I heard a pair today, to compare against my SHL5+. I have to say I was impressed. They sounded more like than unlikely the Harbeths than I was expecting.
when I last had Harbeths and didn’t quite get on with them, I moved to tannoy Eatons. I found them better in terms of bass but the midrange was just to recessed for me. Too cupped and closed in.
I’d suggest the missions sit in between the two but slightly nearer the harbeth. Perhaps think of them as Harbeths with the whole Frequency plot shifted 5-10hz to the left. A bit more at the bottom and a bit less at the top.
the rigid cabinets were evident in how clean the bass notes were, no thin walled bloom
Here, but on the other side they struggled to match the sheer “no box” sound of the Harbeths. The shl5+ Do an amazing job of sounding unlike any cabinet speaker I’ve heard and sound more like a panel speaker in many ways.
so as always, a game of trade offs. The missions cast a slightly bigger soundstage, have more bass, are a little softer up to and not quite as “vivid” as the Harbeths.
in a perfect world, I’d keep everything the Harbeths do well and have the missions bass.but that’s not how the works works.
Ultimately, I’m tempted to move the Harbeths on in favour of the missions.