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New Mission 770!

Loads of speculation and assumptions. It will be interesting to hear how much of the essence of the original character is retained in the new version. Going by the interviews thus far it appears this was in important design aim. The new 770 may well benefit from a more generous budget/ higher price point than the original. Not much point in embarking on the project otherwise.
 
If you look at the prices for the successors to the original 770's competition, it seems unlikely to me that the new one would be competitive at SHL5, Classic 1/2 or LS3/6 level. I imagine it will be less than half the price of the BBC 2 cu ft boxes.
 
Loads of speculation and assumptions.

Speculation certainly given we have little solid evidence at the moment and it can be a fun exercise to see how close one can get. I would hope the assumptions were stated?

It will be interesting to hear how much of the essence of the original character is retained in the new version.

Large floppy cones tend to have a characteristic sound particularly if crossed at a high frequency to a tweeter on a flat baffle. They work like wide band drivers (which they are) with the inner part of the cone moving significantly at high frequencies while the outer moves significantly less with plenty of resonant motion and bending waves. Emphasising the increased bass extension rather suggests this will use a heavier more conventional modern soft cone.

Going by the interviews thus far it appears this was in important design aim.

Possibly but it is audiophile marketing and one needs to read between the lines to find reality. This seems to be that to a fair extent they are going for a dressed up conventional modern speaker but the degree is somewhat uncertain. It would be a lot more interesting if I am wrong and they opt for a higher efficiency more resonant design.

It is obviously a major marketing aim to associate this speaker as much as possible with the original in the minds of the target audience in order to add value. In not opting not for a warts-and-all clone in the manner of the Falcon LS3/5A this can only be primarily a marketing exercise. Reportedly the 770 had many variations that all sounded significantly different which is likely given the influence of resonances in the crossover region where small tweaks have the potential to make significant differences at the listening location in a room.

The new 770 may well benefit from a more generous budget/ higher price point than the original. Not much point in embarking on the project otherwise.

Not sure I follow this? IAG have the option to assemble parts here in the UK and sell a top of the range budget speaker (which is what the Mission brand stands for today) in reasonable volumes. Similar to the Linton. The video referred to a Mission silk dome so the tweeter might be the same or similar to that in current £189 a pair Mission speakers. Others have speculated on a much higher Harbeth/Spendor/... pricing which would be a lot more interesting but seems unlikely to me. Then again, I know next to nothing about marketing and my track record of guessing what will click with audiophiles and what won't has been pretty dire. Which adds to the fun of speculation like this.
 
Was the original 770 a successor to 737 ?

The other way around. As the 770 morphed and "improved" (ie not necessarily), the 737 was based on the original 770 approach, but with a lower cost tweeter. I preferred the 737R over the later 770s which seemed to lose their way in a pursuit of technology answers rather than musicality.

There are pictures of 770 and 737 here for comparison:

https://audiophilemusings.blogspot.com/p/the-mission-page.html
 
I'm curious about the What HiFi sponsored article. I've had a brief google without success. Has anyone got a link to how it is organised? Although What HiFi are perfectly open about being paid by the manufacturer to create the article about their product (assuming that is what sponsored means?) it still seems to me to be rather damaging to the What HiFi brand. What HiFi didn't seem to be taking a neutral view in the presentation (but perhaps it is relative?). Does anyone else think it a bit odd or just me?

It was a sponsored product announcement. not a review, so I don't see it as needing to be neutral.

Their biased review will be along shortly...
 
It was a sponsored product announcement. not a review, so I don't see it has needing to be neutral.

Their biased review will be along shortly...

Sure it will be biased..Its frightening how many people taking that magazine seriously, even to a degree they buy stuff only recommended by them.
 
I well remember my excitement and amazement over the 770 as a 15 year old!! They were £1700 in today's money so as unaffordable as a Rolls Royce... They sounded stunning to my 15 year old self and made most competitors sound the audio equivalent of a 3 day old salad in comparison... even Missions own 720 and 730 3 way models with 10" woofers. Finally got a second hand pair when I was about 23-24 ish which I used as my every day speakers for many years during which they saw off all comers... until the Spendor BCII's I still use...
 
Loads of speculation and assumptions. It will be interesting to hear how much of the essence of the original character is retained in the new version. Going by the interviews thus far it appears this was in important design aim. The new 770 may well benefit from a more generous budget/ higher price point than the original. Not much point in embarking on the project otherwise.

I’d expect them to be good as they are designed by Peter Comeau and IAG are amongst a minority of audio companies with the in-house resources and ability to do their own driver designs. Comeau is a bright bloke, I’m sure he’ll have retained some of the character and nostalgia of the originals but moved them forward. The interesting thing here is the claim they are UK made. If that means more than ‘UK assembled’ (i.e. Chinese drivers stuffed in a box here) then I’ll be very impressed. It would be interesting to hear a pair. I’d expect them to be targeting the Harbeth Compact 7 and Graham LS5/9, but with a bit more of a ‘rock’ aesthetic. Unusual to find such a sensibly proportioned speaker these days.

PS I’ve mixed memories of the original white-face 770. Massively hyped in the press at the time and a friend had a pair. They were very good on some things, but overall I much preferred his Gale 401s. I tried those 770s with an option to buy but they boomed horribly in my flat so I declined. In fairness the room in question was pretty awful (typically naff ‘80s flat and small) and I got massively better results there with Kans. Ported speakers of any kind were just awful in that place.
 
It was a sponsored product announcement. not a review, so I don't see it as needing to be neutral.

The reason it looked odd to me was the inclusion of endorsements in the name of What HiFi when the magazine has a cover price of £5.20. At this price a purchaser would expect What HiFi to represent their interests. If it was more like a nominal 10p then perhaps not because clearly someone else would be shelling out the bulk of the money to put the information in front of them. If the sponsored item did not bring in an endorsing What HiFi view then it would be a straight advert which would be fair enough. People know what adverts are. Perhaps it is me and I am not keeping up with how low people's expectations of good faith have fallen or perhaps the sponsored item is slightly different to what it looks like to me which was why I was asking for links/information.
 
I’d expect them to be good as they are designed by Peter Comeau and IAG are amongst a minority of audio companies with the in-house resources and ability to do their own driver designs. Comeau is a bright bloke, I’m sure he’ll have retained some of the character and nostalgia of the originals but moved them forward. The interesting thing here is the claim they are UK made. If that means more than ‘UK assembled’ (i.e. Chinese drivers stuffed in a box here) then I’ll be very impressed. It would be interesting to hear a pair. I’d expect them to be targeting the Harbeth Compact 7 and Graham LS5/9, but with a bit more of a ‘rock’ aesthetic. Unusual to find such a sensibly proportioned speaker these days.
Couldn't agree more.
As Arkless has mentioned earlier they managed to combine those elegant proportions with resolution and excellent dynamics. Back in 1983 I loaned my pair to Hambi for a few days while his HPDs in Pink Studios were down with blown tweeters- as I recall both Steve Power and Paul Kelly his engineers were quite taken with them...
 
SEAS has made a lot of good tweeters. The soft plastic dome in the 770 is not one of them.
 
SEAS has made a lot of good tweeters. The soft plastic dome in the 770 is not one of them.

Agreed. I replaced them with Son Audax soft domes in mine with an L pad to get the level right and it improved them. I'd been considering trying this for a while but when I blew an original it kinda made up my mind for me!
Tried Morel's as well but not quite as good.
That SEAS unit was used in a lot of speakers at the time! HD211 ferrofluid version in MkII 770's.
 
The reason it looked odd to me was the inclusion of endorsements in the name of What HiFi when the magazine has a cover price of £5.20. At this price a purchaser would expect What HiFi to represent their interests. If it was more like a nominal 10p then perhaps not because clearly someone else would be shelling out the bulk of the money to put the information in front of them. If the sponsored item did not bring in an endorsing What HiFi view then it would be a straight advert which would be fair enough. People know what adverts are. Perhaps it is me and I am not keeping up with how low people's expectations of good faith have fallen or perhaps the sponsored item is slightly different to what it looks like to me which was why I was asking for links/information.
Commercial magazines make money by delivering eyeballs to their advertisers. Such magazines tailor their content to harvest the demographically-desirable eyeballs sought by those advertisers. Information-hungry readers who ignore these facts do so at their own peril.
 
I well remember my excitement and amazement over the 770 as a 15 year old!! They were £1700 in today's money so as unaffordable as a Rolls Royce... They sounded stunning to my 15 year old self and made most competitors sound the audio equivalent of a 3 day old salad in comparison... even Missions own 720 and 730 3 way models with 10" woofers. Finally got a second hand pair when I was about 23-24 ish which I used as my every day speakers for many years during which they saw off all comers... until the Spendor BCII's I still use...

So double this it seems, hope I am wrong :eek:
 
Speakers available at the end of the month, take a breath, price £ 3500 a pair including the open frame stand.
 
Looking at the stands they seem to be very similar to the Wharfedale Linton Heritage stands but without the wood panels top and bottom that hold vinyl Lps.
 


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