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Mission 770's ... Any good?

Even active SBL's driven by 250's? :)

I could bring in an Avondale Arcam Alpha 5 and the 3X/XPAC1 and see what £700 worth of front end does compared to the full active set up on Fraim... the kit at the moment is all stood on top of a magazine rack :)

I'll keep you posted.. will I need to get cutting on the straws for the port?

Interesting...
 
I've enjoyed Mk1, Mk2, S, and Freedom versions of these speakers.

Lets get one thing clear, the 770S was rubbish - harsh, lacking in bass, yuk.
Differences between Mk1 and Mk2 are subtle but the Mk2s were preferable for me - deeper but controlled bass, somewhat better imaging etc.

I really like the Mk2, and they had very similar traits to my matching vintage 700 speakers, but clearly better in all respects of course. The Freedoms I have are the last of the breed (with what someone here as described as an elliptical tweeter - its actually a circular dome tweeter but its recessed into a shallow elliptical horn mounting plate - its also "time aligned" by being mounted on a step back in the baffle of about 30mm). These are far better than the earlier speakers, IMHO.

About the earlier ones - they have some issues which affect sound quality - the woofer rubber surround hardens over time, eventually cracking and becoming brittle. There are no replacement drivers available of the original spec. The other thing is that the cabinet glue dries out, catastrophically - the corner joints just fall apart. They can be rebuilt with normal wood glue and some sash clamps. Unfortunately when they do this you get to see inside. Boy are they built to a price - how such horribly thin chipboard panels don't resonate like mad I don't know. The bitumen damping panels also perish and fall off inside, but can be fixed back in place. The port is a thicker version of a loo roll tube and the internal wiring is just bell wire. If you want to improve the sound it should be easy to do just by replacing the internal wiring and by-passing the fuse. The bass driver is suprisingly shallow (there's definitely an optical illusion going on from the outside!) and has a light weight magnet. The glue mounting the crossover components usually dries out too, and they benefit from being re-glued.

Having said all that, they are pretty thrilling to listen to, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to work through each generation.

I have the Freedom's in my garage, but they're up for sale if anyone wants to PM me. They're the ultimate 80s/90s version with the red "Mission" logo on the grilles and the very pale grey wood veneered cabinets. Cool.
 
Those are the final version. Had a pair myself and the tweeters sound brittle and harsh from cold. After about 20 mins they warm up soften a little and have many good attributes, in fact I preferred them to an earlier 770 version I had yeasr ago.
 
Well my cosmetically challenged pair went off with the stands to a new home on Sunday to a friend who had blown his speakers on his Awia mini-midi system up ... He was very happy with the speakers (saying within 24hr he wasn't planning to let them go!) even with cabinet damage and they sounded pretty good even though the unit was not really worthy of the 770's... I didn't really have space for them and I'd rather they get loved and used! :) ...a happy new owner.
 
Arkless Repairs said:
Excellent speaker! They would indeed completely trounce isobariks.
The ones in the picture are indeed mkII's and probably the pick of the bunch.
I still have a pair stashed. Very dynamic and transparent. The observation of them being like a Spendor BC1 with huge dynamics is one I agree with and have made myself in the past... I reckon that the BC1 would narrowly win on neutrality etc though. They will go very loud easily and stay clean sounding as well.
I would totally disagree with the observation of them having loose bass. Quite the opposite in fact! I used mine as my main speaker for about 8 years and got to know them very well indeed, I can only say that mine had a tight and extended (for the size) bottom end that was very tuneful and had real slam. Maybe I had a room that ideally suited them or just had a very good set?!
I originally fell in love with them when at various hifi shows in the early 80's they gave what I thought was the best sound of the show. I then heard them against various other speakers on a few occasions at hifi dealers and again they trounced everything put against them....
Their main drawback IMHO is that they can sound just a little bit sharp or spiky in the mid treble. This could be partly due to the very simple crossover (which helps make them so dynamic) and part due to the Seas tweeter.
I eventually blew a tweeter and replaced the Seas with Son Audax units and a slight change in the internal level matching resistor. This improved them quite a bit but did not entirely get rid of the slight sharpness.
They are very revealing and on a good system with a good recording they can sound stunning. Even compared to most modern speakers.
With a bad recording that's a bit thin and bright though they will make a meal of it....
Click to expand...

I had a pair & replaced them with isobariks. The Briks were better, much better, IMHO.

Chris
 
Well it would be a strange world if we all agreed..... My own opinion is that Isobariks and Kans are easily the worst speakers I've ever heard and by such a margin that I can't think of anything I wouldn't prefer to them.... Yes I'm serious!
 
Arkless Repairs said:
Well it would be a strange world if we all agreed..... My own opinion is that Isobariks and Kans are easily the worst speakers I've ever heard and by such a margin that I can't think of anything I wouldn't prefer to them.... Yes I'm serious!
Click to expand...

Different strokes.....

Chris
 
Arkless Repairs said:
Well it would be a strange world if we all agreed..... My own opinion is that Isobariks and Kans are easily the worst speakers I've ever heard and by such a margin that I can't think of anything I wouldn't prefer to them.... Yes I'm serious!
Click to expand...

Well I had a pair of Tannoy GRFs on loan for a few weeks that I'm sure would have convinced you to take the Kans; it all depends on context. There are relatively few genuinely bad speakers out there, and Kans and Briks aren't among them. But there are some terrible combinations of speakers and other components.

PS - There's a bargain Meridian combo in the classifieds - some 770 owner should buy them and resurrect the famous 80s 770 pairing and report back.
 
Impulse and Apogees are the ones I've been most successful with and listen to most. But I've heard 'Briks sounding astonishing, and I love my Kans.
 
Had a pair of 770s and loved them with Exposure electronics, they complimented each other well. Heard both 'bricks and kans sounding dreadful ( normally by people who were unable to set them up properly), and also heard them sounding great (admittedly on the end of a Naim 6 pack!)
 
The original 770,s are a different thing than the Freedoms as well. If you can get them fully back up to spec and pack the reflex port with plastic straws they can sound immense with a really musical abd fast sound . They did like to have a nice powerful amp on the end of them and needed to listened to quite loud before they started to perform but still think a well fettled pair today would give most things a run for their money .
 
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