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Mission 770 Pre-Production?

stephen_cowslip

pfm Member
Hi all,

Hope you're all well.

I managed to pick these lovely Mission 770s up from a guy in my village who was an electrical engineer decades back.

The story behind them is that they were pre-production and differed slightly from the MK1. They were a review unit.

Does anyone know anything about these Missions? There's no info on the base where you would likely find a nameplate and input info.

All the best

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cNEM2PW.jpg
 
You'll not find out much (if anything) about those! Infamous for there being christ knows how many variations which never even got a " MkII/A-4" name change...

They appear to be MkII 's anyway from the wider dust cover on the woofer.
 
Look like the originals as they have the smaller voice coil/spider but strangely they have the larger dust cap, hard to tell from the pic.The yellow spider is much more visible on the later model with the larger voice coil. Certainly the front baffle, port, tweeter position and connection panel all look like the original. I’d have to check but I’m sure my originals have a 1.6 A rated fuse on the underside and my later pair have a 2A with the binding post connections.

Arkless is correct about the versions, they were continually updated through the white baffle series but never defined as mk1 or mk2. Certainly not on the cabinets, box or literature.
Best to open the box back in the day to check which version you were buying!:D

I had a pic of my versions side by side somewhere, I’m guessing still on an old computer.
 
Those are definitely not Mk II, as the drivers were placed higher on the front baffles of that 'series', the port was increased in diameter, and the bass/mid driver dust caps were even larger (and eventually changed to plastic ones).

It is the crossover changes that are virtually impossible to track. I clearly recall the day that one of the Azima brothers (µHenry?) walked into the dealership with the area sales rep carrying a 'newly revised' 770 crossover. What with me being the only one who knew what to do with it, I was expected to install this for us all to have a sit down with. This was during a brief period where the Azimas were having a 'make it slightly mellower sounding' reprieve before the cut-yer-ears-off 770S period. The hilarious bit was that these 'improved' crossovers had but one resistor value change (can't remember what) with the rep going on about the 'big' revision being the inclusion of Mission's own branded multi-stranded cable. What with the limited time frame in which to install these, I opted to solder the existing tweeter wiring within the shop pair to the new crossovers, and stuffing the new Mission branded wires down bottom of the bin (behind the shop counter, not into the loudspeakers!). Low and behold, everyone praised the amazing new Mission wire as being responsible for the vastly improved sound quality; 'much mellower highs', 'less sting in the treble', oh, the irony!

Here's early Mk II with fabric dust covers; note the higher position of the drivers, the larger ports, and the larger dustcaps (necessary to cover the larger 33mm VC):
369531-original_mission_770_loudspeakers.jpg
 
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But, sir, you can actually 'see' the bass!

From the flyer (spot the hyperbole)...

"The Mission drive unit's powerful motor system utilizes electrical dynamic damping - resulting in extended low frequency response, exceptional linearity, enhanced power handling and minimal Doppler distortion."

Naturally, it is only by sheer coincidence that it appears as a Doppler distortion generator in use.
 
OK earlier version then. I hadn't noticed the smaller spider at a quick glance.
Mine have plastic centre dust covers. Woofers and tweeters are by Seas. VERY early one's had Chartwell woofers IIRC...
 
I remember the original 770 came with wooden stands disassembled in the box along with the two loudspeakers. If I remember they were pinned together and not that substantial!
They may gave been plywood or very thin mdf!
 
I remember the original 770 came with wooden stands disassembled in the box along with the two loudspeakers. If I remember they were pinned together and not that substantial!
They may gave been plywood or very thin mdf!

Yep. They formed a "V" under the speaker IIRC.
 
I remember the original 770 came with wooden stands disassembled in the box along with the two loudspeakers. If I remember they were pinned together and not that substantial!
They may gave been plywood or very thin mdf!
Yes, eventually these came fully assembled with real tree veneer on. They were intended for use with every model from 700 through 770; a bit on the low side for 700, though. The top board had a cut away at the back to accommodate the 770 terminals.

I recall these coming with 8 x self-adhesive foam bungs as pads; these were less than useless. On the other hand, the loudspeakers came supplied with strips of large black 3M Bumpon(TM) hemispheres. These could be stuck on to the bottom of the loudspeakers, or atop the stands. ISTR the Bumpons eventually coming with the stands as well.
 
I think I have early ones with smaller port and voicecoil, they sound great.
Nothing wrong with the sound of the early ones, IMO.

The later bass/mid could go seriously loud, though.

I recall scaring myself into thinking that I had fried both an expensive Luxman amp and a pair of 770 Mk2 whilst turning up the wick way too high for the source material during a dem. Turns out that the cassette that I was playing was a recording of a warped LP which drew more than enough current from the amp to fry the 'speaker protection fuses. It's no wonder that the punter was winding his neck in, what with those polypropylene cones coming at him like the SFX in a 3D horror film!

Naturally, we couldn't leave the customer thinking these Missions couldn't take the heat, so I threw in fresh fuses, put on a good flat record, and cranked them even louder. Bugger came back on my day off and the shop owner stole the sale (or, rather, he 'clerked' the sale and claimed that it was his, in order to save himself from paying out commission, and not for the first time either, the bastard!).

Craig
 
Looks like they’re back! Hard to tell from the pics but it looks like the clear polypropylene has gone ( maybe not) as has the underside connections which although a pain to connect I actually quite liked them!

No mention of price though, it’ll be interesting where they pitch them!

The large throat of the port looks out of place though on the new one though

 
Didn’t IAG reintroduce a Leak amp and cd a year or do back so maybe they are looking to update a number of old classics.
Wharfedale Heritage as well, how about a new Quad 33/303?
Maybe these manufacturers are coming after us old farts by playing the modern retro card? JBL tried it with the new L100 remember, I guess they’d better be quick before we all croak though!:D
 


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