before passing judgement. They are not brilliant white but it may just be dulling with age. I'll take some pictures and see if there are any features that someone may recall.
 


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