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New Mission 770!

Speakers available at the end of the month, take a breath, price £ 3500 a pair including the open frame stand.
Looks like I over estimated the price as my original guess was £3995 - looks like a bargain at £3.5k especially as it includes stands....
 
Looks like I over estimated the price as my original guess was £3995 - looks like a bargain at £3.5k especially as it includes stands....
Considering they are made in the UK its probably the right price. The Wharfedale Linton Heritage have the advantage price wise of being made in China and also the KLH model 5 the same, what would they cost if they were made in the UK, you could add about a grand at least. They are going to be a limited run by all accounts wonder where you can buy them from, possibly direct.
 
Another chat with the designer.


I’m surprised that the new version has its connectors on the rear panel and not on the base like the originals. They were a bit of a fiddle but allowed for a clean rear panel! Mind you the new stands wouldn’t hide the cables like the originals did so maybe that’s the reason. Not sure where the new crossovers are mounted in the cabinets either, again this could be a factor.
 
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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.
 
Nah, I’m shallow and reject them on the basis that they look like What Hifi group test runners up from 1989 in the ‘up to £150’ category… ;)
 
Nah, I’m shallow and reject them on the basis that they look like What Hifi group test runners up from 1989 in the ‘up to £150’ category… ;)

I totally get that. I was sceptical too. I went in with a belief that they’d offer me nothing of value. But then, like the Harbeths they are fully UK made, assembled and designed. With advanced drive units, and a beefy crossover.

I wish the front wasn’t so “white”
 
If I ever buy more speakers it’ll be ESLs. Can’t see me moving the P3s on; more likely to use them in a second system if that were the case. You ever tried ESLs?
 
i want more bass, not less ;)
You’d be surprised how full the bass can be with ESLs, at least within their recommended listening levels. But definitely a good sub can help. I keep wondering about ESL63s and my SVS….
 
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They were a really big deal at the time. They looked so different and to those of us who hadn't yet heard Spendor/Rogers/Harbeth BBC monitor class speakers the sound was a bit of a revelation.
£379 IIRC for the originals. Quad ESL's would have been around £450, again IIRC.
 
I totally get that. I was sceptical too. I went in with a belief that they’d offer me nothing of value. But then, like the Harbeths they are fully UK made, assembled and designed. With advanced drive units, and a beefy crossover.

I wish the front wasn’t so “white”

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Looks like I over estimated the price as my original guess was £3995 - looks like a bargain at £3.5k especially as it includes stands....

Bargain? Yer havin a giraffe! Complete and utter rip off!! Allowing for inflation the originals would now be about £1350 and they were made in UK in Missions Cambridge factory. That is all the new one's should be selling for.
They are really just a 2 way speaker that has been styled to tap the 80's nostalgia market of course and have diddly squat to do with the originals.
 
Bargain? Yer havin a giraffe! Complete and utter rip off!! Allowing for inflation the originals would now be about £1350 and they were made in UK in Missions Cambridge factory. That is all the new one's should be selling for.
They are really just a 2 way speaker that has been styled to tap the 80's nostalgia market of course and have diddly squat to do with the originals.

let’s be fair though, should harbeth be charging £5000 for a flimsy cabinet, some filler and a few drivers? Probably not, but they do. We seem comfortable enough with that, so why not let mission have a slice?
 
let’s be fair though, should harbeth be charging £5000 for a flimsy cabinet, some filler and a few drivers? Probably not, but they do. We seem comfortable enough with that, so why not let mission have a slice?
Materials and construction are only part of a much bigger process to get a product to market.
 
They probably set their prices to what level they believe it will sell.
With a comfortable margin for profit of course.
 


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