MISSION owners thread. - Page 6

I received my Mission order today! Everything looks good to put the wiring in and install them this weekend.
I ordered M31s for the front, m7c1i for the center and m7ds for the sides. I'm now waiting for ebay to come through for the m70s in the rear.

I was in Lowes yesterday and bought some 12" wide red oak for the stands and was looking for 4" pvc and all-thread (to make the TNT stands) and passed down the fence and deck aisle.
Lowes sells "ChoiceDek" decking and I saw their composite plastic posts. They are very heavy almost solid plastic with just a small opening in the middle. It looks like they'd be ideal to make stands with. I'm now debating using them instead. We'll see.

I'm using a Sony STR-DE898 Receiver,
Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD DVR (HDMI),
Samsung DVD-HD850 (HDMI),
Panasonic TH-58PX60U Plasma
with an optical audio cable from the
Plasma TV to the Sony receiver.

- Jim

I have an OLD pair of Mission 70 mk II bookshelf speakers that are still going strong.

Once upon a time, I had a Mission turntable which was very nice.

I previously owned the Mission 780's which were sold and I have to say I never really was able to recreate the great sound I got from them. Now living in the US for 2 years and would definitely like to return to the Mission fold. My current system consists of a Samsung HTIB digital receiver driving Denon SYS-76HT sub/sat peakers (based on B&W design). I will be upgrading the receiver to a Marantz and am trying to decide on which Missions to upgrade to for a 5.1-future 7.1 system.

For fronts I'm not sure which one to get - the m731 or m31. I would actually prefer to get a floorstander so I dont have to get a sub or mess with more stands. Has anyone compared these two speakers or have experience of them? I intend to either get the m70s surround package or the center and rears separately to complete the system - not sure about the bipole speakers after reading this review http://www.homecinemachoice.com/revi.../MissionM7.php.

Any advice? Thanks

efjay,

The m73i is a floor stander with a 165mm driver V the m31 bookshelf with a 130 driver so there would be differences, the degree may depend on your room/sub etc but the 73 would have a bit more grunt on its own.

The article is pretty spot on with its m7c2 comments but I would see the m7ds comments more to do with bipoles in general. I have them on the side as surrounds with a pair of m71i (earlier version of an m31) in the rear as I have a long relatively narrow room. Works an absolute treat whereas having the m71i at the side I would have a monopole in one ear at a side seating position and not very locatable rear effects. In a wider room, his comments may apply and you might well prefer m31's as surrounds rather than the m7ds. They are good surrounds used appropriately and I've never had the faintest urge to change mine or the m74's and m7c2 up front.

Reporting in...finally got a tracking number from tsto.com. Yay! Now back to the waiting...it's a good thing this is a secondary system otherwise I'd probably wouldn't have been this patient.

TjMV3,

eBay has a new pair of Mission M-34i in black for sale. It doesn't have the extra woofer like the M-35i, but if you are running a sub you wouldn't miss it.

http://cgi.*********/Mission-M34i-Fl...QQcmdZViewItem

I see you did score the m-70s from eBay. Great price.

The M-73i's are nice floor standing loudspeakers and would be a better choice than the M-31i for all the reasons stated by Ipm.

Now if you are looking to really upgrade may I suggest the v62 floor standing loudspeakers. Yes they are $300 more than the M-73i's but they are worth it for several reasons.

1. Real wood vernier.
2. Clarity of the midrange is unreal, very "liquid".
3. Asthetically they are beautiful with their sculpted cabinet and woofer that wraps
around the cabinet.
4. The grills that cover the woofer and tweeter on the v62's are a better design
than the M-73i's grills. The M-74i grills have a plastic lattice work that covers
the drivers where as the v62's is an open design that leaves only the grill cloth
covering the drivers.
5. The terminals on the back of the v62's are a nicer design over the M-73i's.
6. Not made in China (if thats important to you, neither is the M-73i).

J. Gordon Holt is right about speaker living or dying by the midrange. If the midrange ain't right then all the bass and silky highs don't mean squat.

Reason #2 seals the deal for me.

Thanks for the replies lpm and sterankoman. I wasnt really considering the v62's because of the price but it seems the m73i's weaknesses in the midrange may be too limiting, considering I plan to keep these speakers for a while. I would definitely prefer the better sound of the v62's especially for stereo listening. My thinking would be to get the m70s and the m7cli center now and upgrade to the v62's in the future and then move the m70s to the rears. How do you think the center would blend with the v62's?

efjay,

I believe (guess) that the v62 and m7c1i would be a miss match in sound quality. I was watching Stargate SG-1 last night in 2 channel mode with my m-64i's (same drivers as the v62's but in a teardrop shaped cabinet) and the sound is anchored right in front of the TV. They image beautifully. As some folks here have pointed out in other threads, a pair of speakers that create a firm stereo image makes a center channel not as necessary as you might think.

Considering that the v62's don't require $100-150 stands and the superior sound quality they are a bargin IMHO that most folks would be happy with for many years unless you get infected with upgradeitus.

Personally, I would get the v62's and use them by themselves until I could find a higher quality center channel to match the quality of the v62s. The matching center channel to the v62's are sold out so finding an exact match sound wise would be a problem.

Now that I look back at my recommendation for the v62's for a HT system, it was probably not the best match because of the lack of a suitable center channel to match the quality of the v62's midrange. I don't have the m7c1i center channel, but I do have a m7c2 which is a larger unit that blends ok with my M-63i's. It is purely a guess on my part the the m7c1i would not be suitable because it is the entry level center channel and the v62's are clearly a cut above entry level.

I use my system for 50% music, 40% TV and 10% DVD movies so my requirements in sound will be different than yours.

There are owners of the m7c1i center channel that lurk here, maybe they can offer an opinion?

efjay,

sterankoman's post above is spot on. I originally took the dealers advice and bought an m7c1 to go with my m74's up front. Big mistake and now corrected with an m7c2 that matches beautifully and provides an essentially seamless front soundstage. Really, really good for dialogue.

Don't get me wrong, the m7c1 is a fine centre for matching with m70/m30 or m71/m31 size speakers but the m7c2 is a pretty much essential for matching with an m73/m74 (or later equivalent series) speakers. I have only had very limited exposure to V62's so can't comment there.

efjay,

I don't want to scare you away from the M-73i's. They are excellent loudspeakers for under $300/pr. Hell I own a pair that I recently retired for the M-64i's. They will make a nice system for one of my daughters when they are ready.

I would rate them 7 out of 10. My M-64i's would rate an 8 out of 10. Nobody gets a 10 out of 10 for under $10,000/pr.

Lately it's been tough to recommend Missions for HT because of the lack of complete systems for a 5.1 , 6.1 or 7.1. They are however easy to recommend for 2.1 os 2.0 music systems. I only wish that Mission would commit to the U.S.A. and stock a complete lineup.

Thanks for the further comments lpm and sterankoman on the performance and center matching question on the v62 vs the m73i. I will be mulling over my options over the weekend.

sterankoman, could you briefly describe your impressions on your upgrade from the m73i to the m64i's eg what you felt was lacking in the m73i that was revealed after your upgrade. Thanks.

efjay,

Mission have always made a wide range of speakers and the m73's are toward the budget end so it depends on what you need now and where you are going longer term. Whilst I have had the crossovers of my m74's modified to improve the midrange and tighten the base a little, they were very musical HT speakers even before this. Sure there are better including from Mission but their value for money is very good. I run Vandersteen 3A's in my stereo area but have absolutely no intention to change from Missions in my HT area - I simply like them too much and they probably do more surround music concert duties than movies. Here is a link that gives a thumbnail impression of various Mission budget speakers. I have read another review but can't find it now where adding the ballast (sand) apparently really improved the response for the 73. http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/hfw/bgspeakers.html

efjay,

I copied and pasted this from my thread #100...

Like I said earlier I could have been happy with the sound from my M-73i's if it weren't for listening to my v60's.

The reason I originally bought the M-73i"s was because several months earlier I purchased a pair of M-72i's for a bedroom system. I was (still am) impressed with the bass and overall musical presentation I got from these large bookshelf M-72i's. I then decided to see what this HT stuff was all about so I bought a Sony STR-DA300es 7.1 receiver (it's a monster) and Mission M-73i's up front, a M7c2 center channel and a pair of m7ds for the rear completing a 5.1 system.

The M73i's have a lot of bass for a 6 1/2" woofer and after I loaded 25 lbs of sand in the ballast chamber the bass sounded "tighter" as well as full and deep. The midrange is a bit recessed like you are sitting 30 rows deep and the high end sounded light and silky. I have tried them on various power amp/ pre amp combinations that I own and never got that 3 dimensional holographic sound that I have heard from my AR m1's or my Acoustat 1100's.

The v60's and M-64i's midrange has layers of detail that I just didn't hear as clear from my M-73i's. The 3 dimensional presentation from the higher level Missions is amazing. I would say the M-73i's are "workman" loudspeakers in that they get the job done and the v62, v60, M-64i series are more elegant in their presentation.

I hope this helps. My ability to describe sound is pretty lame but I try.

P.S. Loudspeakers are like exotic dancers, to get thru that last veil it will cost you $$$.

lpm and sterankoman, thanks again. I think sterankoman's comment on the imaging capabilities of the m73i seals it for me - I remember on my 780's paired with a Marantz PM75 with Mission solid core cables I had an impressive soundstage and listening to my favorite singer at the time always gave me a deep, envoloping stereo image. My current system definitely lacks clarity and imaging. I think the m73i will be a sideways step for me and not enough of an upgrade - I'd rather go for the better sounding speaker which has more legs and can better reflect source and amp improvements. For the moment I guess I will have to resist the urge and stay with my current setup. Thanks for all the helpful information.

The delivery wait is over some 3 weeks later. Now I got to figure a way to bust loose early from work.

What sub are you going to pair with you new M-70 5.1 system?

Right now I've got an Accurian 125w 8'' model (KLH makes them)...it's a radio shack cheapy...it sounds alright in a real small room like this is in this case. I bought that before I ever knew about the X-sub or otherwise that would have been an easy decision.

M70 review:

The sound quality is a world of difference compared to the old system...glad I spent the money. The one thing I can complain about and it's no big deal but the grilles on these M70's don't stay on very securely. Now that they are where they'll be at with nobody messing with them..I don't suspect that will be an issue but they wouldn't stay on while I was wiring to the terminals.

Mine fit snugly. Try swapping grills with the other speakers, you have plenty on hand to find a better fit. The tolerance variance between speaker grill mounting holes and the pegs account for the poor fit. Start by swapping the loose fitting grill with the tightest one.

Congrats on your recent acquisition of the M-34i's. They should make a nice addition to you Mission family. I'm surprised that the Mission dealers have disappeared in Canada.

I also "won" my bid on a pair of E80 Missions. They should arrive on Monday.

Well one of the M70's I got has a broken bracket on the driver. I got to noticing it sounded worse than all the others, it just got worse and worse the more I noticed it. I thought it might have been a bad connection but after rerunning a new wire the problem persisted but I discovered after handling the speaker a bit more I could hear the driver itself was moving loosely inside the box...apparently they are built with cheap plastic.


I email tsto.com but I'll probably end up having to give them a call.

UPS/Fedex can be rough on packages. I have seen the types of automatic sorters that smaller packages are handled on.

Packages are dumped from a large bin with a 1000 lb capacity onto an inclined belt conveyor to elevate and spread out the packages. After they are elevated the packages are then dumped onto a take away conveyor that enters the sorter that scans the packages and diverts them onto the appropriate zip code conveyor.

The average drop that occurs twice to each package is about 1-3 ft. The average package can go thru this process 2-4 times before it gets to you.

I bought a pair of Wharfedales a couple of years ago that arrived with one of the port tubes rattling around in the cabinet. A little patience and glue solved it.

Yeah, I've seen our UPS guy literally throw boxes out of his truck when arriving. He's a nice guy and I always watch him real close when he comes up but I figure anything he does...worse has already been done way before it ever gets to him.

tsto dude emailed me back and said he would send me a new one...Here's hoping it gets here in one piece. Actually I'm not so sure it was damaged in transit but it's hard to say...I guess the force of impact, the weight of the driver, and the plastic casing that holds the driver in place are all bad things when physics get in the way of a good 3 foot drop or three.

hmm, I'm a little late to this thread but does anyone know of a US retail site where one of these Mission center speakers (i.e. m7c1) could be purchased? I'm thinking of getting a few pairs of those m70s but would like to combine them with one of Mission's own center channels as the brand is so well regarded.

Thanx but that's where I'll be picking up the m70s. I didn't see any Mission centers available in their catalog.

lol, I must be blind...thanks again.