MISSION owners thread. - Page 4

Do you know how long TSTO has had the exclusive franchise for Mission loudspeakers? Did TSTO ever sell the M5 series or the M6 series here in the states?

I saw a couple of M53's for sale last year and I picked up a pair of M64i's recently. Which I know that TSTO does not currently sell. Were they brought in from Canada maybe? Or maybe a serviceman could have brought them from Europe?

Amazon sold mission speakers within the past 5 years.

Mission has been a brand which, while respected, has never gained traction in the US. The resulting close-outs and liquidations have offered great value to the consumer.

Hey everyone:

I'm kinda new to this home theater business, and want to see if the mission sets (m70?) would work well with I just recently purchased:

Onkyo 504 Receiver
Bic H-100 Sub

I was going to get the Velo's, but I don't want white speakers and after seeing the comparison here to the m70 why not get the m70? I don't know if I should do 5.1 or 7.1 right now. I live in a condo with a small to medium sized living room. I will mostly be using it for movies and sports, very minor music. I haven't checked the prices of the other Missions but I may be open to that too. The other sets I was considering are the Klipsch Quintet and the Polk 150s + CS combo. Any input is very appreciated!

The layout of my room would prevent wall-mounting anything other than the rears. The sides would have to be on stands, the fronts on either the shelves of my entertainment center (which takes up the entire wall) or stands. Do you recommend any stands for the m31 or m70s?

I have been listening to a new pair of M64i's for the last 3 weeks and I'm struck by the clarity and power of these loudspeakers. After being spoiled by the Volare V-60s liquid midrange, I needed to replace my M-73's in my HT set up. Not because I wanted improvement in my HT set up but rather to improve my music listening thru the HT system. The tear drop shaped M-64 also shares the fantastic midrange of the Volare series loudspeakers but are a little cheaper in build than the Volare series especially the terminals. They are similar to the M-7 and M-3 series being plastic nuts on electroplated posts.

The M-64i is rated from 52-20,000 hz + or - 3 db. 52 hz never sounded so good in my listening room. On some music the bass shakes the room on many of my soundtrack cds. It digs deep with power and definition. Considering that I haven't loaded the lower chamber with sand ballast and their location in the HT system isn't optimum they are very seductive in their sound presentation.

When I listen to movies or TV in the DIRECT mode the sound "image" is anchored in front of the TV as thought I were running a center channel. They are very impressive in the HT mode running 2 channels.

I may bypass the the Sony STR3000 ES receiver's power amp and power them with my dust gathering Onkyo M-504. The difference in power isn't much (150W Sony vs 165W Onkyo) but the Onkyo has more headroom and sounds a bit fuller.
The Sony does sound very good with DIRECT mode engaged powering 2 channels. Until then I'll enjoy them as they are currently being powered.

Great to see a Mission thread. I have 2 mission setups, a pair of 707's with an old infinity sub, and a HT system with Volare V62 fronts, v6c center, m7ds rears, SVS SB12+ sub. The old 707's are a bit brighter than the newer V62's but I love them both for their midrange. I also got my HT setup at TSTO. It is unfortunate that they have never really taken off in the US, I think they are a great value.

It's so nice to see some other Volare owners here. I wish I had picked up the v63's when I had a chance. Still, these things are wonderful speakers!

I also bought my HT set up from TSTO when I got the HT bug a couple of years ago. I am disappointed in the m7ds rear channel speakers or I'm rather disappointed in the amount of sound that comes from them. Even though my sofa is closer to the rear channel, not alot of information comes from them. Maybe it's my choice of movies or my Sony's internal speaker level set up (which I have not tinkered with).

The M64i and the V-62 share the same woofer and tweeter and probably the crossover but not the terminals. I think the terminal setup on the Volare series are the best I have used. The Volare series have real wood vernier and my M-64i's are vinyl covered. My V-60's are remarkable in their musical presentation. I have a pair in cherry setting on a pair of Energy 25" tall stands and the combo looks and sounds stunning.

Have you loaded the lower chamber with ballast? Did it improve the sound?
I unloaded the 50 lbs of sand from my M-73's last weekend, but haven't refilled the M-64i's yet. When I got the M-73's I immediately filled them with sand before listening to them so I have no comparision. I'm going to listen to the M-64's for a few more weeks before I fill them with sand. Then I can compare the before and after sound.

Thanks for the advice. My m7ds's are mounted 5' of the floor over book cases along the same wall. I would have never thought of raising them up to reflect off the ceiling. I have a pair of M-70's stashed away for a future TV 2 channel set up, but replacing the m7ds's with the M-70's is an interesting option. I will dust off my manual and recalibrate my system to bring up the rears a bit.

My Sony STR-3000ES is a 7.1 receiver. Is a 7.1 system that much superior to a 5.1 system that I'm running now? Anyone can jump in and reply to this question.

adamanteus is right about hearing from Mission owners out there. I know you are lurking out there. Sound off. Write about your experience with current or older Mission loudspeakers. I'm interested in hearing from people that own other quality loudspeakers other that Missions and how they compare. I have a few pair of older speakers from companies like EPI, JBL, Celestion, Acoustic Research but none of them are in the same league as the current Mission line up.

Well, maybe the Acoustic Research M1's. They have a excellent midrange and holographic imaging, but I'd rate them right below the better Missions (Volares and M6 series) and equal with the lesser models. I bought them years ago when Stereophile or was it The Absolute Sound raved about them.

Zero- I kind of wish I had grabbed the V63's when I had a chance too! Although, I truly could not hear much of a significant difference between the 2 on my demo material.

Sterankoman- I never loaded them with ballast. I meant to buy some bags of lead shot (easier than messing with sand) but never got around to it. I find that the m7ds's are fine, but I have mine mounted about 7' high, 2 ft back from my seating as rears. I suspect your calibration is off. I know just recently I noticed my system sounded flat (thought it was just me, because my hearing varies) but it turned out my receiver (Denon) reset itself. I suspect it was from a power outage we had. I suggest you check your receiver.

I am using a Denon 3802 as a receiver (110wx7). What is everyone else using? Anyone using a prepro w/ a separate amp or biamping? Just curious what a more powerful amp would do.

sterankoman,

The m7ds in my setup are certainly not deficient however being bipoles, they are designed to push the sound towards both front and back of the room to create ambience and not directly towards you. So compared with normal speakers as monopole surrounds, they provide more diffuse and less direct sound but if set up correctly sound level wise, do a great job. I prefer this diffuse sound and think this suits movies and concert ambience quite well though I have heard others disagree particularly for music. It also does depend a lot on your room though. For example, I have a very deep room and 7.1 is much better than 5.1 for me as the m71s I have at the rear really support the m7ds surrounds and where genuine directional detail is supplied in surround mode, really help solidify and fill in detail in the rear surround space.

adamanteous.

Really nice pickup on the m7d2 mate. As you can imagine, made a huge difference with my relatively large m74s and should sound great with your m31s. As to your what do other people have question, I run an Arcam AVR300 receiver and Arcam DV78 for DVD and CD play in my HT setup and the Missions work beautifully with them.

Yeah, I've left the extra wires in place after trying the same thing. Just 12ga Cu so the experiment cost next to nothing. Actually looking forward to rediscovering the system again after having it packed away for three weeks while my wooden floors were completely redone. Finally got everything hooked up last night but too late for other than running though a test DVD to check everything. Never thought I would miss it so much. C'mon weekend.

I was first introduced to Mission in the '80's when I heard a pair of 770 Freedoms, the design that put Farad Azima and Mission on the map. Because of that experience, I bought a pair of 780 Argonauts, the flagship of the line, in the late '80's and they are still serving me well to this day. In fact, they are playing behind me right now as I type this .

The 780's are supremely efficient (95dB/w/m), extremely dynamic (back in the day, John Atkinson compared them to Krell driven Apogee Diva's!), and a bit bright thanks to their semi-horn loaded tweeter. It doesn't take much to get these things rockin'. Back in the day, I used a PS Audio 4.6/B&K ST140 front end to great effect. Alas, when I upgraded my entire rig, the trusty Mission's moved to my office and are now being capably driven by a Cambridge Audio 540a/540c front end. The hot treble requires warmer sounding gear that excels at low level microdynamics, otherwise the speakers become fatiguing after a while.

Over the years, Azima left Mission to focus on NXT and Mission was eventually purchased by Verity, the same group that owns Wharfedale and Quad. Unfortunately, while Quad and Wharfedale have received the necessary funds to expand their product lines, Mission floundered. For a long time, Denon USA was their distributor, but that ended 5 or 6 years back and there have been numerous false starts since that time. Finally, they have employed Quad's distributor and one can only wonder what took them so long?

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I'd love to see the brand make a comback in the US, but they have a tough road. With so much manufacturing moving to China, it will be difficult for them to regain their mantle of hi-end performance without the hi-end price.

Hi guys,
I'm new here...

I have a Onkyo mini system that puts out 15 watts p/ch @ 8 ohms. the amp is 4 ohm capable and will put out 20w p/ch @ 4 ohms
(are the missions 8 ohm or 4 ohm??)

will I have better results with the m70 or the m31 ?

on stos they say recommended amp power is 15w min for the m70, and 25w for the m31...
I do want the m31...will i have a problem?
(btw, this onkyo mini is the MC35TECH, which has a great refined amp for its size..
i'm just worried about the output.

Thanks a lot!

All things being equal, a larger speaker of the same design will be more efficient. 15 watt tube amps used to power 15" theater systems back in the 40s and 1950s. The M-31's are larger and a better loudspeaker. Buy the M-31's and they will become perfect satellites if and when you buy a subwoofer. Your current power sounce won't be your last. I doubt that you will have it a year from now. Upgrades are an occupational hazard with this hobby.

Since you are looking at TSTO then buy the M-31's and the Energy subwoofer also on sale and you would have a killer 2.1 sound system for $350 + shipping. Best $350 you will ever spend.

Thanks.
so you think my 15w amp will drive the m31 ok? what about it's min rating of 25w? i don't want to damage anything...
That's my biggest concern. I do like the m31 better also.
and my system does have an LFE output...

and how would m31 compare to the av123 x-ls speakers? anybody compared those before?

Anyone owns m73i, are they good? I plan to replace my KRK ST6 monitors.

As long as you don't try to peal the paint off the walls with only 15 watts. It might be an old wives tale, but I have heard the more speakers have been destroyed by underpowered amps than overpowered amps due to distortion and clipping of underpowered amps. Be cool with the volume control and don't drive your amp into clipping. Most of the power requirements of an amp is to reproduce the bass.
Leave the bass control flat so you don't put a strain on your amp.

Many of the mini receivers have a subwoofer output for relieving the main amp of producing bass tones. Frankly, most loudspeakers need more than 15 watts but if thats all ya got then you gotta roll with it.

I can tell you about Missions, but not AV 123's. You can't go wrong either way from what others say about AV123 products.

"Anyone owns m73i, are they good? I plan to replace my KRK ST6 monitors." tdung1983

tdung1983 - I own a pair of M-73i's that I had in my Ht system for 1 1/2 years until I replaced them with a pair of M-64i's. The M-73's have a more veiled/darker midrange than the M-64i's, but until you compare them with another speaker you may not even notice. The M-73i's do have great bass for a 6 1/2" woofer. I paid $280 a pair delivered and for that price they are a steal. I could not say if you are upgrading or moving laterally. It may depend on how much the M-73's are going to cost you.

What don't you like about the KRK ST6's? Can you describe the sound?

the KRK speakers have good midrange since they are monitors but i think they lack detail at high frequency and also in vocal. Can m73i do all that?

I doubt that the midrange of the M-73i's would be an improvement over the midrange of your KRK monitors. I can say for certain that the midrange of the Volare V-62's that are similar to the M-73's, but cost more and uses better quality components and would be an improvement. The M-73's are great starter speakers, but not one that I would aspire to as an upgrade. I'm not bashing Missions (owner of 8 pair & 1 center) but I want to be realistic about their capabilities and limitations.

If you cannot hear them before you buy, you still would be getting a fine pair of loudspeakers. Everyone hears differently like some reviewers of Mission speakers that claim that the treble is too brite until they are broken in. Well, to my ears they aren't brite at all right out of the box, but the overall sound does improve after a few days of breaking in. What I consider is a veiled/dark midrange may sound perfect to you.

tdung1983,

The m73 like the m74 I own have very good but not exceptional detail. Can't help with your comparison but here is a review link that might help:
http://202.186.86.35/audio/review.as...&sec=audiofile

I've owned missons for years - awesome speakers for the price. I've been very happy with mine and will continue to use them for years to come in my bonus room HT.
Cheers